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Good Morning,

Tom Brady retired (again), Meta's stock is up more than 100% from its 2022 low, the Fed raised rates by 25 bps, tech stocks rallied after J Pow's speech, US job openings hit a five-month high in December, US-Mexico egg border seizures are up 300% (lol), FedEx is cutting 10% of management roles, and OpenAI will sell ChatGPT subscriptions.

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Let's dive in.

Before The Bell

Markets

• Tech stocks led yesterday's rally as investors looked past the Fed's 25 bps rate hike to comments acknowledging falling inflation

  • The Fed raised rates by a smaller 25 bps compared to last year's 75 bps (x4) and 50 bps hikes, with J Pow warning of further rate hikes and cautioning against premature 2023 rate cuts

  • The Nasdaq reached its highest level since September

• Gold saw its third consecutive monthly gain in January

• The dollar had its fourth consecutive monthly loss

• Today, we'll receive rate policy decisions from the ECB and BoE

Earnings

• Meta beat Q4 EPS and revenue estimates after hitting 2B daily active users and also announced a $40B stock buyback; their stock jumped 18%+ AH (CNBC)

• Peloton beat Q4 revenue estimates and posted a declining net loss on strong subscription revenue growth which overtook product sales for a third straight quarter; their stock rose 26.5% (CNBC)

• What we're watching this week:

  • Today: Amazon, Apple, Alphabet, Qualcomm, Eli Lilly

• Full calendar here

Headline Roundup

• The Fed raised rates by 25 bps to a 4.5-4.75% target (CNBC)

• Eurozone inflation dipped for a third straight month to 8.5% YoY (WSJ)

• J Pow warned that the Fed can't shield economy from a US debt default (BBG)

• US job openings unexpectedly rose to a five-month high in December (RT)

• Private companies added less than expected 106k jobs in January (CNBC)

• Buyout firms rush to lock up cash in tough fundraising market (BBG)

• Distressed debt funds are eyeing Gulf region opportunities (RT)

• New York VC seed funding fell 48% QoQ in Q4 (WSJ)

• US-Mexico border egg seizures surged 300%+ as Americans look for cheaper eggs (BBG)

• Netflix tells advertisers sign-ups to ad tier doubled in January (TI)

• India's market regulator is looking into Adani's $100B+ share wipeout (RT)

• Blackstone blocked withdrawals from its $69B BREIT in January (RT)

• FedEx will cut over 10% of management jobs (WSJ)

• Tinder owner Match Group will cut 8% of its staff (RT)

• EV maker Rivian will cut 6% of jobs in second round of layoffs (RT)

• DraftKings cuts 3.5% of jobs (CNBC)

• OpenAI started selling subscriptions to its ChatGPT bot (AX)

• Biden administration moved to slash US credit card fees and app charges (RT)

• Tom Brady is retiring from football "for good" (ESPN)

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Deal Flow

M&A / Investments

• Cybersecurity firm Rapid7 is exploring options including a sale after attracting acquisition interest; they have a current $3.1B market cap (RT)

• Paris-listed retail company Casino Guichard-Perrachon is exploring a potential ‘multibillion-dollar’ combination of its French retail operations with rival Teract (BBG)

• JPMorgan Asset Management’s timber-investing arm agreed to buy ~250k acres in the Southern Pine Belt for $500M+ (WSJ)

• South African food service company Bid Corp. is considering a sale of Angliss, its food wholesaler and distributor business in Asia, which could fetch a ‘few hundred million dollars' or more in a deal (BBG) 

• Financial services firm Canaccord Genuity agreed to buy peer Mercer’s private wealth business in Canada for an undisclosed sum (RT)

• Facebook owner Meta Platforms won regulatory approval to buy VR startup Within Unlimited (BBG)

• Morgan Stanley Capital Partners, the PE arm of Morgan Stanley, agreed to buy environmental investment firm Apex Companies (RT)

• UK defense firm Cobham is considering buying US peer Mercury Systems, that this week announced it’s exploring strategic alternatives (BBG)

• KKR is close to presenting a nonbinding offer for Telecom Italia’s fixed-line network (RT)

• Hollywood producer Peter Chernin and the owner of French TV production group Banijay expressed interest in buying a stake in UK broadcaster ITV’s Studios, the maker of hit show Love Island (RT)

VC

• Fintech giant Stripe is in talks to raise up to $3B from existing investors at an expected valuation between $55-60B (TI)

• Egyptian fintech and e-commerce ecosystem MNT-Halan raised $400M in funding at a $1B valuation: $260M in equity led by Chimera Investments and $140M via two securitized bond issuances (TC)

• Battery cell factory startup Our Next Energy raised a $300M Series B at a $1.2B valuation led by Fifth Wall and Franklin Templeton (PRN)

• Wholesale cannabis platform LeafLink raised a $100M Series D led by CPMG, L2 Ventures, and Nosara Capital (PRN)

• Portside, a startup helping companies manage business aviation, raised a $50M Series B led by Insight Partners (TC)

• Banking-as-a-service startup Treasury Prime raised a $40M Series C led by BAM Elevate (TC)

• Phantom.AI, an autonomous driving platform featuring computer vision, sensor fusion, and control capabilities, raised a $36.5M Series C from InterVest, Shinhan GIB, and Samsung Ventures (PRN)

