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Good Morning,

Bob Iger is back at Disney, hedge funds continue to avoid long positions, crypto lending giant Genesis may face bankruptcy, Carl Icahn is shorting GameStop, H-1B visa holders are scrambling for new jobs due to layoff waves, New York granted its first batch of licenses for recreational marijuana retailers, and the US men's soccer team has the second-youngest roster in the World Cup.

Looking to get investment exposure to the "smart home" technology market? Today's sponsor, RYSE, is currently raising capital from investors in public via a Reg A+ process. Check them out here and learn more below / on their site.

Let's dive in.

Before The Bell

Markets

• US stocks slipped yesterday as rising Covid cases prompted Chinese lockdowns 

• The dollar rose sharply against most major currencies

• Oil prices fell after the WSJ reported an increase of 500k barrels per days will be considered at the Dec 4 OPEC+ meeting, and then reversed course in early Asian market trading on Tuesday after Saudi Arabia denied the report that it was discussing an increase in oil supply

Earnings

• Dell beat Q3 EPS and revenue estimates on supply chain improvements and strong demand for technology infrastructure, but warned of macroeconomic headwinds (BRN)

• Zoom topped Q3 EPS and revenue estimates as firms consolidate real estate and lay off workers, but gave weak Q4 outlook on rising competition (MW)

• What we're watching this week: 

  • Today: Best Buy, AutoDesk, American Eagle

• Full calendar here

Headline Roundup

• Global banks expect world economy to slow further in 2023 (RT)

• S&P 500 firms spent $222B on capex, despite deteriorating CEO confidence (AX)

• Tech startups shun Singapore and Hong Kong for US SPACs (NKK)

• Hedge funds continue to avoid long positions, despite market advances (BBG)

• Macron will host European CEOs to counter US move temptation (RT)

• Russia may cut oil output due to price cap (RT)

• New York approves first batch of recreational marijuana retailers (WSJ)

• Billionaire investor Carl Icahn is betting against GameStop shares (BBG)

• 2023 credit outlook for global non-financial firms is negative: Moody's (RT)

• US corporate credit is enticing investors after rough year (RT)

• ​​​​B2B marketplaces outperform other tech segments in VC funding (YH)

• Tech layoffs send H-1B visa holders scrambling for new jobs (BBG)

• US proposed rules to advance flying taxi operations (RT)

• Shell will evaluate its $30B UK investments after windfall tax (RT)

• Bob Iger returned as Walt Disney CEO after Bob Chapek stepped down (AX)

• Morgan Stanley's international executive, Franck Petitgas, will step down (RT)

• Cathie Wood is on a Coinbase buying spree as stock tumbles (BBG)

• GloriFi, the 'Anti-woke' bank targeting Conservative customers, will shut down (WSJ)

• US men's soccer team is the second-youngest roster in Qatar and most valuable in US history (AX)

A Message From RYSE

The Hottest Sector Around? Home Tech. Investors? Possibly You.

We spend more time in our homes than anywhere else, and investments in companies that improve our home lives have been quite lucrative for investors: Google acquired Dropcam for $550 million and Nest for $3.2 billion, while Amazon acquired Ring for $1.2 billion.

Guess what? A new home tech company is looking for investors to fuel their next phase of growth, and they are opening the opportunity up to you.

Meet RYSE.

RYSE is the first retrofit solution that converts your window shades into automated smart shades, all controlled by a smartphone app. 

It’s no surprise that RYSE is attractive to investors. They have:

• $5 million in lifetime revenues with over 35,000 units sold

• 5 defensible patents to lock their position in the growing market

• Contracts with big box retailers and agreements in place with large commercial real estate developers, landlords, and hotels

And the best part? The "Smart Shade" market is growing 55% annually.

Interested in becoming a RYSE shareholder? Click here to invest in their next funding round!

Deal Flow

M&A / Investments

• The $2.2B merger of book publishing giants Penguin Random House and Simon & Schuster's has been scrapped after running into regulatory challenges (RT)

• Transportation company Norfolk Southern agreed to buy the Cincinnati Southern Railway for $1.62B (BBG)

• Pharmaceutical company Merck agreed to buy bone marrow drugmaker Imago BioSciences for $1.35B (BBG)

• Smith Financial, the family office of entrepreneur Stephen Smith, agreed to buy Canadian mortgage lending and credit card company Home Capital Group for $1.27B (BBG)

• US investment group Stonepeak and Australian fund Super Spirit agreed to buy Australian port GeelongPort in a $732M deal (RT)

• Spanish car park manager Saba and Belgium’s Interparking are in talks to merge (RT)

