The Great Ruble Rebound

The ruble has recovered to its pre-war level, NYC crime is up big-time, El Salvador's Bukele canceled his Miami Bitcoin Conference appearance, the Fed talked more about reducing its balance sheet, and banks may use Zelle to challenge major credit card companies.

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Good Morning,

The ruble has recovered to its pre-war level, NYC crime is up big-time, El Salvador's Bukele canceled his Miami Bitcoin Conference appearance, the Fed talked more about reducing its balance sheet, and banks may use Zelle to challenge major credit card companies.

In case you missed it, Big Swinging Decks was back yesterday with everything you need to know about this year's private equity recruiting cycle. Catch the latest episode of the BSD podcast, presented by CoinFLEX.US, on Spotify, Apple, and soon on YouTube 🤝 

Let's dive in.

Before The Bell

As of 4/6/2022 market close.

If you want to learn more about crypto trading strategies and the world of DeFi, check out our Foot Guns newsletter.

Markets

  • Stocks fell again yesterday after news about the acceleration of the Fed’s plan to tighten monetary policy to fight inflation

  • The 10Y Treasury jumped to 2.65%, a three-year high, following the release of the Fed meeting minutes

Earnings

  • Levi Strauss posted better-than-expected top- and bottom-line numbers with $1.59B in revenue after selling more of its jeans and T-shirts at higher price points (CNBC)

  • Full calendar here

Headline Roundup

  • Fed officials weigh pruning balance sheet by $95B a month (BBG)

  • NYC major crime up 36.5% as Adams tries to curb shooting spike (BBG)

  • El Salvador President Bukele cancels Miami Bitcoin Conference appearance (BBG)

  • IMF set to approve special Ukraine account for pooling aid (BBG)

  • New York jet fuel supply lowest for this time of year since 1996 (BBG)

  • Fed signals half-percentage-point rate increases could be warranted at coming meetings (WSJ)

  • SEC is investigating how Amazon disclosed business practices (WSJ)

  • Google bans apps with hidden data-harvesting software (WSJ)

  • Banks weigh using Zelle to challenge Visa, Mastercard (WSJ)

  • Marked as “rubble” by Biden, Russian ruble comes roaring back (BBG)

  • Glaxo to curb drugstore staples in Russia as it walks ethical tightrope (WSJ)

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Deal Flow

M&A / Investments

  • Blackstone is weighing an offer for Italian infrastructure company Atlantia, which has a market value of ~$17.1B, raising the prospect of a potential bidding war with Spanish construction tycoon Florentino Perez (RT)

  • Data-center operator Cyxtera is exploring strategic options including a sale, it has a current market value of ~$2.2B (BBG)

  • Dave & Buster’s Entertainment agreed to buy family entertainment company Main Event in a $835M deal (WSJ)

  • HSBC raised its stake in Chinese securities venture to 90% (from 50%) (BBG)

  • The sanctioned Russian Kerimov Family reduced their $6B stake in gold miner Polyus PJSC to less than 50% (BBG)

  • The UK will purchase a key part of National Grid’s electricity system operator as it creates a new authority to oversee the nation’s energy system (BBG)

VC

  • Global digital sports platform Fanatics raised $1.5B at a $27B valuation in a round led by the NFL, with other investors including the MLB and its players union, and the NHL (CNBC)

  • Grafana Labs, the company behind popular Grafana visualization tools, raised a $240M Series D led by GIC (TC)

  • Crypto platform Binance.US raised a $200M+ seed round at a $4.5B valuation led by RRE Ventures, Foundation Capital, VanEck, and Circle Venture (TC)

  • Vietnamese game studio Sky Mavis raised a $150M round led by Binance to help reimburse users who lost ~$625M due to a hack on its play-to-earn game Axie Infinity (TC)

  • IntelyCare, a nurse staffing platform, raised a $115M Series C at a $1.1B valuation led by Janus Henderson Investors (BW)

  • Digital UX insights platform UserZoom raised a round at an $800M valuation led by Thoma Bravo (PRN)

  • E-commerce platform Productsup raised a $70M round led by Bregal Milestone (TC)

  • British fintech infrastructure startup Fidel API raised a $65M Series B led by Bain Capital Ventures (TC)

  • Ellevest, the financial company built by women, for women, raised a $53M Series B led by BMO and Contour Venture Partners (PRN)

  • Groups360, a platform for booking group travel, raised $35M in funding led by Zigg Capital (PRN)

  • Coin Metrics, a crypto financial intelligence platform, raised a $35M Series C led by Acrew Capital and BNY Mellon (PRN)

  • Data automation startup Ascend.io raised a $31M Series B led by Tiger Global (TC)

  • SmartHop, a startup using AI to help truckers make routes more efficient, raised a $30M Series B led by Sozo Ventures (TC)

  • Evernow, a telehealth startup focused on women in perimenopause and menopause, raised a $28.5M Series A led by NEA (PRN)

  • Cottage, a startup building a software marketplace to connect homeowners with contractors to build accessory dwelling units (ADUs), raised a $15M Series A led by Fifth Wall (TC)

  • Sales enablement startup Amplemarket raised a $12M seed round led by Comcast Ventures and Armilar Venture Partners (TC)

  • Docyt, an AI-powered accounting automation platform, raised an $11.5M Series A led by Lobby Capital (BW)

  • Doceree, a global network of physician-only platforms, raised an $11M Series A led by Eight Roads Ventures (PRN)

  • Low-code development platform 8base raised a $10.6M Series A led by Foundry Group (PRN)

  • TAPPP, a technology and marketing company focused on customer engagement and retention, raised a $10M Series B led by Accomplice and Verance Capital (PRN)

  • Prepared, a startup building tech to better connect citizens to the US emergency calling system, raised a $9.8M round led by First Round (TC)

  • Developer-focused WebAssembly and WebContainer startup StackBlitz raised a $7.9M seed round led by Greylock (TC)

  • SeeMetrics, a startup helping CISOs see what’s happening on the ground, raised a $6M seed round led by Work Bench (TC)

IPO / Direct Listings / Issuances / Block Trades

  • Dubai Electricity & Water Authority raised $6.1B in the world’s second-biggest IPO this year (BBG)

Fundraising

  • Voyager Ventures launched a $100M Fund I to invest in climate tech startups (PRN)

Crypto Corner

  • Terra adds $230M of BTC to push Bitcoin reserve to $1.6B (DC)

  • Top US lawmaker proposes sweeping stablecoin regulation framework (CD)

  • RCI announces NFT Tip-N-Strip guest benefits program (RCI)

Exec's Picks

  • Take your crypto to the next level with Nexo. Invest in the hottest coins, swap between 300+ pairs, and get up to 0.5% cashback per transaction. Open your Nexo account and start earning up to 17% APR simply by HODLing your crypto!

  • F1 has been hot in the US ever since Formula 1: Drive to Survive appeared on Netflix. Trung Phan covered why it's a big deal that Formula 1 is coming to Vegas in his latest Bloomberg 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 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

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

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