๐ฆ Three-Card Policy
Keep your eye on the asset. Oops, wrong cup.
Also available:๐ซ๐ท รdition franรงaise
Good morning!
Delaware Life reported for years that less than 5% of its cash and invested assets were affiliated investments. A Manhattan grand jury sent subpoenas in February 2026. The insurer looked at its own books, and the figure came back at roughly 40%. The company blamed errors in identifying and presenting related-party investments, vocabulary for a slide deck, not a swing of that size. Delaware Life holds $69B, Clear Spring another $16B. Both belong to Mark Walter, who runs Guggenheim Partners. His arithmetic on the Los Angeles Lakers was faultless: $2.5B of gain in 14 months, from $10B in 2025 to the $12.5B agreed in 2026. His arithmetic on the disclosure schedule was out by a factor of 8.
Prosecutors have zeroed in on four firms that sat between the insurers and the borrowers, one a Chicago office-space broker called Bradford Allen. Money left an insurance company, passed through a chaperone, and reached another Walter venture having mislaid its family resemblance. Nobody has been charged. Walter has meanwhile dangled his Guggenheim equity as collateral and offered lenders double-digit yields, odd behaviour from a man whose insurers hold America’s stickiest money. Annuity premiums arrive on schedule and nobody files a redemption notice.
The arrangement prosecutors are picking apart is one the rest of the sector runs beautifully. Apollo owns Athene, KKR owns Global Atlantic, and private credit now runs to a tenth of American life balance sheets, carried at no price, only a mark. Which does not make the design stupid. Funding a 30-year annuity with an illiquid 7-year loan beats funding a mortgage with overnight deposits, which detonated in 2008. The bug got fixed. The eyesight did not. Much of the risk sits in Bermuda vehicles whose holdings are not publicly disclosed. State regulators propose lifting the capital charge on equity-backed collateral loans from 6.8% to 30%. A supervisor quadrupling a number concedes the old one was ornamental.
A basketball team clears in a year. A football stake finds a buyer among the existing shareholders. At that altitude, liquidity is a phone call. The retiree holding a fixed indexed annuity has a surrender schedule of 7 to 10 years and nobody to ring, and 4.1M Americans a year are turning 65 to be sold the same reassurance. Nothing is going to crash: an annuity book cannot run, and a loss spread over decades of instalments takes years to surface. The guaranteed floor holds until the insurer does not. Everything above it is a renewal rate the insurer sets each year, and the balance sheet setting it has just moved 35 points into the affiliated column. The cheque in 2041 will just be smaller than the illustration, landing on somebody who never heard of Bradford Allen, and by then nobody will have to explain why.
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๐๏ธ Top Story
- ๐ฉ๐ช Grid Alert. After an explosion damages power infrastructure near Jรคnschwalde, Germany opens a terrorism investigation and suspects sabotage, with both foreign and domestic actors under scrutiny. (Le Monde)
- ๐ฒ๐น Case Closed? After eight hours of deliberation, a Maltese jury finds Yorgen Fenech not guilty of masterminding Daphne Caruana Galiziaโs assassination, prompting outrage from her family and watchdogs who see justice unfinished. (Le Temps)
- ๐บ๐ฆ Friendly Fire. Ukraineโs SBU and HUR intelligence agencies exchanged gunfire in Kyiv, prompting President Zelensky to demand investigations and warn that only Russian occupiers should be targeted. (Spiegel)
- ๐ท๐ธ Spy Hard. At least 12 Serbian opposition figures, including activists and politicians, received Apple warnings about Pegasus spyware targeting their iPhones, just as protests against President Vucic intensify. (Le Monde)
