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Good Morning,

Taylor Swift is the NFL’s newest star, the SEC collected Wall Street Whatsapp messages, hedge funds are cutting leverage fast, ChatGPT has new audio and image capabilities, taxpayers are footing the bill for Russian oligarch yacht maintenance, and theater stocks popped on potential news of a deal between writers and studios.

How can financial services companies work to both 1) lower fraud and 2) drive growth through seamless user experiences? For starters, they should check out this free guide created by today’s sponsor, Plaid.

Let’s dive in.

Before The Bell

Markets

• US stocks closed higher, snapping a four-day losing streak

  • The Nasdaq led indices with a 0.45% gain

• US 10Y yield gained 10 bps, reaching an intra-day high of 4.542%, its highest level since 2007

Earnings

• What we're watching this week:

  • Today: Costco, Cintas, Ferguson

  • Wednesday: Micron Technology, Jefferies

  • Thursday: Nike, Accenture, BlackBerry

  • Friday: Carnival Corporation

• Full calendar here

Headline Roundup

• Taylor Swift mania upstages NFL Sunday (WSJ)

• Bonds sink, S&P 500 snaps four-day losing streak (BBG)

• SEC collects Wall Street’s private messages as Whatsapp probe escalates (RT)

• Hedge funds cut stock leverage at fastest pace since 2020 crash (BBG)

• US government shutdown bad for country’s credit, warns Moody’s (RT)

• ChatGPT can now ‘speak,’ listen and process images, OpenAI says (CNBC)

• Even a booming economy can’t save Atlanta’s office market (WSJ)

• Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin to replace CEO Bob Smith with outgoing Amazon exec Dave Limp (CNBC)

• JPMorgan’s Kolanovic warns of pricing power, lifts energy stocks (BBG)

• Taxpayers stuck paying the bills for oligarchs’ seized yachts and mansions (WSJ)

• Goldman, Barclays tap startup for help disclosing clients’ bets (BBG)

• Work permits won’t be a silver bullet for New York migrant crisis (WSJ)

• Movie theater shares pop after writers, studios reach tentative labor deal (CNBC)

• Ford halts construction of controversial Michigan battery plant (BBG)

• Instacart names Sequoia Partner, ex-COO Ravi Gupta to board (BBG)

• Only richest 20% of Americans still have excess pandemic savings (BBG)

A Message From Plaid

How To Lower Fraud, Drive Growth, and Keep Clients Smiling

It’s called digitization, and customers don’t just want it these days – they expect it.

With big names brands like Nike and Amazon offering seamless, bespoke user experiences, customer expectations have never been higher. There’s just one catch… for financial services companies, removing friction tends to mean less security and more fraud attempts. So what’s a bank to do?

Well, for starters, you can download this free article from Plaid:

The Best Of Both Worlds: How To Lower Fraud & Drive Growth For Less.

Inside is a cheat sheet on how to help your brand digitize, simplify, and grow, all while still staying more secure than Fort Knox during a gold rush.

Plaid has a killer track record of keeping financial companies on the cutting edge, and this article is a perfect example of how they do it.

Download your copy for free right here.

Deal Flow

M&A / Investments

• PE firm Genstar Capital is considering a sale of TekniPlex that could value the manufacturing group at over $4B (BBG)

• EU regulators blocked Booking Holding’s $1.7B acquisition of Sweden’s Etraveli Group after they concluded that the takeover would hurt the market for online travel agencies; Booking plans to appeal the ruling (RT & BBG)

• Enovis, which offers orthopedic bracing and surgical implants, will acquire Italian surgical implant manufacturer LimaCorporate for ~$850M, including debt (RT)

• British insurer Aviva will acquire the UK life insurance business of AIG for $563M (RT)

• Brazilian electric engineering company WEG will acquire electric motor manufacturer Regal Rexnord’s Industrial Motors and Generators businesses for ~$400M (BZ)

• India's billionaire Burman family will buy a ~26% stake in Religare Enterprises for $255M to bolster its presence in the financial services sector (RT)

• FAT Brands, the owner of the Johnny Rockets burger franchise, agreed to acquire restaurant chain Smokey Bones from PE firm Sun Capital Partners at a ~$30M valuation (BBG)

• Poland's Unimot is in talks to buy Shell’s 37.5% stake in Germany's PCK Schwedt refinery (RT)

• Newsletter publication platform beehiiv acquired advertising marketplace Swapstack for an undisclosed amount (TI)

VC

• AI startup Anthropic will receive an up to $4B investment from Amazon (BBG)

• London-based media startup Electrify Video Partners raised $85M in funding from Capital D (FN)

• Jokr, a Berlin-based online grocery delivery service in Latin America, raised a $50M Series D at a $800M valuation led by Convivialité Ventures (FN)

• Corporate EdTech provider Lepaya raised a $38M round led by Endeit Capital (FN)

• Traceless Materials, a plastic alternative startup, raised a $36.6M Series A led by United Bankers and Swen Capital Partners (EU)

