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Good Morning,

Welcome to Miami Tech Week. Litquidity will be around town hanging out and meeting founders / investors all week. Hit us up if you’d like to hang.

SVB’s CEO and CFO resigned, central banks are loading up on gold, Moody’s downgraded 11 regional banks, Norway’s wealth fund posted an $84B Q1 profit, Tiger Global’s $12.7B venture fund is down 20%, Credit Suisse posted a record $5B of outflows during March turmoil, and Larry Fink sold 7% of his BlackRock stake.

Investors are turning to different alternative assets, from real estate to Rolexes, to diversify their portfolios, but did you know that fine art is an intriguing option too? Check out today’s sponsor, Masterworks, to learn more.

Let’s dive in.

Before The Bell

Markets

• All three major US indexes ended Friday with fractional gains following mixed earning reports

  • Each index finished the week slightly lower

  • The Dow snapped a four-week win streak

• Dollar index posted its first weekly gain since late February

• Earnings are going crazy this week, along with crucial US/Eurozone GDP and inflation data released on Thursday and Friday

Earnings

• Procter & Gamble beat Q1 EPS and revenue estimates and raised its FY sales forecast as higher prices helped offset lower demand for products, particularly in Europe (CNBC)

• What we're watching this week:

  • Today: First Republic Bank, Credit Suisse, Coca-Cola 

  • Tuesday: UBS, Alphabet, Microsoft, Visa, Spotify, UPS, Verizon, Raytheon, McDonald's, PepsiCo

  • Wednesday: Meta, Boeing 

  • Thursday: Amazon, Intel, Snap, Eli Lilly 

  • Friday: Exxon, Chevron 

• Full calendar here

Headline Roundup

• US/Eurozone business activity jumped to 11-month highs (RT)

• US existing home sales fell 22% YoY in March (AX)

• SVB's CEO and CFO resigned (RT)

• Central banks load up on gold amid geopolitical tensions (FT)

• Investors cut cash holdings for first time in eight weeks (RT)

• Short bets against European banks are set to lose $1B this month (RT)

• Moody’s downgraded 11 regional banks (WSJ)

• Australia saw $37B in M&A deals in Q1 amid mining spree (RT)

• Norway's wealth fund posted an $84B Q1 profit (RT)

• Tiger Global’s $12.7B venture fund is down 20% (TI)

• Credit Suisse posted record $5B in outflows during March turmoil (RT)

• Fed may reverse rules that masked losses on SVB's securities (WSJ)

• US financial regulators will tighten rules on non-banks (RT)

• G7 nations are considering a near-total ban on exports to Russia (RT)

• China passed guidance for supporting private sector (RT)

• JPMorgan bankers continued to meet Epstein after his accounts were closed (WSJ)

• Credit Suisse AT1 bondholders sued Swiss regulator over wipe-out (RT)

• Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai took home $226M in 2022 (RT)

• Chile plans to nationalize its lithium industry (RT)

• Deloitte will cut 1.2k US jobs (FT)

• Lyft will cut 1.2k jobs or 30% of its workforce (WSJ)

• Tesla increased US prices after steep markdowns hit profits (BBG)

• UK chipmaker Arm will make its own semiconductor (FT)

• BlackRock CEO Larry Fink sold 7% of his stake in the asset management giant (RT)

• NBCUniversal CEO resigned after admitting an 'inappropriate relationship' with a woman employee (CNBC)

• Russian billionaires gained $152B in wealth over the past year (RT)

A Message From Masterworks

A Banksy got everyday investors 32% returns?

Mm-hmm, sure. So, what’s the catch?

We know it may sound too good to be true. But it’s not only possible, it’s happening—and thousands of investors are smiling all the way to the bank, thanks to the fine-art investing platform Masterworks.

These results aren’t cherry-picking. This is the whole bushel. Masterworks has built a track record of 11 exits, the last 3 realizing +13.9%, +35.0%, and +10.4% net returns even while financial markets plummeted.

But art? Really? Okay, skeptics, here are the numbers. Contemporary art prices:

• outpaced the S&P 500 by 131% over the last 26 years

• have the lowest correlation to equities of any asset class

• remained stable through the dot-com bubble and ’08 crisis

Got your attention yet? Exec Sum readers can skip the waitlist with this exclusive link.

See important Reg A disclosures at masterworks.com/cd.

