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Good Morning,

J Pow avoided commenting on rate policy yesterday, US public pension debt topped $1.4T, Americans will receive a smaller tax refund this year, Bridgewater doubled down on China, Goldman no longer expects a eurozone recession, the FTC is probing Coca-Cola and Pepsi, Southwest reshuffled its senior management roles, and Microsoft is in talks to invest billions in OpenAI.

With the stock market down bad in 2022, many investors turned to private credit as an uncorrelated investment option. Check out Percent's Private Credit Outlook for 2023 here.

In case y'all missed it, Litquidity is getting into the finance recruiting game in partnership with Whitney Partners. We'll be helping investment bankers get placed across the buy side, including private equity, hedge funds, VCs, growth equity, credit, and investor relations. You can visit our Litney Partners website and drop your resume to get started. 🤝

Let's dive in.

Before The Bell

If you want to learn more about crypto trading strategies and the world of DeFi, check out our Foot Guns newsletter.

Markets

• US stocks trended up yesterday as J Pow avoided commenting on immediate rate change policy in a speech

  • The Nasdaq notched a three-day win streak

• The dollar continues to hover near seven-month lows as investors await tomorrow's CPI data

Earnings

• Bed Bath & Beyond posted a wider-than-expected $393M Q3 loss as its CEO acknowledged the firm hasn't achieved its turnaround goals; their shares nonetheless rose 27% with potential bankruptcy in sight (CNBC)

• What we're watching this week:

  • Today: TSMC

  • Friday: JPMorgan, BofA, Citi, Wells Fargo, BlackRock

• Full calendar here

Headline Roundup

• Litquidity launched Litney Partners as it expands into Wall Street recruitment (BBG)

• Jerome Powell said the Fed is not a 'climate policymaker' (AX)

• J Pow refrained from commenting on rate policy in a speech yesterday (RT)

• US public pension debt topped $1.4T in 2022 (BBG)

• Americans will receive a smaller tax refund this year (WSJ)

• Wells Fargo was named a top 10 M&A adviser for the first time (BBG)

• Mortgage giant Wells Fargo is shrinking its housing business (CNBC)

• Bridgewater doubled its fund assets in China to over $2.93B over the past year (RT)

• Goldman Sachs in no longer expecting a eurozone recession (RT)

• Jamie Dimon sees US consumer health to be in good shape (RT)

• UK is pushing ahead with a digital pound after similar moves by China and EU (RT)

• FTC is probing Coca-Cola and PepsiCo over potential price discrimination (PO)

• Twitter severance agreements are 1/3rd of that promised and include 'silence' clauses (TW)

• Uniqlo owner Fast Retailing will raise Japan salaries by up to 40% (BBG)

• Southwest reshuffled senior management roles after flight cancellation debacle (RT)

A Message From Percent

Public markets got wrecked in 2022, with the S&P down 20% year over year.

How did the savviest institutional investors manage through the chaos? By allocating capital into private credit or privately negotiated loans.

This high yield asset class has historically been largely uncorrelated with public markets and recession-resilient. Percent has made it available to a wider set of retail accredited investors, with $500 minimums and average durations in months, not years.

Today Percent is giving away their highly anticipated report, Private Credit Outlook for 2023, to Exec Sum readers. Download here.

Deal Flow

M&A / Investments

• Microsoft is in talks to invest up to $10B at a ~$29B valuation in OpenAI, the creator of AI bot ChatGPT (BBG)

• Oil tanker company Frontline terminated its potential $4.2B merger with rival Euronav (RT)

• Binance.US received initial approval for a proposed $1B purchase of bankrupt crypto lender Voyager Digital's assets (RT)

• German biotech BioNTech agreed to buy UK technology company InstaDeep in an up to $684M deal (RT)

• Carlyle agreed to buy a majority stake in Indian beauty care and wellness solutions provider VLCC for $300M (RT)

• PR and consulting firm Teneo agreed to buy UK competitor Tulchan Communications in a $79M+ deal (BBG)

• Packaging maker GPA Global agreed to buy French rival Cosfibel Group (BBG)

• Franchise Group, the investment firm that owns retailers including Vitamin Shoppe, is considering going private (RT)

• Meme-page focused Doing Things Media acquired Instagram-famous brand Overheard in an all-cash deal (HR)

VC

• Chronosphere, a startup developing cloud-native observability tools, raised a $115M Series C extension at a $1.6B valuation led by GV and Geodesic Capital (TC)

• Immuno-oncology startup NextPoint Therapeutics raised an $80M Series B led by Leaps and Sanofi Ventures (BW)