• Eloelo, an Indian social gaming and live streaming platform, raised $22M in funding led by Courtside Ventures and Griffin Gaming Partners (FN)

• Jura Bio, a biotech startup developing immune-based therapeutics, raised $16.1M in funding led by Fontus Capital, John Ballantyne, and Michael Chambers (FN)

• Nx, a startup building monorepo tools for software devs, raised a $16M Series A from Nexus Venture Partners and a16z (TC)

• Pet supplements startup Mammaly raised a $14.8M Series A led by Iris Ventures and Five Seasons Ventures (FN)

• Genus AI, a generative AI platform for D2C and e-commerce brands, raised an $11M seed extension round from Aleph Group, Kazuki Ohta, Magnus Lundin, Tomas Slimas, and others (FN)

• Digital rock analysis startup GeologicAI raised a $10M Series A extension from Export Development Canada (BW)

• AI energy transition company Continuum Industries raised a $10M Series A led by Singular (FN)

• Delta Development Team, a startup developing blood storage and transportation solutions, raised an $8.7M Series A led by UAVC and Desert Angels (VC)

• Airmart, an e-commerce platform for food producers, raised $8.2M from a16z and Craft Ventures (VC)

• Peregrine Hydrogen, a climate technology startup providing proprietary technology for co-producing clean hydrogen and valuable commodity chemicals, raised a $7.8M seed round led by Bidra (FN)

• Digital asset analytics platform CoinScan raised $6.3M in funding from CryptoHub LTD (FN)

• Mintago, a London-based financial wellbeing startup, raised a $4.8M round led by BlackLion Ventures (FN)

• Cygnetise, an enterprise-grade platform to manage, share, and validate signatory data, raised a $3M seed round led by Adjuvant (FN)

• FlexPoint, a payments automation platform for MSPs, raised a $2.4M seed round led by Garuda Ventures (VC)

• Givzey, the fundraising industry’s first Gift Agreement Platform, raised a $2.1M seed round from Oyster Fund, York IE, CJ Orr, and more (VC)

• Sports coaching platform TeachMe.To raised a $2M seed round led by 1984 Ventures (TC)

• Digital stationery startup WeBudding received a $1.9M investment from Goodnotes (TC)

• Ziptek, a startup developing knotless tissue repair and attachment devices, raised a $1.5M round led by Dr. William F. Bennett (PRN)

• Iluma AI, a startup building an AI copilot for C-level teams, raised a $1M+ pre-seed round led by Acrew Capital (FN)

IPO / Direct Listings / Issuances / Block Trades

• German defense contractor Renk priced its IPO on Monday and is seeking a valuation of up to $1.9B (RT)

• Australian casino operator Star Entertainment Group is seeking to raise as much as $771M through a combination of debt and equity (BBG)

• Cargo firm SAL Saudi Logistics Service’s $678M IPO sold out in hours, showing ongoing investor demand for listings in Saudi Arabia (BBG)

• South Korea’s Ecopro Materials, a battery materials producer, is seeking to raise up to $498M through an IPO in Seoul (BBG)

• India's Emcure Pharmaceuticals aims to raise $400M-$500M in an IPO planned for 2024 (RT)

• Shares in Saudi Arabian auto rental firm Lumi jumped as much as 30% above their listing price after Lumi raised $290M in an IPO (RT)

Debt

• Ares Management will provide a $1.2B direct-lending package to support UK insurer Markerstudy’s purchase of Ardonagh Group’s Atlanta Group division (BBG)

• SoftBank Group is planning to sell $808M worth of bond-type class shares that will be listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange (BBG)

Bankruptcy / Restructuring

• Instant Brands, the bankrupt maker of the Instant Pot pressure cooker and Pyrex glassware, drew interest for different parts of its business from parties including Citadel and Centre Lane Partners (BBG)

Fundraising

• Turkish PE firm BLG Capital plans to raise as much as $266M for a fund targeting luxury real estate projects in the country (BBG)

• Fuse, an early-stage VC based in Washington that is focused on Pacific Northwest companies, launched a $250M fund to invest in software and AI startups (TC)

Crypto Corner

• Hackers stole ~$200M from Hong Kong crypto firm Mixin (RT)

• The SEC filed an objection to bankrupt crypto lender Celsius Network’s reorganization plan (CT)

Exec’s Picks

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• A hedge fund has made millions by fading FTC chair Lina Khan, according to this Wall Street Journal piece.

• OpenAI released an insane list of new image and audio processing capabilities.

Litney Partners - Financial Recruiting 💼💼

If you're currently a junior investment banker looking to break into the buy side, considering lateraling to another investment bank, or have recently been impacted by widespread layoffs, it's time you check out Litney Partners, a partnership between Litquidity and Whitney Partners (the oldest purely financial services executive search and consulting firm).

We aim to place strong candidates at leading private equity, hedge fund, venture capital, growth equity, and credit funds, as well as investment banks.

To get started, simply head over to the Litney website and create your profile by dropping your resume / filling out the form:

Meme Cleanser

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