Good Morning,

Pelosi is risking it all in Taiwan, Forbes is looking to sell for $600M+, another $200M crypto hack occurred, Uber is finally free cash flow positive, Robinhood laid off 23% of its staff, British Airways is halting some flights, and most importantly: Taco Bell is bringing back the Mexican Pizza 🙏🏼

In case you missed it: Bloomberg released a story highlighting the departure of my first employee without stating all the facts so I had to set the record straight with my side, answer outstanding questions it raised, and explain that it was an amicable separation. Apparently they cannot quote me because I'm anonymous and there's "nothing they can do" after it's published, so I'm fortunate to have the opportunity to give transparency to an audience of 1.6 million. You can read it here. Makes you wonder how frequent of an issue this is!

Let's dive in.

Before The Bell

Markets

• Stocks fell as geopolitical tensions were ignited by Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan and Fed indications that interest rate increases are far from over

  • 10-year Treasury yields rose yesterday after reaching their lowest level since April on Monday

  • China's Shanghai Composite dropped 2.3%

  • Gold hit its highest level in about a month as investors were attracted to the safe-haven commodity

Earnings

• Uber recorded a $2.6B Q2 loss but doubled its quarterly revenue and generated $382M in free cash flow, causing its stock to climb 18.9% (WSJ)

• JetBlue posted a Q2 loss despite recording record revenue of $2.44B; its stock fell 6.4% on the day (CNBC)

• Ferrari reported a 22% YoY increase in Q2 earnings and raised its forecast for the year as sales in America surged; its stock rose 9.6% (ABC)

• Caterpillar fell 5.9% after beating profit expectations but coming up short on sales, which the company attributed to supply chain challenges (MW)

• AMD exceeded profit and revenue expectations for Q2 but gave lower-than-estimated Q3 forecasts; its stock fell 6.4% after hours (CNBC)

• Airbnb fell 9.3% after hours despite what seemed like a strong report; the company exceeded profit estimates and increased revenue 58% YoY while also announcing a $2B stock buyback program (CNBC)

• PayPal beat profit and revenue expectations, confirmed that activist investor Elliott Investment Management is now one of its largest shareholders, and announced cost-cutting moves that will result in savings of $900M this year; its stock jumped 11.1% after hours (YHOO)

• Starbucks beat profit and revenue expectations, relying on strong US demand to overcome challenges resulting from China’s lockdowns; its stock rose 2.1% after hours (BBG)

• What we're watching this week:

  • Today: Under Armour, Moderna, CVS Health, Robinhood

  • Thursday: Alibaba, AMC Entertainment, Kellogg’s, Paramount, WWE

  • Friday: DraftKings, Cinemark

• Full calendar here 

Headline Roundup

• S&P 500 company earnings are up 8.1% YoY halfway through the Q2 earnings period (RT)

• Household debt hit a record high $16T+ in Q2 (CNBC)

• US job openings fell to a nine-month low of 10.7M in June (RT)

• US retail malls have opened a net new 2,478 stores, despite recession fears (CNBC)

• Canadian factory activity grew at slowest pace in two years in July (RT)

• Mexico's inflation-combatting subsidies have cost the government ~$28B this year (RT)

• UN's Secretary-General said we are 'one miscalculation away from nuclear annihilation' (NPR)

• Robinhood laid off 23% of its staff in their second round of cuts this year (WSJ)

• Citigroup will hire 500 employees over the next three years for a new wealth division (BBG)

• Barclays will enter Asia's private wealth market six years after retreating from the region (BBG)

• Retailers are seeking more warehouse space to store excess inventory, with logistics real-estate giant Prologis expecting a need for an additional 500M square feet (WSJ)

• British Airways is temporarily halting ticket sales on all domestic and European routes from London Heathrow Airport to cope with passenger restrictions at its primary hub (WSJ)

• Taco Bell will reintroduce its Mexican Pizza in September (CNBC)

• Litquidity's Mark Moran launched Equity Animal, a nextgen investor relations firm (EA)

A Message From Litquidity

As the market continues to be a volatile place and companies continue to pull back on spending, it's worth remembering that effective marketing can result profitable growth.

Through years of experience and an analytical mindset, we can be an effective marketing partner to help you grow and meet your goals. If you're interested in partnering with us across social media, email newsletters, podcasts, and other mediums, fill out our intake form and we'll get back to you ASAP (assuming Karl isn't jammed up working on some live deals). Click the button below:

On another note, as a scout for Bain Capital Ventures, I'm always chatting with early-stage startup founders across the fintech, web3, ecommerce, SaaS, and creator economy verticals. If you're a founder looking for a strategic investor on your cap table, hit me up over email with your pitch at [email protected]. Let's build 🤝

Deal Flow

M&A / Investments

• Mining giant Gold Fields is trying to convince their shareholders to back its $6.7B takeover offer for Canada's Yamana Gold (RT)

• Canada's TD Bank agreed to buy US broker and investment bank Cowen for $1.3B in cash (BBG)

• Semiconductor maker Semtech is in advanced talks to buy Canadian peer Sierra Wireless for $1.2B (BBG)

• US gaming software developer Unity Software is in talks to spin off its China unit at a $1B+ valuation (RT)