- ๐ท๐บ Flight Risk. Rumors of post-election conscription spark a rush of Russians to Georgia and Armenia, as anxiety outpaces any official decree. (Le Figaro)
- ๐บ๐ธ Stormy Weather. El Niรฑoโs record heat has triggered a rare trio of simultaneous Pacific hurricanes: Lowell, Karina, and soon-to-be Marie, with Hawaii watching the forecasts nervously. (Le Figaro)
- ๐บ๐ธ Name of Thrones. Donald Trump proposes renaming the Strait of Hormuz as the ยซย Trump Strait,ย ยป adding another notch to his global rebranding campaign in the middle of US-Iran tensions. (Libรฉ)
- ๐ญ๐ฐ Sentence Pending. Pro-democracy leader Joshua Wong admits guilt under Hong Kongโs national security law, facing up to life in prison as the crackdown continues. (Spiegel)
- ๐ณ๐ต Help Yourself. Nepal restricts foreign aid groups from disaster zones after the Himalayan flood, choosing to manage relief efforts solo despite slow progress and worsening conditions. (Spiegel)
- ๐ธ๐ฆ Critical Mass. The US-Saudi nuclear pact could pave the way for uranium enrichment up to 20%, prompting critics to warn of a proliferation domino effect. (Wall Street Journal)
- ๐ฎ๐ฑ Line in the Sand. Benjamin Netanyahu visited Gaza and declared Israel will not withdraw from the 60% of the territory it controls, vowing continued military presence. (France Info)
- ๐ช๐ฌ Pyramid Scheme. Xi Jinping visits Cairo for the first time in a decade, aiming to showcase a โmodel relationshipโ with President Sissi as Egypt pushes for fairer trade. (Les Echos)
๐ฌ๐ง United Kingdom
- ๐ฌ๐ง Double Departure. Keir Starmer announces he is leaving Parliament as MP for Holborn and St Pancras, not long after quitting as Prime Minister, leaving Burnham to savor his first day in charge. (BBC)
- ๐ฌ๐ง Mother’s Orders. The UK government is confronted with the scale of its forced adoption scandal, as women reveal they were compelled to surrender their newborns. (BBC)
- ๐ซ๐ท Stitch in Time. With King Charles and the British PM looking on, Macron unveils the Bayeux Tapestry in London, spinning the historic loan as a diplomatic masterstroke and hoping the threads hold. (France Info)
๐บ๐ธ United States
- ๐บ๐ธ Born This Way. A federal judge blocks Trumpโs latest attempt to deny citizenship to babies born in the to noncitizen parents, citing settled Supreme Court precedent. (New York Times)
- ๐บ๐ธ Shadow Accounts. The New York Times reporters traced at least $1B in dark money from anonymous donors flowing into midterm elections, exposing how hidden cash shapes democracy. (New York Times)
- ๐บ๐ธ Bridge Too Far. Michigan Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed tries to reconcile with Jewish Democrats after a bruising primary, but his apologies fail to win over key skeptics. (New York Times)
๐๏ธ Economy
- ๐ฌ๐ง Headroom Service. Rachel Reeves discovers her fiscal space has shrunk by half as global bond markets slump, putting her budget ambitions on a crash diet. (Bloomberg)
- ๐ฌ๐ง Bank Holiday. UK Chancellor John Healey is weighing a windfall tax on banks and oil giants as Andy Burnham prepares his first autumn budget, leaving bankers bracing for a fiscal long weekend. (The Guardian)
- ๐ซ๐ท Goal Standard. The French financial prosecutor wants four people, including ex-FIFA official Reynald Temarii and Qatari billionaire Mohamed Bin Hammam, tried over alleged corruption in the awarding of the 2022 World Cup to Qatar. The beautiful gameโs legacy now includes a Paris courtroom. (Le Parisien)
- ๐ฉ๐ช Kinder Surprise. Berlin approves a โฌ10B tax cut package for low and middle-income families, promising more money for parents and a higher bill for top earners. (Boursier)
- ๐ณ๐ฑ Safe as Houses. The Dutch central bank relocated a chunk of its gold from New York to London, preferring UK vaults over a potentially grabby US government. (Financial Times)
- ๐ช๐บ Greenwashed. A new ICCT study finds plug-in hybrids emit up to 4.6 times more COโ than carmakers claim, exposing a widening gap between official and real-world emissions. (Die Zeit)
