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Good Morning,

Twitter offices are closed until Monday as the company deals with heavy resignations, US banks are scooping up fintech deals among falling valuations, FINRA warned of pump-and-dumps among small-cap IPOs, Morning Brew is laying off 14% of its staff, and FTX's new CEO said the mess is worse than Enron.

Do you live in New Jersey and want to buy and sell sports bets in real-time? Check out today's sponsor, Sporttrade, the sports betting stock market.

Let's dive in.

Before The Bell

Markets

• All three major US indexes ended slightly lower yesterday after Fed officials signaled that rate hikes are far from over

• Canada's TSX fell to a 9-day low as commodity stocks weighed

• Saudi index posted its fourth weekly loss on falling oil prices

• US dollar and yields rose on hawkish Fed remarks

Earnings

• Alibaba posted a surprise Q3 loss on barely growing revenue due to tight Covid lockdowns and slow consumer spending in China; their stock is up 13% since last week on news of easing Covid policy (BBG)

• Gap beat on Q3 profit and revenue estimates on an unexpected increase in comparable sales and improving inventory conditions but gave a cautious outlook for the holiday quarter; their stock climbed 17%+ (CNBC)

• What we're watching this week:

  • Today: JD.com

• Full calendar here

Headline Roundup

• Musk’s ‘harcore’ ultimatum sparks exodus, leaving Twitter at risk (BBG)

• Mortgage rates fell to 6.61% last week in biggest decline in 41 years (BBG)

• Weekly jobless claims fell to a seasonally adjusted 222k despite tech sector layoffs (RT)

• US housing starts fell sharply to lowest level in ~2.5 years in October (RT)

• US banks are pouncing on fintech deals amid falling valuations (RT)

• US firms are setting price floors on goods to limit discounts and maintain profits (RT)

• FINRA warned of heightened threat of pump-and-dumps involving small firm IPOs (WSJ)

• Swiss National Bank issued bills and repos worth $148B following rate hike (RT)

• US diesel and heating oil stocks hit historic lows as the Northeast braces for winter heating crisis (FT)

• 'Debt-for-Nature' swap deals are gaining traction among developing countries (BBG)

• Masayoshi Son personally owes $4.7B to SoftBank following tech rout (FT)

• Elon Musk plans to find a new leader for Twitter (RT)

• Musk softened remote-work mandate to retain Twitter employees (BBG)

• In FTX bankruptcy, startup stakes could be sold off fast (TI)

• Morning Brew will lay off 14% of its staff (OB)

• Trump ex-CFO tells jury he and others committed tax fraud (BBG)

• Thanksgiving travel is expected to hit near pre-pandemic levels (AX)

• Starbucks workers went on strike at over 100 US stores yesterday (AP)

A Message From Sporttrade

What Sports Betting Can Learn From Stock Trading

The current sports betting industry contains dozens of sportsbooks that allow you to place a bet with a few taps on your phone, but it’s the same as if you went to the ticket window in a casino.

You’re often locked into the bet until the end of the event.

Imagine you bought shares of $TSLA on Robinhood but then they blocked you from trading out of them if the price went up or until they said you could? That’s the problem with today’s sportsbooks – they’re archaic, opaque and the “house” always wins.

But, thanks to technology and an evolution of the capital markets, now when you buy stocks, crypto, or options contracts, you are free to trade in and out, frictionlessly - whenever you want at zero or very low cost.

Sporttrade is now making that possible for sports betting!

The basic concept behind Sporttrade is to take all the technology, expertise and processes from the finance world and apply them to sports betting.

They’re not in the business of betting against the customer. They are not the “house”. They are a regulated sports trading exchange that matches buyers and sellers, just like a stock market. But instead of listing stocks, they list sports outcomes called “contracts” like “Brazil to win the World Cup”, or “Jets to beat the Patriots.” A “contract” is simply a bet that settles at $100 if the outcome occurs, and $0 if the outcome doesn’t occur.

The NY Jets to win are currently priced at $39 for their upcoming game against the NE Patriots (meaning they have a 39% chance to beat them) according to the market on Sporttrade. That is a lot easier to understand than +145 odds given on a traditional sportsbook. And if they take a lead at any point in the game on Sunday, that price will go up and you can trade out. No more waiting until the final score of the game.

Now is the time to take back control of our sports bets!

Download on iOS anywhere. If you are in NJ or travel to NJ you can start trading today.

