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Private credit fundraising fell to a three-year low, Anthropic singed a $100B cloud deal with Amazon, Kevin Warsh's Fed chair confirmation is in the spotlight, Trump is aiming to seal an Iran deal instead of extending a ceasefire, and Apple named hardware veteran John Ternus as next CEO.

Startup fundraising does not have to be a shot in the dark. Check out Fidelity's Fundraise-Ready Startup Kit for the resources and templates that founders use to raise rounds successfully and smoothly.

Let's dive in.

Before The Bell

As of 4/20/2026 market close.

Learn more about the Litquidity portfolios and subscribe to the strategies on Autopilot.*

Markets

  • US stocks closed lower yesterday on US-Iran uncertainty ahead of a ceasefire deadline and Trump's scheduled appearance on CNBC

    • Nasdaq snapped a 13-day win streak

    • Small caps Russell 2000 hit a fresh ATH

  • Bitcoin climbed to a two-month high

Earnings

  • What we're watching this week:  

    • Today: UnitedHealth Group, 3M, United Airlines, RTX, Capital One

    • Wednesday: Tesla, IBM, AT&T, Texas Instruments

    • Thursday: Intel, Blackstone, American Airlines, American Express

    • Friday: Procter & Gamble

  • Full calendar here

Prediction Markets

  • Congrats in advance on saying the biggest number

  • Trade event contracts on Polymarket, the world's largest prediction market

Headline Roundup

  • Apple named John Ternus as next CEO (CNBC)

  • Trump aims to seal Iran deal and not extend ceasefire (BBG)

  • Tariff refunds officially begin with launch of portal (CNBC)

  • Warsh commits to Fed independence with limits (RT)

  • Warsh's investments will play key role in confirmation hearings (WSJ)

  • Global M&A value rebounds on a mega deal rush following Iran war (RT)

  • Private credit fundraising fell to a three-year low in Q1 (BBG)

  • Investors pile into US stocks on lack of alternative (RT)

  • Investors propose crisis 'pause clauses' for EM bonds (RT)

  • CitSec pitched a lower tick-size pilot program to SEC (BBG)

  • UniCredit CEO roster rival Commerzbank as hostile M&A talks heat up (BBG)

  • Anthropic and Amazon signed a $100B AI cloud deal (CNBC)

  • Red Lobster is bringing back bankruptcy catalyst Endless Shrimp (WSJ)

  • College grad job market is showing signs of recovery (WSJ)

A Message from Fidelity Private Shares

Fundraising can get expensive when structure comes too late

Fundraising problems usually aren't strategic – they're structural.

When ownership data, investor materials, and diligence prep live in different places, small inconsistencies can turn into time-consuming cleanup. Teams end up reconciling cap tables, rewriting decks, chasing historical context for investor questions, and pulling documents together under pressure.

The Fundraise-Ready Startup Kit equips finance leaders with standardized materials that support fundraising over time, not just during a raise.

Built for companies that care about accuracy, continuity, and fewer surprises.

Download the Fundraise-Ready Startup Kit

Deal Flow

M&A / Strategic

  • Casino operator Caesars Entertainment extended the period of exclusive ​talks for an $18B LBO by hospitality billionaire Tilman Fertitta

  • $14B-listed spirits giant Brown-Forman favors Pernod Ricard's takeover bid over peer Sazerac

  • PE firms Hg, TowerBrook, Vitruvian Partners, and Aquiline submitted initial bids for Benchmark ​Capital, the financial planning business of UK asset manager Schroders, which is being acquired by US peer Nuveen in a $13B deal

  • Blackstone-backed data center operator AirTrunk acquired India-based Lumina CloudInfra to unlock $5B of development potential 

  • Lilly will acquire ​cancer biotech Kelonia Therapeutics at a $3.25B valuation

  • Malaysia's IOI Properties Group acquired office tower Asia Square Tower 2 in Singapore from CapitaLand Investment, a real estate unit of Singapore SWF Temasek, for $1.9B to allow CapitaLand to partially fund a $3B purchase of Temasek-backed luxury mall Paragon 

  • Canada's Agnico Eagle Mines will acquire Rupert Resources, Aurion Resources, and a majority stake in a JV from B2Gold for a combined ~$2.8B as it expands in Finland

  • Blue Owl Capital will acquire healthcare-focused REIT Sila Realty Trust in a $2.4B cash deal at a 20% premium

  • Industrial manufacturer Brady Corp. will acquire the productivity solutions and services business of industrials conglomerate Honeywell International for $1.4B cash

  • Apollo will acquire a 13% stake in the medical-surgical solutions unit of pharma giant McKesson in a $1.25B convertible preferred equity deal ahead of its spinoff

  • Hungary's Premier Energy agreed to buy Evryo ‌Group's power distribution network from Australia's Macquarie for $825M

