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Good Morning,

US is at risk of a debt default in July, fintech startups have been on the decline with rates rising, Goldman sacked its idea for a D2C credit card, DOJ is stepping up its antitrust investigation into Apple, Musk will likely bring on a new Twitter CEO by end of year, and worker burnout is at a pandemic high. 

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Let's dive in.

Before The Bell

Markets

• US stocks reversed losses to finish green yesterday on strong economic data such as retail sales that hinted at a resilient economy 

  • The Nasdaq notched a 3-day win streak

• UK's FTSE 100 topped 8,000 for the first time 

• The dollar index rose 0.6% to a six-week high 

• Bitcoin surged ~10% on no apparent news

Earnings

• Barclays missed Q4 EPS estimates on a 14% fall in FY pretax profit due to surging costs, a collapse in deal fees, and multi-million dollar fines; their stock slumped 8.3% (RT)

• Cisco beat Q2 EPS and revenue estimates on a 14% growth in their core Secure segment and raised FY guidance on resilient tech infrastructure demand and improving supply chains; their stock gained 6%+ (CNBC)

• Shopify beat Q4 EPS and revenue estimates on a surprise profit driven by a holiday demand surge but forecast slowing Q1 revenue growth despite price hikes and new product launches; their stock fell 6.5% AH to reverse the day's gains (INV)

• Zillow beat Q4 EPS and revenue estimates on resilient traffic and growth in multifamily properties despite a slowing housing market; the firm is focused on building a 'housing super app' after exiting the home-buying business (CNBC)

• What we're watching this week:  

  • Today: DraftKings, WeWork

• Full calendar here

Headline Roundup

• US is at risk of debt default as soon as July (AX)

• UK CPI fell for third straight month to 10.1% (GU)

• Retail sales rose 3% in January, smashing expectations (CNBC)

• Emerging market inflows in January were largest in two years (RT)

• US law firm demand fell 3.9% in Q4 (RT)

• Fintech threat to big banks fizzled in 2022 on rising rates (RT)

• Goldman Sachs scrapped idea for a D2C credit card (CNBC)

• US asset manager Van Eck will terminate its Chinese mutual fund plan (RT)

• DOJ is stepping up its antitrust investigation into Apple (WSJ)

• Commodity trader Glencore posted a record $34B annual profit (FT)

• Musk likely to bring in a new Twitter CEO by year end (WSJ)

• Apple will scrutinize customer history in new ‘buy now, pay later’ service (BBG)

• Tesla will open its charging network to other EVs (AX)

• KPMG laid off 5% of its advisory in Big Four first (FT)

• Neiman Marcus will cut ~5% of its workforce (RT)

• AMC Networks' owner named his wife Kristin Dolan as new CEO (WSJ)

• Twitter will allow cannabis ads in social media first (RT) 

• Musk donated $1.95B in Tesla shares to charity last year (RT)

• David Malpass will step down as World Bank head (AX)

• Worker burnout is at a pandemic-era high (BBG)

• 62% of Americans think college admissions should not consider race (RT)

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Deal Flow

M&A / Investments

• Australian gold miner Newcrest rejected an initial $17B takeover bid by American rival Newmont (BBG)

• A consortium led by MSP Sports Capital will launch $3.75B takeover bid for Premier League team Tottenham Hotspur (FT)

• Chinese conglomerate Sinochem is considering selling its ~$1.85B, 37% stake in Italian tiremaker Pirelli; it initially bought the firm for ~$8B in 2015 (BBG)

• Amazon is in talks with regulators on its $1.7B bid for iRobot, maker of the robotic vacuum cleaner Roomba (RT)

• Credit Suisse will exit distressed debt trading and sell its $250M related portfolio (BBG)

• Indonesian telecom infrastructure company Mitratel agreed to buy a portfolio of telecommunication towers from Indonesian carrier Indosat for ~$109M (BBG)

• Moet Hennessy, the wine and spirits division of luxury house LVMH, agreed to buy a majority share in rose wine maker Chateau Minuty (BBG)

• Eminence Capital, a shareholder in Ritchie Bros Auctioneers, has come out against the company’s planned acquisition of US auto retailer IAA (RT)

