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Foreign investments are flowing back into China, Goldman and JPMorgan are competing for the top deal advisory spot, short sellers made $848M in paper profits on bets against First Republic in March, Apple announced a first round of job cuts, Finland joined NATO, and the US brought criminal charges against Frank's founder.

If you work in venture capital, private equity, or M&A, check out this industry breakdown created by today's sponsor, Axios Pro.

Let's dive in.

Before The Bell

Markets

• All three major US indexes fell yesterday on fears of a fast cooling economy

• 10Y yield hit its lowest level since September on US job openings data

• 2Y yield plunged nearly 74 bps in the worst monthly decline since January 2008

• Dollar hit a ten-month and two-month low versus the pound and euro respectively

• Traders are pricing in a 60% chance of no Fed rate hike in May

Earnings

• What we're watching this week:

  • Thursday: Constellation Brands, Levi Strauss

• Full calendar here

Headline Roundup

• US job openings fell below 10M for first time since 2021 (BBG)

• Reserve Bank of Australia held rates at 3.6% (WSJ)

• Lending conditions and term loans have tightened 'sharply' (AX)

• Foreign investments are flowing back to China after Alibaba plans (RT)

• China slowed their merger reviews of proposed acquisitions by US firms (RT)

• Goldman and JPMorgan are competing for No. 1 deal advisory spot (RT)

• Short sellers made $848M in paper profits on bets against First Republic in March (RT)

• Signature Bank insiders sold $100M in stock during crypto surge (WSJ)

• AWS debuted a 10-week accelerator for generative AI startups (AX)

• Credit Suisse Chairman ‘truly sorry’ for failure to stem crisis (BBG)

• Apple will cut corporate retail jobs in first known layoffs (BBG)

• 16% of US college kids want to work for Google (AX)

• GM buyouts cut 5k salaried jobs (RT)

• Walmart will cut over 2k jobs in e-commerce warehouses (RT)

• Big law Kirkland & Ellis cut associates in California/Texas offices (FT)

• Google workers striked in London over job cuts (RT)

• Finland became 31st member of NATO (AX)

• DOJ and SEC filed criminal charges against Frank's founder (AX)

• Trump pled not guilty to 34 counts of falsifying business records (AX)

• Big chains are looking to capitalize on pickleball craze (AX)

A Message From Axios Pro

If your work touches venture capital, private equity or M&A, this might be the most important report you read all year.

Why it matters: Knowing what the current economic cooldown means for your bottom line and how to plan for a possible recession is going to be your edge. Thanks to the Axios Pro newsroom, their latest industry report will tell you everything you need to know.

• Their industry-leading journalists put this downturn into context and uncover how market forces are affecting dealmaking in fintech, health tech, climate tech, retail and media.

The bottom line: The Axios Pro newsroom delivers aggregated data and analysis from the biggest players in VC, PE and M&A, plus key industry trends and takeaways to inform every critical decision you’ll make this year.

Deal Flow

M&A / Investments

• Iraq agreed to hold a 30% stake in energy company TotalEnergies’ $27B Iraq project, a deal that could lure foreign investment back into the country (RT)

• Mexico’s government agreed to buy 13 power generation plants from Spanish renewable energy company Iberdrola in a $6B deal (RT)

• French skincare firm L’Oreal agreed to buy luxury cosmetics brand Aesop at a $2.53B valuation (BBG)

• Apollo raised its offer to buy British oilfield services and engineering firm John Wood Group to $2.1B (RT)

• Investment management firm Rathbones agreed to buy the UK wealth management business of Investec in a $1.05B deal (BBG)

• PE firm TPG agreed to buy a majority stake in Elite, a vendor of business management software for law firms, at a $500M valuation from information provider Thomson Reuters (RT)

• Kenyan bank KCB Group is in talks to buy stakes in lenders in Ethiopia as it revives plan to expand in the nation (BBG)

VC

• Mercy BioAnalytics, a startup developing extracellular vesicle-based liquid biopsies for cancer detection, raised a $41M Series A led by Novalis LifeSciences (FN)

• SJSemi, a 12-inch MEOL foundry, raised a $340M Series C+ with participation from Legend Capital, Goldstone Investment, and others (PRN)

• Quantexa, an AI-based fraud detection platform, raised a $129M Series E at a $1.8B valuation led by GIC (TC)

• Web3 messaging protocol LayerZero raised a $120M Series B at a $3B valuation from investors including a16z crypto, Circle Ventures, Sequoia Capital, OpenSea, Samsung Next, Christie’s and BOND (TC)

• Payments infrastructure company TerraPay raised a $100M Series B led by IFC (FN)

• Covariant, a startup building an AI logistics automation robot, raised a $75M Series C extension led by Radical Ventures and Index Ventures (TC)

• Everstream, a startup using AI to improve supply chain sustainability, raised a $50M Series B led by 1GT, StepStone Group, and Columbia Capital (BW)

