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Good morning,

Jack Dorsey took a page out of Zuck's playbook and unnecessarily changed up Square's name to "Block". The stock market (and the LitCap Yolo Fund) got them cheeks clapped hard after the first Omicron variant case was found in the US (specifically San Francisco). Investors are way too jittery on the sell button around these headlines tbh. 

Tomorrow we'll be reaching out to accredited investors who responded to our demographic survey with an exclusive opportunity. If you want to be considered, now's your last chance to fill out the survey.

Special thx to Mizzen+Main for sponsoring today's edition. Big fan of their dress shirts, they've got the feel of a golf polo and the look of a nice tailored shirt.

Let's dive in.

Before The Bell

To see the LitCap Yolo Fund's portfolio holdings, download the Iris Social Stock app here and give Litquidity a follow. If you want to learn more about crypto trading strategies and the world of DeFi, check out our Foot Guns newsletter.

Markets

• Another day, another volatile trading session. Major averages closed down 1%+ after a big midday reversal triggered by the CDC reporting the first US omicron case

• Travel and retail stocks took the biggest hits, with major airlines, cruise lines, and big retailers all closing well into the red

• On a positive note, the ADP’s private payrolls showed that jobs added in November was 534K, better economists’ estimate of 506K

• In other data, November’s IHS Markit manufacturing PMI and ISM manufacturing report both came in lower-than-expected

Earnings

• Snowflake shares popped 12%+ AH after the software company saw sales more than double in Q3, beating analyst expectations, and executives raised FY guidance (MW)

• RBC missed on Q3 EPS, leading the Canadian bank to announce an 11% dividend hike for Q4 and a buyback of 45M shares (FP)

• What we’re watching today: Dollar General, DocuSign, TD

• Full calendar here

Headline Roundup

• White House plans to tighten travel rules over Omicron threat (BBG)

• WHO says Omicron has been found in 23 countries across the world (CNBC)

• First US omicron case detected in California (WSJ)

• Fintech giant Square to change name to ‘Block’, effective Dec 10 (TC)

• Skechers investor pushes for changes to boost footwear company’s value (BBG)

• Capital One says it is ditching all consumer overdraft fees, giving up $150M in annual revenue (CNBC)

• GM to form new JV to produce crucial materials for EVs (CNBC)

• Burger King will cut menu items to speed up its drive-thru lanes as part of US turnaround (CNBC)

• Greece imposes monthly fines of 100 euros on the over-60s who refuse a Covid vaccine (CNBC)

• Big mergers unlikely in 2022 as Biden regulatory squeeze intensifies (RT)

Mizzen+Main: A Lit Capital Staple

The best damn dress shirts.

But don’t take it from us.

“I legit love my Mizzen+Main shirts” - Lit, Founder & CEO of Litquidity

Want to go from the nobody summer intern to analyst? Rock the fitted, professional look.

Want to impress on date night? Go for the relaxed, classic fit. And BTW, your date doesn’t care about your crypto portfolio, but they’ll love the way you look.

Mizzen+Main shirts are curated for comfort and flexibility, so as you return to the office, you’ll still feel like you’re wearing pajamas running DCF models in bed.

Treat yourself with the best damn dress shirts that leave you feeling better than your quarterly bonus.

See why Litquidity “legit loves” Mizzen+Main

Deal Flow

M&A

• CVC Capital Partners pulled its $1.83B bid for Dutch financial services company Intertrust (RT)

• French building materials maker Cie. de Saint-Gobain is among suitors considering a potential acquisition of specialty construction chemicals maker GCP, which has a current market value of ~$2B (BBG)

• US fintech company SS&C agreed to buy software group Blue Prism for $1.65B after the firm withdrew its backing for a bid from rival suitor Vista (RT)

• Investcorp is preparing to sell Italian motorcycle clothing brand Dainese in a potential $848M deal (RT)

• Swiss building materials company Sika is considering divesting assets, including some US admixtures operations, to win regulatory approval for its acquisition of rival MBCC (BBG)

• Dymon Asia PE is exploring a sale of its stake in Meiban, a Singaporean injection-molding company, that could fetch up to $500M (BBG)

• Crypto.com agreed to buy the North American Derivatives Exchange and a 40% stake in the Small Exchange for $216M from IG Group (BBG)

• Union Bank of the Philippines was chosen by Citigroup to be the preferred bidder to acquire Citi’s consumer banking assets in the country; the total value of the assets are estimated to be ~$1B (BBG)

