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Good Morning,

Charlie Munger passed away at 99, Mark Cuban is selling the Mavs, the Cybertruck is a production nightmare for Tesla, Iger played down Disney’s asset sales, Ivy League presidents were called before Congress on antisemitism concerns, Amazon announced an AI chatbot, and Goldman says the recent drop in volatility is good for hedging.

If you are looking to grow your business by leveraging Fintech, check out the 2023 Fintech Effect, published by today’s sponsor, Plaid.

Let’s dive in.

Before The Bell

Markets

• US stocks slightly rose on an increase in US consumer confidence and hopes that the Fed was finished with rate hikes

  • The Nasdaq led indices with a 0.29% gain

Earnings

• Intuit reported better-than-expected Q1 earnings and revenue but missed estimates for the current quarter (I)

• PDD Holdings shares rocketed 18% after beating Q3 earnings and reporting a stronger-than-anticipated doubling in revenue thanks to its discount platform Temu (BBG)

• What we're watching this week:  

  • Today: Salesforce, Dollar Tree, Snowflake, Foot Locker

  • Thursday: Kroger, UiPath, TD Bank, Dell

  • Friday: Bank of Montreal

• Full calendar here

Headline Roundup

• Charlie Munger, investing genius and Warren Buffett’s right-hand man, dies at age 99 (CNBC)

• Musk’s Cybertruck is already a production nightmare for Tesla (BBG)

• Shein’s IPO raises fresh questions on alleged forced labor in its supply chain (RT)

• Disney’s Bob Iger plays down asset sales, vows to build modern version of company (WSJ)

• Harvard, Penn, MIT presidents called before Congress on antisemitism (BBG)

• Amazon announces Q, an AI chatbot for businesses (CNBC)

• Fed’s Waller, Bowman opens door to another interest rate pause in December (BBG)

• Goldman says sharp drop in volatility is opportunity for hedging (BBG)

• OpenAI rival Hugging Face says it’s seeing more client interest after Sam Altman fiasco (CNBC)

• Russian court extends detention of WSJ reporter (WSJ)

• Thanksgiving TV broadcasts drew record-breaking ratings, even as industry grapples with cord-cutting (CNBC)

• 2024 election to boost dollar on trade-war tension, JPMorgan says (BBG)

• George Santos faces third House expulsion vote (BBG)

• Hamas, Israel release more hostages, prisoners in fifth day of Gaza truce (RT)

A Message From Plaid

WTFintech?

Then you need to check out the 2023 Fintech Effect by Plaid. 

Download the full report for free right here. 

Plaid partnered with The Harris Poll by surveying 2,000+ fintech consumers to get a pulse on what’s currently working in fintech and which gaps need to be filled for the future. 

From exploring the next wave of customers, the latest usage trends, and the future of AI in finance;  it covers everything you need to truly understand the fintech space. 

But what makes this year’s edition worth the download? Good question. Plaid has…  

• Dug into why 86% of customers see the benefits of pay by bank relative to debit/credit cards 

• Broken down how fintech is successfully aiding lower income populations with access to digital finance where traditional institutions have failed. 

• Dialed into consumers’ (7 out of 10) desire to use fintech to intellectually navigate high inflation 

For anyone looking to grow their business by leveraging fintech, this report is a must-read. 

You can download it right here for free

Deal Flow

M&A / Investments

• Adobe’s $20B acquisition of design software maker Figma risks being blocked by UK’s competition watchdog unless it offers up remedies (BBG)

• Toyota Motor and two affiliates plan to sell a ~10%, $4.7B stake in components maker Denso (RT)  

• Mark Cuban is working on a $3.5B sale of the Dallas Mavericks to Miriam Adelson, the largest shareholder of the Las Vegas Sands casino and resort company (AP)

• Shareholders of French TV production group Mediawan are weighing a takeover of Germany's KKR-backed Leonine Studios that could value the combined entity at $3.3B (RT)

• Rocket Software, a Bain Capital portfolio company, will acquire Open Text’s Application Modernization and Connectivity business for $2.3B cash (PRNW)

• Nippon Life Insurance will acquire Nichii Holdings, the parent company of nursing care provider Nichiigakkan, for ~$1.4B (RT) 

• A consortium led by PE firm Fajr Capital acquired a 65% stake in hospital chain Aster DM Healthcare’s Gulf business for $1B (RT)  

• Farfetch's founder José Neves is looking to take the company private; The online luxury retailer has a $740M market cap (RT) 

• Taiwan Cement will acquire stakes in two cement firms from Turkey’s Army Pension Fund for $740M (BBG) 

