RIP Internet Explorer

Internet Explorer is shutting down after 27 years, stocks keep on falling, Musk drew heat from Twitter employees in his first meeting, Russia cut gas flows to Europe, VC funding is Europe is slowing faster than in the US, and the Fintech IPO tracker fell 13.5% this week.

Together with

Good Morning,

Biden says the US could possibly avoid a recession, Internet Explorer is shutting down after 27 years, stocks keep on falling, Musk drew heat from Twitter employees in his first meeting, Russia cut gas flows to Europe, and VC funding in Europe is slowing faster than in the US.

Excited to announce today's sponsor is one of Lit's portfolio companies. Sweater is a fintech platform providing everyday investors (accredited and non-accredited) access to venture capital investing. If you're looking for a simple way to gain access to the VC asset class, Sweater is def the move. More info below.

Let's dive in.

Before The Bell

As of 6/16/2022 market close.

Markets

  • The market's brief gains following the Fedā€™s interest rate hike on Wednesday were erased yesterday with stocks selling off across all sectors

    • All three major indexes hit their lowest levels since at least December 2020

  • The Bank of England raised interest rates by 25 bps for the fifth consecutive time to reach 1.25%, but it said larger moves might be needed to tame inflation

  • Mortgage rates hit 5.78%, the highest level since 2008

Earnings

  • Krogerā€™s stock fell 2.04% despite exceeding Q1 earnings expectations, as the biggest U.S. grocery store operator sees inflation persisting (WSJ)

  • Adobe fell nearly 5% in the extended session after the software company reported fiscal 2022 Q2 results above expectations and tweaked revenue models for the year (MW)

  • Full calendar here

Headline Roundup

  • Biden signals a US recession is 'not inevitable' (BBG)

  • Russia slashes gas flows into Europe, using the continentā€™s dependency on their supply as an economic weapon (WSJ)

  • Crypto short-sellers have raked in almost $4B in profits just this year (YHOO)

  • The FinTech IPO Tracker fell 13.5% this week, its worst weekly loss this year (PYMNT)

  • Microsoft's Internet Explorer is shutting down after 27 years (YHOO)

  • Elon Musk drew heat from Twitter employees at his first ever Twitter meeting (AXIOS)

  • Facebook and Twitter agree to new European rules on online posts which aim to prevent advertisements from appearing next to ā€œintentionally false or misleadingā€ posts (WSJ)

  • US retail sales declined in May as inflation stings consumers (WSJ)

  • The US government is quietly encouraging agricultural and shipping companies to buy more Russian fertilizer despite sanctions (BBG)

  • Venture funding in Europe is declining faster than in the US ā€“ but causing much less panic (TC)

  • A senior ISIS leader was captured in Syria during a US-led coalition raid (AXIOS)

A Message From Sweater

A Message from Sweater Ventures: The Venture Capital Fund for EVERYONE

For too long the venture capital asset class has been out of reach for the majority of investorsā€¦until now.

Sweater opens venture investing for everyday investors, regardless of accreditation status.

The venture capital space was begging for change. The majority of investorsā€”even founders, analysts, and venture insidersā€”couldnā€™t meet the requirements for most of the existing paths into venture investing, so we decided to reshape the landscape for everyone, for you.

With the Sweater app, you can start investing in venture capital with a low upfront investment and grow your position in the fund with automatic recurring investments. We report on the investments we make right back to you through the app.

Download Sweater and add venture capital to your portfolio, today.Ā 

Deal Flow

M&A / Investments

  • State-owned Saudi Aramco is planning to merge its energy unit Aramco Trading with Motiva Trading ahead of the trading arm's $30B+ potential IPO (RT)

  • London West End landlords Capital & Counties Properties and Shaftesbury will merge to create a $6.1B property portfolio (BBG)

  • Energy company Consolidated Edison plans to sell its entire renewable energy portfolio at a ~$4B valuation (BBG)

  • Singapore conglomerate NTUC Enterprise is weighing a $2.9B sale of its retail mall portfolio (BBG)

  • French transnational utility company VeoliaĀ Environnement is looking to sell its UK waste unit Suez for over $2.4B (BBG)

  • Canadian pet food maker Champion Petfoods is exploring options including a potential sale that could value the company at $2B+ (BBG)

  • Canadian telecommunications company Telus agreed to acquire digital-health provider LifeWorks for $1.8B (BBG)

  • Owner of Indonesian telecommunication tower giant Protelindo is looking to sell up to 20% of his stake in the company for ~$1B (BBG)

