🗑️ 404 and Out

When the page goes, nobody waves goodbye.

A Free Lunch newsletter archive of July 16, 2026

Also available:🇫🇷 Édition française

🌍 All editions
🇬🇧 United Kingdom
🇺🇸 United States

Good morning!

The web is rotting. Structurally, measurably, link by dead link. More than a third of pages that existed in 2013 have since vanished, leaving behind the digital equivalent of a condemned building: a URL that goes nowhere, a 404 staring back like a shrug from a server that has moved on. One long-running tally of the indexed web has slipped from 4.7B pages to 3.98B, then stopped counting altogether. The internet, it turns out, is not infinite. It is not even growing.

This would be troubling enough if deletion were accidental. Some of it isn’t. Last year a certain Department of Government Efficiency, staffed by engineers who appear to have confused federal infrastructure with a legacy codebase, took more than 8,000 pages offline across a dozen agencies. Climate change references evaporated from federal sites. Where a word proved too useful to delete outright, it was reworded instead: climate change became climate resilience, pregnant people became pregnant women. A few months later, large corporations followed suit, quietly scrubbing the same vocabulary from their own. Nobody announced these changes. Third parties noticed. The organisations themselves did not. History was being rewritten at scale, and the only reason anyone knew was that a handful of archivists happened to be watching.

The institutional response has been, charitably, a mess. In 2010 the Library of Congress decided Twitter was worth preserving in full and began saving every public tweet, framing the archive as a gift to future historians. By 2017 it quietly gave up, presumably having concluded that the most important legacy of the age was, in fact, not a reply guy’s hot takes on a decade-old election. The Wayback Machine has now preserved over 1T web pages and remains the closest thing to a public record, which is to say a non-profit running on goodwill, facing copyright takedowns and news sites that now block it on suspicion of feeding AI scrapers. Its archiving of news homepages fell off sharply in late 2025. The backup is backing up.

What’s left fills the gap. The Hairpin, a beloved culture blog, was bought after its 2018 closure by a Serbian entrepreneur who collects dead mastheads by the thousand and refills them with AI-generated filler. Its old bylines now sit above text written by no one, under invented male names, monetised by the click. A publication about culture, refashioned into a click-extraction engine, staffed by nobody, saying nothing. The archive is a slot machine. The history is gone. The house always collects.

🗑️ 404 and Out

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🗞️ Top Story

  • 🇮🇹 Right of Way. Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s coalition faces internal rifts as far-right partners grow restless, testing her grip on Italy’s government. (Bloomberg)
  • 🇪🇸 Wall and Order. Spain and Gibraltar celebrate the removal of their border fence after a historic post-Brexit deal ends land frontier checks for 15,000 daily crossers. (The Guardian)
  • 🇧🇬 Exit Strategy. Roumen Radev used Bastille Day in Paris to declare Bulgaria’s departure from the pro-Ukraine coalition, insisting diplomacy should replace continued military support. (Le Monde)
  • 🇺🇦 Cabinet Shock. Mykhailo Fedorov, Ukraine’s widely admired defense minister, steps down suddenly, igniting outrage and spontaneous demonstrations near the presidential palace. (Le Monde)
  • 🇺🇸 Face Value. The Treasury announces a $1 gold coin with Trump’s portrait, fusing his legacy with money despite laws meant to keep living presidents off currency. (New York Times)
  • 🇺🇸 Strike Cycle. The hit Iran with fresh attacks after Trump threatened harsher action, fueling warnings that the standoff could become a permanent fixture. (Cnbc)
  • 🇨🇦 Track and Field. In Ontario, a freight train crew abandoned their train after being surrounded by wildfires that have already scorched 50,000 hectares and forced village evacuations. (France Info)
🇬🇧 United Kingdom
  • 🇬🇧 Last Orders. Keir Starmer delivers his closing remarks at his final PMQs, offering tributes and a public endorsement for the next UK prime minister. (The Guardian)
🇺🇸 United States
  • 🇺🇸 Case Closed? JD Vance concedes the White House mishandled the Epstein file release, calling the communication a mess but denying any attempt to hide information. (Die Zeit)

