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1,200 individuals including Elon Musk and Steve Wozniak are petitioning for a pause in AI development, US pending home sales rose for the third straight month, Moody's sees limited US credit risks from banking crisis, AI Whisperer is the new hot job, the FDIC faces $23B in costs from bank failures, and Deutsche Bank's sell-off has brought attention to the CDS market.

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Let's dive in.

Before The Bell

Markets

• US stocks were green yesterday, led by the tech sector as upbeat outlooks from Micron and other firms eased worries about the economy

• The S&P's performance yesterday fully erased its losses after the collapse of several regional banks three weeks ago

  • Companies with the riskiest credit are poised for their best week since January versus their sturdier-balance-sheet counterparts

• The Nasdaq also closed at the highest level since August in a sign investors are preparing for the Fed to end rate hikes and potentially pivot to looser policy later this year

Earnings

• What we're watching this week:

  • Today: BlackBerry 

• Full calendar here

Headline Roundup

• US pending home sales rose for third straight month in February with loan demand increasing (RT)

• Sergio Ermotti will returns as UBS CEO to steer Credit Suisse takeover (FT)

• Moody's sees limited risks from banking crisis on US credit profile (RT)

• BoE urged pension funds to prepare for bigger gilt market shocks (FT)

• Fed official tells Congress many to blame for SVB failure (RT)

• JPMorgan, Goldman, Barclays among others are looking to start trading private credit loans (BBG)

• FDIC faces $23B in costs from bank failures (BBG)

• Deutsche Bank sell-off focuses attention on CDS market (WSJ)

• $335k pay for ‘AI Whisperer’ jobs appears in red-hot market (BBG)

• Elon Musk, Steve Wozniak and 1.2k others signed an open letter calling for a 6-month ban on giant AI experiments (TV)

• Credit Suisse sale ‘forever impairs’ ability of banks to issue AT1s (FT)

• Credit Suisse violated a 2014 US tax evasion deal (RT)

• BofA's financial planning app has drawn $55B since 2020 launch (RT)

• Disney ousted Marvel chair Ike Perlmutter (FT)

• EV startup Lucid cut ~1.3k jobs (SEC)

• EA will cut 6% of workforce and reduce office space (CNBC)

• Warner Music will cut 4% of global staff (RT)

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Deal Flow

M&A / Investments

• Satellite company SES is in talks to merge with rival Intelsat in a potential $10B deal (BBG)

• The Kuwait Investment Authority sold a quarter of its stake, worth ~$1.5B, in luxury carmaker Mercedes-Benz (BBG)

• 3D printer maker Nano Dimension raised its offer to buy the stake it doesn’t already own in larger peer Stratesys to ~$1.2B (RT)

• Food and beverage company Nestle offered to buy Brazilian food company BRF’s pet food division for ~$330M (BBG)

• State-owned QatarEnergy agreed to buy stakes in two Canadian offshore exploration blocks from ExxonMobil as it continues to expand its oil and gas portfolio (RT)

• Aerospace company Airbus will no longer pursue buying an almost 30% stake in Evidian, the spinoff of French IT firm Atos’ cybersecurity, cloud, and supercomputing businesses (BBG)

• Vietnamese conglomerate Vingroup is in talks to sell a stake in its shopping mall arm as it seeks to bring in strategic investors (RT)

• The board of Finnish insurer Sampo proposed spinning off life insurance subsidiary Mandatum (RT)

VC

• Coursedog, an academic operations platform for higher education, received a $90M strategic growth investment from JMI Equity (BW)

• Hardee Fresh, a vertical farm facility, received a $56M loan from X Caliber Rural Capital (BW)

• ecoATM, a global smartphone and mobile device re-commerce leader, raised a $50M round from existing investors (BW)

• Blockchain startup Fetch.ai raised a $40M round from DWF Labs (TC)

• env0, a provider of Infrastructure as Code ("IaC") workflow automation and management software, raised a $35M Series A led by the StepStone Group (FN)

• Enterprise-grade federated content platform Hygraph raised a $30M Series B led by One Peak (FN)

• Data security startup Hypori raised a $23M Series B led by Moore Strategic Ventures and Hale Capital Partners (FN)

• Compliance-focused employee chat monitoring platform LeapXpert raised a $22M Series A led by Rockefeller Asset Management (TC)

