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Good Morning,

Inflation is so hot right now, the 10-year yield crossed 2%, Affirm's social media intern leaked earnings too early, Twitter missed on every metric possible, truckers are still honking in Canada, American truckers might join in soon, Tesla was accused of racism, Hertz said some renters stole cars, Apple boosts AirTags privacy, and Binance is in Forbes' PIPE.

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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

• US stocks gave back recent gains yesterday after inflation data showed a faster-than-expected rise in prices

  • The 10Y crossed above 2% for the first time since 2019

  • All three major US averages closed in the red after a volatile day of trading

  • The Bureau of Labor Statistics released January CPI data yesterday, which came in at 7.5% YoY growth, the highest level in 40 years

  • Big Tech led the drop as higher interest rates tend to put pressure on growth stocks

Earnings

• Coca-Cola posted better-than-expected top and bottom line numbers as consumers drank more of the company’s products away from home, topping pre-pandemic levels for the first time (CNBC)

• Affirm beat revenue expectations after sales rose by 77% and had a $0.57 loss per share, but the stock fell 21% after they accidentally tweeted their Q2 results early (CNBC)

• Twitter missed on earnings, revenue, and user growth which sent the stock down 2% by end of trading yesterday (CNBC)

• What we’re watching today: Under Armour, Apollo

• Full calendar here

Headline Roundup

• Tesla accused by California of ‘pervasive’ racism at car factory (BBG)

• TikTok tightens rules to bar transphobic behavior such as deadnaming (BBG)

• Google analytics risks French ban over US data spying fears (​​BBG)

• Massive Russian military drills on Ukraine border ratchet up threat (WSJ)

• US inflation accelerates to 7.5%, a 40-year high (WSJ)

• Chinese EV maker Xpeng to open first retail store in Europe (CNBC)

• Canadian mayor seeks injunction as trucker protest limits Ford, GM auto production (WSJ)

• U.S. truckers planning protest convoy, perhaps starting in L.A. for Super Bowl, DHS warns (CBS)

• Hertz accuses thousands of car renters of theft, court papers show (BBG)

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Deal Flow

M&A / Investments

• British carrier Vodafone rejected the $12.9B bid for its Italian unit from a consortium led by French carrier Iliad (BBG)

• PE firms including Thoma Bravo have made takeover approaches for SaaS company Zendesk, which has a market value of $12.4B (WSJ)

• Warburg Pincus agreed to buy 85% of intelligence company Informa’s Pharma Intelligence unit for $2.3B (BBG)

• Italian payments group Nexi is considering options for its German “buy now, pay later” unit that could be worth $1.1B+ (BBG)

• Mohalla Tech, the parent company of India’s ShareChat, agreed to buy local rival short-video platform MX in a ~$700M deal (RT)

• Stanley Black & Decker is weighing a ~$500M sale of its access technologies unit (BBG)

• Nordic retailer Komplett agreed to buy Swedish e-retailer NetOnNet in a $420M (nice) deal (BBG)

• TotalEnergies agreed to buy US solar company SunPower’s commercial and industrials solutions business for $250M (RT)

• Buyout firm CD&R is weighing an offer to buy the outstanding shares of Cornerstone Building Brands; it currently owns a 49% stake in the building products company (BBG)

VC

• Branch, a startup providing a cross platform solution for mobile linking and attribution, raised a $300M round at a $4B valuation led by NEA (PRN)

• Alma, a French BNPL startup, raised a $130M Series C and $109M in debt from Tencent, GR Capital, and Roosh Ventures (TC)

• KraftPal Technologies, a Slovenian startup building low-cost, sustainable corrugated cardboard pallets, received a ~$124M investment from Pasaca Capital (PRN)

• Berlin based digital health startup Ada Health closed a $120M Series B by raising a $30M extension round led by Farallon Capital, Red River West, and Bertelsmann Investments (PRN)

• Cybersecurity and digital education platform ThriveDX received a $75M investment from NightDragon (PRN)

• Curevo Vaccine, a clinical stage biotechnology company focused on developing safer and more effective vaccines, raised a $60M Series A led by RA Capital Management (BW)

• NK (natural killer) cell therapy developer Indapta Therapeutics raised a $50M Series A led by RA Capital Management, Vertex Ventures HC, and Leaps (BW)

• Data quality startup Superconductive raised a $40M Series B led by Tiger Global (TC)

• Micropsi Industries, a robotics startup focusing on industrial automation, raised a $30M Series B led by Metaplanet, VSquared and Ahren Innovation Capital (BW)

• Wallaroo, a startup helping companies deploy and scale ML models, raised a $25M Series A led by M12 (BW)

• NFT tech incubator Ethernal Labs raised a $20M seed round led by former League of Legends Lead Producer Thomas Vu, Fanatics owner Michael Rubin, former Google CEO Eric Schmidt, and more (BW)

• Mystery, an employee retention startup, raised an $18.5M round led by Greylock (BW)

• ODAIA, a startup combining data analysis and process mining to create AI-powered ratings for pharmaceutical companies, raised a $13.8M Series A led by Flint Capital (TC)

• Odys Aviation, a startup striving to reinvent regional air travel, raised a $12.4M seed round from Giant Ventures, Soma Capital, and Countdown Capital (TC)

• Neo Tax, a startup helping businesses access tax credits, raised a $10M Series A led by Infinity Ventures (TC)

• Brick, a startup enabling open finance across Southeast Asia, raised an $8.5M seed round led by Flourish Ventures and Antler (TC)

• Logiwa, a SaaS startup aiming to improve warehouse management, raised an $8.5M seed round led by Built In (BW)

• Recruitment SaaS platform Manatal raised a $5.1M seed round from Sequoia Capital India, Surge, and angels (PRN)

• Duplo, a Nigerian fintech startup building a payments platform for B2B companies, raised a $1.3M pre-seed round led by Oui Capital (TC)

SPAC

• Binance, the world's largest crypto exchange, announced a $200M strategic investment in Forbes as part of a $400M PIPE deal (BBG)

Crypto Corner

• EU to consider digital Euro legislation by next year (DC)

• Satoshibles is first NFT collection to bridge between Ethereum and Bitcoin via Stacks (DC)

• Russia shuts down darknet sites that had made $263M in crypto (TBC)

• Gucci buys virtual land on The Sandbox as part of metaverse experience bid (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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