• Chinese payments group Alipay plans to sell its 3.4% stake in Indian food delivery giant Zomato for ~$400M (RT) 

• Atos is renegotiating its deal with Czech billionaire Daniel Křetínský to buy the French group’s IT services business, Tech Foundations, as it seeks to raise funds to service its debt (FT)

VC

• OQC, a UK-based quantum compute-as-a-service startup, raised a $100M round led by SBI Investment (FN)

• Pika, a startup building AI tools to generate and edit videos, raised $55M in funding led by Lightspeed Venture Partners (TC)

• Candex, a startup aiming to simplify procurement, raised a $45M Series B led by Goldman Sachs (TC)

• Decarbonization platform One Click LCA received $44M in funding from PSG and InfraVia (BW)

• Aro Biotherapeutics, a clinical-stage biotech company focused on the development of tissue-targeted genetic medicines, raised a $41.5M Series B led by Cowen Healthcare Investments (BW)

• Public benefit software company Second Front Systems raised a $40M Series B led by NEA (PRN)

• CapitalOS, a fintech startup providing spend management infrastructure for B2B platforms, raised a $39M Series A led by Group 11 (FN)

• Pet health app Lassie raised a $25M Series B led by Balderton (TC)

• AI-powered protein programming platform Cradle raised a $24M Series A led by Index Ventures (TC)

• Africa Healthcare Network, a Kenyan-based provider of dialysis services in Africa, raised $20M in funding led by Africa50 and AfricInvest (FN)

• Healthcare fintech payments platform PayGround raised a $19.7M Series A led by SixThirty (PRN)

• PlayGround, a provider of a healthcare fintech payments platform, raised a $19.7M Series A led by SixThirty (FN)

• Secondmind, a Cambridge, UK-based software-defined vehicle startup, raised $16M in funding from Mazda, Amadeus Capital, and others (FN)

• Jala, a Yogyakarta, Indonesia-based digital enabler for the shrimp industry, raised a $13.1M Series A led by Intudo Ventures (FN)

• AR and VR solutions company Hololight raised $12M in funding led by Flatz Hoffmann (BW)

• Cloudsmith, a software supply chain management startup, raised an $11M Series A-2 led by MMC Ventures (FN)

• Every, an all-in-one finance and HR suite, raised a $9.5M seed round led by Base10 (VC)

• Sports fan platform HANG raised a $9.2M Series A led by The Operating Group (PRN)

• Mummolin, a startup aiming to decentralize bitcoin mining, raised a $6.2M seed round led by Jack Dorsey (PRN)

• Vrgineers, a VR company for pilot training, raised a $6M Series A led by Taiwania Capital (PRN)

• Project management platform CoordinateHQ raised a $5.5M seed round led by Initialized Capital (BW)

• Prelude, a startup building an AI-powered supply chain solution for the cannabis industry, raised a $5.2M seed round led by Rackhouse Ventures and Casa Verde (PRN)

IPO / Direct Listings / Issuances / Block Trades

• Temperature-controlled storage and logistics giant Lineage Logistics is targeting a valuation of over $30B in an IPO as soon as the first half of 2024 (BBG)

• Safety-testing company UL Solutions is targeting a valuation of $5B or more in an IPO that’s been pushed back to 2024 (BBG) 

• PE firm Permira has Bank of America, JPMorgan and Mediobanca as coordinators for its listing of Italian luxury sports shoe brand Golden Goose, which could IPO in Milan as soon as the first half of 2024 at a ~$3.3B valuation (FT) 

• DEAG Deutsche Entertainment, one of Europe’s largest live entertainment companies, is preparing to relist on the Frankfurt stock exchange at a ~$274M valuation (BBG)

SPAC

• Lotus Technology, the luxury EV arm of sports car brand Lotus, secured $870M in financing at a $5.5B valuation ahead of its merger with L Catterton Asia Acquisition; investors will be issued shares upon closing of the business combination (RT) 

Debt

• Electricite de France is selling the first green bond in Europe that can be used to finance nuclear energy projects and is seeking to raise at least $548M (BBG) 

Fundraising

• PE firm New Heritage Capital closed its New Heritage Capital Fund IV at $438M to invest in high-growth, founder-led companies (WSJ)

Crypto Corner

• Binance founder and former CEO Changpeng Zhao stepped down as chairman of Binance.US’s board (CD)

• Coinbase CEO says that Binance settlement will turn the page on crypto’s “bad actors” (CD)

Exec’s Picks

• While he was one of the world’s best investors, Charlie Munger was best known for his wisdom over the years. Here’s a compilation of some of his wisest quotes over the years.

• This New York Times piece explains how China’s affluent are moving their wealth out of the country.

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