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Good Morning,

The BoE raised rates by 0.75% in step with the Fed, the White House says the US is not in a recession, US holiday sales are expected to grow by only ~7%, European VC deal value fell by 36% QoQ in Q3, a wave of layoffs and hiring freezes are hitting all sectors, an Uber whistleblower said the current business model isn't sustainable, and PE political donations are trending to the right.

Speaking of winter... one sector has been pretty hot this year: oil & gas. Today's sponsor, EnergyFunders, is democratizing access into private oil & gas deal flow. Check out there platform here and learn more below.

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Let's dive in.

Before The Bell

Markets

• US stocks slid for the fourth consecutive day as investors continue to digest central bank rate hikes

  • BoE followed in the Fed's footsteps to raise rates by 75 bps yesterday 

• The pan-European Stoxx 600 closed down 1% with most sectors in the red

• Asian stocks also tumbled with Hong Kong’s benchmark losing 3.1% 

• The dollar hit a two-week high against the pound

Earnings

• Coinbase reported a Q3 loss and poor revenue numbers amid crypto winter but managed to beat user number estimates; their stock fell 8.1% yesterday before jumping ~4.5% in AH trading (CNBC) 

• Starbucks beat Q4 EPS and revenue estimates on strong US sales that offset decline in internationals sales; their stock rose 3.2% in immediate AH trading (CNBC)

• Peloton reported a worse-than-expected Q1 loss and revenue decline and offered a weak holiday quarter outlook, but is optimistic about their turnaround plan; their stock gained 8.2% yesterday (CNBC) 

• Nikola reported a better-than-expected Q3 loss and revenue numbers but trimmed its FY production guidance and provided none for 2023; their stock slid ~11% yesterday (CNBC)

• What we're watching this week: 

  • Today: DraftKings

• Full calendar here

Headline Roundup

• BoE raised rates by 0.75% to 3% and warned of the longest recession in a century (RT)

• US is not in recession and White House is not preparing for one: White House (RT)

• US holiday sales growth is expected to be only ~7% this year (RT)

• US sold its last batch of oil reserves to complete its largest ever release (RT)

• European VC deal value fell 36% QoQ in Q3 (FW)

• Canada ordered three Chinese firms to exit lithium mining citing national security (RT)

• ECB warns that Spanish banking tax could impact economy (RT)

• Morgan Stanley will start layoffs in coming weeks (RT)

• Amazon paused corporate hiring for 'next few months' (AX)

• Lyft will lay off 13% or 683 employees from workforce (RT)

• Stripe will lay off 14% or ~1k people from workforce (FT)

• Fintech Chime will lay off 12% of its workforce (CNBC)

• Property tech firm Opendoor laid off ~550 employees or 18% of its workforce (TC)

• German utility Uniper reported a record $39.3B net loss in September YTD (RT)

• Brazil's Petrobras will distribute $8.5B in dividends amid payout controversy (RT)

• Shell's flagship LNG trading unit recorded a ~$1B Q3 loss (RT)

• Credit Suisse warned of potential Q4 profitability drop (RT)

• Teva Pharmaceuticals will pay up to $4.2B to settle opioid-related claims (RT)

• Advertisers are grilling Elon Musk over Twitter 'free-for-all' (RT) 

• Goldman Sachs will unveil a data service that classifies hundreds of cryptocurrencies (CNBC)

• Uber whistleblower said current business model is 'absolutely' unsustainable (RT)

• Private equity donations are tilting toward the GOP (AX)

• Powerball jackpot grew to $1.5B to third-largest lottery prize ever (AX)

A Message From EnergyFunders

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Deal Flow

M&A / Investments

• Real estate developer Kushner Cos.’ unsolicited $4.3B bid for REIT Veris Residential has been rejected for being too low and lacking financing details (RT)

• Investment firm Murchinson offered to buy the rest of 3D printing company Nano Dimension it doesn’t already own at a $995M valuation (BBG)

• UAE shipping port operator AD Ports agreed to buy Dubai-based Global Feeder Shipping for $800M (BBG)

• A consortium comprising Veolia Environment, ADQ, and Vision Invest agreed to buy energy company Abu Dhabi National Oil Co’s waste management operations for ~$500M (BBG)

• Spanish telecommunications group Finetwork is considering raising ~$489M through strategic options including the sale of an equity stake (BBG)

• Carlyle agreed to buy a majority stake in renewable energy developer Aspen Power Partners for $350M (RT)

• Digital asset platform Bakkt agreed to buy Apex Crypto for up to $200M (CD)

• A consortium comprising Stone Point Capital, Warburg Pincus, Reverence Capital Partners, Sixth Street Partners, and Bayview Asset Management agreed to buy a majority of the banking operations of TIAA (BBG)

• Goldman Sachs’ Petershill unit agreed to buy a minority stake in Philadelphia-based PE firm LLR Partners (BBG)

• Jeff Bezos may collab with Jay-Z to bid for the NFL’s Washington Commanders (CNBC)

• Media entrepreneur Byron Allen is preparing a bid for the NFL’s Washington Commanders franchise (BBG)

• VC fund V Ventures is in talks to buy struggling Asian cryptocurrency exchange Zipmex (BBG)

• Automotive supplier American Axle is attracting interest from suitors including UK-listed Melrose Industries (RT)

