💉 Boost these gains

Major US indices posts a third straight day of gains, Pfizer / BioNtech said their booster dose provides a high level of protection against the omicron variant, Sam Bankman-Fried schooled Congress on stablecoins, and GameStop shares fell after reporting widening losses.

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Good morning,

Major US indices posts a third straight day of gains, Pfizer / BioNtech said their booster dose provides a high level of protection against the omicron variant, Sam Bankman-Fried schooled Congress on stablecoins, and GameStop shares fell after reporting widening losses. 

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Before The Bell

As of 12/09/21 market close.

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

  • All three major US indexes edged up yesterday as investors bet on the impact of omicron not being as threatening as previously thought

    • Pfizer reported that three doses of their vaccine were effective at neutralizing the variant, which helped restore some confidence in investors

    • Reopening stocks like travel and hospitality helped lead the market up

  • In the October Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, the Labor Department reported that the amount of workers who left their jobs due to dissatisfaction or better opportunities elsewhere fell by 4.7%

Earnings

  • Rent the Runway fell ~12% in extended trading, reporting wider Q3 losses YoY and an active subscriber base of ~87% of its 2019 base as they await a bigger return to offices, weddings, and concerts in 2022 (CNBC)

  • GameStop fell 5%+ in extended trading after reporting wider losses YoY, but they reported that some of those came from bulked up inventory in preparation for the holidays and supply chain challenges (CNBC)

  • What we’re watching today: Lululemon, Oracle, and Costco

  • Full calendar here

Headline Roundup

  • Third Pfizer-BioNTech dose is key to fight omicron’s spread (BBG)

  • Biden vaccine mandate for federal contractors is blocked nationwide (BBG)

  • Apollo seeks $25B for next flagship buyout fund (BBG)

  • Brookfield expects to raise $15B+ for new impact fund (BBG)

  • Instagram head proposes online industry safety panel (WSJ)

  • Jefferies asks staff to work from home again as firm’s Covid cases rise (BBG)

  • Lego to build new factory in Asia to meet rising demand (WSJ)

  • Biden to expand federal fleet of EVs in bid to make government carbon-neutral by 2050 (CNBC)

  • Tiger Woods to appear in first golf competition since car crash (CNBC)

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Deal Flow

M&A

  • Sweden’s Securitas agreed to buy the Stanley Black & Decker’s Electronic Security Solutions business for $3.2B (BBG)

  • Shipping group CMA CGM agreed to buy ‘most’ of shipping technology company Ingram Micro’s CLS in a $3B deal (RT)

  • TPG Capital Asia is exploring selling a stake in its ~$2B pathology business in the region (BBG)

  • Triton Investment Management agreed to buy UK pharmaceutical company Clinigen for $1.6B (BBG)

  • US oil company ConocoPhillips agreed to buy an additional 10% stake in Australia Pacific LNG for ~$1.6B, becoming their largest shareholder (CP)

  • Finnish insurance group Sampo agreed to buy a 30% stake in British property and casualty insurance company Hastings for $907M (RT)

  • Cancer research center City of Hope agreed to buy Cancer Treatment Centers of America for $390M (RT)

  • Rapid grocery delivery startup Jokr is exploring a sale of its smaller European business as it focuses on expanding into the US and Latam (BBG)

  • CDPQ (The Canadian Pension Fund) agreed to buy a ~$250M minority stake in supply chain compliance provider QIMA (BBG)

  • Dubai logistics firm Aramex paused talks to buy Turkish delivery company MNG Kargo after they had a change in share ownership (BBG)

  • Adobe agreed to buy UK social media startup ContentCal (BBG)

  • Crypto company Binance agreed to buy an 18% stake in Singaporean regional private securities exchange HGX (BBG)

Venture Capital

  • Accounts payable automation startup Tipalti raised a $270M Series F at an $8.3B valuation led by G-Squared (TC)

  • Cerebral, a startup that provides mental-health services, raised $300M at a $4.8B valuation in an equity funding round led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2 (BBG)

  • Chinese biotech firm Avistone raised a $200M Series A led by Vivo Capital (BBG)

  • Indian ride-hailing startup Ola raised a $139M round at a $7.3B valuation led by Edelweiss (TC)

  • European financial super app Lydia raised a $100M Series C at a $1B+ valuation from Dragoneer, Echo Street, Tencent, Accel, and more (TC)

  • Security-focused IoT platform Afero raised a $50M Series C led by Crosspoint Capital Partners (TC)

  • TrueNorth, a startup building an all-in-one platform for truckers to manage customers and loads, raised a $50M Series B led by Sam Altman and former Stripe exec Lachy Groom (TC)

  • Indonesian fintech Flip raised a $48M Series B led by Sequoia Capital India, Insight Partners, and Insignia Ventures Partners (TC

  • E-commerce aggregator Opontia raised a $42M Series A led by STV (TC)

  • B2B insights startup NewtonX raised a $32M Series B led by Marbruck Ventures (TC)

  • Easol, a startup building an experiences and event marketing, booking, and payments platform, raised a $25M Series A led by Tiger Global (TC)

  • Hydrofoiling electric boat startup Candela raised a $24M round led by EQT Ventures (TC)

  • Mexico-based e-commerce aggregator Quinio raised a $20M debt-and-equity seed round led by Cometa (TC)

  • Digital identity startup Passbase raised a $10M Series A led by Costanoa Ventures (TC)

  • Developer productivity startup Gadget raised an $8.5M seed round led by Sequoia Capital and Bessemer Venture Partners (TC)

  • HelloHero, a startup holding an online ‘healthcare system’ for kids’ therapy, raised a $7.7M seed round (TC)

  • Arch, a startup looking to aggregate private market data for investors, raised a $5.5M seed round led by Craft Ventures (TC)

  • Software supply chain security startup Chainguard raised a $5M seed round led by Amplify Partners (TC)

  • CinetPay, a payment gateway letting merchants accept mobile money in Francophone Africa, raised a $2.4M seed round led by 4DX Ventures and Flutterwave (TC)

IPO / Direct Listings / Issuances / Block Trades

  • Chinese beauty salon chain Beauty Farm is considering a Hong Kong IPO that could raise up to $500M (BBG)

  • VideoAmp, a software and data startup that competes against Nielsen’s media-measurement offerings, is exploring an IPO (BBG)

  • NFT marketplace OpenSea walked back on IPO amid community backlash (CT)

SPAC

  • Natural consumer products maker Grove Collaborative agreed to merge with Virgin Group Acquisition Corp II (RT)

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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.

Featured roles:

  • Pantera Capital, the first institutional firm focused exclusively on blockchain / digital assets with over $5B in AUM, is looking to hire a Capital Formation Associate in NYC. Ideal for someone w/ 2+ yrs of experience in IB, Capital Markets, Equity Research, or Investor Relations. Apply here

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.

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