• Satellite imagery specialist Capella Space raised $60M from the US Innovative Technology Fund (CNBC)

• Respiratory care startup Telesair raised a $22M Series A led by Pasaca Capital (BW)

• Atomic Semi, a startup building simplified / miniaturized semiconductor fabs, is in talks to raise a $15M seed round at a $100M valuation (TC)

• ReCode Therapeutics, a startup developing mRNA therapy for cystic fibrosis, raised a $15M Series B led by the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation (BW)

• Ottopia, a teleoperation startup, raised a $14.5M Series A led by ComfortDelGro, AI Alliance Fund, and more (PRN)

• Social crypto wallet startup The Easy Company raised a $14.2M seed round led by Lobby Capital, Relay Ventures, 6th Man Ventures, and others (TC)

• Jetstream, a Ghanaian e-commerce platform for Africa’s B2B importers and exporters, raised $13M in debt / equity: the debt was from Cauris and Proparco and equity investors included Octerra, Wuri Ventures, Seed9, and others (TC)

• ModifyHealth, a medically tailored meals and food medicine platform, raised a $10M Series B led by RC Capital (PRN)

• Online watch resale platform Bezel raised an $8M seed round from investors including Litquidity Capital, BoxGroup, Disney's President, Kevin Hart, and numerous NBA/NFL athletes (BBG)

• AI chat platform Personal.ai raised a $7.8M seed round led by Supernode Global, Differential Ventures, BBG Ventures, and more (BW)

• Insurtech startup Propeller Bonds raised a $6.4M seed round led by a consortium of industry partners (PRN)

• Howdy, a LatAm hybrid workforce company, raised a $5M Series A extension at a $105M valuation led by Obvious Ventures (PRN)

• Dutch healthtech startup Lapsi Health raised a $3.5M seed round led by Modi Ventures (PRN)

• Jumbo, a decentralized exchange built on the NEAR Protocol, raised a $3.5M round led by Pantera Capital and the Huobi Incubator (PRN)

• Attention, an AI-powered sales assistant, raised $3.1M in funding led by Eniac Ventures (PRN)

• Digital health startup CARI Health raised a $2.3M seed round led by the San Diego Angel Conference (BW)

• CRISPR analytics platform CRISPR QC raised a $1.6M seed round led by Serra Ventures (BW)

• e.pop, a startup aiming to replace paper receipts with a digital alternative, raised a $1.6M seed round (BW)

IPO / Direct Listings / Issuances / Block Trades

• Hesai Technology, a Chinese developer of sensor technologies used in self-driving cars, is planning to file for a US IPO to raise ~$150M (BBG)

Fundraising

• Goldman Sachs Asset Management raised $1.6B for its Horizon Environment & Climate Solutions I fund registered under EU's strictest ESG rules (BBG)

• The US's largest public pension fund California Public Employees' Retirement System, or CalPERS, will invest $500M each with PE firms TPG and GCM Grosvenor to help launch funds backing up-and-coming PE firms (PI)

• Toronto-based Radical Ventures is raising a new $550M fund dedicated to AI (BK)

• Shoreline Equity Partners raised over $450M for its Shoreline Equity Partners Fund II (PRN)

• Ondo Finance, a decentralized investment platform founded by two ex-Goldman associates, launched a new fund for holders of stablecoins to invest in bonds and US Treasuries (BBG)

Crypto Corner

• Coinbase will cut ~950 jobs or 20% of its workforce in third round of layoffs (RT)

• FTX’s venture backers included Patriots owner Robert Kraft and HF tycoon Paul Tudor Jones (CNBC)

• Gemini's co-founder Cameron Winklevoss called for the removal of Digital Currency Group's CEO Barry Silbert amid rising tensions (RT)

• Crypto.com will delist Tether in Canada to comply with Ontario regulator (DC)

Exec's Picks

• Level up your career with a new language in 3 weeks. The lessons take 10 minutes. Within 3 weeks, you will be able to have basic conversations in your new language. Yes, 21 days. For a limited time, you can get up to 60% off. Get Started Today

• If you saw Litquidity's story yesterday, we recently invested into a consumer tech startup called Bezel, which announced the close of an $8M round with funding from Box Group, Courtside Ventures, Shrug Capital, John Legend, Steve Aoki, and more. If you want the opportunity to get in at the last minute, we'll need to confirm your accreditation status by having you fill out this form. Once done, pls email Lit at [email protected] with "Bezel SPV" in the subject line. 🤝

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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