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Good Morning,

US gas prices have fallen to pre-Ukraine invasion levels, US mortgage demand keeps slipping, Asia IPOs were hot in August, Eurozone inflation hit a record high last month, Russia put more pressure on Europe's energy grid, and US life expectancy declined by a year from 2020 to 2021.

Let's dive in.

Before The Bell

As of 8/31/2022 market close.

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

Markets

• Stocks fell for a fourth straight day yesterday to close out August, with all three major averages closing down despite intraday gains

• The Fed’s commitment to raising rates to curb inflation, despite the recessionary environment, has put doubt in a potential summer market comeback

Earnings

• What we're watching this week:

  • Today: Broadcom, Lululemon, Signet Jewelers

• Full calendar here 

Headline Roundup

• US gas prices fell to pre-Ukraine invasion levels on Wednesday (RT)

• US mortgage demand is now 23% lower than last year this time (CNBC)

• Asia IPOs raised $14.9B last month in their second-best August on record, despite global deal flow slump (BBG)

• Eurozone inflation hit a record 9.1% in August YoY (WSJ)

• Russia deepens Europe's energy squeeze with new gas halt (RT)

• Amazon and Google slammed Microsoft's cloud computing changes as anti-competitive (RT)

• German authorities raided JPMorgan's Frankfurt office as part of 'CumEx' trading scandal probe (RT)

• Fintech Klarna tripled losses in H1 amid aggressive US expansion and layoffs (CNBC)

• Snap will cut 20% of its workforce and pull back products to save $500M in Q3 (AX)

• Bed Bath & Beyond will close ~150 stores and lay off 20% of its staff (AX)

• Sam’s Club boosted membership fee by 10%+ for the first time in nine years (BBG)

• US support for labor unions is at a 57-year high (NPR)

• TikTok-owner ByteDance is repricing stock options to retain employees (BBG)

• US life expectancy declined one year from 2020 to 2021 due to Covid-19 (AX)

• Italy’s right-wing leader opposes plan to sell state carrier ITA (BBG)

• Disney explores membership program like Amazon Prime to offer discounts and perks (WSJ)

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Deal Flow

M&A / Investments

• Platinum Equity is considering a sale of logistics firm Livingston International at a potential $1B+ valuation (BBG)

• UK grocer Asda agreed to buy the gas station business of UK retailer The Cooperative Group in a ~$701M deal (BBG)

• Skin-care brand Glow Recipe is exploring a sale at a potential $400-$500M valuation (BBG)

• Chinese game distributor NetEase agreed to buy French game developer and publisher Quantic Dream (BBG)

• Indonesian carrier PT Indosat is considering selling some telecommunications towers as it continues to offload assets amid rising demand for digital infrastructure (BBG)

• Units of Tencent and Sony agreed to buy minority stakes in game publisher FromSoftware, popular for its action-role playing title Elden Ring (RT)

VC

• Ticketing platform SeatGeek raised a $238M Series E at a ~$1.2B valuation led by Accel after recently terminating a ~$2B merger with RedBall Acquisition Corp. (BW)

• Solid, a fintech-as-a-service startup, raised a $63M Series B led by FTV Capital (TC)

• Topi, a startup helping businesses pay for hardware subscriptions, raised $45M ($15M in equity and $30M in debt) led by Index Ventures, Creandum, TriplePoint Capital and undisclosed angel investors (TC)

• Fleet insurtech startup Fairmatic raised a $42M Series A led by Foundation Capital (PRN)

• Virtual office platform oVice raised a $32.5M Series B led by a group of Japanese and overseas investors (PRN)

• Hardware support platform Mavenoid raised a $30M Series B led by Smedvig Capital (BW)

• Landa, a real estate investing company, raised a $25M Series A led by NFX, 83North, and Viola Ventures (BW)

• Zilla Security, an identity security platform for cloud and hybrid environments, raised a $13.5M Series A led by Tola Capital and FirstMark Capital (PRN)

• Stacked, a web3 gaming platform, raised a $13M Series A led by Pantera Capital (TC)

• Climate-conscious food company Neutral Foods is raising $12M in an investment round led by Bill Gates’ Breakthrough Energy Ventures with participation from Mark Cuban, LeBron James and others (CNBC)

• iCover, a Missouri-based insurtech startup providing algorithmic underwriting and QUI services, raised a $5M pre-Series A led by Kesan Parasuraman (PRN)

• NFT fan engagement startup Koop raised a $5M round led by 1confirmation and Variant Fund (TC)

• Wreno, a proptech company helping institutional real estate companies train and connect workers and trade partners, raised a $5M seed round led by Lerer Hippeau (BW)

• StepFunction, a SaaS growth solutions startup, raised a $5M round led by Dallas Venture Capital (BW)

• African B2B payments startup Duplo raised a $4.3M seed round led by Liquid2 Ventures, Soma Capital, Tribe Capital, and more (TC)

• Alloy Enterprises, a startup building machinery to make aluminum more efficiently, raised a $3M SAFE round led by Lockheed Martin Ventures (PRN)

• Digital health startup AESOP Technology raised a $2.95M pre-Series A round led by Taiwania Capital (PRN)

SPAC

• SPAC Vistas Acquisition Company II Inc is aiming to raise up to $200M in an IPO (MBW)

Bankruptcy / Restructuring

• Mexican airline Interjet was declared bankrupt as it looks to negotiate its ~$2B debt with creditors (RT)

• PE firm Apollo will lose control of lighting components firm Lumileds after the company filed for chapter 11 protection and reached a deal to cut debt by $1.3B (BBG)

• A bankruptcy judge will allow Boy Scouts to use chapter 11 protection to resolve mass torts (WSJ)

Crypto Corner

• FTX's CEO Sam Bankman-Fried visited the White House amid regulatory fight (CD)

• Peruvians are buying crypto to hedge against inflation and political instability (CD)

• A crypto-funded super PAC backed by Sam Bankman-Fried poured over $24M into Democratic primaries this year before going dark (BI)

• VC firm A16z wants to standardize NFTs by licensing tokens (CD)

Exec's Picks

• Inflation is eating your savings, so every dollar counts. Credit card rewards programs can get you more bang for your buck, but how do you maximize your rewards? By using Lever. Lever is a Chrome extension that makes sure you always use the best credit card to maximize your rewards, every time. Level up your credit card reward game by checking out Lever here!

• The NFL season is around the corner, which means it's time to place those bets! If you are a sports bettor living in New Jersey (or NYC, because it takes 20 minutes to cross the river) that wants $1,000 in free play for their first bet, check out BetMGM's new online sportsbook here!

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 aim to curate jobs across IB, S&T, VC, tech, private equity, DeFi, crypto, CorpDev and more. We'll sift through all the noise on LinkedIn, Indeed, Monster, etc. so you don't have to.

If you're a company looking to hire candidates and want to list a job opening on our board and feature on Exec Sum, click the button below:

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