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Good Morning,

Explosions were heard in Ukraine after Putin announced a military operation, eBay shares fell after poor earnings guidance, Trudeau repealed his emergency powers, Citi wants its vaxxed staff back in the office, Biden's team is worried that Musk would troll the president, Greg Abbot is catching some heat for last year's power bills, and FTX is entering the fashion industry.

While we normally stick to lighthearted humor on Exec Sum, the situation unfolding in Eastern Europe is heartbreaking. To any of our readers in Ukraine, please stay safe.

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

• Futures dropped more than 2% overnight as Russia officially invaded Ukraine

  • Additionally, threats of higher interest rates and inflation continue to impact markets

• We’ll receive GDP and jobless claims before the bell, with new home sales figures coming later in the day

Earnings

• Lowe’s posted a beat-and-raise report as Americans buy, fix up, and renovate homes in the tight real estate market (CNBC)

• eBay shares slid up to 11% in AH trading after disappointing guidance overshadowed better-than-expected Q4 earnings; annual active buyers declined 9% and annual active sellers fell 8% (CNBC)

• Hertz reported better-than-expected Q4 earnings numbers despite sluggishness in corporate travel during the pandemic (BBG)

• What we’re watching today: Moderna, Etsy, Beyond Meat

• Full calendar here

Headline Roundup

• Russia’s Putin announces military operation in Ukraine (AP)

• eBay warns investors that it’s still losing customers (BBG)

• Trudeau repeals emergency powers after ending truck protests (BBG)

• Citi calls vaccinated staff back to the office starting March 21st (BBG)

• Chinese media accidentally posts CCP rules on Russia-Ukraine coverage, hint at Taiwan takeover (Yahoo)

• Carvana under pressure as pandemic surge slows (WSJ)

• Blackstone forms new company for push into affordable apartments (BBG)

• Former head of Texas' electric grid claims Gov. Greg Abbott directed him to leave power prices as high as possible during Texas' winter storm (BI)

• Biden officials fear Elon Musk would embarrass president at WH (NYP)

• Surging omicron cases on board container ships threaten to hamper recovery of the supply chain (BI)

• UPS loses $2B euro claim for EU veto on TNT bid (RT)

A Message From Titan

In the Nasdaq, 60% of stocks are down >20% from their highs, 33% are down >30%, and 15% are down >40%. The stock market can look like a rug pull right now. This sucks. And let's be real: you’re too busy dealing with a late night “pls fix” to dig yourself out of that hole alone. Maybe it’s time to let someone else invest your savings, and someone other than your dad’s financial advisor. At Titan, we’ve been actively adding capital to companies that we think can not only weather the inflation storm, but come out of it even stronger.

We know you already spent your bonus on a Rolex and an Ape... but with the $100 you hopefully have left over, open a Titan account to get started on building real wealth for your future. Not totally convinced? Take a look at Exec Sum’s recent Deep Dive into their product, performance, fees, and more, and decide for yourself.

Check out Titan here. 

Deal Flow

M&A / Investments

• Canadian miner Teck Resources is exploring the sale of a minority stake in its metallurgical coal business that could be valued at $8B (BBG)

• Brazilian hospital chain Rede D’or agreed to buy insurer SulAmerica Seguros in a $2.6B deal (RT)

• Online brokerage flatexDEGIRO is attracting preliminary interest from PE firms; it has a current market value of $2.3B (BBG)

• Green diesel maker Renewable Energy is exploring options after receiving takeover interest (BBG)

• Security vendor Cloudflare agreed to buy email protection provider Area 1 Security for $162M (BBG)

VC

• NewView Capital raised $544M for its NewView Fund II and Special Opportunities Fund I (PRN)

• Somatus, a value-based kidney care company, raised a $325M+ Series E at a $2.5B+ valuation led by Wellington Management (BW)

• BlueVoyant, a provider of a mix of proprietary technology and third-party tools for internal / external cybersecurity, raised a $250M Series D at a $1B+ valuation led by Liberty Strategic Capital (TC)

• Digital health firm Omada Health raised $192M at a $1B+ valuation in a Series E led by Fidelity Management & Research (BBG)

• Bloomreach, a startup helping companies personalize customers’ e-commerce experiences, raised a $175M round at a $2.2B valuation led by Goldman Sachs Asset Management (PRN)

• Pontera, a fintech startup helping financial advisers manage retirement accounts, raised $80M across three recent rounds led by Lightspeed Venture Partners, The Founders Kitchen, Hanaco Ventures, and others (BW)

• RightHand Robotics, a warehouse robotics automation startup, raised a $66M Series C led by Safar Partners, Thomas H. Lee Partners, and SoftBank Vision Fund (TC)

• Clean label cultured foods brand Good Culture raised a $64M Series C led by Manna Tree (PRN)

• Cybersecurity startup Secureframe raised a $56M round led by Accomplice (TC)

• Data streaming startup Redpanda raised a $50M Series B led by GV (TC)

• Backbone, a producer of mobile gaming controllers, raised a $40M Series A led by Index Ventures (TC)

• ML observability platform Aporia raised a $25M Series A led by Tiger Global (TC)

• Compliance operating platform anecdotes raised a $25M Series A led by Red Dot Capital Partners (TC)

• Fireside, a startup helping creators reach audiences through live and virtual shows, is in talks with investors to raise a $25M Series A at a $125M valuation (TC) 

• Academia.edu, a platform where researchers can share papers, raised a $23M Series D led by Tencent (PRN)

• Boat rental and water experience marketplace GetMyBoat raised $21M in growth capital from Yanmar (PRN)

• Workwear brand BRUNT raised a $20M Series B led by Stripes (PRN)

• Picnic, a social engineering prevention and detection platform, raised a $14M Series A led by Crosslink Capital and Rally Ventures (PRN)

• Fast Break Labs, a web3 startup building an online basketball game where players act as their own general manager, raised a $6M seed round led by Patron and Pantera Capital (PRN)

• B2B BNPL startup Actyv.ai raised a $5M pre-Series A led by 1Digi Investment Management (BW)

• Signadot, a Kubernetes-based platform for scaling microservices testing, raised a $4M seed round led by Redpoint Ventures (PRN)

• Marvin, a user research platform, raised a $3.8M pre-seed round led by Apollo Projects and Fuel Capital (PRN)

• Epoch, an employee experience platform, raised a $3.6M seed round led by Rally Ventures (PRN)

• Iron-IQ, a cloud-based SCADA system for oil & gas operators, raised a $3.5M Series A led by Ascent Energy Ventures (BW)

• Lula, a property maintenance platform, raised a $3M round led by RET Ventures (BW)

• Real-time flight rewards search engine point.me raised a $2M seed round led by PAR Capital Ventures (TC)

• DishDivvy, a marketplace to connect skilled home cooks with demand for local food, raised a $1.3M pre-seed round led by 10X Venture (PRN)

IPO / Direct Listings / Issuances / Block Trades

• German consulting firm Roland Berger is considering an IPO which could value it up to ~$3.38B (BBG)

• Alibaba halts talks to raise $1B before Lazada IPO (BBG)

Crypto Corner

• FTX moves into $300 billion luxury fashion industry with new hire (TBC)

• Warner Music Group inks partnership with blockchain gaming developer (TBC)

Exec's Picks

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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.

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