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Good Morning,

Kim K launched a private equity firm, the dollar continues to surge, mortgage rates are back to June levels, VCs poured billions into crypto, Truss has a new power subsidy plan for the UK, Serena's last tennis match was the most watched in ESPN history, and Musk will use whistleblower claims in his lawsuit.

Speaking of Kim K's PE fund... the barriers to invest in private equity and venture capital have been lowered over the past few years and today's sponsor, Vauban, is increasing access for many. Check out how they're making it simple to launch investment syndicates here (and btw, there are special discounts on your first SPVs when you use the code "LIT").

Let's dive in.

Before The Bell

Markets

• Parts of the market finally saw a rally yesterday, with the three major averages closing in the green in their best day since August 10th

• Economists are expecting 235k US jobless claims from last week in this morning’s data, up from 232k in the week prior

• The ECB will announce its latest monetary-policy decision today

Earnings

• GameStop reported a decline in sales and widening losses on swelling inventory and shrinking cash pile, yet beat expectations and announced a crypto partnership with FTX; their stock jumped 11%+ in AH trading (CNBC)

• Dave & Buster's beat revenue estimates but missed earnings expectations by a wide margin; their stock fell ~2.4% in AH trading (YH)

• G-III Apparel improved on earnings and net sales YoY in Q2 but missed earnings estimates; their stock fell ~5.3% on the day (YH)

• What we're watching this week:

  • Today: Smith & Wesson 

  • Friday: Kroger

• Full calendar here

Headline Roundup

• Bank of Canada hiked interest rates by 75 bps to 3.5%, the highest level in 14 years (RT)

• US dollar surged to 24-year peak against the yen and 37-year high versus sterling (RT)

• Kim Kardashian and ex-Carlyle partner Jay Sammons are launching SKKY, a new PE firm focused on consumer and media businesses (RT)

• US firms see tentative progress on inflation and labor supply: Fed (RT)

• US trade deficit narrowed in July as exports hit a record high (RT)

• Fed's Beige Book report unveiled bleak economic forecast but sees possible signs of improvement (NPR)

• Mortgage rates rose to 5.94% last week, hitting June’s high (CNBC)

• VCs poured $14.2B in crypto across 725 deals in H1 2022 (CT)

• Google is restricting employee travel to "business critical" trips (TI)

• SEC will propose new Treasury market reforms next week (RT)

• US Currency Comptroller warned that rise of fintech services and digital banking could spur crisis (RT)

• New UK PM Liz Truss finalized a $115B power subsidy plan (RT)

• GM is targeting China's urban rich with luxury imports (RT)

• Elon Musk will be allowed to use Twitter whistleblower claims in his Twitter lawsuit (AX)

• Serena Williams' final match at the US Open was the most-watched tennis match in ESPN history (FOS)

A Message From Vauban

 Get paid for your deal flow: Launch your syndicate on Vauban. 

As all investors know, there’s nothing sexier than doing deals... except bringing your friends into the action and reaping the rewards of startup investing with your crew. 

Do you know some hot companies raising at the moment? Do you have connections with friends who have cash burning a hole in their pocket? Then it's time to turn your network into net worth by setting up a syndicate.

For each deal, invest alongside your network and earn a 20% carried interest on exit. Vauban has built the end-to-end platform that allows you to do this in just a few clicks. Whether it be on the streets of Sand Hill Road, in a Yurt in Burning Man, or on the beaches of Miami, Lit himself manages his syndicate with ease on Vauban.

Find out how easy it is to do by clicking here and get a special discount on your first SPV using the code “LIT”.