• Adcendo, a biotech company focused on the development of antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) for the treatment of cancers with a high unmet medical need, raised a $31M Series A extension led by Pontifax Venture Capital (PRN)

• Oncology therapeutics startup Mosaic Therapeutics raised a $28M Series A from backers including Syncona Investment Management and Cambridge Innovation Capital (FN)

• Industrial supplier of bio-fabricated silk protein materials AMSilk raised a $27.3M Series C extension led by ATHOS (FN)

• Perplexity AI, an AI-powered search platform, raised a $26M Series A led by New Enterprise Associates (TC)

• Strivacity, a startup helping companies build secure login flows, raised a $20M Series A-2 led by SignalFire (TC)

• HeatTransformers, a Dutch heat pump installation startup, raised a $16.4M Series A led by Energy Impact Partners (FN)

• Open-banking enabled fintech Finanzguru raised $14.3M in funding led by SCOR Ventures and PayPal Ventures (PRN)

• tado, a Munich, Germany-based intelligent home climate management company, raised a $13.1M round led by S2G Ventures (FN)

• AI-powered airfare price prediction startup Fetcherr raised a $12.5M round led by Left Lane Capital (TC)

• Alchemy Pay, a Singapore-based payment gateway that connects crypto and global fiat currencies for businesses, developers, and users, raised $10M in funding at a $400M valuation from DWF Labs (FN)

• AVS, a medical device startup focused on treating calcified arterial disease, raised an $8.8M Series B extension led by BioStar Capital (BW)

• Cloud access management startup Trustle raised a $6M seed round led by Glasswing Ventures (BW)

• Nigerian shared mobility startup Shuttlers raised a $4M round led by Verod-Kepple Africa Ventures (TC)

• Medherant, a startup developing a testosterone replacement patch for women with menopausal symptoms, raised a $3.75M round led by Mercia Asset Management (FN)

• Sepura Home, a startup making your kitchen sink a composter, raised a $3.7M seed round led by sink-maker Blanco (TC)

• Ecosapiens, an eco-conscious collective that defends the climate through creative tech, raised a $3.5M seed round led by Collab+Currency (FN)

• Zyod, a Delhi, India-based provider of a B2B platform for apparel sourcing and manufacturing, raised a $3.5M seed round led by Lightspeed (FN)

• Bioliberty, a UK-based tech startup advancing a soft robotic glove which can restore upper limb mobility in patients following a stroke, raised a $2.75M seed round led by Archangels (FN)

• Adludio, an AI-driven platform delivering attention-led and data-driven mobile advertising, raised a $2.5M round from Mercia (BW)

• RealSage, a data intelligence and AI startup for the multifamily real estate industry, raised $1.6M in funding led by Golden Section and Plug and Play Ventures (FN)

• Megaton Finance, an automated market maker and decentralized exchange, raised a $1.5M seed round led by TONcoin.Fund (FN)

IPO / Direct Listings / Issuances / Block Trades

• Chinese lender Yibin City Commercial Bank is considering a Hong Kong IPO that could raise between $200-$300M (BBG)

SPAC

• Canadian oil/gas producer Avila Energy will merge with Insight Acquisition in a $193M deal (MW)

Debt

• Italy received $58B in orders for an $11B new green bond sale (YH)

• South Korean chipmaker SK Hynix raised $1.7B in its first convertible bond sale in a decade as it braces for deepening quarterly losses (RT)

• Jordan hired Citi, Goldman and HSBC for a dollar-denominated bond sale (MEO)

Bankruptcy / Restructuring

• Richard Branson’s satellite launching business Virgin Orbit filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy after struggling to secure long-term funding (RT)

Fundraising

• KKR raised $8B for its largest-ever European buyout fund (BBG)

• PE firm MidOcean Partners raised over $1.5B for its sixth PE fund (FNN)

• Industry Ventures is targeting $1B for its latest flagship VC secondaries fund (SI)

• Smash Capital is seeking to raise $500M more for a target $1B VC fund (TI)

• Cure Ventures raised an inaugural $350M to invest in seed rounds in biotech startups (FBT)

• Tomasz Tunguz raised $230M for his new solo firm Theory Ventures (TI)

• Dutch investment firm Polestar Capital raised $205M for its circular economy debt fund (EUS)

• Robeco raised $142M for a second closed-ended private debt fund targeting sustainable European businesses (FU)

• London-based early-stage VC Anamcara raised $10.6M to invest in B2B firms (FN)

Crypto Corner

• OPNX, a crypto-focused exchange that lets users trade claims of bankrupt crypto companies, is now live (CD)

• Crypto funds’ bitcoin holdings rise as investor demand rebounds (CD)

• Crypto exchange Binance expanded in Argentina (RT)

• Race for bitcoin derivatives hit a record high (RT)

• Crypto could eliminate 97% of traditional remittance fees: Coinbase (CT)

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• Intelligencer covered the wild downfall of Daylight, the "bank" marketed to LGBTQ+ clients.

• Jamie Dimon published his 2022 annual letter to JPM shareholders.

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