- ๐ช๐บ Power Play. Germany gets the EU’s green light for a โฌ35B subsidy package to build gas plants, with the cost landing on consumers’ bills starting in 2031. (Die Zeit)
- ๐ช๐บ Pressure Cooker. Ursula von der Leyen vows to ramp up sanctions on Russia following Germanyโs accusation that Moscow tried to bomb a key NATO-linked airport. The message: escalation meets escalation. (Boursier)
- ๐บ๐ฆ Current Affairs. Attacks on Black Sea ports and shipping threaten to choke Ukraineโs grain exports, raising fears of a new global food crisis just as farmers fill their barns. (New York Times)
- ๐ง๐ท Slow Samba. Brazil’s GDP growth slipped to 0.5% last quarter, missing government targets and fueling economic anxiety ahead of Lula’s re-election bid. (Les Echos)
- ๐ฏ๐ต Yen and Now. The yen jumps sharply as traders brace for more possible intervention by Japanese authorities, who seem determined to keep markets guessing. (Bloomberg)
๐ฌ๐ง United Kingdom
- ๐ฌ๐ง Gilt Trip. UK government borrowing costs have hit their highest level since 1998 as investors demand higher yields to offset inflation fears, leaving the new chancellor with fewer options and taxpayers with a bigger bill. (BBC)
๐บ๐ธ United States
- ๐บ๐ธ Barrel Roll. crude oil inventories fell by 4.5M barrels last week, far exceeding analyst expectations and reflecting refineries running at near full tilt. (Wall Street Journal)
๐ข Real Estate
- ๐บ๐ธ Freeze Frame. A New York judge grilled landlords’ lawyers as they tried to overturn the city’s rent freeze, questioning claims of a rigged process under Mayor Mamdani. (Wall Street Journal)
- ๐บ๐ธ Spare Change. President Trumpโs team is rolling $250K into a bowling alley renovation, because nothing says executive priorities like new lighting for the lanes. (New York Times)
๐บ๐ธ United States
- ๐บ๐ธ Risky Business. With fixed mortgage rates climbing, borrowers are flocking to adjustable-rate mortgages again, hoping short-term savings will outpace long-term surprises. (CNBC)
- ๐บ๐ธ Prime Suspects. Luxury home sales in the Seattle area have stalled as job cuts at major tech firms like Amazon and Microsoft send high-end buyers into hiding. (Bloomberg)
๐ On-chain
- ๐บ๐ธ Buy Back to the Future. Crypto firms have spent $640M on token buybacks in 2026, with Hyperliquid and pump.fun ๐บ๐ธ leading the charge to boost token value. (Cointribune)
๐ฑ Listed Markets
- ๐ซ๐ท Drive and Prejudice. France reverses course after a chat with Elon Musk, allowing Tesla to begin supervised autonomous driving tests on public roads for the first time. (Le Figaro)
- ๐ซ๐ท Empire State of Mind. Patrick Drahi sells his SFR stake for up to โฌ21B and exits German fiber firm OXG, dismantling his once-sprawling telecom empire piece by piece. (Le Monde)
- ๐ธ๐ช Drive to Survive. Volvo Car ๐ธ๐ช saw global sales drop 7.4% to 148,239 vehicles as demand in China and the US sputtered, leaving the automaker stuck in traffic. (Wall Street Journal)
- ๐บ๐ธ Ad Immunity. Google sidesteps a forced sale of its ad exchange and touts new AI launches, trying to shake off a summer of Wall Street losses. (CNBC)
- ๐บ๐ธ Stranglehold. With Oracleโs AI ambitions under the microscope and options pricing in a 10% swing, traders brace for anything but a tranquil earnings call. (CNBC)
- ๐บ๐ธ Snow Day. Shares of Snowflake ๐บ๐ธ jumped 22% after the company beat forecasts and credited its AI tool CoCo for accelerating growth. (CNBC)
- ๐บ๐ธ Chip Happens. Broadcom ๐บ๐ธ more than tripled its Q3 profit as custom AI chip demand from clients like OpenAI and Google keeps the cash flowing. (Wall Street Journal)
- ๐บ๐ธ Shuffle Play. Vanguard ๐บ๐ธ and BlackRock ๐บ๐ธ are restructuring $40B in ETFs, allowing foreign investors to bypass taxes with a few paperwork moves. (Bloomberg)
๐๏ธ Big Deals (M&A)
- Wren House ๐ฌ๐ง nears deal to acquire GIC ๐ธ๐ฌ’s data center stake.
