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Sam Bankman-Fried pled not guilty to campaign finance and China bribery charges, Q4 corporate profits showed biggest decline in five years, Wall Street bonuses fell 26% last year, bond issuances have slowed to a crawl, SNB's Credit Suisse lifeline could cost $11B, Citadel is reopening its Tokyo office, and Alphabet accused Microsoft of anti-competitive cloud practices.

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Let's dive in.

Before The Bell

Markets

• US stocks inched up yesterday as banking-related market jitters seem to have eased 

  • VIX pulled back to pre-banking crisis levels

• The pan-European Stoxx 600 rose 1.1% 

• Philadelphia semiconductor index hit a near-year high on hopes of industry turn

Earnings

• BlackBerry missed Q4 revenue estimates and posted a bigger-than-expected loss on issues closing new deals in its key cybersecurity software segment as firms and governments increase scrutiny on new costs amid macro challenges (MW)

• Full calendar here

Headline Roundup

• US Q4 GDP growth was revised to 2.6% (MW)

• Q4 corporate profits declined by most in five years (RT)

• Wall Street bonuses fell 26% last year in biggest drop since 2008 (WSJ)

• Short bets on global bank stocks reaped $14.3B in paper profits in March (RT)

• China's Big Five banks posted 3.5%+ annual net profit growth but warned of shaky recovery (RT)

• Bond issuances slow to a crawl after bank failures (AX)

• Vitol profits soar to record $15B on back of energy crisis (FT)

• Derivatives industry body ISDA defends CDS after banking blow-ups (RT)

• White House pushes new rules for mid-sized banks without going to Congress (RT)

• SNB's Credit Suisse lifeline could cost $11B (RT) 

• Apollo assured investors deposit flight won't spill over to its Athene business (RT)

• Kurdistan oil export stoppage has halted $6B in debt repayment to traders (RT)

• TikTok hired ex-Obama and Disney advisers in fight against US-ban efforts (WSJ)

• Citadel will reopen its Tokyo office (FT)

• Alphabet accused Microsoft of anti-competitive cloud practices (RT)

• Wells Fargo will pay ~$100M for sanctions compliance failures (RT)

• Shell is splitting its renewables business in efficiency drive (RT)

• Metaverse hype has largely fizzled (WSJ)

• YouTube isn't a social media platform, CEO says (AX)

• Roku will cut 6% of jobs in second layoff round (RT)

• Class of 2023 graduates face a bleak job market (WSJ)

• Americans aren't using all their PTO (AX)

• Donald Trump is facing criminal charges in historic first (WSJ)

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Deal Flow

M&A / Investments

• PE firms including Roark Capital Group are among potential buyers considering bidding for sandwich chain Subway that could be worth $8-$10B (BBG)

• Singapore’s GIC, Works Human execs and a new Bain Capital fund agreed to jointly buy HR software provider Works Human Intelligence for $2.6B; GIC will hold ~50% of the shares (RT)

• Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund Mubadala is among final bidders for European dialysis clinic chain Diaverum, which could be worth ~$2.5B in a deal (BBG)

• Jefferies Finance and Cerberus will acquire Forma Brands, the bankrupt owner of the Morphe makeup brand, in exchange for $690M in debt relief (BBG)

• Industrials firm CNH agreed to buy Hemisphere GNSS, a high-performance satellite positioning technology company, for $175M (RT)

VC

• Crypto wallet startup Ledger raised a $108M Series C extension at a $1.41B valuation led by True Global Ventures, Digital Finance Group, VaynerFund, and more (TC)

• Sustainable protein startup Unibio received a $70M investment from the Saudi Industrial Investment Group (FN)

• Danish climate and fintech company Agreena raised a $50.2M Series B led by HV Capital (BW)

• DataDome, a provider of bot protection services for mobile apps, websites, and APIs, raised a $42M Series C led by InfraVia Growth (TC)

• P97, a startup building a mobile app to buy and pay for fuel at gas stations, raised a $40M round led by Portage (TC)

• Parloa, a German enterprise software provider, raised a $21.67M Series A led by EQT Ventures (TC)