• Inato, a startup enabling access to inclusive clinical trials, raised a $20M Series A-2 led by Cathay Innovation (BW)

• Orb, a pricing platform helping B2B companies price products, raised $19.1M across a $14M Series A led by Menlo and a $5.1M seed round led by Greylock (TC)

• Payments startup Paytrix raised an $18.3M Series A co-led by Unusual Ventures, Motive Partners, and Bain Capital (TC)

• Irrigreen, a startup building robotic irrigation systems, raised a $15M seed round led by Ulu Ventures (PRN)

• Genialis, a computational precision medicine company, raised a $13M Series A led by Taiwania Capital and Debiopharm Innovation Fund (PRN)

• Sirius Medical, a surgical marker navigation company, raised a $12M Series B led by Holland Capital (FN)

• JackBe, an Oklahoma City-based curbside drive-thru grocery store, raised $11.5M in funding from GP Investments and a WeFunder campaign (FN)

• Salt Labs, a rewards platform for hourly workers, raised a $10M pre-seed round led by Fin Capital (TC)

• Stratyfy, a startup using ML to remove bias from lending decisions, raised $10M in funding led by Truist Ventures and Zeal Capital Partners (PRN)

• Spera, an Israeli cybersecurity startup offering proactive protection against identity-driven threats, raised a $10M seed round led by YL Ventures (BW)

• AI-powered video compression startup Deep Render raised a $9M Series A at a $30M valuation led by the IP Group and Pentech Ventures (TC)

• True I-O, an organization focused on blockchain technology for service supply chain security, raised a $9M Series A led by Deal Box Ventures (PRN)

• Flaim Systems, a startup providing immersive learning solutions for firefighters, raised an $8.6M Series A led by Breakthrough Victoria (FN)

• Playbook, a Gen-Z and millennial-focused personal finance app, raised a $7M Series A led by Telstra Ventures (FN)

• Environmental SaaS platform and services provider Manufacture 2030 raised a $6.2M Series A led by Maven Ventures and Amati AIM Ventures (FN)

• Autio, a location-based audio storytelling app founded by actor Kevin Costner, raised a $5.9M seed-2 round led by iHeartMedia (TC)

• Impact Observatory, an AI-powered global mapping and monitoring company, raised a $5.9M seed round led by Esri International (FN)

• Navix, a startup providing a platform for streamlining document retrieval and freight auditing, raised a $5M seed round led by several angel and strategic industry investors (FN)

• Digital lending platform Presta raised a $3.3M pre-seed round led by Distributed Ventures (FN)

• Superfiliate, a word-of-mouth marketing platform, raised a $3M seed round led by Hawke Ventures (PRN)

• AllFly, a travel tech startup, raised $2.4M in funding led by Lightbank (PRN)

IPO / Direct Listings / Issuances / Block Trades

• Swedish investment firm EQT is delaying a planned $3.3B IPO of skincare group Galderma amid market volatility, and is considering whether to keep Credit Suisse in a lead position after its recent turmoil (BBG)

• Saudi Arabian milling company First Mills is planning a local IPO at a potential $1B valuation (BBG)

Debt

• FDIC hired Newmark to sell ~$60B of failed Signature Bank's loans (RT)

• Indian state-run lender Punjab National Bank plans to raise up to $1.46B via bond issuances (RT)

Fundraising

• New York-focused early-stage firm Tribeca Venture Partners is targetting $200M for its second growth-stage fund (PB)

Crypto Corner

• SEC charged crypto platform Beaxy and its founder for failing to register (AX)

• FDIC told Signature Bank's crypto clients to close accounts by April 5 (RT)

• An ex-CEO of Binance.US enlisted an ex-US prosecutor and CFTC lawyer to represent her in US's investigations into Binance (RT)

• Binance hid extensive links to China for several years (FT)

• Basel Committee chair said crypto banking rules could be modified if market reacts (CD)

• Hong Kong regulators will host a meeting to help crypto firms with banking (BBG)

Exec's Picks

• Insider's Linette Lopez covered Miami's crypto comedown.

• 1,340 individuals and counting, including Elon Musk, have signed this petition to pause AI development.

• Alts is a newsletter that demystifies and explains interesting alternative investment ideas out there, such as collectibles, NFTs, wine, websites, and even LEGOs. Check them out for free here.

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