- Frasers Group ๐ฌ๐ง raises its stake in Hugo Boss ๐ฉ๐ช, the $3B-listed brand, from 48% to above 50% after a recent cash bid fell short of control.
- HSBC ๐ฌ๐ง joins a race with other bidders to acquire 54% of Nuvama Wealth and Investment ๐ฎ๐ณ from PAG, valuing it at $1.8B.
- Epiris ๐ฌ๐ง acquires Gamma Communications ๐ฌ๐ง for $1.4B after a months-long takeover saga.
- Shell ๐ฌ๐ง acquires Tri Star Energy ๐บ๐ธ from majority owners The Parman Corporation ๐บ๐ธ and Kimbro Oil Company ๐บ๐ธ, taking full ownership of the Tennessee-based convenience store operator.
- Drone Volt ๐ซ๐ท invests in Sol.One ๐ง๐ช as part of a broader deal, providing fresh capital to the Bruges drone company with IPO plans.
- SocGen ๐ซ๐ท to acquire a 50% stake in OXG ๐ฉ๐ช from Altice ๐ณ๐ฑ, the German fiber JV with Vodafone.
- Lufthansa ๐ฉ๐ช bids for TAP Air Portugal ๐ต๐น in the ongoing sale process.
- E.ON ๐ฉ๐ช plans to acquire Ovo Energy ๐ฌ๐ง. The planned acquisition faces an antitrust probe.
- Lottomatica ๐ฎ๐น acquires Cirsa ๐ช๐ธ via cross-border absorption merger to form the worldโs second-largest gambling group, share-swap 0.668.
- Oku ๐ง๐ช acquires an exclusive safarilodge ๐ฟ๐ฆ, the luxury hotel chain partly owned by Marc Coucke confirms.
- Viatel Technology Group ๐ฎ๐ช acquires EDNX ๐ฌ๐ง, an enterprise networking and digital infrastructure specialist headquartered in Shropshire, covering networking, secure IoT, WiโFi, SDโWAN and campus networks.
- Medtronic ๐ฎ๐ช invests $700M in Cornerstone Robotics ๐ญ๐ฐ, a surgical robotics company.
- Pistachio ๐ณ๐ด acquires Hugin.io ๐ณ๐ด in an IP acquisition. Cyber-risk management and regulatory compliance platform.
- DNO ๐ณ๐ด acquires Capricorn Energy ๐ฌ๐ง for $395M after outbidding rival Genel Energy.
- SOCAR ๐ฆ๐ฟ acquires stakes in Comstock Resources ๐บ๐ธ’ Haynesville shale assets and related midstream business for $1.65B cash.
- Proofpoint ๐บ๐ธ acquires Varonis Systems ๐บ๐ธ in advanced talks. Cybersecurity firm with market value around $5.4B.
- Palo Alto Networks ๐บ๐ธ acquires Console ๐บ๐ธ for $500M, Thrive-backed AI-agent startup that automates IT help desk tasks and will be integrated into its Cortex platform.
