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Good Morning,

Sequoia is downsizing its crypto fund, US growth is accelerating on the back of strong consumers, BOJ adjusted its yield curve control policy, China’s debt ratio hit a record, Amazon is infusing Alexa with AI, and Bud Light’s brewer laid off 300+ corporate employees amid sales slump.

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Let’s dive in.

Before The Bell

Markets

• US stocks ended lower yesterday on news that the Bank of Japan will allow long-term rates to rise

  • The Dow snapped its longest winning streak since 1987

• US 10Y rose above 4% on news of BOJ’s policy tweak

• Yields on 10-year Japanese government bonds rose to 0.575% for the first time since September 2014

• Japanese yen swung wildly, recently up ~2% against the dollar this week

Earnings

• Mastercard beat Q2 expectations thanks to remarkably resilient consumer spending, very strong employment markets, and good wage-growth levels (MW)

• McDonald’s beat Q2 profit expectations and expects revenue growth to moderate in H2 as signs of easing inflation may allow for lower menu prices (RT)

• Comcast beat Q2 estimates thanks to higher pricing offsetting a continued slowdown in its broadband service and doubling subscribers for its streaming service (CNBC)

• Ford beat Q2 estimates and boosted FY forecast for Ford Blue and Ford Pro, but expects steeper annual losses in its EV division because of the pricing environment and costs (YF)

• Intel beat Q2 estimates as the PC market slump started to ease, but the company saw sales in its data center and AI business fall 15% YoY (RT)

• What we're watching this week:

  • Today: Friday: ExxonMobil, P&G, Chevron

• Full calendar here

Headline Roundup

• Bank of Japan tweaks ultra-loose monetary policy (FT)

• US bank regulators unveil proposal to hike bank capital (RT)

• US GDP grew 2.4% YoY in Q2 on resilient consumers, companies (BBG)

• Sequoia Capital slashed sizes of two funds, including crypto fund (WSJ)

• White-collar wage cuts in China fuel deflation risks, hurt consumption (RT)

• Big traders Virtu and Citadel Securities hit by market slowdown (FT)

• Tesla created secret team to suppress thousands of driving range complaints (RT)

• Ford execs met with US lawmakers amid criticism of China battery maker CATL (RT)

• US launches $8.5B in rebates for home energy efficiency (RT)

• China debt ratio hits record but pace of borrowing is easing (BBG)

• Sweden has financial muscle to intervene in any property fire sale (RT)

• Amazon will infuse Alexa with AI (AX)

• Home buyers are seeking home loans from sellers (WSJ)

• Unions are helping fill public-sector jobs (NYT)

• Bud Light brewer laid off over 300 US corporate employees amid sales slump (WSJ)

• Heat is affecting summer travel (WSJ)

• Meta plans ‘retention hooks’ for Threads as more than half of users leave app (RT)

• Meta's Reels revenue narrows in on TikTok, boosted by AI (RT)

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Deal Flow

M&A / Investments

• Canadian miner Teck Resources is considering a range of proposals, including a partial sale of its coal business, from a number of interested parties after Glencore’s $8.2B offer for the unit (RT)

• A joint venture between Saudi Arabian Mining Co and the PIF and US investment firm Engine No. 1 are separately acquiring a 10% and 3% stake in mining giant Vale’s base metal unit for a combined $3.4B (RT)

• Gucci Owner Kering will buy a 30% stake in Italian luxury fashion house Valentino for $1.9B (BBG)

• Global Auto Holdings increased its cash buyout offer for automobile seller Lookers to $654M from $595M due to shareholder opposition (RT)

• Belgian telecoms group Proximus is exploring options for its data center unit, including a sale that could value the unit at $330M (RT)

• Africa’s largest lender, Standard Bank, will fully acquire the remaining 41.5% stake in property company Liberty Two Degrees for $106M (RT)

• Emirates Steel Arkan is walking away from a potential investment in Thyssenkrupp’s steel unit due to pension liabilities and business complexity (BBG)

• Czech tycoon Daniel Kretinsky and Spanish infrastructure investment firm Asterion Industrial Partners are the two remaining bidders for German utility Steag after KKR and EQT dropped out of the bidding (BBG)

VC

• Mexican hospital provider MAC Hospitals received a $160M growth investment from General Atlantic (FN)

• RapidAI, a startup using AI to combat neurovascular and cardiac diseases, raised a $75M Series C led by Vista Credit Partners (BW)

