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Good Morning,

Apple crushed Q1 earnings to hopefully save the market, Facebook is winding down its crypto venture, Robinhood's stock is on life support, Apple plans to turn iPhones into payment terminals, Italy is still waiting on a new president 🤌🏼, Spotify said "adios" to Neil Young, and Russia sent some medical units to the Ukrainian front.

Pandemic + raising rates + potential war in eastern Europe. 2022 is off to a hot start and feeling a lot like a century ago! 

Bout to drink some Cometeer coffee and run through a brick wall.

Let's dive in.

Before The Bell

As of 1/27/2022 market close.

If you want to learn more about crypto trading strategies and the world of DeFi, check out our Foot Guns newsletter.

Markets

  • The Dow and S&P stayed relatively flat yesterday, each moving less than 1%, while the Nasdaq dropped ~1.5%

  • Yesterday’s huge slate of earnings came in mixed with companies like Apple posting huge beats while Robinhood tanked 15% after hours after posting declining active users

  • With few earnings reports and no big economic data being released today, investors will look for continued digestion of interest rate movements and the Fed’s meeting to drive markets going into the weekend

Earnings

  • Mastercard posted better-than-expected earnings and revenue numbers and expects the increase in spending to continue because of consumers’ pent-up demand for travel and an overall economic recovery (MW) 

  • Apple shares popped almost 5% AH reported its single-largest quarterly revenue numbers driven by iPhone 13 sales and customers responding well to their “most innovative product line ever” (TC)

  • McDonald’s reported Q4 same-store sales growth of 12.3% YoY but rising material costs in future may mean smaller profit margins and higher prices for customers (WSJ)

  • Visa’s record quarterly revenue of $7B+ was driven by a quicker-than-expected rebound in travel spending and sustained growth in e-commerce post the thick of the pandemic (MW)

  • Blackstone reported distributable earnings that rose by 55% to a record high following record deal activity in 2021, fueled by an abundance of cheap capital and high corporate valuations (RT)

  • JetBlue turned its first quarterly profit during the pandemic without government aid thanks to holiday travel, but they expect trouble in first 3 months of 2022 driven by rising costs and omicron (ABC)

  • Robinhood fell 15% in AH trading after posting worse-than-expected revenue, declining monthly active user numbers, and a net loss of $423M (CNBC)

  • What we’re watching today: Chevron, Caterpillar

  • Full calendar here

Headline Roundup

  • Apple to rival Square by turning iPhones into payment terminals (BBG)

  • China’s E-commerce hub faces omicron flareup before holidays (BBG)

  • Centerbridge credit fund extends gains with 51% annual return (BBG)

  • Fed kicks off most aggressive global tightening in decades (BBG)

  • Italy still doesn’t have a new president after fourth round of voting (BBG)

  • Pfizer gets nod from EU regulator for Covid drug Paxlovid (BBG)

  • SoftBank COO Marcelo Claure is in talks to leave after clash over compensation (BBG)

  • Meta wins EU approval for Kustomer deal with access pledge (BBG)

  • Telecom Italia slides as CEO weighs network spinoff in test for KKR bid (RT)

  • Russia sends medical units to Ukrainian front (WSJ)

  • Renault-Nissan Alliance plans $25.7B in EV spending (WSJ)

  • Spotify takes down Neil Young’s music after his Joe Rogan ultimatum (WSJ)

  • Tesla drops 8% as investors digest new vehicle delays (CNBC)

  • Amazon must pay $2M and end program after price-fixing investigation by Washington AG (TC)

  • Fidelity files to start ETFs tied to metaverse, crypto industry (BBG)

A Message From Cometeer

The coffee that has $100M+ in funding?

A coffee company that has SaaS level funding? And they didn’t even need to pivot to NFTs to get the nod from top-tier VCs?? That must be one hell of a cup of joe. And it is. 

Cometeer coffee is cafe-quality coffee in the comfort of your own house. And it’s better than your MD’s multi thousand dollar espresso machine. 

This coffee doesn’t come in a bag, or a cup, or even a plastic bottle. It comes in a frozen puck. Stay with me here. 

Cometeer’s frozen capsule is preserved at -321°F (at the absolute peak of its flavor and aroma).  You can melt a perfect cup of coffee in less than 30 seconds without any annoying equipment. Just drop your capsule into a cup of water for hot or iced coffees, or straight into milk for lattes.

It doesn’t matter if you’ve been called up by your PE recruiter at 11 pm for a surprise in-office model test. Cometeer is ready to go just like that, and it gives the perfect cup of joe everytime. 

How could this possibly work? First, Cometeer sources beans from the country’s best roasters. Next, they grind and brew the coffee meticulously, using a new, proprietary process that turns the beans into perfection.

Moments later, the brewed coffee is flash-frozen at peak flavor so it's perfect when it hits your lips. And it’s easy. Even the cocky but completely inexperienced MBA associates in your group will nail it on their first try. 

For a limited time, Exec Sum readers can get $20 off their first Cometeer order —  that’s 10 free cups of coffee, baby! Move fast, before transitory inflation forces them to change the deal.