- Adobe ๐บ๐ธ acquires Rilo ๐ฎ๐ณ in a licensing and team-acquisition deal. Six-member team and some IP to be integrated, Rilo to shut down, Rilo had raised $1M at a $10M valuation.
- ACI Worldwide ๐บ๐ธ acquires Cranium Ventures ๐ฌ๐ง, developer of cloud-native microservices card payment switching. Acquires technology, IP and commercial relationships, with coโfounders joining the company.
- Real Brokerage ๐บ๐ธ acquires REMAX Holdings ๐บ๐ธ in a $880M deal, creating Real REMAX Group combining both companies’ platforms.
- North American Blue Energy Partners ๐บ๐ธ acquires Venezuela oilfields ๐ป๐ช, previously controlled by Chinese ๐จ๐ณ and Russian ๐ท๐บ firms.
- Kroenke Sports & Entertainment ๐บ๐ธ acquires Los Angeles Angels ๐บ๐ธ at a $4B valuation.
- Veritas Capital ๐บ๐ธ will acquire Bodycote ๐ฌ๐ง for $2.2B, an industrial heat treatment specialist, after raising its bid above CVC’s.
- H.I.G. Capital ๐บ๐ธ explores a $1B sale of Rising Pharmaceuticals ๐บ๐ธ
- Chobani ๐บ๐ธ acquires a stake and a manufacturing facility from Keurig Dr Pepper ๐บ๐ธ for $925M
- The Scion Group ๐บ๐ธ and Ares ๐บ๐ธ acquire Schenk+ ๐บ๐ธ’s four student housing communities in the South for $435M.
- Salesforce ๐บ๐ธ leads a $166M round in HiBob ๐ฎ๐ฑ at an over $3.2B valuation.
- Felix Pago ๐บ๐ธ raises $200M Series B led by a16z ๐บ๐ธ, a stablecoin remittance company.
- Breakthrough Energy Ventures ๐บ๐ธ backs Physical Superintelligence ๐บ๐ธ with a $58M seed round for an AI-native physics lab and virtual physicist platform.
- SciFin ๐บ๐ธ raises a $44M seed round co-led by Altimeter ๐บ๐ธ and Madrona ๐บ๐ธ.
- Empirik.ai ๐บ๐ธ raises $21M seed from Sequoia ๐บ๐ธ, S32 ๐บ๐ธ, Canapi Ventures ๐บ๐ธ, and Alumni Ventures ๐บ๐ธ (autonomous infrastructure engineering startup).
- Stack Health ๐บ๐ธ raises $21M seed led by 8VC ๐บ๐ธ, alternative to group health insurance.
- Norbert Health ๐บ๐ธ raises $14M Series A led by William A. Marino ๐บ๐ธ with Cardinal Group ๐บ๐ธ.
- I can do that (quick clarification: what country is Frontier Computing based in (so I can add the correct flag)? I’ll assume General Catalyst is ๐บ๐ธ unless you want a different flag).
- Elliott Management ๐บ๐ธ acquires a sizeable stake in Deutsche Telekom ๐ฉ๐ช, opposing a proposed merger with T-Mobile US ๐บ๐ธ.
- TabaPay ๐บ๐ธ acquires Transact Bank ๐บ๐ธ after securing $155M in strategic growth financing led by FTV Capital.
- Yellow Wood Partners ๐บ๐ธ acquires Nestlรฉ ๐จ๐ญ’s North American vitamins and supplements division for $1B.
- Alimentation Couche-Tard ๐จ๐ฆ acquires Zabka Group SA ๐ต๐ฑ in an US$8.7B takeover, launching a voluntary tender offer at 32 zloty (~US$8.48/share) with owners of about 57% backing the deal.
- La Caisse ๐จ๐ฆ buys a $1.3B stake in an Indian telecom tower firm ๐ฎ๐ณ.