  • Japanese pharmaceutical firm Kyowa Kirin is considering a sale of some of its international assets that could fetch ~$1B (BBG)

  • Italian utility giant Enel sold its entire 56.3% stake of its Russian unit to Lukoil Oil Company and private fund Gazprombank-Frezia at a $114M valuation (BBG)

  • Spanish infrastructure company Albertis plans to bid for a 66.6% stake in US toll highway operator Chicago Skyway, currently held by Canadian pension fund OMERS and Canadian Pension Plan Investment Board (RT)

VC

  • Homelight, a real estate tech company, raised $115M in funding: a $60M extension of their Series D from Zeev Ventures and $55M in debt financing (TC)

  • Goat Brand Labs, a direct-to-consumer brand aggregator, raised a $50M Series A led by Winter Capital, Vivriti Capital, 9Unicorns, Venture Catalysts, and Oxyzo (TC)

  • Artificial intelligence company Lightning AI, formerly Grid.ai, raised a $40M Series B led by Coatue (TC)

  • VR job training platform Transfr VR raised a $35M Series B led by Lumos Capital Group (PRN)

  • Able, a fintech startup, raised a $20M Series A led by Canapi Ventures (TC)

  • Finout, a cost monitoring app for cloud software and platforms, raised $18.5M in funding: a $14M Series A led by Team8 Capital and a $4.5M seed round led by Pitango First (TC)

  • GreyNoise Intelligence, a cybersecurity startup, raised a $15M Series A led by Radian Capital (TC)

  • Auxilius, a company which streamlines clinical trial financial management for biotech companies, raised a $10M Series A led by Renegade Partners (YHOO)

  • Canditech, an Israeli startup that helps companies simulate job candidate assessment, raised $9M in seed funding led by Insight Partners and StageOne Ventures (PRN)

  • RapidFort, a cybersecurity startup, raised an $8.5M seed round led by Felicis (TC)

  • Pazcare, an India-based employee benefits and insurtech platform, raised an $8.2M Series A led by Jafco Asia (TC)

  • Rigor, a DeFi platform for construction financing raised a $3.5M institutional seed from Agya Ventures, Bain Capital Ventures, Digital Currency Group, Flow Ventures, Koji Capital, and Third Prime (PRN)

IPO / Direct Listings / Issuances / Block Trades

  • UAE-owned business park operator Tecom Group set price guidance for its planned July IPO at up to $454M (RT)

  • Surgical adhesives developer OptMed filed for a ~$23M IPO on Wednesday (RC)

SPAC

  • Dorchester Capital Acquisition, a SPAC targeting the US onshore oil & gas sector, filed to raise up to $150M in an IPO (RC)

Bankruptcy

  • Cosmetics giant Revlon filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection (CNBC)

  • EV-truck startup Electric Last Mile filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy making it the first EV-SPAC merger to fail amid the recent market slump (BBG)

Crypto Corner

  • Singapore-based crypto hedge fund Three Arrows Capital is at risk of insolvency after incurring over $400M in liquidations (CD)

  • Latin American crypto exchange Bitso handled $1B in crypto remittances between Mexico and the US year to date for 2022 (CD)

  • Several US states including Texas and Alabama are investigating Celsius Networkā€™s decision to halt customer withdrawals (CD)

  • US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen met with the CEOs of several Wall Street banks on Thursday to discuss the regulation of cryptocurrency, among other topics (CD)

Exec's Picks

  • Check out the hottest and newest newsletter on the block: 8 Ball. If you think this is about dat snow, you're mistaken. This newsletter is our round up of the most interesting forecasts and predictions we're seeing on global, economic, and political events. Want to be on the size of the next rate hike? Gas prices by end of summer? The weather? We're summarizing our picks and potentially delivering some alpha here. Sign up here.

  • Earlier this week, Joe Weisenthal and Tracy Alloway hosted one of Wall Street's biggest short sellers, Jim Chanos, on their Odd Lots podcast. They covered everything from Coinbase's insane fee structure to a potential ticking time bomb in private equity. Catch their episode here.

The Hiring Block šŸ’¼

  • 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.

  • šŸ’¼ Today's highlighted jobĀ šŸ’¼

    • 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

Catch the latest episode of our Big Swinging Decks podcast, presented by CoinFLEX.US, on Spotify, Apple, and YouTube šŸ¤

What'd you think of today's Exec Sum?

Login or Subscribe to participate in polls.

Join the conversation

or to participate.