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Good Morning,

Biden bans Russian fuel imports, the EU wants to reduce dependency on Russian gas (and China wants to buy that dip), airlines cut flights to grapple with fuel costs, inflation is expected to inflate, nickel is back, and a new round of corporations pulled out of Russia (Coke, Pepsi, McDonalds, Starbucks, PayPal, and more).

New Big Swinging Decks episode is out now. Lit and Mark interviewed one of Deutsche Bank bullpen's most infamous alumni: Bill Keenan. Catch the interview on Spotify & Apple.

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

• As investors monitored tensions between Russia and Ukraine, market volatility continued with all three major indices opening negative, climbing, then falling to end the day in the red

• WTI crude oil jumped ~7% to $128+/barrel after Biden announced the US will ban Russia oil imports

• The broader energy sector rose due to rising prices, while clean energy stocks had similar gains as governments may shift their focus toward alternative energy sources

• Treasury yields rose with the 10Y hitting 1.85% as inflation fears escalate

• The CPI, which drops Thursday, is forecast to accelerate to a 7.8% increase in Feb from a year ago (which would be the most since 1982). Though this might not capture the late push in prices from the Russia-Ukraine conflict

Earnings

• Bumble shares jumped 16%+ after posting better-than-expected user-growth numbers (MW)

• Stitch Fix shares fell AH yesterday after offering a weak Q3 forecast and a discounted FY outlook as they struggle to grow their subscriber base (CNBC)

• Dick’s Sporting Goods posted better than expected profit and sales growth numbers after a strong holiday quarter and a post-pandemic return to stores for shoppers (CNBC)

• Full calendar here

Headline Roundup

• China considers buying stakes in Russian energy, commodity firms (BBG)

• EU aims to cut Russia gas dependence by almost 80% this year (BBG)

• Biden bans import of Russian oil, natural gas (WSJ)

• Bitcoin jumps 8% after US Treasury Secretary Yellen accidentally leaks details on Biden's crypto policy (Fortune)

• Online-mortgage lender Better fires 3K in new round of cuts (BBG)

• Chinese spies hacked US state government networks (BBG

• Airlines begin to cut flying as they grapple with fuel-cost jump (BBG)

• Apple to stream MLB games on Friday nights (BBG)

• Tom Brady files for dozens of trademarks from food to furniture (BBG)

• Higher vehicle, energy imports push January US trade deficit to new record (WSJ)

• McDonald’s temporarily closes 850 restaurants in Russia, nearly 2 weeks after Putin’s forces invaded Ukraine (CNBC)

• LME halts nickel trading after unprecedented 250% spike (BBG)

• Job openings stay elevated as labor market emerges from omicron disruptions (WSJ)

• House lawmakers include $13.6B for Ukraine in Omnibus spending bill (WSJ)

A Message From Yieldstreet

Home is Where the Money is (Or Could Be With REITs) 

They say home is where the heart is, but whoever “they” are have clearly never heard of REITs from Yieldstreet.

Sure, you could spend hours scouring real estate apps looking for the perfect fixer-upper-hopefully-turned-investment-property-maybe-potentially-perhaps-someday, or you could skip the most unpleasant parts of real estate investing and get the good folks at Yieldstreet to do it for you. 

With REITs from Yieldstreet, you can access private markets once reserved for the ultra rich and invest in many different types of real estate assets (like commercial, industrial, and single family housing) with just one investment. Goodbye barriers like maintenance and property management expenses, hello potential earnings from rent and increasing property values. 

Start or expand your real estate portfolio with Yieldstreet today and see how investing in roofs over heads could put money in pockets like yours. 

Invest in REITs today

Deal Flow

M&A / Investments

• Orange and Masmovil have entered exclusive merger talks in an attempt to consolidate the Spanish telecom market and create a potential $21B+ company (BBG)

• Google agreed to buy cybersecurity company Mandiant for $5.4B (BBG)

• PAI Partners and Baring PE Asia are halting a sale of World Freight Company due to market volatility caused by the war in Ukraine (BBG)

• KKR is considering an acquisition of French solar and biomass power producer Albioma, which has a current market value of ~$1.3B (BBG)

• Westpac Banking has started inviting bids for its wealth management unit BT Panorama that could be worth up to $1.1B (BBG)

• Kohl’s financial adviser, Goldman Sachs, has engaged with more than 20 potential buyers for the retailer (BBG)

• Telecom Italia shares rebounded after KKR reported they were still interested in a takeover deal (RT)

• Apollo co-founder Josh Harris is considering a bid for soccer team Chelsea FC (BBG)

