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Good Morning,

US companies added 177k jobs in August, Amazon and Shopify struck a new deal, Biden wants more salaried workers to get overtime, Visa and Mastercard are ready to raise credit card fees, Google introduced generative AI to search in India and Japan, and Reid Hoffman is stepping back from his investment role at Greylock.

Let’s dive in.

Before The Bell

Markets

• US stocks rose higher for a fourth straight day as investors digested weaker-than-expected economic data

  • The Nasdaq led indices with a 0.54% gain

• Asian stocks mostly edged higher, falling in line with US markets

• Natural gas prices surged over 5% on expectations of a weekly inventory decline

Earnings

• Salesforce shares rose 6% after it beat Q2 analyst adjusted earnings and revenue expectations thanks to growth across all 5 of its product categories; it also lifted its full-year forecast (CNBC)

• Country Garden reported a record $6.7B loss for the first half of 2023 as it struggles to survive China’s property crisis (FT)

• Five Below stock fell 7% after missing analyst Q3 guidance expectations; it slightly beat Q2 earnings expectations but missed on revenue (I)

• CrowdStrike beat Q2 analyst adjusted earnings and revenue expectations and raised its full-year guidance thanks to rising cyber crime (MS)

• What we're watching this week:

  • Today: Dollar General, UBS, Broadcom, lululemon, Dell, VMware, Polestar 

• Full calendar here

Headline Roundup

• US companies add 177k jobs, smallest gain in five months (BBG)

• Amazon, Shopify strike deal to open Amazon Logistics to sellers (BBG)

• Under new Biden proposal, salaried workers earning up to $55k per year could get overtime pay (CNBC)

• Fed quietly demands corrective actions by regional banks (BBG)

• Visa, Mastercard prepare to raise credit-card fees (WSJ)

• Google introduces generative AI to search in India, Japan (RT)

• US pending home sales rise for a second month (BBG)

• DOJ, SEC investigate Tesla over secret glass house project (WSJ)

• Stubborn inflation in Germany and Spain keeps ECB on alert (BBG)

• Hurricane Idalia barrels into Georgia after hitting Florida coast, leaving at least two dead (CNBC)

• Aussie regulator takes Qantas to court for selling cancelled flights’ tickets (RT)

• Venture capitalist Reid Hoffman to scale back investment role at Greylock (WSJ)

• Homebuilder stocks poised for market beating returns, Wall Street says (BBG)

• State officials want Shein to prove it doesn’t use forced labor before it goes public (CNBC)

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Deal Flow

M&A / Investments

• CoreWeave, which is backed by Nvidia, is exploring a minority stake sale that values the cloud computing provider at as much as $8B (BBG)

• French billionaire Francois-Henri Pinault is nearing a $7B deal to buy a majority stake in Creative Artists Agency, a Hollywood talent giant home to Brad Pitt and Chris Paul, from PE firm TPG (BBG)

• Singapore real estate logistics provider and investment manager GLP made ~$7B worth of assets available for state-backed China Logistics Group to choose from as due diligence for a deal continues (BBG)

• MaryRuth Organics is exploring options, including a sale, that could value the vitamin maker at ~$1B, including debt (RT)

• An investor consortium led by hedge fund manager Boaz Weinstein raised its takeover offer for hedge fund Sculptor Capital Management to $731M, but Sculptor continues to prefer Rithm Capital’s $639M bid due to ‘higher execution risk’ (BBG)

• Weight loss drug maker Novo Nordisk will acquire Danish appetite suppression developer Embark Biotech for up to $512M to continue its expansion in the weight loss market (BBG)

• Watts Water Technologies, a leading manufacturer and provider of water products and plumbing, will acquire plumbing company Bradley for $303M (BW)

• British life sciences software company Instem agreed to a $257M take-private deal with French PE firm Archimed (RT)

• Billionaire Thomas Tull is in talks to increase his stake in NFL’s Pittsburgh Steelers by acquiring a small stake from sports investors Josh Harris and David Blitzer (BBG)

VC

• Redwood Materials, a lithium-ion battery recycling and remanufacturing company, raised a $1B Series D at a $5.25B valuation led by Goldman Sachs Asset Management, Capricorns Technology Impact Fund, and T. Rowe Price (FN)