- La Caisse ๐จ๐ฆ acquires Altius Telecom Infrastructure Trust ๐ฎ๐ณ for $1.76B, a 24% stake in a portfolio of 258,000+ telecom towers. Brookfield remains the largest shareholder.
- Bombardier ๐จ๐ฆ acquires Mitsubishi Heavy Industries’ Canadian factory ๐ฏ๐ต.
- Flล Networks ๐ฒ๐ฝ is allowed to compete in bidding with a group led by co-chairman Tomรกs Milmo Santos for 100% of Axtel ๐ฒ๐ฝ, a $600M-listed telecoms provider.
- Binghatti ๐ฆ๐ช in talks with a major entity on partnerships worth billions after suspending IPO plans.
- Shoprite ๐ฟ๐ฆ acquires Vida e Caffรจ ๐ฟ๐ฆ, coffee chain, and a majority stake in R&A Cellular ๐ฟ๐ฆ, telecom vending machine firm.
- Which country is AIR based in (so I can add the correct flag)?
- I can do that (what country flags should I use for Aranya, Asylum Ventures and First Round Capital)?
๐บ๐ธ United States
- Barilla Group ๐ฎ๐น agrees to acquire Goodles ๐บ๐ธ, the nutrient-dense macaroni-and-cheese brand known for its colorful boxes and cheeky flavors. Valued at $88M after a 2023 funding round and turned first profit in 2024.
- Curaleaf ๐บ๐ธ offers $272M to acquire Aurora Cannabis ๐จ๐ฆ in an unsolicited hostile takeover bid. The target urges shareholders to reject and its board recommends no action.
- IBM Ventures ๐บ๐ธ invests in BQP ๐บ๐ธ. Strategic investment brings BQP’s total funding to $8M, physics acceleration company, with participation from Venn10 Capital and Monta Vista Capital.
- Stan Kroenke ๐บ๐ธ acquires Los Angeles Angels ๐บ๐ธ for $4B, includes Angels Broadcast Television regional sports network
๐งณ Private Markets & VC
- ๐ฌ๐ง Cabotage. Uber ๐บ๐ธ and Wayve introduce robotaxis to London, but full autonomy takes a back seat as drivers remain on standby. (Wall Street Journal)
- ๐บ๐ธ Copy That. The Justice Department sides with OpenAI ๐บ๐ธ, claiming it can use New York Times ๐บ๐ธ articles for AI training without paying royalties, all in the name of innovation. (Le Monde)
- ๐บ๐ธ Model Behavior. Anthropic unveils upgraded Claude Fable 5.1 for the public and Mythos 5.1 for trusted users, touting higher capability, tighter safeguards, and a privacy-first pitch. (Siliconrepublic)
- ๐จ๐ฆ AI on Trial. OpenAI is hit with additional lawsuits over the Tumbler Ridge massacre, as victims’ families allege the company aided the tragedy through negligence and inaction. (Wall Street Journal)
๐บ๐ธ United States
- ๐บ๐ธ Wonderful World. AI startup Wonderful raises $550M at a $5B valuation and plans to hire 1,000 people, because apparently growth is still a numbers game. (Wall Street Journal)
- ๐บ๐ธ Control Issues. KPMG warned Guggenheim Partners ๐บ๐ธ about serious weaknesses in its internal controls last year, months before a federal probe into its insurance arm became public. (Financial Times)
Fundraising
- AfterQuery ๐บ๐ธ (AI): $3.2B
- Mistral ๐ซ๐ท (AI): โฌ3bn (Samsung, Nvidia, ASML, European Unionโs Scaleup Fund)
- Medici Brands ๐บ๐ธ (Food): $250M (Greenoaks, Valor Equity Partners, Peter Rahal, ICONIQ, Imaginary Ventures)
