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Good Morning,

Ukraine's president wants to use oligarchs as negotiation middlemen, traders brace for the reopening of Russia's stock market, Amazon's NY workers want to unionize, USC pulls out of school rankings, Newsom is giving rebates to car drivers, and Walmart sues BJ Wholesale.

ICYMI: Big Swinging Decks was back yesterday with a new episode. Lit and Mark chat crypto / web3 / DeFi. Catch the latest episode on Spotify and Apple Music 🤝  (presented by CoinFLEX.US)

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

• The major US averages took a slight dip yesterday amidst uncertainty around higher oil and commodities prices and interest rate hikes on the horizon

• Oil prices resumed their upward trajectory with WTI crude jumping 5%

• Weekly jobs claims data and durable goods orders release this morning at 8:30am ET

Earnings

• General Mills posted a beat-and-raise Q3 report, despite continued production cost inflation (BRRNS)

• Tencent revenue grew just 8% to $22.62B, largely due to Beijing’s crackdown on Chinese tech companies; profits were up 60% thanks to a large one-time gain from disposal of assets (CNBC)

• What we’re watching today: Nio, Darden Restaurants

• Full calendar here

Headline Roundup

• Madeleine Albright, first female secretary of state, dies at 84 (BBG)

• Stock traders brace for chaotic reopening to Russia's market (BBG)

• Ukrainian president asked Biden not to sanction Abramovich, to facilitate peace talks (WSJ)

• Amazon union vote set to begin in New York, which has challenged company in past (WSJ)

• University of Southern California pulls out of education-school rankings, citing data errors (WSJ)

• Steel giant set to be first major Russian debt default of Ukraine war (WSJ)

• California governor Newsom offers California car owners $400 rebates, partial gas tax pause (BBG)

• Lush CEO expects its Russian business to run out of stock, wind down (WSJ)

• Walmart sues BJ Wholesale, claiming it stole self-checkout technology (CNBC)

• Wall Street bonuses climb to record $257,500 per worker last year, New York’s fiscal chief says (CNBC)

• Stellantis, LG Energy Solution to invest $4.1B in Canadian EV battery plant (CNBC)

• Adidas announces new network that will allow 50K+ student-athletes to be paid ambassadors (CNBC)

A Message From LMNT

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Your alarm is blaring at 7 AM because it’s a Friday, and you have another full day of work. Caffeine from three cups of coffee isn’t going to get the job done this time. You need something that actually rehydrates you. Before your next happy hour turns into a bender, make sure you have some LMNT.

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It’s the perfect recipe to rehydrate after a big night out (or a tough workout, but mainly a big night out).

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Deal Flow

M&A / Investments

• Arden is considering options for Italian health-care software provider Dedalus, including a potential $3.3B+ sale (BBG)

• Macquarie Asset Management and PSP Investments made an offer to buy Australian telecom company Uniti for ~$2.5B (BBG)

• Cannabis firm Cresco Labs agreed to buy New York-based Columbia Care for ~$2B (BBG)

• French supermarket firm Casino is weighing options for its stake in renewable energy provider GreenYellow as it look for ways to reduce its debt (BBG)

• Spanish construction firm FCC offered to buy a 24% stake in real estate developer Metrovacesa for ~$312M (RT)

• Apple agreed to buy London-based credit scoring startup Credit Kudos (BBG)

VC

• Tarana Wireless, a startup aiming to expand broadband, raised a $170M round at a $1B valuation led by Axon Capital, Khosla Ventures, and Prime Movers Lab (BW)

• API management platform RapidAPI raised a $150M Series D at a $1B valuation led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2 (BW)

• Smartee, a Chinese-based clear aligner brand (think Invisalign), raised an $80M Series D led by Beijing Taikang Investment (PRN)

• Video game platform FRVR raised a $76M round led by Hiro Capital (PRN)