• French healthcare company Sanofi agreed to buy Austria’s Origimm Biotechnology (RT)

• Halfords, Britain's biggest motoring and cycling products and services provider, agreed to buy Axle Group, the owner of the National Tyre servicing brand, for $82.54M (RT) 

• Crypto company CoinShares agreed to buy French fintech Napoleon Crypto for ~$15.8M (RT)

VC

• Jobandtalent, a Spanish startup using AI to match workers with ‘casual’ labor jobs, raised a $500M Series E at a $2.35B valuation led by Swedish investor Kinnevik with participation from SoftBank Vision Fund 2 (TC)

• Decentralized exchange aggregator 1inch raised a $175M Series B led by Amber Group; the round was an untraditional one with the funding coming from a sale of 1INCH tokens in a private sale to institutional investors (TC)

• Public transit tech startup Via raised a $130M round at a $3.3B valuation led by Janus Henderson (BBG)

• Attack surface management startup CyCognito raised a $100M Series C at an $800M valuation led by The Westly Group (TC)

• Harrison.ai, a Sydney-based medtech startup, raised a ~$92M Series B led by Horizons Ventures (TC)

• Korean P2P lending startup PeopleFund raised a $63.4M Series C led by Bain Capital (TC)

• AI-powered competitive enablement platform Klue raised a $62M Series B led by Tiger Global (TC)

• Indian fintech Simpl raised a $40M Series B led by Valar Ventures and IA Ventures (TC)

• User management platform Frontegg raised a $25M Series A led by Insight Partners (TC)

• Ember, a startup which builds temperature-controlled smart mugs, raised a $23.5M Series E led by GOLDTek (TC) 

• Children’s financial literacy app Goalsetter raised a $15M Series A led by Seae Ventures (TC)

• Asia League, a Hong Kong startup piecing together Asia’s first major basketball club competition, has raised $13M to date from several retired NBA stars and The Raine Group (BBG)

• Butter, a startup looking to solve payment failure for subscription businesses, raised a $7M round from Atomic and others (TC)

• South African talent marketplace OfferZen raised a $5.2M Series A led by Base Capital (TC) 

• Markai, a startup looking to aggregate Chinese e-commerce brands, raised a $4M seed round led by Pear VC (TC)

IPO / Direct Listings / Issuances / Block Trades

• State-owned utility Dubai Electricity & Water Authority picked Citigroup, HSBC, and Emirates Bank for its upcoming $20-25B IPO (BBG)

• SK Capital Partners is considering an IPO of chemical maker Ascend Performance Materials that could be worth ~$5B (BBG)

• Saudi food delivery startup Jahez announced plans for an IPO in which it plans to list a 13% stake (BBG)

SPAC

• Neutral video platform Rumble agreed to merge with CF Acquisition Corp in a $2.1B deal (RUMBLE)

• Hotel platform Selina agreed to merge with Boa Acquisition Corp in a $1.2B deal (BBG)

• Industrial 3D printing solutions provider Essentium agreed to merge with Atlantic Coastal Acquisition Corp. in a $974M deal (BBG)

• Digital mortgage lender Better.com received a $750M cash infusion from Aurora Acquisition Corp. and SoftBank, coming as a result of an amended agreement to get the lender half of the committed $1.5B immediately instead of when the deal closes (TC)

Exec's Picks

• In case you missed it last week, we're launching a Student Athlete program in partnership with OfficeHours. Litquidity Student Athletes will have access to exclusive merch, career coaching, interview prep, and access to the Litquidity team. Applications close Dec 10th. Apply here. 

• An under-the-radar company received a rare "All In" Buy signal from the Motley Fool. The average return of stocks selected with the “All In” buy signal is 641% as of 11/15/21… crushing the S&P 500 by more than 5x. Don't Miss Another "All In" Stock Pick. Sign Up for Stock Advisor Today.

• Crypto, Web3, NFTs, etc. are all the rage at the moment and we've got some new JPEG Morgan and DAO Jones hats available for the DeFi enthusiasts out there. Scoop em up now ahead of the holidays.

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 100+ 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.

To Candidates: We've also partnered up with Portal Jobs for a more hands-on approach to matching talent with relevant jobs. Fill out the form here and we'll get to work on placing you in a relevant gig 🤝

Meme Cleanser

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