• Brazilian meatpacker Minerva offered to buy Uruguayan meatpacker Breeders & Packers Uruguay from NH Foods (RT)

VC

• Consumer credit platform operator WeLab is considering raising $200-250M at a potential $2B valuation in a new funding round (BBG)

• On demand laundry startup Laundrygo raised a $37M Series C led by H&Q Korea (TC)

• SponsorUnited, a sponsorship data platform, raised a $35M Series A at a $100M+ valuation led by Spectrum Equity (TC)

• Carbon fiber recycling startup Fairmat raised a $35M Series A led by Temasek and CNP (TC)

• New View Surgical, a medtech company developing equipment for minimally invasive surgery, raised a $12.1M Series B-1 led by existing investors (BW)

• French-based pulsed power startup I-ROX raised $12M from Breakthrough Energy Ventures Europe (PRN)

• Capitol, a startup helping healthcare insurers make data-driven decisions, raised a $10M seed round led by 468 Capital, Designer Fund, Fuel Capital, and more (BW)

• Chicago-based insights startup QualSights raised a $7.7M Series A led by 4490 Ventures (PRN)

• Prado, an e-commerce and logistics platform for the food system, raised a $5.75M seed round led by Bonfire Ventures (PRN)

• Wove, a custom jewelry company, raised a $3.85M seed round led by Springdale Ventures (PRN)

IPO / Direct Listings / Issuances / Block Trades

• Dubai private school operator Taaleem drew $3.7B in investor orders for its IPO priced at the top of a marketed range (BBG)

• Americana Restaurants International, the Middle Eastern operator of KFC and Pizza Hut outlets, is planning to raise up to $1.8B from its IPO priced at the top of a marketed range (BBG)

• China’s Sunshine Insurance received approval for a Hong Kong IPO that could raise ~$1B (BBG)

• Saudi's PIF selected JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs, Saudi National Bank's IB arm, and Egypt-based EFG Hermes as joint lead managers for its $1B+ Riyadh IPO (RT)

• UK chip designer Arm delayed its IPO till beyond March 2023 (GU)

Bankruptcy / Restructuring

• German gas trader VNG is nearing a multi-billion dollar government rescue deal (RT)

• SBF is trying to broker an FTX bailout from his Bahamas home, despite stepping down from the CEO position (CNBC)

Fundraising

• Apollo raised a $2.4B credit fund named "Accord+ Fund" to make opportunistic investments in multiple credit asset classes, including scooping up some of the $43B in buyout loans currently stuck on bank balance sheets from 'hung deals' (BBG)

• HC9 Ventures, a VC firm focused on healthcare SaaS, raised $83M for its first fund (PRN)

Crypto Corner

• Crypto asset manager Grayscale refused to share proof of reserves due to ‘security concerns’ (CNBC)

• Crypto lender Genesis warns of bankruptcy without additional funding after spending the past several days seeking at least $1B in fresh capital (BBG)

• Two Estonian citizens were arrested in $575M cryptocurrency fraud and money laundering scheme (RT)

• Crypto lender Nexo was sued over claims it blocked investors from withdrawing $126M in funds and intimidated them into selling them back to the firm at a discount (CD)

• Golden State Warriors were sued for allegedly fraudulently promoting FTX (RT)

• Tom Brady, Steph Curry FTX endorsements are being probed by Texas regulator (BBG)

Exec's Picks

• Affinity hosted a webinar where they spoke to Eden Global Partners and Solganick & Co about the strategies they’re using to maintain momentum in the M&A market throughout the end of 2022—and how they’re planning to source the best deals into 2023 and beyond. Check it out.

• Geoffrey Cain wrote a wild piece about how China got the US hooked on 'digital fentanyl', AKA TikTok.

• Recently got into the the sport of Padel (not to be mistaken with pickleball) and got hooked up with some new gear from the team at TWOTWO. They've got sleek looking rackets, hats, balls, hoodies, and more. Check them out and get 10% off with code "Litquidity10" at checkout. Their cutoff date for US orders to arrive in time for Christmas is December 15th.

• Recently, Genesis Trading, announced that it would suspend lending services and withdrawals following the FTX fallout. Blockworks' Jason Yanowitz wrote a great thread on Twitter explaining why this could be more impactful on the industry than FTX. Read it 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 aim to curate jobs across IB, S&T, VC, tech, private equity, DeFi, crypto, CorpDev and more. We'll sift through all the noise on LinkedIn, Indeed, Monster, etc. so you don't have to.

If you're a company looking to hire candidates and want to list a job opening on our board and feature on Exec Sum, click the button below:

Meme Cleanser

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