• Altafiber, a provider of fiber networks, raised $600M in funding led by existing investors (BW)

• CIM Group, a real estate and infrastructure owner and operator, raised $417M in funding for Terreva Renewables, an RNG developer and operator (BW)

• Hyperproof, a software-as-a-service risk and compliance management company, raised $40M in funding led by Riverwood Capital (TC)

• Epigenic Therapeutics, a biotech startup focused on developing gene modulation therapy, raised a $32M Series A led by Qiming Venture Partners and OrbiMed (FN)

• Rewaa, a Saudi-based omnichannel inventory management system, accounting, and POS platform for the retail industry, raised a $27M Series A led by Wa’ed Ventures (BW)

• QuantHealth, a startup using AI to predict clinical trial outcomes, raised a $15M Series A led by Bertelsmann Investment and Pitango HealthTech (TC)

• SatSure, an Indian startup that specializes in satellite Earth observation data and analytics, raised a $15M Series A led by Baring Private Equity Partners India (FN)

• Voxel AI, a startup using AI to improve workplace safety and operations, raised a $12M round led by Rite-Hite (FN)

• Praso, a Brazilian startup providing a distribution platform for small retailers, raised a $9.3M Series A led by Valor Capital Group and NFX (TC)

• Medication management startup PatchRx raised an $8M round led by Atento Capital (FN)

• Confirm, a platform that injects the science of organizational network analysis into performance reviews, raised a $6.2M Series A led by Spero Ventures (BW)

• Context.ai, a product analytics platform for LLM-powered applications, raised $3.5M in funding led by GV and Theory Ventures (BW)

• Nevia Bio, an early-stage women’s health company, raised a $3M seed round led by MindUP Digital Health Incubator (FN)

• Finnish interactive video chat startup Videobot raised a $2.2M round from Superhero Capital, Expon Capital Digital Tech Fund, Urban Gillstrom, and more (FN)

• Fianu Labs, a software governance automation solution, raised a $2M seed round led by DataTribe (BW)

• Solar energy startup Allume Energy raised a $1.5M seed round from Elemental Excelerator and the Schmidt Family Foundation (FN)

• No-code Python test measurement software provider Flojoy raised a $1.3M seed round led by Flybridge Capital Partners, Boreal Ventures, and BDC Capital (FN)

IPO / Direct Listings / Issuances / Block Trades

• Distressed Chinese property developer Country Garden will issue $34M worth of new shares to repay loans (BBG)

SPAC

• Chinese steel trading website Zhaogang.com is nearing a deal to merge with Aquila Acquisition Corp in Hong Kong’s first SPAC deal (BBG)

Debt

• India’s education-focused Narayana Group mandated Barclays as the sole arranger of a $169M loan to buy out minority shareholders in its Nspira Management Services unit (BBG)

Bankruptcy / Restructuring

• Chinese property developer Country Garden warned that it may default after reporting a first-half loss of nearly $7B (BBG)

• TV Azteca agreed to negotiate with US bondholders owed $400M after a US judge warned Mexico’s second-largest broadcaster that it could be forced to participate in a bankruptcy case in New York (BBG)

• EV maker Lordstown Motors is formulating a debt repayment plan and is hopeful it will find buyers in Chapter 11 for all or parts of its business (RT)

• Bankrupt crypto lender Genesis Global and creditors reached a deal to deliver an estimated 70-90% recovery for Genesis customers (WSJ)

• eMed Healthcare acquired digital health firm Babylon’s UK business as part of an insolvency process (BBG)

Fundraising

• Asset management firm ALTI is seeking to raise $300M for its ALTI Private Equity Access and Commitments Fund for direct private-equity investments and co-investments in US buyout deals (WSJ)

• Geek Ventures, a NY-based VC, closed Geek Ventures Fund 1 at $23M to invest in immigrant founders (FN)

Crypto Corner

• Elon Musk’s X acquired a currency transmitter license, which is legally required for companies to receive and send money for users, from Rhode Island regulators (F)

• Crypto bank SEBA Bank received approval from Hong Kong regulators to conduct licensed crypto-related services (BBG)

Exec’s Picks

• This CNBC piece explains how China took the lead in the nuclear energy race, and how the US could catch up.

• Ben Carlson explained why mortgage rates are still so high.

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