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Good Morning,

Apple’s iPhone supply chain is splintering under US-China tensions, OpenAI launched ChatGPT Enterprise, Citadel vetted 69k intern applicants to find math geniuses, student loans are emerging from deep freeze, Google is selling maps data to companies building solar products, and 3M reached a roughly $5.5B earplugs settlement.

Today’s sponsor, Plaid, just released their whitepaper titled “How Can Open Finance Reinvent Financial Services?”, and you can access it here for free.

Let’s dive in.

Before The Bell

Markets

• US stocks rallied yesterday as investors turned optimistic

  • The Nasdaq led indices with a 0.84% gain

• Asian surged higher after Chinese authorities moved to boost its equity markets

• European stocks closed higher as the Euronext notched a 1.3% gain

Earnings

• What we're watching this week:

  • Tuesday: Nio, Best Buy, HP 

  • Wednesday: CrowdStrike, Salesforce, Chewy, Five Below 

  • Thursday: Dollar General, UBS, Broadcom, lululemon, Dell, VMware, Polestar 

• Full calendar here

Headline Roundup

• Apple’s iPhone supply chain splinters under US-China tensions (BBG)

• OpenAI launches ChatGPT Enterprise, the company’s biggest announcement since ChatGPT’s debut (CNBC)

• US raises concerns by Micron, Intel with China (RT)

• Citadel vets 69,000 intern applicants to find next math genius (BBG)

• Student loans are emerging from deep freeze, and borrowers are confused (WSJ)

• Hawaiian Electric denies causing Lahaina fire (WSJ)

• Google to begin selling maps data to companies building solar products (CNBC)

• Biden signs state of emergency order for Florida as tropical storm Idalia approaches (CNBC)

• Puerto Rico electric power bonds fall on proposed debt deal (BBG)

• PG&E warns of potential power cuts due to wildfire risk (BBG)

• 3M nears roughly $5.5B earplugs settlement (WSJ)

• Instacart’s value comes down to what matters: growth or profit (BBG)

• Exxon predicts world will miss climate-change targets (WSJ)

• Dwindling muni sales limit pain with market set for monthly drop (BBG)

• Americans are bailing on their home insurance (WSJ)

• Trump’s federal trial on election interference set to start March 4, 2024 (WSJ)

A Message From Plaid

Does Open Finance Equal Economic Freedom?

How can open finance help companies improve our banking experience?

Perhaps most importantly… what even is open finance?

These are the questions, and Plaid – like always – has the answers in the form of their newest whitepaper, produced in association with MIT Technology Review Insights:

Download “How Can Open Finance Reinvent Financial Services?” here.

Inside, you’ll find everything you need to know about open finance, how fintech innovations may hold the key to increasing customer demands, and how changing U.S. regulations will affect the industry.

If you work in finance, invest in finance, or, ya know… have a bank account, this is one piece of reading worth checking out.

Get the whitepaper for free right here while you still can.

Deal Flow

M&A / Investments

• Italy approved a decree that allows it to take a stake of up to 20% in Telecom Italia’s landline grid alongside KKR, which has bid $25B for the network (RT)

• Manufacturing conglomerate Danaher will acquire UK biotech supplier Abcam in a $5.7B deal (BBG)

• Saudi Arabia’s PIF will buy Standard Chartered’s aviation finance business for $3.6B (BBG)

• The electronics unit of EV maker BYD agreed to acquire Jabil’s Chinese business operations for $2.2B (BBG)

• Commercial REIT Kimco will acquire shopper center REIT RPT Realty in a $2B all-stock deal (RT)

• Minerva Foods, South America’s top beef exporter, will acquire beef and sheep slaughtering plants from Brazilian meatpacker Marfrig in a $1.5B deal (RT)

• Abu Dhabi-based healthcare network Pure Health will acquire one of the UK’s largest independent hospital operators, Circle Health, from Centene Corp at ~$1.2B EV (BBG)