Deal Flow

M&A / Investments

• EIG Global Energy Partners agreed to buy 25% of Spanish oil and gas company Repsol’s exploration and production division for $3.4B (BBG)

• State-owned companies of the Chinese northeastern city of Shenyang agreed to buy China Evergrande Group’s shareholding in Shengjing Bank in an auction for $1.05B (RT)

• Cogent Communications Holdings agreed to buy T-Mobile US’s wireline business for $1 (yup), while T-Mobile will take a $1B charge on the transaction (RT)

• Grocery delivery company Instacart agreed to buy Rosie Applications, an online grocery startup focused on local retailers and wholesalers (BBG)

VC

• Journalist database Muck Rack raised $180M in its first outside funding from Susquehanna Growth Equity (TC)

• Corporate spend management startup Mesh Payments raised a $60M Series C led by Alpha Wave (TC)

• Cloud-native emergency contact center solutions company Carbyne raised a $56M Series C led by Cox Enterprises and Hanaco Growth Fund (PRN)

• Albedo, a satellite imagery startup, raised a $48M Series A led by Breakthrough Energy Ventures and Shield Capital (PS)

• Crop intelligence and management platform Taranis raised a $40M Series D led by Inven Capital (PRN)

• PolyAI, a startup building an automated voice assistant for customer service, raised a $40M Series B led by Georgian (TC)

• Regal.io, an outbound phone and SMS sales solution, raised a $38.5M Series A led by Emergence Capital (PRN)

• COUR Pharmaceuticals, a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing immune-modifying nanoparticles, raised $30M in financing led by Alpha Wave Ventures (PRN)

• Hebbia, a startup developing AI-infused search tools, raised a $30M Series A led by Index Ventures (TC)

• Crypto exchange traded products provider 21.co raised a $25M round at a ~$2B valuation led by Marshall Wace (PRN)

• Financial services compliance startup SteelEye raised a $21M Series B led by Ten Coves Capital (BW)

• Otolith Labs, a med-tech company developing non-invasive wearable medical devices for treatment of vestibular disorders, raised a $20M Series A led by Morningside Ventures (BW)

• Arpeggio Biosciences, a preclinical therapeutics company targeting transcriptional dysregulation in disease, raised a $17M Series A led by Builders VC (BW)

• Medical licensing and credentialing platform CertifyOS raised a $14.5M Series A led by General Catalyst (PRN)

• Spice.AI, a developer platform for Web3 applications, raised a $13.5M seed round led by Madrona (BW)

• Nigerian neobank NowNow raised a $13M seed round led by NeoVision Ventures, DLF Family Office, and more (TC)

• Customer experience analytics and insights platform Stratifyd raised a $10M Series B-3 led by Georgian (PRN)

• BioBetter, a startup aiming to cheaply cultivate meat, raised a $10M round led by Jerusalem Venture Partners (PRN)

• Momnt Technologies, a startup helping businesses get in-point lending and payment solutions, raised $9.5M in funding from Yamaha Motor Ventures and existing investors (BW)

• Sports betting blockchain startup HotStreak raised a $9M Series A led by Polychain (TC)

• Daalchini, a startup providing smart vending machines to brands in India, raised a $4M seed round led by Unicorn India Ventures (TC)

• Remento, an app helping capture and preserve family stories, raised a $3M seed round led by Upfront Ventures (TC)

Fundraising

• Kapor Capital raised $126M for its third venture fund to invest in underrepresented founders (TI)

Bankruptcy / Restructuring

• Global movie chain giant Cineworld filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection; intends to restructure US, UK and Jersey operations (RT)

Crypto Corner

• GameStop partnered with FTX to increase its presence in the cryptocurrency space (RT)

• Fed vice-chair said crypto oversight should resemble traditional bank rules (CD)

• Bitcoin turned positive, rebounds from lowest level since June (CNBC)

• Y Combinator is doubling down on crypto founders despite market volatility (TC)

Exec's Picks

• Sports bettor's dreams just came true - there is finally an app that lets you connect any of your sportsbook accounts in one place, and all of your bets and bet history automatically load in. It's called Juice Reel - and they've been giving bettors best-in-class analytics...and it's all 100% free. Highly suggest checking it out here!

• In a recent episode of This Week in Startups, Jason Calacanis did a full breakdown of the liquidation preference process, spreadsheet and all.

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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