VC

• Cybersecurity asset and SaaS management startup Axonius raised a $200M Series E at a $2.6B valuation led by Accel (BW)

• Bioinformatics company DNAnexus raised $200M at a $600M valuation in a Series I led by Blackstone Growth (BBG)

• AngelList raised a $100M round at a $4.1B valuation led by Tiger Global (MG)

• Swiftly Systems, a provider of retail technology solutions, raised a $100M Series B led by Wormhole Capital (BW)

• Neotribe Ventures closed a $90M fund to back growth-stage companies developing breakthrough technologies (PRN)

• Sherlock Biosciences, a startup developing a product to bring diagnostics to point-of-need, raised an $80M Series B led by Novalis LifeSciences (PRN)

• Argyle, an employment data platform, raised a $55M Series B led by SignalFire (BW)

• People intelligence company Findem raised a $30M Series B led by Four Rivers and Quarry Capital Management (PRN)

• TRexBio, a discovery-stage biotech company decoding human tissue immune biology to create therapeutics, raised a $26M Series A extension led by JNJ Innovation, Pfizer Ventures, Eli Lilly, and more (BW)

• Thirdfort, a startup developing tools to protect companies from money laundering and payment fraud, raised a $20M Series A led by Breega (TC)

• Boston Technology Research, a regulatory technology company for healthcare, raised a $15M Series A led by Insight Partners (PRN)

• Hotel payment software startup Selfbook raised a $15M Series A extension at a $300M valuation led by Tiger Global (TC)

• Dianthus, a tech-forward e-commerce brand builder, raised an $11.5M seed round led by PJC, Underscore VC, and Jason Calacanis (BW)

• Key, a Toronto-based real estate tech startup, raised an $11M seed round from Plazacorp, N49P Ventures, Red Jar Capital, and more (BW)

• Glean AI, a startup helping companies pay invoices faster and analyze line-item data, raised a $10.8M pre-seed round led by Contour Venture Partners, Infinity Ventures, B Capital, and more (TC)

• Alternative investment platform Gridline raised a $9M round from David Dorman, Mark Shoberg, and more (BW)

• Community-oriented B2B payments platform Hopscotch raised a $6.1M seed extension led by Shine Capital and Stellation Capital (BW)

• Cega, a startup building a DeFi derivatives platform, raised a $4.3M seed round at a $60M valuation led by Dragonfly Capital Partners (TC)

• Cybord, a software solution which implements AI to inspect and qualify electronic components, raised a $4M seed round led by IL Ventures (PRN)

• Calico, a startup building fashion supply chain software, raised a $2.1M seed round from Serena Ventures (TC)

SPAC

• Carbon recycling technology company LaznaTech agreed to merge with AMCI Acquisition Corp II in a $2.2B deal (RT)

• Satellite chip company SatixFy agreed to merge with Endurance Acquisition Corp in an ~$813M deal (BBG)

Debt

• Television broadcaster Tegna is planning on borrowing ~$6.8B from the junk bond and leveraged loan markets to help fund its buyout by Standard General (BBG)

Crypto Corner

• Mainstream hedge funds pour billions of dollars into crypto (WSJ)

• Binance deal with crypto firm Eqonex prompts warning shot from UK regulators (TBC)

• Bored Ape Yacht Club donates $1M in ETH to Ukraine (DC)

• Goldman Sachs offering ETH fund to clients through Galaxy Digital (CD)

Exec's Picks

• Yesterday, Jack Raines published a great piece on the optimal amount of wealth. If you want to read about the dangers of both being too poor and too rich, check out his latest here

• Bill Keenan, our guest on today's podcast episode, achieved Wall Street fame for his legendary departure email to his team at DB. Check out his letter here

Big Swinging Decks Podcast

Big Swinging Decks is back today with a new episode 😤 As always, shoutout to CoinFLEX.US for making this podcast possible. They're a crypto yield platform that helps you trade, mint, and earn crypto. Their flexUSD coin is also America's first interest-bearing stablecoin that pays interest every 8 hours.

In this week's episode, Lit and Mark sit down with one of Deutsche Bank bullpen's infamous alumni: Bill Keenan. 

Bill is famous for his 2018 departure letter from Deutsche Bank, as well as his book, Discussion Materials, which chronicles his time as an investment banking associate. Sit down, v_UP and get ready for some hilarious DB stories and advice for those looking to break into Wall Street.

Catch the latest episode on Spotify and Apple.

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.

If you're a company looking to hire talent from our 100,000+ community, post a job on the board!

Meme Cleanser

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Catch the latest episode of our Big Swinging Decks podcast on Spotify and Apple 🤝