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Good morning,

Inflation is hot as a mf right now. The main question is: is it persistently transitory or transitorily persistent? 

Stocks got clapped as a result of the CPI report reading. As with almost every inflation reading scare, Bitcoin rallied (this time topping a very nice $69k briefly), y'all would've seen this coming if you read the Foot Guns newsletter. 

If you want to win tickets to THE biggest game in the NFL this upcoming February, check out the Ansarada x Litquidity giveaway details below. Or if you want to just cut to the chase, click this link. 

Last item: we just made the transition to a new home. If images aren't loading or something is off, let us know and we've got the fix for you.

Let's dive in.

Before The Bell

Markets

• The three major US indexes fell yesterday after INFLATION barged its way back into the convo, worrying investors and pushing bond yields up

• Large-cap tech companies led the plunge, since higher yields are bad news for their future growth pace

• The October CPI rose 0.9% from September (6.2% YoY), the fastest annual pace since 1990 

• Following the CPI data, traders moved up their expectations for when the first Fed rate hike would occur, seeing greater odds of it coming in July 2022

Earnings

• Affirm stock rebounded 20%+ AH yesterday, after tanking 15% during trading hours, due to an earnings report with better-than-expected revenue guidance and the announcement of its e-commerce partnership with Amazon (IBD)

• Beyond Meat missed on both revenue and EPS, posting a wider-than-expected quarterly loss and a dropped Q4 revenue outlook (CNBC)

• Disney reported lower-than-expected figures for both quarterly EPS and Disney+ subscriber growth; shares dropped 4%+ AH (WSJ)

• Full calendar here

Headline Roundup

• Inflation in US builds with biggest gain in prices since 1990 (BBG)

• Zillow agrees to sell 2,000 homes as flipping business ends (BBG)

• Wall Street warns it will cut NYC workforce in coming years (BBG)

• Bitcoin hits record as inflation hedge drumbeat grows louder (BBG)

• Meta and Microsoft announce partnership to integrate Workplace and Teams (CNBC)

• NFL fines Aaron Rodgers and Packers for Covid violations (CNBC)

• Elon Musk sells $1.1B of Tesla stock to cover taxes (BBG)

• Evergrande set to avoid default after paying overdue interest (BBG)

• Goldman readies $30B for alternative investments in Asia (BBG)

A Message From Ansarada

🚨 The Bullpen Tales Giveaway 🚨

• Do you currently work in (or previously work in) investment banking, private equity, or a unique corporate environment? 

• Have you seen some crazy good sh*t? 

• Do you have “Attending the Super… I mean Biggest Game in Football”*** on your bucket list? (*** Legal says we can't say it but y'all know what it is)

• Are you overworked and overdue for some time off? 

If the answer to all the above is “YES”, then oh boy, do we have a giveaway for you. 

Ansarada is the virtual data room and deal technology used by 10 out of the 10 top investment banks (read: they’re legit af). They’ve just launched a brand new online quoting process, it takes 3 clicks and approximately 15 seconds to magically open your data room. Plus, you don’t pay until the deal goes live. Take our word for it, it’s awesome.

Having opened a few VDRs in our time we know their product is simple, secure, intuitive and was actually built this century.

Ansarada and Litquidity have teamed up to give away two tickets* to "The Big Game" LVI in LA to one lucky Exec Sum subscriber.

All you need to do is go to this page and fill out the form with your contact info and your absolute best & worst workplace stories. Don't hold back, there's a huge prize at stake! 

Ansarada and Litquidity will select the most noteworthy stories and narrow them down to a handful of finalists that will then be voted on by the audience. The giveaway will be live for the next week, closing on November 18th and the finalists will be announced the following week.

We're here to give back to the community and wish you all the best of luck. 🤝

So get to submitting your entries now and be sure to make them good!

*Airfares and accommodation are not included

Deal Flow

M&A

• Sweden’s biggest grocery chain, ICA, is looking to go private and its largest shareholder is looking to buy all the shares it doesn’t already own in a ~$12.5B deal (BBG)

• South African carrier Vodacom agreed to buy a majority stake in Vodafone Egypt from its UK parent for $2.7B (BBG)

• A consortium backed by Centerbridge and Advent International is preparing to make a formal offer for Aareal Bank at a potential $2B+ valuation (BBG)

• US chocolatier Hershey agreed to buy two pretzel makers, Dot’s Pretzels and Pretzels Inc, in two deals worth a combined ~$1.2B (RT)

• European PE firm EQT agreed to buy healthcare-focused VC firm LSP for $551M (BBG)

