Fed's Getting Hawkish

Fed Governor Brainard sounds hawkish, Musk got a Twitter board seat, Republicans want to cut Citi contracts over abortion policy, Amazon bought dozens of rocket launches, Citi is pausing new SPAC issuance, and Fast burned through its money... fast.

Together with

Good Morning,

Fed Governor Brainard sounds hawkish, Musk got a Twitter board seat, Republicans want to cut Citi contracts over abortion policy, Citi is pausing new SPAC issuance, and Fast burned through its money... fast. 

Big Swinging Decks is back with everything you need to know about this year's private equity recruiting cycle. Catch the latest episode of the BSD podcast, presented by CoinFLEX.US, on SpotifyApple, and soon on YouTube (subscribe now to get our sub count uppp) 🤝 

Litquidity accredited investors: stay tuned for an email later this morning. 

Let's dive in.

Before The Bell

As of 4/5/2022 market close.

If you want to learn more about crypto trading strategies and the world of DeFi, check out our Foot Guns newsletter.

Markets

  • US markets took a dip yesterday after Fed Governor Lael Brainard indicated the central bank could take a more aggressive approach to its tightening policy

    • The threat of increased rates hit tech stocks the hardest

  • Following Brainard’s comments, the US 10Y jumped to 2.56%, its highest level since May 2019

  • The first round of corporate Q1 earnings are dropping next week

Earnings

  • What we’re watching this week:

    • Today: Levi Strauss  

  • Full calendar here

Headline Roundup

  • Brainard says Fed to shrink balance sheet rapidly as soon as May (BBG)

  • Ukraine readies NFT sales as crypto donations top $60M (BBG)

  • House Republicans seek to cut Citigroup contracts over bank’s abortion policy (BBG)

  • Musk gets Twitter board seat after stake-purchase surprise (BBG)

  • Russia’s VTB Bank to seek administration for UK unit after sanctions (BBG)

  • Fake $14.7B Textron takeover bid leads to criminal charge (BBG)

  • Amazon buys dozens of rocket launches for satellite business (BBG)

  • Citi to pause new SPAC issuance as SEC signals crackdown (BBG)

  • One-click checkout startup Fast is shutting down (TI)

  • Ukraine’s Zelensky calls for removing Russia from UN security council after alleged war crimes (WSJ)

  • US, EU to impose more sanctions on Russia after war-crimes reports (WSJ)

  • Credit Suisse found former investment-bank chief violated code of conduct (WSJ)

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Deal Flow

M&A / Investments

  • JetBlue Airways offered to buy low-cost carrier Spirit Airlines for $3.6B (RT)

  • Stone Point Capital agreed to buy fitness products provider Tivity Health for $2B (BBG)

  • PLDT, the Philippines’ biggest telecommunications and digital services provider by market value, has picked Edgepoint Infrastructure and edotco as the preferred bidders for its local towers (BBG)

  • Highland Gold Mining, a company controlled by mining magnate Vladislav Sviblov, agreed to buy Canadian miner Kinross Gold’s Russian assets for $680M (BBG)

  • Human-grade pet food startup The Honest Kitchen received a $150M investment from Monarch (BW)

  • Mortgage lending software and analytics provider Black Knight is exploring a potential sale after receiving takeover interest (BBG)

  • Cryptocurrency exchange FTX agreed to make a strategic investment in national equities exchange IEX (CD)

VC

  • VerSe Innovation, the parent firm of news aggregator app Dailyhunt and short video app Josh, raised an $805M Series J at a $5B valuation led by CPP Investments (TC)

  • Credit oriented fintech platform Liquidity (not LITquidity) raised $775M: a $425M credit facility from Apollo, $300M from MUFG to start a joint debt fund called Mars Growth Capital, and a $50M SAFE Note from Apollo, MUFG, and Spark Capital (TC)

  • Remote, a startup which makes it easier for businesses to hire international employees, raised $300M at a ~$3B valuation in a round led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2 (BBG)

  • Healthcare data and analytics company Clarify Health raised a $150M Series D at a $1.4B valuation led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2 (BBG)

  • Sweep, a carbon management platform for large enterprises, raised a $73M Series B led by Coatue (BW)

  • All-in-one cybersecurity platform Coro raised a $60M Series C at a ~$500M valuation led by Balderton Capital (TC)

  • Data organization and management startup Data.World raised a $50M Series C led by Goldman Sachs (TC)

  • E-commerce aggregator Wholesum raised $50M: a $15M Series A and $35M in debt led by Kingsway Capital, Antler Global, and Widus Partners (TC)