- Instinct AI ๐บ๐ธ (AI): $250M (Index Ventures, Benchmark)
- Lyte ๐บ๐ธ (Physical AI): $165M (Maverick Silicon, Fidelity Management And Research Co., Atreides Management, Key1 Capital, Ora Global)
- HiddenLayer ๐บ๐ธ (Cybersecurity): $100M (Delta-v Capital, Ten Eleven Ventures, Morgan Stanley, M12, Microsoft’s Venture Fund, Booz Allen Ventures)
- Scan.com ๐บ๐ธ (Healthcare): $90M (Noteus Partners, Aviva, Concord Health Partners, YZR Capital, Oxford Capital)
- Odyssey Energy Solutions ๐บ๐ธ (Cleantech): $74M (Broadscale Group, FMO, Al Mada Ventures, Union Square Ventures, Equal Ventures, Abstract Ventures, Twelve Below, FJ Labs, MCJ, Transition Ventures, British International Investment, BIO, Facility for Energy Inclusion (Cygnum Capital), Energy Entrepreneurs Growth Fund (TripleJump))
- Elucid ๐บ๐ธ (Medtech): $55M (IAG Capital Partners, Elevage Medical Technologies)
- Capacity ๐บ๐ธ (Customer experience): $54M (Kathy Ireland)
- AIR ๐บ๐ธ (Cybersecurity): $50M (Sequoia Capital, Greenoaks, Swish Ventures, Netz Capital)
- HyImpulse Technologies ๐ฉ๐ช (Space): โฌ50M+ (JOIN Capital, Ace Capital Partners, North Ventures, BW-Capital, Bayern Kapital, German Aerospace Centre (DLR), Campus Founders Ventures)
- CreatorFi ๐บ๐ธ (Fintech): $45M (Escape Velocity (EV3), Uncorrelated Ventures, Protagonist, executives from State Street, JPMorgan Chase, Periscope, VerisFi Capital)
- SciFin ๐บ๐ธ (Revenue intelligence): $44M (Altimeter, Madrona, Foundation Capital, S32, Zetta Ventures, others)
- Aitan ๐ฎ๐ฑ (Defense): $41M (Deep33, Dell Technologies Capital, Gokul Rajaram, Benjamin Ling (Bling Capital), Kevin Weil (Scribble Ventures))
- Auxxo ๐ฉ๐ช (Venture capital): โฌ33.3M (European Investment Fund, Aurum Impact, EnBW New Ventures, Cherry Ventures, Speedinvest, family offices, angel investors, entrepreneurs)
- N-Power Medicine ๐บ๐ธ (Healthcare): $32M (Labcorp Venture Fund, Merck Global Health Innovation Fund, Innovatus Capital Partners, a leading U.S.-based biotech investor)
- NovaGo Therapeutics AG ๐จ๐ญ (Biotech): CHF 24M / $30M (Neurimmune, Pureos, Swiss Paraplegic Foundation, Wings for Life)
- empirik.ai ๐บ๐ธ (Infrastructure): $21M (Sequoia Capital, S32, Canapi Ventures, Alumni Ventures)
- Easy Aerial ๐บ๐ธ (Aerospace): $20M (Insight Partners, Entree Capital)
- INLEAP Photonics ๐ฉ๐ช (Defense): โฌ20M (UVC Partners, HTGF, Balnord, Sentris, Scale Capital)
- iPremom ๐ช๐ธ (MedTech): โฌ15M (Amadeus Capital Partners, Asabys Partners, APEX Ventures)
- Norbert Health ๐บ๐ธ (Healthcare): $14M (William A. Marino (Cardinal Group), Exor Seeds, CareIT, Alexis Le-Quoc, Olivier Pomel, Saeju Jeong, Thomas Clozel)
- Aranya ๐บ๐ธ (AI infrastructure): $11M (First Round Capital, Box Group, Vermilion Cliffs, Asylum Ventures, Founder Collective, Parable VC, Uncommon Ventures)
- UC San Diego ๐บ๐ธ (Biotech): $11M
- Critical Materials Group ๐บ๐ธ (Defense): $10.3M (Overmatch Ventures, Victory Six Advisors, Fulcrum Ventures)
