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Good Morning,

Record-high stock markets, record deal flow, Minnesota fraud, ICE protests, Venezuela, Iran, Greenland, and California's billionaire exodus are just some of the situations being monitored this week.

Almost forgot J Pow, who is under federal criminal investigation.

Is this the year your startup finally starts signing customers? Join Vanta on January 15th for a live demo on automating compliance stacks to have it serving as a deal accelerator, not a blocker. Register here.

Let's dive in.

Before The Bell

As of 1/9/2026 market close.

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

Markets

  • US stocks rose on Friday as traders digested mid jobs data and Trump's $200B mortgage bond push

    • S&P and Dow hit fresh ATHs

    • Housing-linked stocks surged

    • Apple fell for an eighth day for its worst losing streak since 1991

  • Europe's Stoxx 600 hit a fresh ATH

  • Korea's KOSPI index is already up 10% YTD to extend its historic run

  • US 2Y-10Y yield spread hit a nine-month high 

    • Traders slashed all January rate cut bets and priced in two 25 bps cuts for 2026, with the first in July

  • EM sovereign dollar debt premium fell to the lowest since 2013

  • Gold hit a fresh ATH

Earnings

  • What we're watching this week:  

    • Tuesday: JPMorgan, Delta Airlines

    • Wednesday: Wells Fargo, Citigroup, Bank of America, Infosys

    • Thursday: TSMC, BlackRock, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley

    • Friday: State Street, PNC

  • Full calendar here

Prediction Markets

  • It's a good week to monitor the situation

  • Trade your predictions on Polymarket

Headline Roundup

  • US launched a criminal investigation into J Pow (CNBC)

  • Hedge funds get ready for the 'Donroe Doctrine' trade (WSJ)

  • US may lift more Venezuela sanctions (RT)

  • Banks eye Venezuela investment with JPMorgan at an advantage (RT)

  • Banks are competing for Rio Tinto-Glencore's $200B merger mandate (RT)

  • US is investigating money transfer firms and banks amid Minnesota fraud (RT)

  • US can easily cover any SCOTUS tariff refunds (RT)

  • US unemployment rate fell to 4.4% on moderate jobs growth (CNBC)

  • Trump tweeted unpublished jobs data twelve hours before BLS release (BBG)

  • 'Mag 7' stock market dominance is showing signs of cracking (BBG)

  • JPMorgan sees rising risks driving M&A surge (RT)

  • Healthcare firms are set for M&A spree as drug patents expire (FT)

  • Four law firms controlled 60% of M&A principal deal value in 2025 (LW)

  • Big hedge funds delivered solid gains in 2025 (RT)

  • US corporate bond sales hit $95B in the busiest week since Covid (FT)

  • EM sovereign debt sales hit a record $44B YTD (BBG)

  • Retail investors bought $10B of US stocks YTD (BBG)

  • Gold investors stay bullish after historic 2025 (BBG)

  • More bonds are on the brink of junk (BBG)

  • China AI leaders warn of widening gap with US after $1B IPO week (BBG)

  • Texas PE firm Stronghold countersued Elliott (BBG)

  • UK PE firms sharply increase use of offshore funds (FT)

  • Apollo is searching for a new Europe head (FT)

  • KKR COO Ryan Stork stepped down (BBG)

  • Nvidia hired its first-ever CMO (WSJ)

  • US household wealth rose to a record $181T in Q3 (BBG)

  • Billionaires ramp up California exits amid threat of wealth tax (BBG)

  • 'Target schools' are back on the priority list for recruiters (WSJ)

  • Trump called for a 10% cap on credit card interest rates (WSJ)

A Message from Vanta

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  • Build real security foundations, not check-the-box fixes

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  • Keep engineers focused with guided workflows and developer-native automation

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Deal Flow

M&A / Investments

  • A consortium led by infrastructure investor I Squared Capital dropped its $4B pursuit of German media group Ströer's core advertising business

  • Budget airline Allegiant agreed to acquire peer Sun Country in a $1.5B cash-and-stock deal at a 20% premium

  • OpenAI and SoftBank jointly invested $1B in digital infrastructure and energy company SB Energy

  • Australian energy storage firm Akaysha Energy is considering selling a significant minority stake at a $1B valuation

VC

  • Stablecoin payments startup Rain raised a $250M Series C round at a $1.95B valuation led by ICONIQ Ventures

  • Israeli cybersecurity startup Torq raised a $140M Series D at a $1.2B valuation led by Merlin Ventures

  • AI cloud provider Lambda is reportedly raising a $350M round led by Mubadala

  • AI-native insurance carrier Corgi raised a $108M seed and Series A led by Y Combinator, Kindred Ventures, Glade Brook, and others 

  • bit.bio, a human-cell programming startup, raised a $50M Series C led by M&G Investments

  • Narrative-intelligence startup Blackbird.AI secured a $28M funding round from Ten Eleven Ventures, Dorilton Ventures, and others