• Florence, a healthcare enablement startup, raised a $20M seed round led by Thrive Capital, GV, and Salesforce Ventures (PRN)

• D2C apparel startup The Souled Store raised a $16.5M Series C led by Xponentia Capital (ET)

• Watershed Informatics, a developer of a multi-omics insight platform for biopharmaceutical discovery, raised a $14.5M Series A led by Canvas Ventures (BW)

• Votiro, a zero trust content security company, raised an $11.5M Series A led by Harvest Lane Asset Management (FN)

• Corporate meeting management platform Troop raised an $11M Series B led by Durable Capital Partners and Madrona Venture Group (FN)

• Dashbot, a startup using AI to gather key insights from conversational data, raised a $6M Series A led by Florida Funders and Bessemer Venture Partners (FN)

• Anvil, a paperwork automation platform, raised a $5M Series A extension from Craft Ventures and Gradient Ventures (PRN)

• Finverity, a provider of a digital ecosystem for trade and supply chain finance, raised $5M in funding led by Outward, Acrobat Ventures, and other (FN)

• Commercial lending platform Foro raised a $4M Series A extension led by TTV Capital, Fin Capital, and others (FN)

• Web3 protocol Polytrade raised a $3.8M seed round led by Alpha Wave, Matrix Partners, Polygon Ventures, and CoinSwitch Ventures (TC)

• Translucent, a London-based accounting platform for multi-entity businesses with finance issues, raised a $3.3M pre-seed round led by LocalGlobe (FN)

• NuMind, a startup allowing B2B and B2C customers to create custom NLP models, raised a $3M seed round led by Flybridge (FN)

• Trobix Bio, an Israeli biotech startup developing microbiome-based oncology therapeutics, raised $3M in funding led by Chartered Group (FN)

• Ecommerce marketplace for creatives Quadra raised a $1M seed round led by Fortify Capital Partners (FN)

IPO / Direct Listings / Issuances / Block Trades

• Cainiao Network Technology, the logistics arm of Chinese e-commerce firm Alibaba, is preparing for a Hong Kong IPO at a potential $20B+ valuation (BBG)

• Bed Bath & Beyond terminated its $1B fundraising deal with HF Hudson Bay and launched a $300M share sale in the open market, while again warning of bankruptcy risk (WSJ)

• Chinese tech company JD.com’s shares soared in the US after two of its subsidiaries, Jingdong Property and Jingdong Industrials, filed for Hong Kong IPOs (BBG)

• Saudi tech firm Rasan, which operates online insurance platform Tameeni, is working with Morgan Stanley and Saudi Fransi Capital for a local IPO (BBG)

• Emerging Markets Property Group, which operates classified websites popular with expatriates in the UAE, is considering an IPO (BBG)

• Norwegian brand developer and distributor Jordanes is considering an Oslo IPO (RT)

Debt

• Canada will reduce FY 23-24 bond issuance to $127B and end sale of Covid-era 3-year treasury bills (NSD)

Fundraising

• Tech focused PE firm Accel-KKR raised $5.3B across 2 tech-focused funds (BOY)

• AllianceBernstein is targeting $1.1B for a second European debt fund (RCN)

• VC firm EQT Life Sciences raised $285M for its debut LSP Dementia Fund (AX)

• Paris-based VC Elaia raised $218M for its Digital Ventures 4 fund (TCH)

Crypto Corner

• SBF pleaded not guilty to campaign finance and China bribery charges (RT)

• Cryptos gained in Q1 despite weakened asset class perceptions (CD)

• Crypto exchange Gemini is looking to launch an international derivatives exchange (TI)

• SEC Chairman insisted clear rules for crypto market 'already exist' (DC)

• Thailand's SEC wants to lift restrictions on initial coin offerings (CT)

Exec's Picks

• Derek Thompson and Tim Urban had a super interesting conversation about human history, happiness, and everything in between.

• Politico published a piece breaking down TikTok's fight to survive in the US.

• Alts is a newsletter that demystifies and explains interesting alternative investment ideas out there, such as collectibles, NFTs, wine, websites, and even LEGOs. Check them out for free here.

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