Deal Flow

M&A / Investments

  • British insurer First Central is considering a sale at a potential $800M valuation (BBG)

  • DBS Group agreed to buy Citigroup’s consumer business in Taiwan for $706.6M above the net asset value (RT)

  • Malaysian telecoms group Axiata and its Indonesian subsidiary PT XL Axiata agreed to jointly take a 66% stake in PT Link Net for ~$606.19 (RT)

  • Silvergate Capital agreed to buy the assets of cryptocurrency venture Diem for ~200M (BBG)

  • Italian insurer Generali agreed to buy a 25% stake in Indian general insurance company Future Generali India Insurance, a JV with them and Future Group, for $166M (BBG)

  • Siemens Energy has stepped up efforts to explore a full integration of wind turbine business Siemens Gamesa (RT)

  • Telecom company Altice Europe has ditched a plan to sell its Portuguese business after PE bids failed to meet price expectations (RT)

VC

  • Bharti Airtel, India's no. 2 mobile-phone operator, is set to raise $700M from Google (BBG)

  • BNPL commercial insurance tool Ascend raised a $280M debt-equity hybrid round including a $30M Series A led by Index Ventures (TC)

  • Industrial product seller Moglix raised a $249M Series F at a $2.5B valuation led by Alpha Wave Global (TC)

  • Kim Kardashian’s underwear label Skims raised $240M at a $3.2B valuation in a financing round led by Lone Pine Capital (BBG)

  • Africa-focused VC TLcom Capital is targeting $150M for its second fund (TC)

  • Esusu, a fintech targeting immigrant and minority groups to provide rend reporting and data solutions, raised a $130M Series B at a $1B valuation led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2 (TC)

  • Domestika, a learning community for creative types, raised a $110M Series D at a $1.3B valuation led by Zeev Ventures (TC)

  • South Korean internet conglomerate subsidiary Naver Z launched a $100M fund for metaverse creators (TC)

  • Immersive gaming platform PortalOne raised a $60M Series A led by Tiger Global (TC)

  • Bug bounty and penetration testing startup HackerOne raised a $49M Series E led by GP Bullhound (TC)

  • Pet healthcare platform The Vets raised a $40M seed round led by Target Global (TC)

  • Censys, an IoT search engine, raised a $35M Series B led by Intel Capital (TC)

  • Pharmacy delivery platform Mayd raised a ~$34M Series A led by Lightspeed Venture Partners (TC)

  • Vesta, a mortgage customization platform, raised a $30M Series A led by a16z (TC)

  • Customer onboarding platform Stonly raised a $22M Series A led by Northzone and Accel (TC)

  • Tanzanian fintech NALA raised a $10M seed round (TC)

IPO / Direct Listings / Issuances / Block Trades

  • Cloud content security firm Egnyte is seeking a $1.5B+ valuation in potential 2022 IPO (BBG)

  • Indian electronics and lifestyle startup Boat filed for an IPO seeking a $1.5B+ valuation (TC)

  • Chinese fintech PingPong is seeking to raise up to $1B in a potential Hong Kong IPO and is also currently seeking ~$300M in a pre-IPO private funding round (BBG)

  • LG Energy doubled in its first day of trading in Seoul, making it Korea’s biggest IPO on record (BBG)

  • File sharing company WeTransfer pulled plans for an IPO in Amsterdam after a selloff in technology stocks hit investor appetites (BBG)

  • UK law firm Mishcon de Reya has delayed its planned IPO for a second time (BBG)

  • GogoX, a Hong Kong-based logistics startup, won stock exchange approval for its planned ~$300M IPO raise in the city (BBG)

SPAC

  • Italian space logistics firm D-Orbit agreed to merge with Breeze Holdings Acquisition Corp in a $1.28B deal (RT)

Exec's Picks

  • One of our writers, Jack, wrote a great piece yesterday about why investor behavior and market dynamics over the last few years have made market cycles both faster and more aggressive. Check out Volatile Times.

  • Great tweet thread on angel investing by Lenny Rachitsky here. Highly recommend if you're just getting started out.

  • Escaping the New York winter by heading to Tulum or Miami? Need to freshen up your swim shorts game? Check out Meriggi, the premium men's swimwear brand inspired by the Mediterranean lifestyle and aesthetic. Their shorts are clean af.

The Hiring Block

If you're looking to break into finance, lateral, or move out, check out our job board on Pallet, where we curate highly relevant roles for you. We've got 40+ jobs spanning IB, S&T, VC, tech, private equity, DeFi, crypto, CorpDev and more. We sift through all the noise on LinkedIn, Indeed, Monster, etc. so you don't have to.

See below for a few featured job opportunities:

  • Matchbook Capital, the corporate venture arm of Swisher, is hiring an Associate to work out of their Jacksonville, FL office. The associate will be responsible for developing, managing, and owning incubations or acquisition projects to bring a new set of innovative products to market. The ideal candidate will have 2-5 years of experience in a start-up, start-up environment, or consulting firm. Apply here.

  • Podium Education, one of the fastest growing edtech companies in the US, is hiring a Head of Finance to work out of their Austin, TX HQ. The HoF will be instrumental in scaling the business and maintaining the financial health of Podium as they enter a high growth phase. The ideal candidate will have at least 6+ years of experience in IB, PE, or FP&A. Apply here.

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