• South African digital lender Lulalend raised a $35M Series B led by Lightrock (TC)

• Craft, an enterprise intelligence company, raised a $32M Series B led by BAM Elevate (BW)

• Risilience, a climate analytics and risk assessment platform for enterprises, raised a $26M Series B led by the Quantum Innovation Fund (TC)

• Nuclear fusion startup NT Tao raised a $22M Series A led by Delek US (PRN)

• Energy X, a Seoul-based marketplace that enables the construction of zero-energy buildings, raised a $20.3M Series B led by Shinhan Financial Group (TC)

• Ratio Therapeutics, a pharmaceutical company specializing in targeted radiotherapies, raised a $20M Series A extension led by Duquesne Capital (PRN)

• Employee benefits startup Coverflex raised a $16.5M Series A led by CVC SCOR Ventures (TC)

• Dxcover, a clinical-stage diagnostics company developing spectroscopy-based liquid biopsy technology for early cancer detection, raised an $11.9M Series A led by Eos Advisory LLP, Mercia Asset Management PLC, and more (BW)

• Cloud security startup Gem Security raised an $11M seed round led by Team8 (TC)

• Passthrough, a startup simplifying the process of investor onboarding, raised a $10M Series A at a $50M valuation led by Positive Sum (TC)

• Tau, a startup building wire for EVs, raised a $9.9M Series B led by Solvay Ventures (PRN)

• Addressable, a startup matching crypto wallets to social media accounts, raised a $7.5M seed round from Viola Ventures, Fabric Ventures, Mensch Capital Partners, and North Island Ventures (TC)

• Digs, a Figma-like collaboration tool for home builders and suppliers, raised a $7M seed round from Fuse, Flying Fish, and more (PRN)

• Enteligent, a developer of solar power optimization and solar-electric vehicle charging tech, raised a $7M seed round from NOVA, Taronga Ventures, and strategic investors (BW)

• Michroma, a precision fermentation food ingredient startup, raised a $6.4M seed round led by Supply Change Capital (PRN)

• Meadow, a startup helping universities simplify the financial experience of students, raised a $3.5M seed round led by Susa Ventures (PRN)

• Frontrow Health, a DTC health startup, raised a $3M seed round led by Next Coast Ventures, NextGen Venture Partners, and angels (BW)

• Kubeark, an open and infrastructure-agnostic platform built to scale software products, raised a $2.8M pre-seed round led by Credo Ventures (BW)

• ValueBase, a startup aiming to use land-first models to create mass appraisal modeling and property valuations, raised a $1.6M seed round led by Hydrazine Capital (TC)

IPO / Direct Listings / Issuances / Block Trades

• Indian conglomerate Adani Enterprises abandoned plans for a $2.4B share sale after a selloff triggered by US short seller Hindenburg Research left the group in turmoil (BBG)

• Solar energy technology provider Nextracker is seeking to raise as much as $535M in a US IPO (BBG)

Debt

• Conglomerate Grupo Mexico secured a $5B debt package from banks including Barclays and HSBC for its proposed acquisition of Citigroup's Mexico retail operations, which will be valued at $7B-8B (RT)

• PE firm Apollo Global Management and HF Elliott Management will invest $900M through a convertible preferred stock deal in memory chip maker Western Digital (RT)

Bankruptcy / Restructuring

• Banks including Credit Suisse and Morgan Stanley will recoup between 5¢-20¢ on the dollar from Archegos Capital Management's restructuring (FT)

Fundraising

• Patient Square Capital, a healthcare investment firm, raised $3.9B for its inaugural fund (PRN)

• Chicago-based asset manager Ariel Investments raised $1.45B for its debut PE fund to invest in minority-led suppliers for major US corporations (WSJ)

• PE firm BC Partners is seeking $1.25B for their new BCP Special Opportunities Fund III (BOI)

• Generali Real Estate is seeking $1.1B for its Generali Real Estate Debt Investment Fund II to invest across Europe (IPE)

• Pan-European private capital fund All Seas Capital raised $400M for its first fund (BW)

• Contra Costa County Employees' Retirement Association committed $250M to three PE funds: $100M to GTCR Fund XIV and Friedman Capital Partners IX each, and $50M to STG VII-A (PEI)

• Japanese bank and financial services group MUFG launched a $100M fund aimed at Indonesian startups (TC)

• BNY Mellon Investment Management launched a new emerging market debt fund with a focus on impact investing (IW)

Crypto Corner

• FTX had ~$1.4B is cash at end of 2022, 19% more than the amount reported in their November bankruptcy filing (CD)

• A US judge barred SBF from contacting FTX employees and using encrypted messaging apps like Signal (RT)

• Crypto hacks stole record $3.8B in 2022, led by North Korea groups (RT)

• UK unveiled wide-ranging crypto regulation plans (FT)

• A US judge dismissed a class action lawsuit alleging Coinbase sold tokens illegally (RT)

• NY Rep. George Santos' campaign was funded by crypto cash and millennial millionaires (BBG)

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• Derek Thompson wrote about America's curious obsession with "Workaholism," and how that trend might finally be changing after the pandemic.

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