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Good Morning,

Tesla wants a stock split so it can issue a dividend, peace negotiators from both sides of the Russia-Ukraine conflict may have been poisoned, Walmart is ending cigarette sales in some stores, and Hong Kong bankers are getting paid.

Looks like Jefferies had a solid earnings report yesterday. Shout out to CEO Rich Handler, a Litquidity student-athlete 🤝

For anyone looking for a good read on current fintech trends, check out this white paper from today's sponsor, Plaid.

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

• Major indexes closed in the green with tech leading the way on Monday, as investors shrugged off recession concerns arising from a brief Treasury yield curve inversion overnight

  • Tesla shares helped propel markets higher on news that the EV maker wants to split its stock to pay a dividend

• Meanwhile, oil prices and energy stocks slid in response to continued geopolitical conflict

• Along with Friday’s highly anticipated monthly jobs report, investors will continue to keep an eye on the two main market drivers: the Russia-Ukraine war and the Fed’s monetary policy

Earnings

• Jefferies posted beats on both quarterly revenue and EPS, building on the strong performance that the bank has shown over the past twelve months (BW)

• What we’re watching today: Chewy, Lululemon

• Full calendar here

Headline Roundup

• Biden pitches $5.8T budget with plan for record tax hike (BBG)

• Brazil central bank says 12.75% rate enough to tame inflation (BBG)

• Tesla wants to split stock so it can pay a dividend (CNBC)

• JP Morgan’s Chase brand launched its first savings account in the UK, with a “market-leading” 1.5% interest rate (BBG)

• Shanghai exchange to offer more online services amid city lockdown (BBG)

• India is snapping up cheap Russian oil, and China could be next (CNBC)

• Credit Suisse stops new business in Russia, cuts exposure (BBG)

• AIG says BlackRock will manage up to $150B of its assets (BBG)

• El Salvador locks up hundreds after gangs unleash terror (BBG)

• Roman Abramovich and Ukrainian peace negotiators suffer suspected poisoning (WSJ)

• Lockheed beats out Saab for $17B Canada warplane fleet (BBG)

• Walmart stops selling cigarettes in some stores (WSJ)

• Bankers who stay in Hong Kong are rewarded with a pay bonanza (BBG)

• Barclays expects £450M loss on bond error, delays buyback (BBG)

A Message From Plaid

Fintech adoption is putting smartphones, computers, and even the damn fridge to shame 

From 2020 to 2021, there was a 30% increase in Fintech adoption. 

For reference, that same growth took smartphones five years, computers ten, and fridges twenty. But it’s no wonder people are flocking to Fintech like the salmon of Capistrano – 93% of respondents said they saved time, 73% say it reduced stress, and 78% saved money. 

“The Fintech Effect”, a detailed report from Plaid, breaks down Fintech’s mass adoption moment, which apps and services are leading the way, and where the industry goes from here. 

TL;DR: Fintech is taking over personal finance, and this report tells you why. 

DOWNLOAD

Deal Flow

M&A / Investments

• Berkshire Partners and Warburg Pincus agreed to acquire a significant stake in Ensemble Health, which manages payments and develops software for the healthcare industry, valuing the Golden Gate-backed company at $5B (BBG)

• Laptop-maker HP will buy Poly, which makes gear aimed at remote work, for $3.3B in an all-cash transaction (BBG)

• KKR is nearing a deal to buy fertility treatment provider Ivirma, which is currently valued at ~$2.7B (BBG)

• Fashion retailer Ted Baker rejected Sycamore Partners ~$334M takeover offer, saying it significantly undervalued the company (RT)

• Telefonia told French media group Vivendi that its Spanish pay-TV unit is not for sale after an inquiry about a possible acquisition (BBG)

• Russian billionaire Igor Makarov’s Areti Energy sold more than half of its stake in Canadian natural gas producer Spartan Delta (BBG)

VC

• Smart electric panel company Span raised a $90M Series B led by Fifth Wall Climate Tech (TC)

• Poplar Homes, a tech-enabled property management company for SFR investors, raised a $53M Series B led by LL Funds (PRN)

• Altibbi, the leading publisher of Arabic medical content globally, raised a $44M Series B led by the VC arm of Hikma Pharmaceuticals, a multinational pharmaceutical company (PRN)

• Shoreline, a startup building an automated incident response platform, raised a $35M Series B led by Insight Partners (TC)

• Orbital hyperspectral imagery startup Pixxel raised a $25M Series A led by Radical Ventures (TC)

• Australian fintech Zepto raised a 25M AUD Series A led by AirTree Ventures and Decade Partners (TC)

• AmplifyMD, a national telemedicine platform connecting medical institutions with specialists, raised $23M in funding led by F-Prime Capital, Forerunner Ventures, and Greylock (PRN)

• Lantum, a platform which manages healthcare staffing, raised a $15M round led by Finch Capital (TC)

• Latitud, a LatAm tech entrepreneurship platform, raised an $11.5M seed round led by a16z and NFX (PRN)

• Hiring process solution Sprockets raised a $10M Series A led by Forte Ventures (PRN)

• HourWork, a SaaS recruitment and retention platform for QSR franchise owners, raised a $10M Series A led by Positive Sum (PRN)

IPO / Direct Listings / Issuances / Block Trades

• Health-care technology firm Citiustech, a portfolio company of Baring Private Equity Asia, has confidentially filed for a US IPO (BBG)

Fundraising

• Crow Holdings, a real estate investment and development firm, raised $750M for its Crow Holdings Development Opportunities Fund (BW)

• Regeneration VC, a new early-stage VC fund aimed at fighting climate change, raised $45M (PRN)

Crypto Corner

• A $350k Bored Ape NFT sold for only $115 (TBC)

• Citi’s North American markets COO leaves bank for crypto fund Hivemind (BBG)

• Congress is discussing a digital dollar pilot (Decrypt)

• Bitcoin miner Iris Energy secured $71M in equipment financing (TBC)

• World of Women NFT drop generates $79M in a day (Decrypt)

Exec's Picks

• Due to continued interest in seeing our comp survey from last month, we are recirculating here. Check it out and please send us some more data points if you've got any!

• AMC's Adam Aron has embraced his company's status as a "meme stock", and Hope King from Axios broke down how the company plans to stay in the limelight here.

• If you think US gas prices are high, wait until you hear about Germany. Yesterday, Jack Raines published an article explaining how the German "green movement" left the country reliant on Russian gas. Check out Germany's Russian Gas Problem 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 20+ 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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