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Good morning,

Solid retail sales report, solid industrial production data, and solid earnings reported yesterday with stock closing slight up and near new ATHs. Meanwhile, BTC, ETH, and other cryptocurrencies continued to get clapped.

Reminder that there are only a few days left to enter the S*per B*wl tickets giveaway in partnership with Ansarada (y'all know what the *s are, we just can't say it because legal said so...). Link to enter here. Make em good. 

If you've enjoyed Exec Sum thus far, pls consider forwarding to friends/family/colleagues who need to stay up to speed on financial news. The more the merrier. 

Let's dive in.

Before The Bell

Markets

• US equity markets are virtually unchanged with consumers awaiting more retail earnings today, although retail sales increased and Walmart and Home Depot both reported better-than-expected results yesterday

• US retail sales rose in October for the third month in a row, signaling households continue to spend despite the speed of inflation. Sales increased 1.7% compared to the 1.5% that economists estimated

• Elevated savings levels and rising wages have helped Americans sustain a strong merchandise spending pace

• Crypto took a major hit, with BTC briefly dipping below $60K (from its ~$69K ATH last week) and Ether fell to its lowest level this month, likely due to news about new tax-reporting requirements for digital currencies as part of the new infrastructure bill

Earnings

• Walmart posted better-than-expected earnings results and upgraded their FY forecast, saying their size has helped them manage supply chain problems and price-sensitive consumers are opting to shop there amid rising costs for household staples (CNBC)

• Home Depot reported better-than-expected Q3 results, showing their ability to adapt and overcome new supply chain troubles and the continued rebound in consumer spending (WSJ)

• What we’re watching today: Target, Lowe’s, Nvidia, Bath & Body Works

• Full calendar here

Headline Roundup

• US retail sales jump by most since March, topping forecast (BBG)

• Pfizer licenses promising Covid-19 pill to UN-backed nonprofit (WSJ)

• Bitcoin drops most since September in broad retreat from records (BBG)

• Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac to back home loans of nearly $1M as prices soar (WSJ)

• JPMorgan sues Tesla for $162M+ (WSJ)

• Wall Street bankers and traders are in line for the biggest bonus increases since 2009 (CNBC)

• FBI tracks threats against teachers, school-board members (WSJ)

• Puff Bar e-cig maker under investigation by North Carolina Attorney General (WSJ)

• EV maker Lucid overtakes Ford in market value (WSJ)

• WHO says delta variant accounts for 99% of Covid cases around the world (CNBC)

• Secretive Chinese committee draws up list to replace US tech (BBG)

• Container logjam eases as LA Port threatens penalties (BBG)

A Message From Miso Robotics

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• Partnered with Inspire Brands, parent company of Buffalo Wild Wings on a robot forecasted to increase food production speeds by 10-20%. 

• Working with 10 of the top 25 brands in the QSR industry.

• Granted 2 patents and have 10 patents pending.

• Raised $40M+ from over 1150 investors in its Series D campaign to-date.

The last day to invest in Miso’s robot cooks is November 18. Become a shareholder today.

Deal Flow

M&A

• Dutch brewer Heineken agreed to buy South Africa’s Distell and Namibia Breweries to form a southern Africa drinks group in a $4.6B deal (RT)

• Cinven is nearing a deal to buy drug research services company BioAgilytix in a potential $2.5B+ deal (BBG)

• A JV between RE firms Hackman Capital Partners and Square Mile Capital Management agreed to buy the historic CBS Studio Center in LA for $1.8B+ (WSJ)

• US-based SS&C Technologies offered to buy British software firm Blue Prism for $1.56B, more than its previously agreed to $1.5B deal with Vista Equity Partners (RT)

• Automated wealth manager Wealthfront is exploring a potential $1.5B sale (BBG)

• Turkish construction company Ronesans agreed to buy 51% of the unfinished $723M Gaziantep Hospital project (RT)

• Fintech lender Oportun Financial agreed to buy online banking platform Digit for ~$213M in equity and cash (BBG)

• British utility company SSE is considering selling a stake in its electricity network assets, as it faces pressure from activist investor Elliott (BBG)

• Dubai-based ride sharing startup Swvl agreed to buy a controlling stake in LatAm mass transit company ViaPool in a ~$10M deal (BBG)

VC

• Heyday, a startup buying and growing D2C merchants and brands, raised a $555M Series C led by The Raine Group and Premji Invest (TC)

• Online marketplace Faire Wholesale raised $400M at a $12.4B valuation led by Durable Capital, D1 Capital, and Dragoneer (BBG)

• Credit focused fintech startup Upgrade raised a $280M Series F led by Coatue and DST Global (TC)