  • Connected safety platform startup Canopy raised a $22M Series B co-led by 111° West Capital and ACME Capital

  • Outcome-based pricing platform Paid.ai raised a $21.6M seed round

  • Gene-editing startup Aurora Therapeutics raised a $16M seed round from Menlo Ventures

  • Legend, a DeFi wallet platform, raised a $15M first funding round from a16z and Coinbase Ventures

  • Cloudforce, an AI infrastructure startup for education and healthcare, raised a $10M Series A led by Owl Ventures

  • European fashion-overstock marketplace Smatch raised an $8.5M seed round led by Transition VC, 42Cap, and 10x Founders

  • Industrial AI startup Spector.ai raised a $6.7M funding round led by IvyCap Ventures 

Access the complete VC deal flow on Fundable.

IPO / Direct Listings / Issuances / Block Trades

  • $30B-listed Chinese industrial robot maker Inovance is considering a dual listing in Hong Kong

  • PE firm Advent picked banks to lead a US IPO of Austrian power equipment maker Innio at a $15B valuation

  • Apax Partners and Warburg Pincus-backed Dutch telecoms group Odido is considering launching a $1.2B IPO

  • Construction equipment rental firm EquipmentShare.com plans to market its $1B IPO this week

  • Alphabet-backed AI-enabled fleet management software firm Motive plans to market its $600M IPO this week

  • Brazilian fintech Agibank's US IPO is facing setbacks on regulatory concerns; the firm was valued at $1.7B in late-2024

  • Star Capital-backed German defense technology firm Vincorion is seeking to raise over $350M at a $1.75B valuation in a Germany IPO

  • Lilly-backed cancer biotech Aktis raised $318M at a $1.4B valuation in its IPO

  • Fitness tracking app Strava confidentially filed for an IPO

  • Bain Capital-owned furniture retailer Bob's Discount Furniture filed for an IPO

  • EQT-backed school bus operator First Student selected banks for an IPO

  • Data center electrical equipment maker Forgent filed for an IPO

  • Cancer biotech Eikon Therapeutics filed for an IPO

  • Hair-growth pill maker Veradermics filed for an IPO

  • 'Big Short' investor Michael Burry bought put options on Oracle

Debt

  • A consortium of banks led by Bank of America and UBS kicked off a $1.8B leveraged loan sale to back Lone Star's $3.8B buyout of plastic-parts and equipment maker Hillenbrand as part of a bigger $3.1B debt package

  • Ghana is seeking to raise $935M in its first domestic infrastructure bond sale

  • PE-backed broker/dealer roll-up Osaic is raising $750M for a refinancing

  • Capitol Meridian Partners and Stellex Capital Management raised $400M in private credit from Adams Street Partners to fund their acquisition of military gear unit Beaufort from UK survival tech firm Survitec 

  • Indian telecoms giant Vodafone Idea is considering raising debt to boost growth

Bankruptcy / Restructuring / Distressed

  • A creditor committee including Fidelity, Morgan Stanley Investment Management, and Greylock Capital is ready to begin talks on restructuring $60B in defaulted Venezuelan bonds

  • Bankrupt auto parts supplier First Brands' sued their founder's brother Edward James and largest creditor Onset Financial for fraud

  • Distressed Chinese developer Vanke is preparing to default and restructure at authorities' request to avoid a total debt failure

  • Struggling luxury retailer Saks is set to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy

  • Summit Properties acquired Pinnacle's bankrupt NYC apartment portfolio after a judge rejected NYC's delay request

  • Senegal's dollar bonds surged after Senegal ruled out a debt restructuring

Fundraising / Secondaries

  • a16z raised $15B across its fifth growth fund, second American Dynamism fund, second apps fund, second infrastructure fund, fifth bio+healthcare fund, and other strategies in its biggest fundraising hall ever, taking 18% of all VC fundraising of 2025

  • PE firm Parthenon Capital is raising a $1.7B CV to extend ownership of credit rating firm Kroll Bond Rating Agency

  • Canadian PE firm Onex raised a $1.6B CV for edtech firm PowerSchool, insurance claims administrator Sedgwick, and HVAC group Fidelity from Neuberger Berman, Apollo's S3, SWF GIC, and StepStone Group

  • Singaporean PE firm RRJ Capital raised $1.1B for a debut private credit fund focused on APAC

  • Hedge fund Davidson Kempner raised over $1.1B for its second asset-backed private credit fund

  • MM healthcare and tech PE firm Eir Partners raised $1B for its third fund

  • Growth equity investor Guidepost raised $520M for its fourth flagship fund

  • French pharma firm Servier launched Servier Ventures, a biotech-focused VC fund with $230M

  • Commodities hedge fund Conductor Capital will wind down

Crypto Sum Snapshot

  • Coinbase boosted lobbying efforts as crypto bill moves to Senate markup

  • BNY launched tokenized deposits in digital assets expansion

  • Digital euro is 'only defense' against deepening US control of money

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

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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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