• French luxury giant Kering in advanced talks to acquire fashion house Tom Ford (WSJ)

• Media investment firm National World is in early stages of exploring an offer for newspaper publisher Reach (BBG)

VC

• Emalex Biosciences, a biopharmaceutical company focused on the treatment of Tourette Syndrome, raised a $250M Series D led by Bain Capital Life Sciences (PRN)

• Applications security startup Apiiro raised a $100M Series B led by General Catalyst (TC)

• The Mobility House, a startup building a charging and energy management system for EVs, raised a $50M Series C led by Mercuria (BW)

• LatAm e-commerce aggregator Quinio raised a $40M round of equity and debt led by Northgate Capital (TC)

• Dataloop, a provider of data annotation tools, raised a $33M Series B led by Nokia Growth Partners and Alpha Wave Global (TC)

• Freight invoicing startup Loop raised $30M in previously unannounced funding: a $6M seed round led by Susa Ventures and 8VC and a $24M Series A led by Founders Fund (TC)

• Evmos, an EVM-compatible blockchain built on the Cosmos SDK, raised a $27M seed round led by Polychain (PRN)

• B2B payments startup Fintecture raised a $26M Series A from Target Global, Eurazeo, RTP Global, Samaipata, and more (TC)

• Dropit, a retail tech platform digitizeing brick-and-mortar stores, raised a $25M Series C led by Vault Investments (TC)

• Gitpod, an open source development platform, raised a $25M Series A led by Github founder Tom Preston-Werner (BW)

• ORO, a procurement automation platform, raised a $25M Series A led by Norwest Venture Partners and B Capital (BW)

• Smartex, a startup improving textile manufacturing with machine-vision software, raised a $24.7M round led by Lightspeed Venture Partners and Build Collective (TC)

• Carbon-negative homebuilding startup Aro Homes raised a $21M Series A led by Innovation Endeavors (BW)

• Building control startup Runwise raised a $19M Series A led by Fifth Wall (BW)

• SitePro, a startup helping utility companies monitor critical infrastructure, raised a $16M Series E led by multiple family offices and individual investors (PRN)

• SolarSquare, a startup providing solar modules to rooftops in India, raised a $13M Series A led by Lowercarbon and Elevation Capital (TC)

• Web3 communications protocol WalletConnect raised a $12.5M round led by Shopify, Coinbase Ventures, ConsenSys, and more (BW)

• Boston Materials, a startup developing high-performance materials, raised a $12M Series A-2 led by Good Growth Capital (BW)

• Revuze, a provider of real time consumer insights, raised $12M in funding led by PSG (BW)

• meez, a startup building a digital recipe platform, raised an $11.5M Series A led by Craft Ventures (PRN)

• Multi-cloud workload portability platform 3nets.io raised an $11M seed round at a $20M valuation led by Taiwani Capital (PRN)

• Customer protection platform Darwinium raised a $10M seed round led by Blackbird (PRN)

• Hoken, an event-focused lodging startup, raised a $9M round led by Streamlined Ventures (PRN)

• IoT integration startup Flowforge raised a $7.2M round from Cota Capital, Westwave Capital, Uncorrelated Ventures, and Open Core Ventures (TC)

• Port, a startup building an internal developer portal, raised a $7M seed round led by TLV Partners (PRN)

• End-of-life care platform Guaranteed raised a $6.5M seed round led by BrandProject (BW)

IPO / Direct Listings / Issuances / Block Trades

• India’s online education giant Byju is finalizing plans for the $1B IPO of its tutoring business Aakash Educational Services (BBG)

• Middle East broadcaster MBC Group is working with banks for a potential 2023 Saudi IPO (BBG)

• Abu Dhabi National Oil Co has hired banks for the potential IPO of its shipping unit Adnoc Logistics & Services (BBG)

• Car maker Stellantis’ CFO hinted at a possible spinoff of luxury car manufacturer Maserati following the successful IPO of Porsche earlier this year (BBG)

SPAC

• Helios Investment Partners is in talks to merge African energy infrastructure firms Axxela and Access LNG with Onyx Acquisition Co. 1 in a potential $1B+ deal (BBG)

Debt

• Nanotechnology firm Leia raised $125M in growth credit financing from a fund managed by Aon Advantage Funds (BW)

Fundraising

• Swiss-based VC firm Privilège Ventures launched a $20M Fund IV dedicated exclusively to women-led early-stage startups across Europe (TC)

Crypto Corner

• NFT creator Dapper Labs cut 22% of its staff (CD)

• Crypto billionaire Sam Bankman-Fried confirmed he talked with Musk about joining Twitter deal (FRB)

• Mastercard welcomed seven crypto / blockchain startups to its fintech innovation program Mastercard Start Path (DC)

• Warner Bros. Discovery and HBO announced plans for ‘Game of Thrones’ NFTs (TC)

Exec's Picks

• Christmas is coming up quick, and there's no better gift for dad than a new set of clubs. Golf Galaxy has the best deals on golf clubs, balls, and apparel that you'll find this holiday season. Head over to Golf Galaxy now and get 50% off on select holiday sales!

• Axios published a piece breaking down how JPow's comments moved the market in real-time during the Fed's last meeting. Check it out here.

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:

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