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Good morning,

ARKK hits its lowest price since September 2020, Interest rates keep climbing, Fed plans more aggressive tapering, Rivian drops 10% (but is still worth infinity x sales), Fauci says  omicron ain't too bad, Meta fights back against the UK ruling on Giphy, Bitcoin hasn't been a great inflation hedge, (but 1 BTC is still 1 BTC), and Warren Buffett quotes are everywhere as tech investors get wrecked.

In case you missed it, we released the inaugural episode of our podcast, Big Swinging Decks, earlier this week. Listen to Mark and I talk about all things finance, memes, and the future of Litquidity on Apple Music and Spotify 🤝

Let's dive in.

Before The Bell

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

Markets

• All three major indexes sold off yesterday, with the Dow, S&P, and Nasdaq dropping 1.1%, 1.9%, and 3.3% respectively

• Interest rates put pressure on equities after when the Fed minutes from December revealed that the central bank is looking at shrinking its balance sheet along with an even more accelerated bond purchase taper

• Rising interest rates over the past few days have triggered a rotation out of growth and tech stocks and into value and cyclical stocks, as investors are fearful of the effect of higher interest rates and less liquidity on high-growth, momentum stocks

Earnings

• What we’re watching today: Walgreens Boot Alliance, Bed Bath & Beyond, and Duck Creek Technologies

• Full calendar here

Headline Roundup

• December Fed minutes show even more aggressive asset purchase taper and balance sheet reduction (CNBC)

• Rivian drops as Amazon agrees to e-van deal with Stellantis (BBG)

• Iraq approves sale of Exxon oil field stake to state firm (BBG)

• Kazakh leader vows harsh response amid deadly protests (BBG)

• US bolsters stash of Pfizer Covid pill with additional 10 million courses (BBG)

• Facebook-owner Meta sets out grounds for UK appeal on Giphy (RT)

• 5G truce expected to avert many - but not all - flight disruptions (WSJ)

• Trump friend Tom Barrack scheduled to go on trial in September for illegal United Arab Emirates lobbying case (CNBC)

• Fauci says multiple preliminary studies find omicron is less severe than delta (CNBC)

• BMW shows off a color-changing car (TC)

• Google Home, YouTube integrate with Volvo Cars (TC)

A Message From Endeavour

Opportunity to invest in the business powering the $2.7T Government Space & Defense markets ends soon.

In case you missed 2021 altogether (drinking alone in sweatpants, and then drinking very much not alone in designer sweatpants, can do that to you), China is a problem, Russia keeps doing Russia-things, all of our politicians are too old to understand cyber vulnerabilities, and we can’t stop sending random b-list celebrities and billionaires into freaking space.

All this to say, the Defense and Space industry continues to boom regardless of what is happening: 

The market goes down?  MOAR Defense 

The market goes up?  MOAR Space

Omicron?  MOAR GOVERNMENT

Which makes it the perfect time to invest in Endeavour–the company fortifying America's Space & Defense industries with a groundbreaking approach to financing.

Unless you have allocation to Pelosi Capital Management Fund 2, the time is ripe to diversify and invest in Endeavour because government spending has no end in sight. 

Get in before the opportunity closes January 21.

Deal Flow

M&A

• French grocer Auchan is considering a new bid for domestic rival Carrefour, which most recently had a market value of $15.2B (BBG)

• Tencent cut its stake in Singapore gaming and e-commerce company Sea by selling $3B of shares (BBG)

• Video-game maker Nexon agreed to buy a ~38% stake in independent film production company AGBO for $400M at a $1.1B valuation (BBG)

• Public utility Qatar Electricity and Water Company agreed to buy a 40% stake in energy investment company Nebras Power for $530M (RT)

• Crypto aggregating platform WonderFi agreed to buy Canadian crypto marketplace BitBuy’s parent First Ledger Corp for ~$162M (RT)

• Dallas-based redevelopment firm Centennial agreed to buy the Westland Mall outside Miami from Starwood Capital in a ~$149M deal (BBG)

• Trade show operator Emerald agreed to buy media and events company MJBiz for $120M (BBG)

• Societe Generale and Credit Mutuel Arkea have made offers for Dutch lender ING’s French retail client portfolio (RT)

VC

• Visual collaboration company Miro raised a $400M Series C at a $17.5B valuation led by ICONIQ Growth (TC)

• AI startup Fractal raised a $360M round at a ~$1B valuation from TPG (TC)

• Indian e-commerce startup Udaan raised $200M via a convertible note and $50M in debt from Tor Investment Arena and Arena Investors (TC)

• Credit card startup Petal raised a $140M Series D at a $800M valuation led by Tarsidia Investments (TC)

• Streaming platform Angel Studios raised a $47M round led by Gigafund (PRN)

• China based biotech startup Accro Bioscience raised a ~$50M Series B led by Hongta Aplus (PRN)

• Alto, a crypto investments startup, raised a $40M Series B led by Advance Venture Partners (TC)

• Ghanian health startup mPharma raised $35M in a round led by Citigroup (BBG)

• Xage, a startup securing critical infrastructure such as oil & gas pipelines, raised a $30M Series B led by Piva (TC)

• Robotics startup Doosan Robotics raised $33.7M in funding led by Praxis Capital Partners and Korea Investment Partners (TC)

• Open banking startup Brankas raised a $20M Series B led by Insignia Ventures Partners (TC)

• Vietnam-based digital bank Timo raised $20M in funding led by Square Peg (PRN)

• Robotics data and operations startup Formant raised a $18M Series A led by SignalFire (TC)

• Low power ultra-wideband startup MKSemi raised a $12.8M pre-A round led by Lightspeed China Partners (BW)

• Proteomics startup Protai raised an $8M seed round led by Grove Ventures and Pitango HealthTech (TC)

IPO / Direct Listings / Issuances / Block Trades

• Chinese energy startup Newlink is considering a Hong Kong IPO that could raise $300-$400M (BBG)

Exec's Picks

• Udemy - Whether you’re looking for a new job or gunning for a promotion at work, Udemy can help you reach the career of your dreams. From finance, tech and marketing to design and photography, Udemy has something for everyone. Start learning a new skillset.

• For the golf enthusiasts - Callaway just dropped their new Rogue ST drivers, fairway woods and hybrids. Check em out here.

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.

If you're looking to hire candidates and want to post a job, all you have to do is hit "+ Hire Talent" on the top right of the job board. If you want the role to be featured on Exec Sum, check out our "Featured" and "Premium" tiers.

Meme Cleanser

Advertise with us // Visit our merch store

As mentioned above, we released Episode 0 of our Big Swinging Decks podcast earlier this week and would love for y'all to give it a listen. You can check it out on Apple Music and Spotify and leave us a rating if you enjoyed the show 🤝. We're on a mission to dethrone the boomer finance podcasts from the top charts so every download and rating is a huge help! Episodes will drop weekly on Tuesdays.