• GrubMarket, a software maker and e-commerce platform connecting farmers and other food suppliers with customers, raised a $200M Series E at a ~$1.2B valuation led by Tiger Global (PRN)

• Marketing tech startup Conductor raised a $150M round at a $525M valuation led by Bregal Sagemount (TC)

• Quincus, an enterprise SaaS platform focused on the global supply chain, raised a $100M Series B led by AEI HorizonX and AE Industrial Partners (PRN)

• Pigment, a planning and forecasting platform for growth companies, raised a $73M Series B led by Greenoaks (PRN)

• AnyDesk, a startup looking to streamline remote and hybrid working, raised a $70M Series C at a ~$600M valuation led by General Atlantic (TC)

• EasySend, a startup building a no-code platform for online customer interactions, raised a $55.5M Series B led by Oak HC/FT (TC)

• StarkWare, a startup focused on building Ethereum scaling solutions, raised a $50M Series C at a $2B valuation led by Sequoia Capital (TC)

• Chargeback mitigation startup Justt raised a $50M Series B led by Oak HC/FT (TC)

• Serverless database startup PlanetScale raised a $50M Series C led by Kleiner Perkins (TC)

• Ribbon Health, an API data platform for healthcare, raised a $43.5M Series B led by General Catalyst (PRN)

• Titan Advanced Energy Solutions, a startup working on ultrasound-based battery management solutions, raised a $33M Series B led by HG Ventures (PRN)

• Real estate marketing software provider Luxury Presence raised a $29.5M Series B led by Bessemer Venture Partners (TC)

• Cognixion, a neural interface startup, raised a $12M seed round led by Prime Movers Lab (PRN)

• Geospatial data startup Hydrosat raised a $10M seed round led by OTB Ventures (TC)

• Web3 social infrastructure startup CyberConnect raised a $10M seed round co-led by Multicoin Capital and Sky9 Capital (The Block)

• Threat intel startup SnapAttack raised an $8M Series A led by Volition Capital (TC)

• Cannabis market intelligence platform Pistil Data raised a $6.5M seed round led by Snoop Dogg’s Casa Verde (TC)

• NTFfi, a South African marketplace where users can get crypto loans and offer loans against their NFTs, raised a $5M seed round led by 1kx (TC)

• Online/offline education platform MindX raised a $3M Series A led by Wavemaker Partners, Thien Viet Securities, and an undisclosed US investor (TC)

IPO / Direct Listings / Issuances / Block Trades

• German engineering company Thyssenkrupp is planning to list shares of its hydrogen plant unit Uhde Chlorine Engineers at a potential $5.7B valuation (BBG)

• GrubMarket is interviewing banks for a potential IPO at a $4B+ valuation (BBG)

• Peloton raised $1.07B by offering Class A common stock at a discounted price of $46 to be used for general corporate purposes, such as construction / expansion of facilities, acquisitions, and investments into new products / technologies (CNBC)

• Italian heating company Ariston is seeking to raise up to $1B in an Italy IPO (BBG)

• Cloud Village, the music streaming arm of Chinese gaming giant NetEase, is reviving plans for its potential ~$500M IPO (BBG)

• JPMorgan-backed fintech provider InvestCloud is considering an IPO (BBG)

• China Duty Free, the world's largest travel retailer, received approval from the Hong Kong stock exchange for a ~$5B share sale (BBG)

SPAC

• Voice AI platform SoundHound agreed to merge with Archimedes Tech SPAC Partners in a ~$2.1B deal (BBG)

Exec's Picks

• What Netflix Fears (it's not HBO): With the rise of these alternative media opportunities, we’ve come up with our top five stocks that we think are battling Netflix for entertainment dominance. The Motley Fool has a knack for seeing the real story behind stocks. And it led to them investing in Netflix in 2003 before streaming media was even a thing. And now, The Motley Fool issued 5 free stock picks for the Next Gen of Entertainment. Get the report.

• Peter Tuchman (aka the Einstein of Wall Street) and David Green will be hosting a free webinar tonight at 7pm EST focused on day trading strategies and risk management through the eyes of meme stocks. Sign up here. 

• We just dropped some fresh Ugly Christmas Sweaters ahead of the holidays. Gotta budget some additional time given current supply chain issues. Scoop 'em up here.

• Mizzen+Main has some dank dress shirts that feel like golf polos. Check them out here.

The Hiring Block

If you're looking to break into finance, lateral, or move out, check out our job board, where we curate highly relevant roles for you. We've got 80+ jobs spanning IB, S&T, VC, tech, private equity, DeFi, 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 "+ Post a Job" on the top right of the job board.

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 🤝

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