- Visko ๐บ๐ธ (AI): $10M (Llama Ventures)
- Capital B ๐ซ๐ท (Crypto): โฌ7.6M (Adam Back)
- Molten Salt Solutions ๐บ๐ธ (Materials): $7M (Dolby Family Ventures, Vanedge Capital Partners, Alumni Ventures, Gaingels, True Ventures, Future Ventures)
- Konko AI ๐บ๐ธ (Healthcare): $6M (Hi Ventures, LifeX Ventures, SquareOne Capital, GroundUp Ventures, Phoenix Fund, angels from Harvard, MIT, Google, Tesla)
- Ki 13 ๐ฌ๐ง (Cleantech): $5M (HICO Investment Group, Burgest, Triple Impact Ventures, GiTV, Desai Ventures, Innovate UK)
- Pharosyn ๐ฌ๐ง (Pharma): $3M (Moonfire Ventures, Entrepreneurs First, Transpose Platform, General Advance)
- Setanta Space Systems ๐ฎ๐ช (Space): โฌ3M
- S-Transistors ๐ซ๐ฎ (Quantum computing): โฌ2.6M
- Fedorov’s defense tech startup ๐บ๐ฆ (Defense): undisclosed (Alex Karp)
Fund Watch
- Uplift Ventures ๐ฉ๐ช: โฌ100M (inaugural fund, deep-tech Series A lead, single-LP Jungheinrich)
๐IPO
- SB Energy ๐ฏ๐ต (Data centers): SoftBank-backed SB Energy has filed for an IPO.
- Jollibee ๐ต๐ญ (Fast-food): shifting its international-unit IPO from the US to Hong Kong.
- Victura Technologies ๐ฎ๐ณ (Auto parts): talks to raise $300M an India IPO.
๐งณ Debt
- Bureau Veritas ๐ซ๐ท: raised โฌ700M via bonds due September 2034 (coupon 4.125%).
- ID Finance ๐ช๐ธ: secured a โฌ21M debt facility from German asset manager nordIX.
- Nscale ๐บ๐ธ: raised a $3B DDTL led by JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs.
- ByteDance ๐จ๐ณ: secured a $30B loan to fuel its AI ambitions.
- Japan ๐ฏ๐ต: sold 30-year government bonds with yields above 4%.
- South Korea ๐ฐ๐ท: plans to sell a near-record $162B of bonds in 2027 to fund its fiscal agenda.
- India ๐ฎ๐ณ: raised $127B forex deposits from its diaspora.
- Saudi Arabia ๐ธ๐ฆ: sold $3.25B of dollar bonds.
๐บ๐ธ United States
- Citadel Credit Union ๐บ๐ธ: closed a $50M commercial real estate loan for 2000 Market Street.
โ Failures
- ArcelorMittal ๐ฑ๐บ: dropped its planned takeover of a JV with struggling Italian car-parts maker CLN-Coils Lamiere Nastri after Italy imposed restrictions, clearing the way for a domestic rival to take control.
- FDIC ๐บ๐ธ: a judge ruled it isn’t required to return $1.7B to creditors of failed Silicon Valley Bank.
- Uber ๐บ๐ธ: announced plans to cut 3,300 jobs worldwide, about 10% of its workforce.
๐ฏ For a Few More Minutesโฆ
- ๐ซ๐ท Shadow Script. Behind many bestsellers in France are anonymous ghostwriters whose work fills bookstores, while their identities remain strictly off the record. (Ouest-France)
- ๐บ๐ธ Vogue Regret. Anna Wintourโs push to celebrate John Galliano at the Met collapsed after protests over his antisemitic past forced the museum to scrap the show. (New York Times)
- ๐บ๐ธ Buzz Words. nonalcoholic beer brands are under scrutiny as โzeroโ on the bottle can still mean a trace of alcohol in the can. (Wall Street Journal)
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