Deal Flow

M&A / Investments

• Brookfield Asset Management offered a counterbid of $2.7B to buy payments provider Network International, topping a joint proposal from CVC Capital and Francisco Partners (RT)

• PE firm Silver Lake offered to buy German business software developer Software AG in a $2.42B deal (RT)

• PE firm TPG withdrew its $1.21B bid to buy Australian funeral services provider InvoCare after it didn’t grant TPG due diligence (RT)

• Russian tech company Yandex agreed to buy Uber’s stake in their taxi JV for $702.5M (RT)

• Braya Renewable Fuels, a low-emission renewable fuels producer, received a $300M investment from Energy Capital Partners (FN)

• Walmart is selling plus-size fashion brand Eloqui, which it acquired for $100M in 2018 (RT)

• German agri-food firm Baywa has started a sale process for its solar trading business (RT)

VC

• MedShift, a medical technology startup, raised a $108M round from Turning Rock Partners, Micota Capital, and OY6 Capital (FN)

• Weaviate.io, a developer of an AI-native vector database, raised a $50M Series B led by Index Ventures (PRN)

• Relievant Medsystems, a startup focused on the diagnosis and treatment of vertebrogenic pain, raised a $50M Series G led by Ally Bridge Group (FN)

• Certn, a startup providing online background checks and ID verification, raised a $30M Series B from Export Development Canada (BW)

• Inshur, an on-demand insurance provider, raised $26M in funding from JVP, Munich Re Ventures, and more (FN)

• Home energy assessment startup Enter raised a $21.5M Series A led by Target Global (TC)

• VoltServer, a provider of a new distribution format for electricity, raised a $17.5M Series B led by Marker Hill Capital and Constellation Technology Ventures (FN)

• Smart Reporting, a startup developing medical documentation technology based on AI, received a $16.6M venture debt loan from the European Investment Bank (FN)

• Aisles, a Portland-based retail technology startup, raised a $10M seed round led by Ignacio Rosales (FN)

• Verifiable tech solutions provider Accredify raised a $7M Series A led by iGlobe Partners and SIG Venture Capital (FN)

• Triver, a startup using open banking data to fund SMEs’ short-term working capital needs, raised a $7M round from Stride and Axeleo Capital (FN)

• Bixby, a provider of credit information on private syndicated loan issuers, raised a $5.5M Series A led by Fitch Ventures (BW)

• DQuanscient, a Finnish startup building cloud and quantum computing-powered multiphysics simulation technology, raised a $4.3M seed round led by Maki.vc (FN)

• Identifai-Genetics, a developer of AI-based solutions for non-invasive fetal DNA sequencing, raised a $3.3M seed round led by eHealth Ventures (FN)

• AI-powered search engine Consensus raised a $3M seed round led by Draper Associates (FN)

• On-demand salary payment solution Spayr raised a $3M seed round led by Blast.Club (FN)

• Zetta Genomics, a genomic data technology company, raised a $1.9M seed round led by Nina Capital (FN)

IPO / Direct Listings / Issuances / Block Trades

• Japan's Rakuten Bank shares surged 40% on debut in Tokyo’s biggest IPO since 2018 (FT)

• UK-based travel group Holiday Extras is eying a London IPO (SKY)

Bankruptcy / Restructuring

• Bed Bath & Beyond filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and began a liquidation sale (CNBC)

Fundraising

• Investment management giant AllianzGI raised $3.6B for its first global private debt fund (MS)

• Define Ventures raised $460M across two funds to invest in early-stage digital health startups (FRB)

• Bootstrap Europe raised $143M for its third venture debt fund to back sustainability businesses (SFT)

• Vesey Ventures raised $78M for its debut fund to back early-stage fintechs (TC)

Crypto Corner

• Web3 VC funding tanked 82% YoY (CT)

• Canada’s $190B Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan is steering clear of crypto after its $95M FTX loss (FT)

• Biden will ban his comms director from dealing with crypto/tech firms he previously represented (BBG)

Exec’s Picks

• Spring has sprung, and it’s time to get some new kicks to match your warm weather wardrobe. 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 published an interesting piece on how Bernard Arnault has prepared his children to one day take over LVMH.

• Trung Phan explained SpaceX’s five-step design process in his most recent post.

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We aim to place strong candidates at leading private equity, hedge fund, venture capital, growth equity, and credit funds, as well as investment banks.

To get started, simply head over to the Litney website and create your profile by dropping your resume / filling out the form:

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