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VC fundraising hit a 9 year low, US consumers are missing auto payments at the highest rate in a decade, Amazon corporate workers are facing pay reductions due to falling share prices, Uber is introducing 25k EVs to India, Biden visited Ukraine, and crypto hedge fund Galois Capital unwound its positions and closed down shop after getting rekt by FTX.

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Let's dive in.

Before The Bell

Markets

• US stock and bond markets were closed yesterday in observance of Presidents' Day

• The MSCI World Index and pan-European Stoxx 600 gained a modest 0.2% and 0.1% respectively in a light trading session

• Asian stocks rose, with China’s CSI 300 gaining 2.45% in its biggest day since late November

• Money markets show investors expect rates to peak at 5.3% by July

• Dollar index slipped 0.2% from its six-week high on Friday

  • Russian rouble gained 1.2% against the dollar on Friday after earlier sliding to a near 10-month low

• On Wednesday, we'll receive Fed minutes from their Jan 31st & Feb 1st meeting, followed by revised Q4 GDP numbers and the PCE index on Thursday and Friday

Earnings

• What we're watching this week:

  • Today: Walmart, Home Depot, Coinbase, Public Storage

  • Wednesday: Nvidia, eBay, TJX, Bumble

  • Thursday: Alibaba, Wayfair, Carvana

• Full calendar here

Headline Roundup

• US consumers are missing auto payments at highest rate since 2010 (WSJ)

• Black Americans are ‘trading up’ to higher-paying jobs amid labor market squeeze (FT)

• Germany will accelerate energy market reform this year (RT)

• High-tech firms and VCs withdrew over $1.5B from Israel in recent weeks over geo-political uncertainties (CCT)

• Ex-JPMorgan trader Frederic Marino was sentenced to 7.5 years in prison for defrauding Libya's sovereign wealth fund (FT)

• Venture fundraising hit a nine-year low (WSJ)

• Amazon corporate workers are facing pay reductions amid falling shares (WSJ)

• Twitter is facing claims of over $14M in unpaid bills (WSJ)

• Uber plans to introduce 25k EVs in India (RT)

• Ericsson will cut ~1.4k jobs in Sweden (RT)

• Cybersecurity firm Darktrace hired EY to review its financials after a damning short seller report (CNBC)

• Biden made a surprise visit to Ukraine (NYT)

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Deal Flow

M&A / Investments

• Tat Hong, the largest crane-owning company in Asia Pacific, is considering selling its Australian business for $500M+ (BBG)

• Logistics firms Cargo Services and JL Enterprises are planning to sell their stakes in Hong-Kong based cargo firm EV Cargo (BBG)

• Pan-Asian insurance company FWD agreed to buy a 70% stake in Malaysian insurer Gibraltar (BBG)

• Cyprus-registered IG Finance Development agreed to buy two Russian sites of shipping / logistics giant Maersk as the firm nears exiting the country (RT)

• Irish fund solutions firm Waystone Group is in talks to buy Link Fund Solutions from Australian IT solutions firm Link Group (FT)

• Indian conglomerate Adani Group decided against bidding for a stake in state-backed electricity trader PTC India (BBG)

• John Henry, the owner of Boston Red Sox and Pittsburgh Penguins, called off the sale of Premier League team Liverpool FC but is considering new investments (FT)

VC

• Liquidity Group, an Israel-based fintech that invests, syndicates and automates growth and MM lending for businesses globally, raised $40M at $1.4B valuation from MUFG Bank (CCT)

• Pliant, a Berlin-based B2B credit card platform, raised a $28M Series A led by SBI Investment (FN)

• Emergency response-as-a-service startup FocusPoint raised $20M in funding from Dalton Capital (PRN)

• EV powertrain startup Zevx raised a $20M+ round led by Reynolds Capital (FN)

• Quell, a gamified home fitness tech startup, raised a $10M Series A led by Tencent (TC)

• Gateway.fm, a decentralized blockchain node provider, raised a $4.6M seed round led by Lemniscap (PRN)

• Kenyan B2B construction tech startup Jumba raised a $4.5M seed round led by LocalGlobe (TC)

• French climate tech startup Carbon Maps raised a $4.27M pre-seed round led by Breega and Samaipata (FN)

• GetWork, an Indian SaaS recruitment platform, raised an $850k pre-Series A led by Samarthya Investment Advisors, NVS Wealth Managers and others (FN)

IPO / Direct Listings / Issuances / Block Trades

• Chinese ride-hailing firm Dida is considering raising ~$200M through its planned Hong Kong IPO (BBG)

Bankruptcy / Restructuring

• Russian businessman Roman Avdeev plans to swap a $280M creditor claim against bankrupt UK broker Sova Capital in return for a discounted purchase of its $330M Russian securities portfolio in an attempt to circumvent sanctions (RT)

Fundraising

• Spanish VC firm Clave Capital raised ~$53M for its Clave Innohealth fund (EUS)

• The European Investment Fund committed $32M to Rivage Investment's impact debt fund, which has a target of $267M (PB)

Crypto Corner

• Crypto HF Galois Capital unwound positions and closed after half its assets were trapped on FTX (FT)

• EU execs called to fast-track crypto capital rules for banks (RT)

• Hong Kong will soon allow retail investors to trade certain 'large-cap tokens' in regulatory shift (TC)

• 24% of new tokens in 2022 were likely pump and dump schemes (CP)

• Retail crypto investors in emerging markets were hit hardest by FTX and Terra collapse (CD)

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• Tyler Tringas, a VC at Calm Fund, recently published a tweet thread outlining how a16z's recent investing style was a "zero interest rate phenomena" and why he believes they're due for a reckoning. Check it out here.

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