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Good Morning,

Stocks were in the green again, El Salvador postponed its bitcoin bond, the BAYC creators got PAID, another former Theranos exec is on trial, Tesla opens a factory in Germany, Shanghai traders are sleeping in their offices, and the hits keep coming for Evergrande.

Big Swinging Decks is back today. Lit and Mark chat crypto / web3 / DeFi. Catch the latest episode on Spotify and Apple Music 🤝  (presented by CoinFLEX.US)

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 major averages closed in the green on Tuesday, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq leading the way with a 2% gain, as investors digested JPow's comments from Monday when he vowed to take tough action on inflation

  • The 10-yr yield climbed ~7bps, to 2.373%; it hit its highest level since May 2019 during trading on Tuesday

• Investors will be watching the release of February new home sales data, which will be released at 10 a.m. today

Earnings

• Adobe beat on revenue, reporting $4.26B and 9% YoY increase; however, shares slipped 1% AH as a result of conservative guidance (MW) 

• What we’re watching today: General Mills, Tencent Holdings  

• Full calendar here

Headline Roundup

• Abramovich yachts moved to Turkey as Chelsea sale heats up (BBG)

• Former Theranos president’s trial starts in shadow of Holmes’s conviction (BBG)

• Russia offers to buy out jetliner fleet from foreign lessors (BBG)

• Russia trade bill hits senate snag over inclusion of oil ban (BBG)

• Evergrande works to raise fresh funds as banks seize $2B from its subsidiary (WSJ)

• The NFL will now let teams seek limited blockchain sponsorships, but cryptocurrency promotion remains banned (CNBC)

• Elon Musk opens Tesla’s first European factory in Germany (WSJ)

• BuzzFeed News Editor in Chief steps down as company trims workforce (WSJ)

• Koch Industries, a long-time oil supporter, bets big on US batteries (WSJ)

• Buffet snubs Goldman bankers with quirky takeover price (BBG)

• Traders sleep in offices to keep working amid Shanghai lockdowns (BBG)

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

• Cuscaden Peak, a consortium led by hotelier Ong Beng Seng, won approval to buy media and property company Singapore Press for $2.9B (BBG)

• An investor consortium specializing in energy and infrastructure agreed to buy Fortum Oslo Varme, Norway’s largest producer of district heating for $2.3B (BBG)

• PAI Partners is exploring a potential sale of $2B UK-based infrastructure services firm M Group Services (BBG)

• Satellite operator SES agreed to buy satcom company Global Enterprise Solutions for $450M (BBG)

• Major crypto exchange FTX invested $100M in banking app Dave, forming a partnership for crypto payments (CD)

VC

• Yuga Labs, the NFT startup behind the Bored Ape Yacht Club, raised a $450M seed round at a $4B valuation led by a16z Crypto (TC)

• Advance Intelligence, a Singaporean startup with 3 core businesses: digital verification, BNPL services, and an e-commerce services platform, is in talks to raise $300M (BBG)

• Digital health-insurance startup Alan is in talks to raise new funding at a ~$2.7B valuation (BBG)

• Jeeves, a startup providing corporate card services to startups, raised a $180M Series C at a $2.1B valuation led by Tencent (TC)

• Affini-T Therapeutics, a T cell therapies startup for tumor patients, raised a $175M round led by Vida Ventures and Leaps (BW)

• Chinese AR startup Rokid raised a $160M Series C from undisclosed ‘related ecosystem players’ (TC)

• Global employment partner Omnipresent raised a $120M Series B led by Kinnevik (BW)

• Capitolis, a startup improving the way banks transact in the capital markets, raised a $110M Series D at a $1.6B valuation led by Canapi Ventures, 9Yards Capital, and SVB Capital (TC)

• Crypto startup Worldcoin is set to raise a $100M funding round at a $3B token valuation from a16z and Khosla Ventures, among others (CD)

• Span.IO, a home electrification startup, raised a $90M Series B led by Fifth Wall Climate Tech and Wellington Management (BW)

• Firefly Aerospace, a startup developing economical launch vehicles, spacecraft, and in-space services, raised a $75M Series B led by AE Industrial Partners (PRN)

• British D2C luxury fashion brand ME+EM raised a $73M round led by Highland Europe (BW)

• Bionic, an application security and posture management platform, raised a $65M Series B led by Insight Partners (PRN)

• Robotic process automation startup nirvanaHealth raised $60M in growth capital from ‘inside investors’ (BW)