• EV charging ecosystem / charging location management startup ev.energy raised a $33M Series B led by WEX Venture Capital (BW)

• Bright, a distributed solar company, raised a $31.5M Series C led by the Danish SDG Investment Fund (BW)

• B2B payments and bookings platform GlossGenius raised a $28M Series C at a $510M valuation led by L Catterton (TC)

• Blue Laser Fusion, a laser fusion technology company, raised a $25M seed round led by JAFCO Group and SPARX Group (FN)

• Croissant, a fintech platform with a mission to empower intentional commerce, raised a $24M seed round led by Portage and KKR (BW)

• Generative AI tool for writing bids and pitches AutogenAI raised $22.3M led by Blossom Capital (TC)

• Enry’s Island, a venture builder, raised a $22M Series A led by LDA Capital (BW)

• Pet telehealth startup Airvet raised an $18.2M Series B led by Mountain Group Partners (TC)

• Finicast, a SaaS provider for enterprise collaborative planning, raised a $12.8M seed round led by Celesta Capital (FN)

• Ampcontrol, an AI-powered software solution for fleet operators, raised a $10M Series A led by The Westly Group (FN)

• African data and cloud martech startup Terragon raised a $9M Series B led by Orange Ventures (TC)

• Fitted, a provider of a fintech software platform, raised an $8.5M Series A led by Capital Eleven (FN)

• Helpful, a caregiving app, raised a $7.5M seed round from Redesign Health (TC)

• Data engineering automation platform Switchboard raised a $7M Series A led by GFT Ventures and Quest Venture Partners (FN)

• MSPbots, a Chicago-based MSP solutions provider, raised a $5M seed round from Mercury (FN)

IPO / Direct Listings / Issuances / Block Trades

• Mineral refiner Guangdong Ubridge New Material Technology is considering a $300M Hong Kong IPO (BBG)

• Shares of Surf Air Mobility fell from their reference price of $20 to $3.15 on their debut day of trading, valuing the company at ~$290M (BBG)

• Draslovka, the world's largest producer of sodium cyanide, has been talking to banks about a potential IPO next year (IPO)

Debt

• Refiner and trader Varo Energy secured $3.3B in financing to fund its sustainable energy projects (RT)

• Barclays, Deutsche Bank, and Standard Chartered are in talks to lend Adani Group $600M-$750M as part of discussions to refinance debt used to acquire Ambuja Cements (BBG)

• India's Adani Enterprises’ renewable energy unit secured a $394M working capital loan from Barclays and Deutsche Bank for an integrated solar module manufacturing facility (RT)

Bankruptcy / Restructuring

• Sino-Ocean Group Holding is seeking investor approval to extend three dollar-note coupons by two months to avoid a public-debt delinquency (BBG)

• Bankrupt EV maker Lordstown Motors must go to trial over a rival carmaker’s accusations of stolen technology, which prevents a quick bankruptcy sale (RT)

• Leading global aviation investment firm Voyager Aviation Holdings will enter voluntary Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection to sell substantially all of VAH’s assets to Azorra Explorer Holdings (BW)

Fundraising

• European PE firm Astorg raised $4.4B for its eighth flagship fund to invest in B2B healthcare, technology, business services, and industrial companies (PEN)

• Climate software VC Energize Ventures raised $300M for new climate growth equity funds and will rebrand as Energize Capital (BBG)

• Vehicle fleet manager Wex’s new VC arm Wex Venture Capital is seeking to invest $100M in early-stage EV adoption startups (YF)

Crypto Corner

• Republicans and Democrats on the US Financial Services Committee failed to come to an agreement on stablecoin regulation (RT)

• Binance has asked a federal judge to dismiss a lawsuit filed by the CFTC (BBG)

• US prosecutors will drop a campaign contribution charge from their fraud case against FTX founder SBF (BBG)

Exec’s Picks

• Sweater Ventures (a Litquidity portfolio company) is helping both accredited and non-accredited investors support the next wave of groundbreaking startups. They are opening investments into the Sweater Inc fintech platform to the Exec Sum community, but this opportunity closes on July 31^st . Interested in investing? Learn more here.

• The Washington Post explained how “investing in gold” advertisements came to be so popular on conservative media networks.

• Packy McCormick shared why startups don’t need to forget about strategy for the sake of executions.

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