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Good Morning,

J Pow said the Fed might cause a recession while fighting inflation, Biden wants to suspend gas taxes, the FDA is preparing to ban Juuls, UK inflation hit a 40-year high, Eurozone consumer confidence is at rock bottom, and Sam Bankman-Fried keeps bailing out crypto exchanges.

Shout out to J Pow for saying what everyone was already thinking, and RIP to the Juul. You had a good run 🙏🏼

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 three major indexes declined slightly after trading in the green for most of the day 

  • Oil fell to its lowest price in more than a month amid fears that a recession would reduce demand

• Cryptocurrencies resumed their decline after a brief rally earlier in the week, and shares of Coinbase fell 9.5%

• Jerome Powell testified before Congress that the Fed will continue raising interest rates until they see evidence that inflation is slowing; his testimony will continue today

Earnings

• What we’re watching today: FedEx, Accenture, RiteAid

  • Friday: CarMax 

• Full calendar here

Headline Roundup

• Jerome Powell told Congress that the Fed is "strongly committed" to bringing down inflation and acknowledges that this could cause a recession (CNBC)

• Biden called on Congress to suspend federal gasoline taxes for three months (AP)

• The FDA is preparing to ban the sale of Juul e-cigarettes in the US (WSJ)

• JPMorgan's mortgage unit is laying off hundreds of home-lending employees as the housing market cools (BBG)

• UK inflation hit a forty-year high as their consumer price index rose to 9.1% YoY (CNBC)

• NBCUniversal and Google have emerged as top contenders to partner with Netflix in creating an ad-supported subscription plan (RT)

• The Qatar Stock Exchange will soon allow investors to loan and short sell securities in an effort to enhance market liquidity and turnover (BBG)

• The head of the International Energy Agency believes that Russia may cut off gas to Europe entirely (RT)

• SEC to propose new rules for online brokers' game-like features (BBG)

• Congress is getting closer to changing US retirement laws regarding the 401(k) (WSJ)

A Message From Piestro

Meet Piestro, The Robotic Pizza Kitchen

Invest in Piestro, the future of pizza, right here. 

For those of you who are completely out of the loop, we’ll let you in on a not-so-little secret: Pizza is the #1 food in the United States, with 13% of Americans eating it on any given day. 

That number may be bad for the ol’ waistline, but it could be amazing for your portfolio, thanks to Piestro’s pizza automation. 

Piestro can:

• Whip up an artisanal pizza in under 3 minutes

• Cook 24/7 (after all, robots don’t need bathroom breaks) 

• Triple the low profit margins (5-10%) and reduce the huge startup costs ($175K-$750K) of the restaurant industry

Piestro can’t: 

• Argue with you over whether pineapple belongs on your pie

• Shout “Mammi Mia, that’s a-spicy meatball!” 

In terms of pros and cons, that might be the most lopsided list we’ve ever seen – all the more reason to head over to Piestro’s investment page and snatch up some shares before they’re all gone. 

Invest in Piestro right here (while you still can). 

Deal Flow

M&A / Investments

• Bidders for Japanese conglomerate Toshiba are valuing the company at ~$22B in an attempt to take the company private, sending shares up as much as 6.5% (RT)

• Technology-focused PE firm Silver Lake is nearing a deal to acquire Italian price-comparison website Facile.it at a potential $1.05B valuation (BBG)

• British sporting goods retailer Frasers Group increased its stake in fashion group Hugo Boss to $944M, or ~31% of the company (BBG)

• Australia’s Macquarie Group is in talks to acquire Kuwaiti plane leasing firm Alafco Aviation Lease & Finance, which is currently valued at $565M (BBG)

• Fanatics CEO Michael Rubin is planning to sell his 10% stake valued at ~$300M in Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment, the company that owns the Philadelphia 76ers (BBG)

• Franchise Group may lower its takeover bid for Kohl's from $60/share to $50/share amid concerns that a recession would harm US retailers (CNBC)

VC

• Personio, an HR platform for small and medium-sized businesses, raised a $200M Series E led by Greenoaks Capital Partners (TC)

• Zap Energy, a company that is working to commercialize fusion energy, raised a $160M Series C led by Lowercarbon Capital (TC)

• Marketing automation platform LeadSquared raised a $153M Series C led by Westbridge Capital (TC)

• Data management vendor Ataccama received $150M in funding from Bain Capital Tech Opportunities (TC)

