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Good Morning,

Private equity associate recruiting season officially kicked off yesterday, OpenSea trading volume has dropped by 99%, the Fed is launching a faster payments system, China is arresting hundreds in a large bank fraud probe, Singapore wants to woo foreign talent, the Taliban is buying gas from Russia, and Garry Tan is rejoining YC as President and CEO.

If you're looking to diversify into an anti-ESG strategy, check out today's sponsor, BAD.

Busy week at LitCap HQ ahead of Labor Day Weekend. We'll get right into it.

Let's dive in.

Before The Bell

Markets

• Continued concerns over rising rates and tighter US monetary policy dragged down the market following last week’s selloff, and all three major averages have now lost all of August’s gains

  • The 2Y Treasury hit a 15-year high as rate hike fears persist

• Investors are looking ahead to more Fed speeches this week before August’s nonfarm payrolls report on Friday

• Europe's STOXX 600 index fell 0.8% to a one-month+ low, led by a 2.4% slide in interest rate-sensitive tech stocks 

Earnings

• What we're watching this week: 

  • Today: Best Buy, BMO, HP, Baidu, Chewy 

  • Thursday: Broadcom, Lululemon, Signet Jewelers

• Full calendar here 

Headline Roundup

• The USD touched a fresh 20-year high on Monday (RT)

• Fewer Americans are living paycheck to paycheck as inflation eases (CNBC)

• Fed’s QT to hit ‘full stride’ with central bank shrinking $9T portfolio (BBG)

• US consumer sentiment improved further in August and near-term inflation expectations fell to a 2022 low (RT)

• China’s industrial profit fell in the first seven months of 2022 (WSJ)

• China arrests hundreds in nation's biggest-ever bank fraud probe (BBG)

• The Fed will launch a faster payments system, FedNow, by next summer (WSJ)

• Singapore announced new work visa rules to woo foreign talent (RT)

• Brazil's Petrobras will cut aviation gas prices by 15.7% in September (RT)

• Taliban is nearing a contract to purchase gas from Russia (RT)

• Honda and LG Energy plan to build a $4.4B EV battery plant in the US (WSJ)

• Indian telecom giant Reliance is working with Google to launch a budget 5G smartphone in a $25B push (RT)

• Ex-Y Combinator partner Garry Tan will rejoin YC as President and CEO (YC)

• Another Morgan Stanley banker put on leave amid SEC probe into block trades (BBG)

• Tesla illegally restricted union shirts, Labor Board rules (BBG)

• Catastrophic flooding in Pakistan has killed over 1K people (AX)

A Message From The BAD Investment Company

Tired of ESG Bullsh*t?

Fortunately, there's a money manager that decided that B-A-D might be the better acronym for investors.The BAD ETF (NYSE: BAD) launched last December and is taking a different stance in this green washed world focusing on 3 industries for which the ticker represents – B-A-D. 

• Betting – Casinos, gaming, and online gaming operations – 33%

• Alcohol – Alcoholic beverage manufacturing and distribution – 23%

• Drugs – Pharmaceutical and biotechnology product development and manufacturing – 33%

  • Cannabis cultivators & distributors - 10% 

The case for these BAD industries remains strong for a simple yet important reason – they have historically offered attractive risk-adjusted returns. In addition to these industries overcoming government scrutiny, these industries have shown resilience during economic downturns because people tend to indulge in their vices, or what some call hobbies.  

As a result, we believe these asset classes are typically underappreciated and therefore under-valued but the reality is that people will continue to consume alcohol, gamble, and need medicine in good times, and in BAD.  

In regards to the betting and cannabis aspects, as these industries become more widely accepted socially and legally, they may offer investors additional growth as more states look to legalize those industries for additional tax revenues.

Learn more about the BAD ETF fund details and sign up for our mailing list to get the latest fund insights and information.

Deal Flow

M&A / Investments

• Australian gas firm Woodside Energy is looking to sell a stake in its $5.7B Scarborough gas project (RT)

• Dutch investment firm HAL Trust raised its offer to buy marine firm Royal Boskalis Westminster to ~$4.24B (BBG)

• Bain Capital agreed to buy Japanese medical devices company Olympus’s scientific instruments business for $3.1B (BBG)

• Walmart plans to buy all the shares of retail company Massmart it doesn’t already own, taking the company private at an implied 53% premium (BBG)

• Flywheel Energy agreed to buy the natural gas properties in Arkansas of oil and gas producer Exxon (RT)

• Ingka Group, the owner of most IKEA stores worldwide, agreed to buy a 49% stake in three wind development projects offshore Sweden from renewables development company OX2 for $57.5M (RT)

• Tech giant Sony will acquire Helsinki and Berlin-based mobile games business Savage Game Studios for an undisclosed amount (RT)

VC

• Free-to-Own Web3 gaming startup Limit Break raised $200M in funding from Buckley Ventures, Standard Crypto, and Paradigm Ventures (PRN)

• Digital therapeutics company Theranica raised a $45M Series C led by New Rhein Healthcare (PRN)

• End-to-end rental management platform RentSpree raised a $17.3M Series B led by Green Visor Capital (PRN)

• Grey, a startup providing virtual international bank accounts to African freelancers and remote workers, raised a $2M seed round led by Y Combinator, Soma Capital, Heirloom Fund, and more (TC)

• Anchor, a Nigerian BaaS platform, raised a $1M+ pre-seed round led by Y Combinator (TC)

SPAC

• Software firm Corcentric ended its $1.2B merger deal with North Mountain Merger Corp. (RT)

• Shares of Digital World Acquisition Corporation, the company planning to take Trump Media and Technology Group public, fell as shareholders considered delaying the merger amid Trump's legal problems (CNBC)

Fundraising

• Kli Capital raised 90% of a $50M third fund; transitioning from a family office to an institutional VC (TC)

Crypto Corner

• India's largest crypto firm CoinSwitch is cooperating with India's financial-crime agency (RT)

• Singapore’s central bank slammed cryptocurrencies as 'highly hazardous' but wants to develop and promote a digital-asset ecosystem (WSJ)

• Facebook and Instagram will allow US users to post their NFTs (CN)

• OpenSea turns into NFT ghost town after volume plunges 99% in 90 days (CT)

Exec's Picks

• With 4-way stretch, wrinkle-resistant, and quick-dry fabric, Mizzen+Main shirts will have you feeling dry, fresh, and comfortable while always looking business ready. Upgrade your closet today and order your Mizzen+Main here!

• If you're looking to raise a venture fund, check out this great twitter thread from Paige Doherty (GP at Behind Genius Ventures) outlining a traditionally opaque process.

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:

Meme Cleanser

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