• Terra Drone, a Japanese drone startup, raised a $70M Series B led by Mitsui Corporation (TC)

• Will Smith, The Weeknd join NFT metaverse land investor Everyrealm’s Series A, increasing total funding to $62.5M (DC)

• MixMode, a provider of self-learning solutions that detect cyberattacks, raised a $45M Series B led by PSG (BW)

• All-in-one learning platform WorkRamp raised a $40M Series C led by Salesforce Ventures, Slack Fund, and Susa Ventures (PRN)

• Kubernetes management platform Spectro Cloud raised a $40M Series B led by Stripes (BW)

• Ocelot Bio, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on end-stage liver disease, raised a $36M Series A led by RA Capital Management, Venrock, and Vivo Capital (BW)

• Smarter Sorting, a startup helping retailers and consumer brands meet sustainability goals, raised a $25M round led by G2 Venture Partners (PRN)

• Gamefam, a game publisher and developer on Roblox, raised a $25M Series A led by Konvoy Ventures (PRN)

• Kargo, a supply chain visibility company, raised a $25M Series A led by Sozo Ventures (BW)

• Vulnerability management and process automation startup Nucleus Security raised a $20M Series B led by Lead Edge Capital (BW)

• Prometheum, a blockchain-based startup aiming to build an end-to-end ecosystem for the trading, custody, and settlement of digital asset securities, raised a $15M+ round (PRN)

• ShopThing, a live shopping marketplace, raised a $10M Series A led by Origin Ventures (PRN)

• Construction & payment compliance platform Handle.com raised a $10M Series A led by Energize Ventures and Ironspring Ventures (BW)

• Facteus, an alternative data technology company, raised $10M in funding led by Curql Fund (BW)

• Construction robotics startup Rugged raised a $9.4M Series A led by BOLD Capital Partners and Brick & Mortar Ventures (TC)

• Tea, a startup building an open source software platform on the blockchain, raised an $8M seed round led by Binance Labs (BW)

IPO / Direct Listings / Block Trades

• Members of the Lee family behind Samsung Electronics were sellers of a $1.1B block of shares. ~19.9M shares were sold at 68.8k won each, a discount of ~2.4% to Wednesday's closing price (BBG)

SPAC

• French fashion brand Lanvin agreed to merge with Primavera Capital Acquisition Corp. in a $1.5B deal (BBG)

• Israel’s HUB Cyber Security agreed to merge with Mount Rainier Acquisition Corp in a $1.3B deal (​​RT)

Debt

• Bidders for UK drugstore chain Boots are considering private credit for the riskier bits of debt financing worth ~$5.3B, as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine dampens banks’ appetite for risk (BBG)

Fundraising

• FTV Capital, a growth equity investment firm, raised $2.3B for its seventh vehicle, FTV VII, to invest across enterprise tech, financial services, and payment landscapes (BBG)

• Ex-Polychain partner Tekin Salimi launches $125M crypto venture fund, dao5, that he later plans to convert to a DAO (CD)

• Forge North, a startup coalition aiming to close equity gaps for black, brown, and women entrepreneurs, announced the launch of a $50M venture capital fund, with $10 allocated to different races, genders, and locations (PRN)

Crypto Corner

• Investment bank Cowen launches digital assets division (TBC)

• Krafton, the studio behind popular video game PUBG, to launch Solana NFTs (DC)

• Meta files trademarks for crypto tokens, wallets, exchanges (DC)

Exec's Picks

• Alts - There's a million newsletters about stocks. Alts is about the world of alternative assets. These guys analyze the heck out of alternative investments and show you what's good. Subscribe to Alts for free.

• NFTs have taken the world by storm, but one use case stands out: music. Carolyn Penner wrote a great piece on how Royal is shaping the landscape of audible NFTs. Read her latest here.

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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Catch the latest episode of our Big Swinging Decks podcast, presented by CoinFLEX.US, on Spotify and Apple Music 🤝