• Maker of Mercedes-Benz cars Daimler plans to dispose of its stake in carmaker Renault that could be worth ~$364M (BBG)

• Brazilian asset manager IG4 Capital agreed to buy 50% of Chile’s logistics operator Adelco for $57M (RT)

Venture Capital

• General Atlantic secured $7.8B in commitments for its sixth fund (TC)

• B2B integrative medicine marketplace Fullscript raised a $240M round from HGGC and Snapdragon Capital Partners (TC)

• Lusha, a crowdsourced data platform for B2B sales, raised a $205M Series B at a $1.5B valuation led by PSG (TC)

• ZenBusiness, a BizDev platform, raised a $200M Series C at a $1.7B valuation led by Oak HC/FT (Yahoo)

• EV asset financing startup Inspiration raised a $200M round from ArcLight Capital Partners (TC)

• Workato, a startup building a platform to help enterprises automate repetitive tasks, raised a $200M Series E at a $5.7B valuation led by Battery Ventures (TC)

• Self driving truck startup Kodiak Robotics raised a $125M Series B led by an unnamed ‘freight and logistics company’ (TC)

• Density, a workplace performance analytics platform, raised a $125M Series D at a $1.05B valuation led by Kleiner Perkins (PRN)

• African digital payments platform MFS Africa raised a $100M Series C led by AfricInvest FIVE, Goodwell Investments, and LUN Partners Group (TC)

• ControlUp, a startup building tech for IT teams to monitor and improve performance across networks, raised a $100M round led by K1 Investment Management and JVP (TC)

• Smart home startup Level Home raised a $100M Series C led by Cox Communications (TC)

• Israeli sensor technology startup TriEye raised a $74M round led by Varana Capital and M&G Investments (TC)

• Moov, an online marketplace for used manufacturing equipment, raised a $41M Series A led by Tiger Global (TC)

• Daily, a startup providing APIs to allow developers to add real-time audio and video into products, raised a $40M Series B led by Renegade Partners (TC)

• Sandbox VR, a location-based VR startup, raised a $37M Series B led by a16z (TC)

• Battery swapping tech startup Ample raised a $30M round from Banco Santander and The Blackstone Group (TC)

• Mekonos, a cell engineering platform, raised a $25M Series A co-led by Reimagined Ventures, Fiscus Ventures, and PEAK6 Strategic Capital (PRN)

• Novata, a provider of ESG reporting metrics for PE firms and private companies, raised a $21M Series A from Ford Foundation, S&P Global, and others (Finsmes)

• Productivity app Blink raised a $20M Series A at a $100M valuation led by Next47 (TC)

• Digital globe startup Blackshark.ai raised a $20M round led by M12 (TC)

• Signos, a startup helping track blood glucose levels to help with weight loss, raised a $13M Series A led by GV (TC) 

• Climate fintech Evergrow raised a $7M seed round led by XYZ Venture Capital and Congruent Ventures (TC)

• SaaS buying experience startup Cacheflow raised a $6M seed round led by GGV (TC)

• Momentum, a startup automating sales tasks in Slack, raised a $5M seed round led by Basis Set Ventures (TC)

• Workweek, a media startup focused on creators and B2B content, raised a $1.5M pre-seed round led by LightShed Ventures (Axios)

IPO / Direct Listings / Issuances / Block Trades

• EV maker Rivian rose 29% in its trading debut, briefly touching a $104B valuation, ending the day at $88B (BBG)

• French pharmaceuticals company Sanofi has picked BofA, BNP Paribas, and JPMorgan to lead the IPO of its drug ingredient manufacturing business seeking to raise ~$1.2B (BBG)

• API, the owner of India’s largest online pharmacy PharmEasy, is seeking to raise up to $843M in IPO (BBG)

• Ecommerce company Lulu’s Fashion Lounge raised $92M in an IPO priced at the bottom of a marketed range (BBG)

• China Evergrande Group’s EV unit plans to raise $64M in a share sale which will be used to put “long-delayed” vehicles into production (BBG)

SPAC

• Corporate transportation firm Gett agreed to merge with Rosecliff Acquisition Corp I in a $1B deal (RT)

• Building security software maker Brivo is in advanced talks to merge with Crown PropTech Acquisitions in a potential ~$800M deal (BBG)

Exec's Picks

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• With Bitcoin, Ethereum, and other cryptos collectively surpassing $3 TRILLION in aggregate market cap, y'all need to know what's going on in the industry, dive into DeFi, and develop trading strategies around this new financial system. Subscribe to Foot Guns, they've got you covered.

• Last call for 15% off our merch store with code "thx15". Offer valid through this Sunday.

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.

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