Pricing subject to change. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER (NJ) 21+

Deal Flow

M&A / Investments

• French investment group Wendel is considering a potential sale of Austrian packaging firm Constantia Flexibles at a ~$2.1B valuation (BBG)

• Oil and gas exploration asset buyer Waldorf Production is planning to raise up to $2B for M&A deals (BBG)

• Software firm PTC agreed to buy cloud-based software provider ServiceMax for $1.46B (RT)

• Blackstone agreed to buy a 52% stake in IT services company R Systems for $359M (RT)

• Italian luxury house Ermenegildo Zegna agreed to buy the 85% of US luxury fashion brand Tom Ford’s fashion operations that it doesn’t already own as part of Estee Lauder’s purchase of the company (BBG)

• Mubadala Investment agreed to buy a 20%+ stake in carbon-trading exchange operator AirCarbon Exchange (BBG)

• India-based conglomerate Tata Group is considering planning to integrate its four airline brands under Air India, which it purchased last year (BBG)

• Toymaker Hasbro is planning to sell its media division, Entertainment One (BBG)

• Crypto exchange Binance’s US unit is relaunching its bid to buy bankrupt crypto lender Voyager Digital (RT)

• The UK ordered Chinese manufacturer Wingtech Technology to undo its acquisition of Newport Wafer Fab, Britain’s biggest microchip factory, citing national security concerns (BBG) 

• Walt Disney agreed to buy Global Dream, a half-built cruise ship planned to be among the largest in the world (BBG)

VC

• Spot AI, a startup building smarter CCTV security camera tech, raised a $40M round led by Scale Venture Partners (TC)

• Behavioral engagement startup Symend raised $40M in funding led by Inovia Capital (PRN)

• ISEE, a self-driving yard truck startup, raised a $40M Series B led by Founders Fund (BW)

• Speak, an AI-powered English language learning platform, raised a $27M Series B led by the OpenAI Startup Fund (TC)

• Soft Robotics, a startup using robots to automate food production, raised a $26M Series C led by Tyson Ventures (TC)

• ReadySpaces, a warehouse and storage startup for SMBs, raised $20M in debt from undisclosed investors (TC)

• Gravitics, an aerospace component manufacturing firm, raised a $20M round led by Type One Ventures (BW)

• Solid oxide fuel cell startup Upstart Power raised a $17M Series C led by ITOCHU (BW)

• Contract management startup Terzo raised a $16M Series A led by Align Ventures (TC)

• Virgil, a startup helping people buy larger apartments in exchange for home equity stakes, raised a $15.6M round led by Global Founders Capital (TC)

• ZSuite Tech, a provider of digital escrow products, raised an $11M Series A led by ICBA and BankTech Ventures (BW)

• Construction site management platform Beti raised an $11M round led by PSG (BW)

• Narwhal, a startup building a monorepo-focused open source Nx build system for JavaScript code, raised an $8.6M seed round led by Nexus Venture Partners (TC)

• Namecoach, a startup using AI to predict correct name pronunciation, raised an $8M Series A led by Impact America Fund (TC)

• Private AI, a startup developing technology to remove personal information from data, raised an $8M Series A led by BDC Capital (PRN)

• Beam, a startup helping citizens access government financial aid, raised a $6.4M Series A led by Potencia Ventures (TC)

• LatAm digital wallet startup Zulu raised a $5M seed round led by Cadenza Ventures (TC)

• Anode Labs, a startup building a Web3 platform offering tokenized incentives for individuals and SMBs to connect their energy storage assets, raised a $4.2M round led by Lerer Hippeau and Lattice (BW)

• OpsHelm, a startup looking to automate cybersecurity, emerged from stealth with $1.3M in funding (TC)

IPO / Direct Listings / Issuances / Block Trades

• Fairfax India, the Indian arm of Canadian investment group Fairfax, is considering an IPO for Bangalore International Airport at a potential $3.7B valuation (BBG)

• Blackstone filed a preliminary draft prospectus for the IPO of its Indian shopping mall portfolio, Nexus Mall REIT, which could raise as much as $500M at a $3B valuation (BBG)

• Chinese solar energy device maker Growatt Technology received approval from the Hong Kong stock exchange for a ~$1B Hong Kong IPO (BBG)

• Chinese liquor company Zhen Jiu is considering raising ~$300M in a Hong Kong IPO as soon as next year (BBG)

• Singaporean logistics firm Legend Logistics is exploring raising up to $146M (BBG)

SPAC

• French mobile payment solutions company Digital Virgo agreed to merge with Goal Acquisitions Corp. in a $513M deal (BBG)

Fundraising

• SE Ventures raised a $518M Fund II aimed at investing in climate and industrial tech startups (PRN)

• Index Ventures launched a $300M Index Origin II fund to invest in startups at the seed stage (TC)

• Ex-PayPal exec and Thiel Capital MD Jack Selby launched a $110M VC fund, AZ-VC, to invest mostly in Arizona startups (TC)

• Korean VC Sopoong raised an $8M fund to invest in environmental-impact startups (TC)

Crypto Corner

• Crypto lender Genesis sought a $1B emergency loan before suspending redemptions (WSJ)

• FTX had 'complete failure of corporate control' and its situation is worse than Enron, according to its new CEO (RT)

• FTX case has raised 'serious allegations' for fraud: Singapore deputy PM (RT)

• Full contagion impact of FTX collapse still to show: Coinbase CFO (RT)

• People are already buying depositor claims on FTX (BBG)

Exec's Picks

• Christmas is coming up quickly, and there's no better gift than a new pair of kicks from Amberjack! From dress shoes, to Chelsea boots, to classic loafers, Amberjack has a pair that fits everyone's style. Get yours here!

• The Wall Street Journal had a live Q&A with Coinbase CFO Alesia Haas about the current crypto meltdown, check it out 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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