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Happy Friday,

Biden will release 1M barrels of oil a day from US reserves to ease gas prices, Robinhood is rolling out retirement accounts, New Yorkers don't want to go back to the office, a human genome has been fully decoded, and Biden invoked the Defense Production Act for EV batteries.

Need to step up your shoe game this spring? Check out our Litquidity x Del Toro Suede Milanos. Pre-order 'The Fed' here. 15% of proceeds will benefit Razom and their emergency response to provide urgent help and support to the crisis in Ukraine. (Despite today being April 1st, this is NOT an April Fools joke!)

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

• Stocks fell for the second day in a row to finish out Q1, with the major averages closing at session lows

  • This was the worst quarter for the market since Q1 2020

  • The Fed’s rate hikes, high inflation, and the war in Ukraine continue to weigh on market sentiment

• Weekly jobless claims were higher-than-expected at 202K (vs. 196K), and personal income rose 0.5%, meeting expectations

• We will receive March’s monthly jobless claims this morning

Earnings

• Walgreens Boots Alliance fell almost 6% yesterday, with the company crediting omicron for strong Q2 sales but cautioning it will take time for its health-care investments to pay off (CNBC)

• Full calendar here

Headline Roundup

• Russian troops exposed to radiation at Chernobyl (BBG)

• Robinhood nears debut of retirement accounts within app (BBG)

• UK drops plan to ban LGBTQ conversion therapy (BBG)

• WWE expands reach to traditional TV shows (WSJ)

• Amazon workers in Alabama reject union for second time, but challenged ballots remain (CNBC)

• US to release 1M barrels of oil per day from reserves to help cut gas prices (CNBC)

• US sanctions global network of firms helping the Russian military evade export controls (CNBC)

• A human genome has finally been fully been decoded (CNBC)

• Biden to invoke Defense Production Act for EV battery materials (CNBC)

A Message From Outer

Spring has officially sprung: the weather is warmer, the days are longer, and the pollen count is way too high. But this spring is different from most: you convinced your boss that you are more productive working remotely, and you get to skip your commute by working from home permanently.

Well it’s sunny and 75, so why not move your bedroom-office outside?

There’s just one problem: you need some new furniture.

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If you aren’t sold yet,  Exec Sum readers can get $200 off all orders TODAY, just use code "Lit".

What else are you waiting for? Makeover your outdoor decor with Outer here.

Deal Flow

M&A / Investments

• Clearlake Capital and TA Associates are exploring options that include a sale of their minority stakes in data-integrity software maker Precisely at a potential $7.5B valuation (BBG)

• Market information provider NPD is in talks to buy rival Information Resources in a potential $5B deal (BBG)

• RBC offered to buy UK-based wealth manager Brewin Dolphin for $2.1B (RT)

• Intel confirms acquisition of AI-based workload optimization startup Granulate, deal was reportedly worth up to $650M (TC)

• Navis Capital Partners is considering reviving the sale of its footwear materials supplier Texon, which could fetch ~$300M (BBG)

• Consumer sector-focused PE firm HighPost Capital agreed to buy Centr, the digital fitness platform founded by Australian actor Chris Hemsworth, and Inspire Fitness, a maker of exercise equipment, in a combined $200M+ deal (BBG)

• CI Financial agreed to buy certain assets of Eaton Vance WaterOak Advisors, boosting US assets to $133B (BBG)

• Private jet company Vista agreed to buy the private aviation services platform of US charter operator Jet Edge (RT)

• Abu Dhabi wealth fund ADQ agreed to buy a minority stake in fruit and vegetable producer and distributor Unifrutti (BBG)

VC

• Delivery startup Gopuff is close to raising a $1B funding round led by Guggenheim Partners (BBG)

• Crypto firm Blockchain.com raised an undisclosed amount in a Series D at a $14B valuation led by Lightspeed Venture Partners (TBC)

• Docker, a startup building a platform for developer productivity, raised a $105M Series C at a $2.1B valuation led by Bain Capital Ventures (TC)

• Chief, a startup building a private network for women, raised a $100M Series B led by CapitalG (BW)

• Hadrian, a space startup that’s transforming aerospace and defense manufacturing through autonomous production, raised $90M through a Series A and Series A-Prime led by Lux Capital and a16z, respectively (HDN)

• Terra Quantum, a startup building low-power nano-electronics, raised a $75M Series A extension (BW)

• Egyptian financial super app Khazna raised a $38M debt / equity Series A led by Quona Capital and Lendable (TC)

• 4C Medical Technologies, a medical technology company focused on developing minimally invasive therapies for structural heart disease, raised a $35.4M Series C led by MicroPort CardioFlowMedtech (PRN)

• GRC, a startup building single-phase immersion cooling tech for data centers, raised a $28M Series C led by SK Lubricants (BW)

• No-code machine learning infrastructure startup Black Crow AI raised a $25M Series A led by Imaginary Ventures (TC)

• Climate SaaS platform Manifest Climate raised a $24M Series A led by BDC Capital and Climate Innovation Capital (BW)

• Dental diagnostic AI solution VideaHealth raised a $20M Series A led by Spark Capital (BW)

• Antimatter, a startup helping SaaS companies keep customer data secure, raised a $12M Series A led by NEA (TC)

• Social commerce platform Tushop raised a $3M pre-seed round led by 4DX Ventures (TC)

• NovaXS Biotech, a startup looking to make injection therapy needle-free, raised a $1.5M seed round led by Baidu’s co-founder Lei Ming (TC)

IPO / Direct Listings / Issuances / Block Trades

• Volkswagen has chosen banks including Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, and JPMorgan to help with the IPO of sports-car maker Porsche that could be valued at up to $100B (BBG)

• Indonesia’s largest tech company, GoTo, raised $1.1B in one of the world’s largest IPOs this year (BBG)

• Taiwanese pop star Jay Chou’s mother is planning an IPO of Star Plus Legend, China’s largest maker of bulletproof coffee (BBG)

• Automation company ABB will buyback $3B in shares to return proceeds from a unit sale to shareholders (BBG)

SPAC

• French agribusiness group InVivo has entered exclusive talks to merge its retail activities with 2MX in a potential $748M deal (RT)

• Shares of Digital World Acquisition Corp, the SPAC tied to Trump’s social media venture, sink as downloads slump 95% (BBG)

Crypto Corner

• EU Parliament votes to impose KYC measures on private crypto wallets (DC)

• Bitcoin exchange Blockchain.com allowing NFT usernames for its 82M wallets (DC)

• Binance announces web3 partnership with the organization behind the Grammy Awards (TBC)

Exec's Picks

• Bitcoin Miami is coming in hot next week, and Mark will be headed to South Beach with our friends from Bullish Studio. Buy your tickets here and use the promo code "BULLISH10" for a 10% discount at checkout!

• If y'all are in need of some fresh loafers for the summer weddings or a classy day / night out on the town, check out our new shoe in collaboration with the fellas at Del Toro. Introducing "The Fed" suede Milano loafers. 15% of proceeds will benefit Razom and their emergency response to provide urgent help and support to the crisis in Ukraine. Check the shoe out here (pic below for reference)

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've got 40+ jobs spanning IB, S&T, VC, tech, private equity, DeFi, crypto, CorpDev and more. We sift through all the noise on LinkedIn, Indeed, Monster, etc. so you don't have to.

Meme Cleanser

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