🏛️ Economy

  • 🇬🇧 Steel Yourself. The UK government has nationalised British Steel, taking control from China’s Jingye Group to « protect UK steelmaking » and secure 2,700 jobs in Scunthorpe. (Bbc)
  • 🇬🇧 Fair Play. Andy Burnham, set to become UK prime minister, refuses to rule out a wealth tax and hints « difficult decisions » on revenue may be coming. (Bbc)
  • 🇪🇺 Drone Alone. The has reportedly allowed Ukraine to use €5.9B in aid to buy Chinese drone parts, outsourcing defense to its favorite strategic rival. (Spiegel)
  • 🇪🇺 Wait and See. ECB officials including Piero Cipollone and Martin Kocher signal no rate hike next week, citing a lack of wage-driven inflation so far. (Boursier)
  • 🇺🇸 Mine Over Matter. Donald Trump’s administration granted $1.6B to Kaz Resources for a Kazakh mining deal while his sons quietly took a 20% stake in a related firm, showing presidential priorities that shine brighter than tungsten.
  • 🇨🇦 Brazilian Back-Up. Canada accelerates Mercosur negotiations, chasing a major trade deal by 2026 as US tariffs make diversification urgent.
  • 🇧🇷 Betting Fever. The World Cup in Brazil is driving a surge in online sports betting, with addiction cases more than doubling as ads flood every screen. (Le Figaro)
  • 🇨🇳 Barrel Roll. China’s crude buying pause cushioned oil prices during supply shocks, but a return to the market could quickly flip that script. (Wall Street Journal)
  • 🇨🇳 Rare Stakes. The IEA warns that $6.5T in global clean energy projects could be jeopardized if China restricts exports of rare earth minerals, putting supply chains on edge. (Bloomberg)
  • 🇨🇳 Growth Pains. China’s GDP rose 4.3% in Q2, falling short of analyst expectations and government targets, with statisticians pointing to global headwinds for the weak result. (Die Zeit)
  • 🇰🇷 Won Direction. South Korea’s central bank lifted rates to 2.75% after a long pause, aiming to tame inflation and steady the volatile won. (Cnbc)
  • 🇦🇺 Current Affairs. Australia will require data centers to generate as much energy as they consume and protect creators’ rights as it unveils national A.I. guardrails. (New York Times)
  • 🌍 Crude Awakening. The IMF warns that the global economy now has less protection against oil supply shocks as US-Iran tensions threaten the Strait of Hormuz. (Wall Street Journal)
🇬🇧 United Kingdom
  • 🇬🇧 Fresh Prints. Wild, now owned by Unilever 🇬🇧, pays top UK influencers up to £1M per Instagram post to promote its deodorant, proving authenticity comes at a premium. (Bbc)
🇺🇸 United States
  • 🇺🇸 Second Helping. James Patten, already a convicted felon, now pleads for a prison-free sentence in the infamous $100M deli stock scheme, citing his co-defendant’s lighter punishment. (Cnbc)

🏢 Real Estate

  • 🇫🇷 Heat Estate. As heatwaves multiply, French homebuyers are searching for properties with pools in record numbers, with June pool queries up 22% on Bien’ici. (Les Echos)
  • 🇩🇪 Degree of Difficulty. German students living independently now spend on average 54% of their income on housing, making student life a test of financial survival. (Die Zeit)
  • 🇮🇹 Bridge Over Troubled Law. An Italian court will deliver its verdict Thursday in the trial of 57 people over the 2018 Morandi Bridge collapse that killed 43, with former Atlantia CEO Giovanni Castellucci among the accused. (Boursier)
  • 🇪🇸 Concrete Ending. After 23 years of legal battles, Spain will demolish the illegal Algarrobico hotel, erasing a notorious relic of its early 2000s construction boom. (Les Echos)
  • 🇨🇦 Panic Room Service. The Diefenbunker in Nova Scotia is being reborn as a 50-unit luxury condo complex, offering the ultra-rich a five-star apocalypse with spa, yoga, and drone surveillance. Apocalypse now comes with a minibar. (Bbc)
🇬🇧 United Kingdom
  • 🇬🇧 Home Run? Andy Burnham promises the biggest council house building drive since the postwar era, but with England falling far short of its 1.5M homes target, the real test is just beginning. (Bbc)
🇺🇸 United States
  • 🇺🇸 Storage Wars. U.S. warehouse developers are ramping up construction again with 305M square feet underway, signaling fresh optimism after a long slump. (Wall Street Journal)
  • 🇺🇸 Rate Race. mortgage rates jumped to 6.65%, the highest in nearly a year, prompting homebuyers to hit pause while applications dropped 7% in a week. (Cnbc)