• Swedish engineering firm Trelleborg agreed to acquire Minnesota Rubber and Plastics from KKR for ~$1B in cash (RT)

• Business magazine Forbes is exploring a $630M+ sale of the company after their SPAC-listing plan fell through (NYT)

• Canadian e-commerce company Shopify made a $100M strategic investment into email marketing platform Klaviyo (TC)

VC

• Sironax, a biotech focused on treatments for patients with age-related degenerative diseases, raised a $200M Series B led by Gaorong Capital and Yunfeng Capital (PRN)

• Parafin, a fintech startup aimed at helping small businesses grow, raised a $60M Series B led by GIC (BBG)

• Savana, a provider of financial software for banks and fintechs, raised a $45M Series A led by Georgian (PRN)

• Terabase Energy, a startup seeking to improve utility-scale solar, raised a $44M Series B co-led by Breakthrough Energy Ventures and Prelude Ventures (PRN)

• Atia Vision, a company with a medical device for restoring vision, raised a $42M Series E led by Cormorant Asset Management (PRN)

• Annexus Health, a healthcare technology company that develops solutions to reduce administrative and logistical burdens across the patient journey, raised a $33M Series B led by Transformation Capital (PRN)

• Arena, an AI-based platform that helps businesses formulate strategies to navigate uncertain environments, raised a $32M Series A led by Initialized Capital and Goldcrest Capital (TC)

• Sprig, a startup offering tools for user and software product research, raised a $30M funding round from Andreessen Horowitz, Accel, First Round Capital, and others (TC)

• Cybrary, a training platform for cybersecurity professionals, raised a $25M Series C led by BuildGroup and Gula Tech Adventures (PRN)

• MarqVision, an AI-based platform for e-commerce that automatically detects counterfeits and removes them from online sales and distribution, raised a $20M Series A led by DST Global Partners and Atinum Investment (TC)

• Vetted, an AI-powered product search engine, raised a $15M Series A led by Insight Partners (PRN)

• Twid, an India-based startup operating a rewards-based payment platform, raised a $12M Series A led by Rakuten Capital (TC)

• River, an India-based electric scooter startup, raised an $11M Series A led by Lowercarbon Capital (ET)

• Mudafy, a tech-enabled real estate broker operating in Latin America, raised a $10M Series A led by Founders Fund (TC)

• Proof of Impact, a next-generation platform for ESG and impact data intelligence, raised a $6M pre-Series A led by Rakuten Capital (PRN)

• Drover AI, an AI-based IoT solution for last-mile transportation, raised a $5.4M Series A led by Vektor Partners (PRN)

• Bounty, an online service that helps TikTok creators monetize brand reviews and recommendations, raised a $4.7M seed round led by M13 (TC)

• Territorium, a global education technology provider, raised a $4.4M seed round led by Cometa (PRN)

• Emitrr, an India-based SaaS platform that helps small businesses automate tasks such as appointment reminders and review generations, raised a $4M pre-Series A led by Chiratae Ventures (TC)

• Kenyan insurtech Lami Technologies raised a $3.7M seed round extension led by Harlem Capital (TC)

• Ottonomy.IO, a deep tech startup providing contactless deliveries using fully autonomous robots, raised a $3.3M seed round led by Pi Ventures (PRN)

• Voiz, an India-based marketplace for gig working professionals, raised a $2M seed round led by Omidyar Network (ET)

IPO / Direct Listings / Issuances / Block Trades

• Hong Kong tech firm AMTD Digital's stock has soared ~32,000% since its mid-July IPO on no apparent news (BI)

• Indian wine giant Sula Vineyards will IPO in Mumbai despite weakened market conditions (BBG)

Debt

• Russian oil giant Lukoil offered to buy back all of its $6.3B notes to avoid foreign payment blocks and a potential default (BBG)

Bankruptcy / Restructuring

• ​​Italy won EU approval to delay their restructuring and stake sale of troubled state-owned bank Monte dei Paschi ahead of a planned $2.6B capital raise (BBG)

Fundraising

• Food investment firm McWin raised $512M for their McWin Restaurant Fund to invest in restaurants with primary backing from sovereign fund Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (BBG)

• VC firm Fusion Fund closed their $120M Fusion Fund III which will invest in early-stage entrepreneurs with technical and data advantages in their business models (PRN)

Crypto Corner

• Hackers stole nearly $200M from Nomad, a “blockchain bridge” (CNBC)

• Solana wallets targeted in latest multimillion dollar hack (CD)

• Trading platform Robinhood’s crypto division was fined $30M for violating New York's anti-money laundering and cybersecurity regulations (RT)

• Bitcoin and stablecoins are the worst option for cross-border payments, per the ECB (CD)

Exec's Picks

• Engagement "hacking" is one of the most obnoxious trends on social media, but users keep trying to use it to quickly build big audiences. Nick Maggiulli wrote a great piece on why we should reject the algorithm and embrace authenticity

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 aim to curate jobs across IB, S&T, VC, tech, private equity, DeFi, crypto, CorpDev and more. We'll sift through all the noise on LinkedIn, Indeed, Monster, etc. so you don't have to.

If you're a company looking to hire candidates and want to list a job opening on our board and feature on Exec Sum, click the button below:

Meme Cleanser

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