• Gold miner Barrick Gold told peer Newmont it would be open to acquiring its minority stake in Nevada Gold Mines, a JV between the two majority-owned by Barrick (RT)

• Ryan Reynolds partnered with Canadian real estate developer Remington Group in a bid for NHL team Ottawa Senators (YH)

VC

• SandboxAQ, a startup using AI and quantum tech to help companies transition to post-RSA security, raised a $500M round from Breyer Capital, T. Rowe Price, TIME Ventures and ex-Google CEO Eric Schmidt (RT)

• Deepwatch, a managed detection and response security startup, raised $180M in funding from Springcoast Capital Partners, Splunk Ventures, and Vista Credit Partners (BW)

• Passwordless authentication startup Descope raised a $53M seed round led by Lightspeed Venture Partners and GGV Capital (TC)

• Apkudo, a startup developing a platform to manage, sell, and test connected devices, raised a $37.5M Series C led by Closed Loop Partners and Piper Sandler Merchant Banking (TC)

• Spiffy, an on demand car care, technology, and services company, raised a $30M Series C led by Edison Partners (BW)

• Oligo Security, a runtime application security / observability startup, raised a $28M Series A from TLV Partners, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Ballistic Ventures, and more (TC)

• Codagenix, a virus design platform, raised a $25M Series B extension from Serum Institute of India, Euclidean Capital, and Adjuvant Capital (PRN)

• Superplastic, a startup creating and developing ‘synthetic’ influencers, raised a $20M Series A-4 led by Amazon’s Alexa Fund (TC)

• Smile Identity, a provider of ID verification and KYC compliance for African faces / identities, raised a $20M Series B led by Costanoa Ventures and Norrsken22 (TC)

• South African insurtech Naked raised a $17M Series B led by the International Finance Corporation (TC)

• Crypto index platform Alongside raised an $11M seed round led by a16z (TC)

• Smartrr, a subscription platform for Shopify stores, raised a $10M Series A led by Canvas Ventures (BW)

• German battery recycling startup Cylib raised an $8.55M seed extension round led by World Fund, bringing the total seed round to $12.6M (TC)

• Morphoceuticals, a biotech startup developing AI-guided electroceuticals to regenerate limbs / organs / tissues, raised an $8M seed-2 round led by Prime Movers (PRN)

• Hippo Video, an interactive video platform for increasing sales engagement, raised an $8M round led by Dallas Venture Capital (BW)

• Robigo, a startup biomanufacturing precision crop protection solutions, raised a $6.85M seed round led by Congruent Ventures (BW)

• Thatch, a platform simplifying health benefits for startups and their employees, raised a $5.6M seed round led by a16z and GV (TC)

• Aura Network, a startup building an ecosystem to accelerate global NFT adoption, raised a $4M pre-Series A led by Hashed and Coin98 Ventures (BW)

• Funga, a startup using fungus to capture carbon, raised a $4M seed round led by Azolla Ventures (TC)

Debt

• Pharmaceutical company Amgen sold a $24B investment-grade bond to help fund its purchase of Horizon Therapeutics (BBG)

Bankruptcy / Restructuring

• Crypto lender Celsius Network will seek to exit bankruptcy under guidance of asset manager NovaWulf Digital Management (RT)

• Regional sports network portfolio owner Diamond Sports Group is preparing for a likely bankruptcy filing after skipping an interest payment due to bondholders (CNBC)

Fundraising

• SignalFire, an early-stage VC firm using data and AI to scale and identify investments, raised $900M for multiple funds (BW)

• Camber Creek, a strategic VC firm focused on real estate tech startups, raised $100M for its Opportunity Fund I (PRN)

Crypto Corner

• An ex-Stanford Law dean and a Stanford comp sci researcher cosigned SBF's bond (RT)

• SEC proposed changing crypto custody rules (CNBC)

• Binance endured over $830M of outflows on Monday in worst day since December (TT)

• FTX is negotiating the return of $400M from obscure HF Modulo Capital (NYT)

• A US judge denied an independent examiner for FTX's bankruptcy (AX)

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• This Platformer piece breaks down how Musk tweaked the algorithm to make his tweets appear more.

• Bloomberg's Matthew Boyle covered how Shopify managed to cull 320,000 hours of meetings.

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