• Data science collaboration platform Hex raised a $52M Series B led by a16z (TC)

• D2C pet health and wellness platform Spot & Tango raised $51.75M in funding led by Valor Equity Partners: a $38.5M Series B and $13.25M Series A (BW)

• ChargeAfter, a BNPL platform giving shoppers the option to choose between multiple lenders, raised a $44M Series B led by The Phoenix (PRN)

• Isotope Technologies Munich, a radiopharmaceutical biotech company, raised $36.4M in funding from the Indigenous Critical Infrastructure Fund Canada and a PE fund managed by the Portland Investment Counsel (BW)

• Nucleai, an AI-powered spatial biology company, raised a $33M Series B led by Section 32 and Sanofi Ventures (BW)

• Eko, a startup using algorithms to detect heart problems, raised a $30M Series C extension (TC)

• Global ecommerce payments enabler Reach raised a $30M round led by Vistara Growth (BW)

• Digital learning platform Subject raised a $29.4M Series A led by Owl Ventures (PRN)

• Beep, a provider of multi-passenger electric autonomous mobility solutions, raised a $25M Series A-1 led by ABS Capital (PRN)

• D-ID, a startup creating unique video experiences such as animating the faces of lost relatives, raised a $25M Series B led by Macquarie Capital (TC)

• Fertility technology company Alife Health raised a $22M Series A led by Deena Shakir at Lux Capital, Rebecca Kaden at Union Square Ventures, and Anarghya Vardhana at Maveron (ALIFE)

• Telehealth startup Antidote Health raised a $22M Series A led by iAngels, Group 11, and Flint Capital (PRN)

• NFT appraisal startup Upshot raised a $22M Series A-2 led by Polychain Capital (BW)

• Digital estate planning platform Wealth raised a $16M seed round led by Anthos Capital (PRN)

• Marketing strategy platform Brew raised a $12M seed round from Aleph and MizMaa (PRN)

• Threads Styling, a global luxury chat-based shopping platform, raised a $12M round led by Highland Europe and C Ventures (PRN)

• Stellic, a centralized degree progression platform, raised $11M in funding led by Reach Capital (PRN)

• Layr, a startup helping brokerages and agencies manage small commercial books, raised a $10M Series A led by HSCM Ventures (PRN)

IPO / Direct Listings / Issuances / Block Trades

• Spanish warehouse management company Mecalux is planning to postpone its potential $3.3B Madrid IPO until June due to market volatility stemming from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine (RT)

SPAC

• Japanese crypto exchange Coincheck agreed to merge with Bridge Capital Partners IV in a $1.25B deal (RT)

Debt

• Owl Rock Capital led the debt financing of $2.5B to fund Thoma Bravo’s $10.7B purchase of software company Anaplan (BBG)

• Russian search engine Yandex hires advisers for debt talks (BBG)

Fundraising

• Certares Management, an investment firm focused on travel, tourism, and hospitality, is targeting ~$5B for a new PE fund (BBG)

• Former a16z GP Katie Haun raised $1.5B for her new VC firm, Haun Ventures. $500M will be allocated to an early-stage fund, and $1B to an “acceleration” fund (CNBC)

• Chip supplier Qualcomm launched a $100M metaverse investment fund (TBC)

• AgFunder, a fund focused on the AgTech industry, closed $60M in capital commitments for a new fund (TC)

Crypto Corner

• El Salvador postpones proposed bitcoin bond (CD)

• Florida governor DeSantis says the state will accept bitcoin for tax payments (TBC)

• Crypto.com picked as an official FIFA World Cup sponsor (TBC)

Exec's Picks

• Gearing up for Interviews, but haven't mastered 'Walk Me Through an LBO?.' Check out this deep-dive guide from Finance|able.

Big Swinging Decks Podcast

🚨 BIG SWINGING DECKS IS BACK WITH A NEW EPISODE 🚨

Today's topic: Crypto for the Finance Hardo

In this week’s episode, Lit & Mark take their first stab at a 30,000 foot overview of crypto - focusing on the fundamentals of the industry while still finding time to discuss when Mark got rug pulled by a shitcoin (and at the bar).

Catch the latest episode of our Big Swinging Decks podcast, presented by CoinFLEX.US, on Spotify and Apple Music 🤝 

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

Advertise with us // Visit our merch store // Invest alongside Lit Ventures

Catch the latest episode of our Big Swinging Decks podcast, presented by CoinFLEX.US, on Spotify and Apple Music 🤝