  • Ethereum scaling solution Boba Networks raised a $45M Series A at a $1.5B valuation from Crypto.com, Huobi, BitMart, and more (TC)

  • LimFlow, a startup developing minimally invasive tech for the treatment of chronic limb-threatening ischemia, raised a $40M Series D led by Longitude Capital, Soleus Capital Management, and an undisclosed strategic investor (BW)

  • Real time analytics startup Tinybird raised a $37M Series A led by CRV and Singular Ventures (TC)

  • No-code mobile app development platform Thunkable raised a $30M Series B led by Owl Ventures (TC)

  • Appwrite, a Backend-as-a-Service (BaaS) platform for web and mobile developers, raised a $27M Series A led by Tiger Global (PRN)

  • Rattle, a revenue orchestration startup, raised a $26M Series A led by Insight Partners (PRN)

  • ReadySet, a startup providing database infrastructure help for developers, raised a $24M Series A led by Index Ventures (TC)

  • Warp, a startup creating a new command line terminal, raised $23M: a $6M seed round led by GV and a $17M Series A led by Dylan Field, the co-founder of Figma (TC)

  • Hivemapper, a decentralized mapping network with a crypto-integrated dashcam, raised an $18M Series A led by Multicoin Capital (BW)

  • Corporate metaverse startup Allseated raised a $15M round led by Trinity Capital (TC)

  • Sound wellness startup Endel raised a $15M Series B led by Waverley Capital and True Ventures (TC)

  • Vested Finance, a platform that allows Indians to invest in the US stock market, raised a $12M Series A led by Ayon Capital (PRN)

  • Sydecar, a platform decreasing the regulatory burden associated with launching VC funds, raised an $8.3M seed round led by Deciens Capital (PRN)

  • Nudge Security, a cybersecurity startup focused on human behavior, raised a $7M seed round led by Ballistic Ventures (PRN)

  • AI platform for industry classification Relativity6 raised a $5.25M seed round led by Fin Capital (PRN)

  • Parallel Finance, a decentralized lending and staking protocol, raised $5M in funding at a $500M valuation led by Section 32, Coinbase, and others (PRN)

  • August Schools, a SaaS platform for school health and wellness practitioners, raised a $5M seed round led by Tiger Global (BW)

  • Playhouse, a startup using Tik-Tok-like videos to explore active real estate listings, raised a $2.8M seed round from Agya Ventures, Gaingels, Goodwater Capital, and more (BW)

  • Ghost Financial, a financing and business services platform for ghost kitchens, raised a $2.5M pre-seed round led by HOF Capital, 305 Ventures, Hustle Fund, and more (BW)

IPO / Direct Listings / Issuances / Block Trades

  • India is considering seeking ~$6.6B from the IPO of state-owned Life Insurance Corp (BBG)

Fundraising

  • KKR raises $6.6B+ for European buyout fund (BBG)

  • Base10 Partners, the world’s largest Black-led VC fund, closed a $460M fund for early-stage investments (PRN)

  • US-based growth equity firm MissionOG closed a $167M Fund III to invest in high growth tech companies (BW)

Crypto Corner

  • ‘Ocean’s Eleven” Director Steven Soderbergh gives $300K to crypto-powered film fund Decentralized Pictures to launch a grant (DC)

  • Ledger buys land in The Sandbox as part of metaverse push to educate crypto newcomers (DC)

  • US House members introduce bill to ‘mitigate the risks’ from El Salvador’s adoption of Bitcoin (TBC)

  • Federal prosecutors forfeit $34M in crypto tied to illicit dark web activities (TBC)

Exec's Picks

Big Swinging Decks Podcast

🚨 Big Swinging Decks Is Back with a New Episode! 🚨

Today, Lit and Mark cover the private equity recruiting cycle. With on-cycle private equity recruiting kicking off last week, Lit and Mark break down the dynamics of this process.The duo offers their assessment of current market dynamics and advice to candidates involved in the process.

Whether versed in the process or looking for further detail, join us as a shareholder for another entertaining episode!

As always, catch the latest episode of our Big Swinging Decks podcast, presented by CoinFLEX.US, on Spotify and Apple

And remember that you can earn and trade crypto with CoinFLEX.US, the inventors of flexUSD - America’s first interest earning stablecoin.

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 40+ 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.

Meme Cleanser

Catch the latest episode of our Big Swinging Decks podcast, presented by CoinFLEX.US, on Spotify and Apple Music 🤝 

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