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Good Morning,

Stocks were red once again, Musk is *surprise* no longer joining Twitter's board, White House expects inflation to be extraordinarily elevated, Philly brings back its indoor mask mandate, and Epic Games raised $2B.

Headed down to Miami for Tech Week 2022 next week, hmu if you’re in town.

Quick reminder that we’re launching our Big Swinging Decks channel on YouTube tomorrow. Pls subscribe here to follow the episodes and drop some comments 🤝 

Let's dive in.

Before The Bell

If you want to learn more about crypto trading strategies and the world of DeFi, check out our Foot Guns newsletter.

Markets

• US stocks retreated on Monday, as investors were concerned about inflation and tightening monetary policy by central banks

• The Nasdaq led the way down, dropping 2.18%, as the 10Y treasury yield crested 2.75% for the first time since March 2019

• Major economic data will be released today, with the March CPI data and OPEC's monthly oil market report coming out

Earnings

• What we’re watching this week:

  • Today: Carmax

  • Wed: Delta, BlockRock, JPMorgan, Rent the Runway, Bed Bath & Beyond

  • Thurs: TSMC, Wells Fargo, Goldman Sachs, Citi, Morgan Stanley, PNC

• Full calendar here

Headline Roundup

• Musk backing off Twitter board opens door to hostile takeover (CNBC)

• White House expects inflation to be ‘extraordinarily elevated’ in new report (CNBC)

• NY Fed survey shows consumer inflation fears hit a record high in March (CNBC)

• Philadelphia revives indoor mask mandate (BBG)

• BlackRock dismisses three PE managing directors who plan to join Apollo (BBG) 

• Fed’s Evans says half-point rate hike worth debating to get to neutral (BBG)

• Intel’s $3B factory expansion opens in key comeback step (BBG)

• Lumber slides as surging inflation hammers DIY renovation market (BBG)

A Message From Ledger

Are Your Apes Running Wild?

Picture this: You just bought Bored Ape #1289 – you know, the one with the gold teeth and the captain’s hat, iconic – when suddenly, your combo of clumsy fingers and tiny screen come together to accidentally send it off to parts unknown. 

There goes $500,000 down the drain. Whoopsie!

Okay, so that scenario is a bit dramatic. But when you’re dealing with assets worth a cool half a mil, it pays to be careful – and that’s where the new Ledger Nano S Plus comes into play.

This upgraded version of the Ledger Nano S works overtime to give you everything you need to manage your crypto, NFTs, and tokens. 

• More memory lets you handle over 5,500 digital assets and have up to 100 apps installed simultaneously

• Larger screen enables a smoother user experience and makes it easier to navigate and verify transactions

• The Nano S Plus ensures the same level of security than the other Ledger devices and keeps your coins & NFTs offline and protected

Say it with us: I will spare no cost when it comes to securing my crypto, NFTs, and tokens because I don’t want to move into mom’s basement. Again.

Pick up the Ledger Nano S Plus right here. 

Deal Flow

M&A / Investments

• Tech-focused PE firm Thoma Bravo agreed to acquire identity security startup SailPoint for $6.9B (TC)

• Security management provider Kaseya agreed to acquire disaster recovery service Datto for $6.2B (TC)

• Blockchain-focused gaming firm Animoca Brands acquired French racing-focused game firm Eden Games (TBC)

VC

• Fortnite-creator Epic Games raised a $2B funding round at a $31.5B valuation from Sony and Kirkbi (TC)

• Singaporean online payments firm Coda is nearing a deal to raise funding at a $2.5B valuation led by Insight Partners (BBG)

• Tive, a startup developing supply chain visibility tools, raised a $54M Series B led by AXA Venture Partners (TC)

• Robotic automation startup Diligent Robotics raised a $30M+ Series B led by Tiger Global (PRN)

• Indian chronic disease management startup PhableCare raised a $25M Series B led by Kalaari Capital (BW)

• Ocean-floor mapping startup Terradepth raised a $20M round led by Giant Ventures and Nimble Ventures (TC)

• LA-based childcare network WeeCare raised a $12M Series A led by M13 (BW)

• Crypto shorting protocol Shorter raised a $4M round led by IDG Capital (PRN)

• Gaming startup Glip raised a $3M pre-Series A led by Prime Venture Partners (PRN)

IPO / Direct Listings / Issuances / Block Trades

• Indonesian tech company GoTo’s shares surged as much as 23% on its first day of trading after raising $1.1B in the IPO (BBG)

Debt

• Texas seeking underwriters for $3.4B bond deal to bail out natural gas utilities harmed by February winter storm (BBG)

Crypto Corner

• FTX exec launches Republican PAC with $4M donation (TBC)

• Uniswap Labs sets up venture arm to invest in web3 projects (TBC)

• Bored Apes go to Hollywood with Coinbase-produced movie trilogy (CD)

• Ethereum devs now testing ETH 2.0 upgrade on ‘shadow fork’ (DC)

Exec's Picks

• Investing is always better when you do it with friends. Hedge is a collaborative trading platform where you can pool money & invest together in stocks, options, crypto, & NFTs. Hedge is also one of our portcos at Litquidity Ventures, and they’re launching a private beta later this month, which you can get access to by signing up for their waitlist here.

• Yesterday, Jack Raines wrote about how groupthink and the "madness of crowds" fed the flames of last year's meme stock saga. Check out his latest 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've got 40+ jobs spanning IB, S&T, VC, tech, private equity, DeFi, crypto, CorpDev and more. We sift through all the noise on LinkedIn, Indeed, Monster, etc. so you don't have to.

Meme Cleanser

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Catch the latest episode of our Big Swinging Decks podcast, presented by CoinFLEX.US, on Spotify and Apple Music 🤝