• Fintech and digital assets infrastructure startup Prime Trust raised a $100M Series B led by FIS, Fin Capital, Mercato Partners, Kraken Ventures, and others (TC)

• Ledger Investing, an InsurTech startup, raised a $75M Series B led by WestCap (PRN)

• Software DevOps platform Gearset raised $55M in a funding round led by Silversmith Capital Partners (TC)

• Appsmith, a low-code platform for building business apps, raised a $41M Series B led by Insight Partners (TC)

• Jackpot, an online lottery ticket app and platform, closed a $35M Series A co-led by Accomplice and Courtside Ventures (PRN)

• Sanas, a real-time accent translation platform, raised a $32M Series A led by Insight Partners (PRN)

• Open source content management system Strapi raised a $31M Series B led by CRV (TC)

• Elucid, a company developing non-invasive medical software to characterize cardiovascular disease, raised a $27M Series B led by an undisclosed strategic investor (PRN)

• Airspace Link, a drone software and data solutions provider, raised a $23M Series B led by Avanta Ventures (PRN)

• Eppo, a platform that lets developers experiment with different versions of apps, received $19.5M in funding: a $16M Series A led by Menlo Ventures and a $3.5M seed round led by Amplify Partners (TC)

• Open-source cloud asset inventory CloudQuery raised a $15M Series A led by Tiger Global (TC)

• Big data startup Zenysis Technologies raised a $13.3M Series B led by the Steele Foundation for Hope (TC)

• Aidaly, a company that provides compensation and financial services to family caregivers, raised $8.5M in funding led by Seven Seven Six (TC)

• Vietnamese stock trading platform Anfin raised a $4.8M pre-Series A led by angel investor Clement Benoit (TC)

• Posh, a Bay-Area startup that automates EV battery recycling, raised a $3.8M seed round from Y Combinator, Metaplanet, Outbound Capital, and others (PRN)

• Thepeer, an African tech infrastructure startup connecting businesses’ wallets, raised a $2.1M seed round led by the Raba Partnership (TC)

IPO / Direct Listings / Issuances / Block Trades

• German car manufacturer Volkswagen will go ahead with its Porsche IPO by the end of the year, which could value the exotic car manufacturer at ~$95B (BBG)

• Malaysia’s state-owned investment firm Johor Corporation is weighing an IPO of its plantation unit Kulim Malaysia Berhad that could value the company at ~$1B (BBG)

• South African investment firm Brait is ready to list its South African food maker Premier (currently valued at ~$580M) on the Johannesburg exchange as soon as market conditions are favorable (BBG)

Fundraising

• Early stage VC firm Vine Ventures closed its Fund II with $140M in commitments (PRN)

Crypto Corner

• Bitcoin billionaire and FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried bails out embattled crypto firms BlockFi and Voyager (CNBC)

• Binance.US will offer zero-fee bitcoin trading as the platform seeks to attract more users (CD)

• Terraform Labs is committed to rebuilding the Terra blockchain following the collapse of its predecessor and supported stablecoins in May (WSJ)

• The Fed is evaluating the SEC's position on digital assets custody, indicating that customers’ digital assets may need to be treated as belonging to an exchange’s balance sheet (CD) 

Exec's Picks

• ICYMI: New episode of Big Swinging Decks is out! This week, Lit and Mark explore a story that recently unfolded on Wall Street Oasis: Indiana University students allegedly lying about their ethnicities to land internships at elite investment banks. Catch our latest episode, presented by CoinFLEX.US, on Spotify, Apple, and YouTube!

• "The more money you have, the more you have to preserve. And the more you have to preserve, the more fear that surrounds its potential loss." Lawrence Yeo broke down the psychology behind our relationship with money in his most recent piece.

• What's the perfect item to celebrate Throwback Thursday and the rising talks of a recession? A Bear Stearns banker bag. Turn heads and trigger some boomers with this high quality piece.

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.

• 💼 Today's highlighted job 💼

  • Liquidibee, a capital provider for businesses of all sizes, ranging from startups to established companies, is hiring an underwriting analyst. Responsibilities for this role include the analysis of financial documents such as credit reports and bank statements, detailed financial analysis to determine credit worthiness, and communication with ISOs, sales managers, and merchants. Think you're the perfect candidate? Apply here through our job board!

Meme Cleanser

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