  • PE firm TA Associates is in talks to acquire $777M UK-listed medical supplier Advanced Medical Solutions

  • Greek lottery and gaming firm Bally's ​Intralot offered to acquire betting group Evoke in a $303M stock deal at a 30% premium

  • USA Rare Earth agreed to acquire Brazil's Serra Verde Group in a $2.8B stock-and-cash deal

  • Steel giant Cleveland-Cliffs is no longer in a hurry to close a deal with Korea's POSCO Holdings

VC

  • Amazon agreed to invest another $25B in Anthropic as part of a $100B cloud deal

  • Jeff Bezos' physical AI startup Project Prometheus is in talks to raise a $10B round at a $38B valuation from JPMorgan and BlackRock

  • Prediction market Polymarket is seeking to raise $400M at a $15B valuation

  • CuspAI, a UK startup using AI for materials discovery, is in talks to raise an over $200M Series B at an over $1B validation 

  • Rivan, a synthetic natural gas developer, raised $34M in funding led by IQ Capital

  • Ratio, an AI-driven fintech platform for B2B technology scale-ups, raised a $15.8M round

  • Paxos Labs, a digital asset financial utility platform incubated within Paxos, raised a $12M strategic funding round led by Blockchain Capital

  • VisioLab, an AI-powered self-checkout systems startup, raised an $11M Series A led by eCAPITAL and Simon Capital

  • Abu Dhabi-regulated tokenization firm KAIO raised an $8M strategic round led by Tether

Access the complete VC deal flow and data on Fundable

IPOs / Listings / Issuances / Block Trades

  • Blackstone-backed sandwich chain Jersey Mike's Subs filed for an IPO to raise over $1B at a $12B valuation

  • Chinese tech giant Tencent took a 3.2% stake in Kazakh fintech Kaspi.kz from Baring Fintech Venture Funds for $520M

  • Sunshine Silver Mining & Refining plans to raise $400M in a Canada IPO

  • Finnish defense tech firm Savox Communications is in talks for a $120M Finland IPO 

  • Nvidia-backed Finnish defense tech firm Varjo Technologies is in talks for a Finland IPO

  • Pernod Ricard is working on an India IPO of its India business

  • UK fintech giant Revolut may IPO in 2028

SPAC / SPV

  • D2C insurtech Tigerless Health agreed to merge with Piermont Valley Acquisition Corp. at a $280M valuation

Debt

  • China plans to sell $12.5B of 30Y special bonds in the largest such offering ever

  • Data center developer Edged Compute is seeking to raise $1.3B in a high-yield bond sale 

  • Nigeria's Dangote Fertiliser is preparing a $750M private placement of bonds ahead of an planned IPO

  • Music investor Chord Music Partners is selling $500M of ABSs backed by $830M of royalties from artists including Twenty One Pilots, Diplo, and Morgan Wallen

  • Deutsche Bank is marketing a $230M private credit deal for Malaysian budget airline AirAsia Aviation 

Bankruptcy / Restructuring / Distressed

  • Russia ​valued a 67% stake in gold producer ‌UGC at $1.85B ahead of an auction sale

  • Bankrupt Spirit Airlines is seeking an equity bailout from US to avoid an imminent liquidation

  • JetBlue Airways ruled out a bankruptcy filing this year

  • A sale of a controlling stake in Brazilian petrochemicals producer Braskem moved forward after LatAm conglomerate Novonor agreed to sell its shares to a fund backed by IG4 Capital

  • Satirical website The Onion will lease Alex Jones' conspiracy platform Infowars for $81k/month after a bankruptcy judge blocked a sale

Funds / Secondaries

  • Swiss PE firm Partners Group raised $9B for its eighth PE secondaries fund

  • UK MM software PE firm Triple Private Equity raised $600M for its debut fund

  • UK real estate lender Mera Investment Management launched a $135M JV with backing from a US credit megafund

Crypto Sum Snapshot

  • Strategy bought $2.54B of Bitcoin in the most since 2024

  • Bitcoin's fragile recovery sets up a big short-squeeze risk

  • SEC has ended 'regulation through enforcement' against crypto

Crypto Sum compiles the most important stories on everything crypto. Read it here.

Exec’s Picks

Financial Services Recruiting 💼

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We aim to place strong candidates across private equity, hedge funds, venture capital, growth equity, credit, and investment banking.

We're currently seeking talent for some incredible roles. Head over to Litney Partners to drop your resume / create your profile and we'd love to get in touch!

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*DISCLAIMER: Investment advice provided by Autopilot Advisers, LLC ("Autopilot"), an SEC-registered investment adviser. Past performance does not guarantee future results. Investing carries risks, including loss of principal. As always, be smart out there. Litquidity is compensated to promote AutoPilot. Compensation details available upon request.

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