• PK Airfinance, an Apollo-backed aviation lending platform, will acquire the majority of a ~$920M portfolio of secured aviation loans from Standard Chartered (GNW)

• A Tower Capital Asia-led consortium, including Temasek and members of its founding family, is considering a sale of their consumer healthcare company Eu Yan Sang International at an estimated ~$800M valuation (BBG)

• Creative Planning LLC, a $240B AUM wealth manager, will acquire Goldman Sachs’ $29B AUM investment advisory business, which it acquired for $750M in 2019, for an undisclosed amount (BBG)

• EV maker XPeng will acquire DiDi Global’s smart car manufacturing unit in a $744M all-stock deal (BBG)

• L Catterton, a PE firm backed by LVMH, will take Thorne Healthtech private in a ~$680M deal (PRNW)

• Tiger Global sold its remaining stake in Indian food delivery firm Zomato in a $136M deal (RT)

• Brazilian cosmetics maker Natura &Co is considering a sale of its Body Shop unit to cut costs (BBG)

VC

• Zepto, an Indian grocery delivery startup, raised a $200M Series E at a $1.4B valuation led by StepStone Group (FN)

• Redaptive, a Denver-based energy-as-a-service company, raised $125M in financing from Deutsche Bank (FN)

• Indonesian electric mobility startup Ilectra Motor Group raised a $50M Series B led by Horizons Ventures (FN)

• Companion Protect, a pet insurance and pet wellness administration company, raised a $27M Series A led by Avanta Ventures, Liberty Mutual Insurance, Old Republic International Corporation, and Stray Dog Enterprises (FN)

• Aditude, a provider of an ad operations technology solution for online publishers, raised a $15M Series A led by Volition Capital (FN)

• Swedish healthtech startup Collective Minds Radiology raised $7.6M in funding led by Segulah Medical Acceleration, Brightly Ventures Tradecity, and others (FN)

• Software test automation startup Qualiti.ai raised a $6.5M seed round led by Sierra Ventures (BW)

• Subletting app Kiki raised a $6M seed round led by Blackbird Ventures (TC)

• AI-powered shopping platform Starcart raised a $3.8M seed round led by Inventure (FN)

IPO / Direct Listings / Issuances / Block Trades

• Swiggy, an Indian food delivery startup backed by SoftBank Group, is eyeing a 2024 IPO; it was last valued at $10.7B in 2022 (RT)

• Siam Cement, one of Thailand’s largest industrial conglomerates, scrapped a $2B IPO of its chemicals unit SCG Chemicals due to unfavorable market conditions (BBG)

• Oil and gas driller ADES Holding, which is backed by the PIF, announced plans to IPO on the Saudi exchange and could fetch more than $1B (RT)

• South Korea's Doosan Robotics opened its books as it looks to raise up to $318M in its IPO (RT)

• French car maker Renault is looking to IPO its EV unit Ampere in the spring of 2024 (RT)

• Credit Bank plans to IPO on the Nairobi Securities Exchange, Kenya’s first IPO in 9 years (BBG)

Bankruptcy / Restructuring

• Drugmaker Mallinckrodt filed for a second bankruptcy in three years with a restructuring plan to cut $1B from what it owes to opioid victims (RT)

Fundraising

• Fvlcrum Partners, a lower middle market buyout firm, closed a $302M fund to target control equity investments in diverse companies with growth potential and competitive advantages (FN)

• NY asset manager Tri Ri Asset Management closed a VC fund at $142M to invest in preseed, Series A, and Series B startups (FN)

• Finland-based VC Greencode Ventures, which is focused on accelerating the green transition,closed a new fund at $40M to invest in digital-first startups (FN)

Crypto Corner

• Binance is considering a full withdrawal from Russia (WSJ)

• SEC widened its securities crackdown to include NFTs after it accused LA media firm Impact Theory of offering NFTs that were really unregistered securities (BBG)

Exec’s Picks

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• Ben Thompson wrote about the near-term upside and long-term possibilities for Nvidia.

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