💱 Listed Markets

  • 🇩🇪 Bank Job. Prosecutors raided a Deutsche Bank 🇩🇪 branch in central Frankfurt on Tuesday under a court order, but are keeping the investigation’s details under wraps for now. (Boursier)
  • 🇳🇱 AI of the Tiger. Riding the artificial intelligence boom, ASML boosts its 2024 outlook and plans to ramp up production of its most advanced chipmaking equipment by 30 percent. (Financial Times)
  • 🇪🇺 Tank You, Next. As Helsing secures a $1.7B funding round and drone stocks skyrocket, old-school defense companies watch their market dominance evaporate. (El Pais)
  • 🇨🇭 Diamonds Are Forever. Richemont beat consensus with $7.23B in quarterly sales, rewarding investors with a rally that proves luxury still sells itself.
  • 🇺🇸 Pink Slip Algorithm. Meta 🇺🇸 faces a lawsuit alleging it used internal AI tools to help pick 8,000 employees for layoffs, with parental and medical leave counting against workers in the process. (Le Parisien)
  • 🇺🇸 Teen Screen Test. A study says Google’s AI Overviews provide inadequate advice for adolescents on sensitive health topics, flagging missed emergencies in more than 250 out of 652 cases. (Le Monde)
  • 🇺🇸 Down to Earth. Elon Musk’s SpaceX stock has fallen to $132, dipping under its $135 IPO price and erasing the initial market euphoria. (Bbc)
  • 🇨🇳 Bot and Roll. Chinese EV maker XPeng 🇨🇳 plans to produce over 1,000 humanoid robots a month by year-end, eyeing a global launch in 2027. The assembly line just got a lot more literal. (Wall Street Journal)
  • 🇯🇵 Oracle of Tokyo. Japan is poised to pick Oracle for its most sensitive cloud services after US pressure, leaving AWS and Microsoft trailing in the security arms race. (Financial Times)
  • 🇰🇷 Silicon Valley. A sharp decline in chipmaker shares pulled the Kospi down, with oil prices following suit in a synchronized market stumble.
  • 🇹🇼 Chip Happens. TSMC posted a 77% year-on-year profit surge for Q2, smashing analyst estimates as AI-fueled demand keeps the cash flowing faster than ever. (Cnbc)
🇬🇧 United Kingdom
  • 🇬🇧 Liquid Assets. Thames Water handed out £4.1M in bonuses to senior managers while warning of « material uncertainty » over its own survival and rising £19.7B debt. (The Guardian)

🛎️ Big Deals (M&A)

  • Shell 🇬🇧 acquires ARC Resources 🇨🇦 for $22B including target debt. Shareholders approved the merger with 99.54% support and closing expected in H2 after remaining regulatory and judicial approvals.
  • Astra 🇬🇧 acquires Chinese firm’s lung cancer drug for $1.5B.
  • Airhive 🇬🇧 acquires Carbyon 🇳🇱, a rival carbon capture startup.
  • Second Best 🇬🇧 bids to acquire BrewDog 🇬🇧. Formal offer submitted to Tilray Brands 🇺🇸, joined by 43,000 equity punks (terms not disclosed).
  • Danone 🇫🇷 to acquire Huel 🇬🇧 for $1.2B. Faces a U.K. competition probe.
  • Ardian 🇫🇷 acquires Pflegia 🇩🇪, majority buyout of the Berlin HR / reverse-recruiting platform, mid-double-digit million net proceeds for seller.
  • Ardian 🇫🇷 acquires a majority stake in Munich Electrification 🇩🇪, a battery management systems group.
  • Bollore Group 🇫🇷 and Banijay 🇫🇷 are among bidders to acquire Lionsgate 🇺🇸, a $4B-listed film studio.
  • Kion 🇩🇪 acquires 70% of Colruyt Group 🇧🇪’s self-driving forklift R&D activities.
  • Pophouse Entertainment Group 🇸🇪 takes a 50-50 stake in the rights of Iron Maiden 🇬🇧.
  • Stripe 🇺🇸 and Advent International 🇺🇸 offer to acquire PayPal 🇺🇸 for $53B (proposing $60.50 a share, about a 30% premium).
  • Amazon 🇺🇸 could take >20% stake in Electrovaya 🇨🇦 (warrants to buy 13,880,345 shares over 10 years, vesting as Amazon purchases US$280M of products. Would equal 20.6% if exercised. Stock at US$11.60, up ~47%).
  • Perpetuals.com 🇺🇸 ends talks to acquire Alt5 Sigma Canada, Inc. 🇨🇦, terminating the earlier letter of intent after a non-binding term sheet.
  • Seidler Equity Partners 🇺🇸 is exploring the sale of its stake in Rawlings Sporting Goods 🇺🇸 at a $2B valuation, including debt.
  • KKR 🇺🇸 and Apax Partners 🇬🇧 make non-binding offers to acquire Logoplaste 🇵🇹 from OTPP 🇨🇦 for $2B.
  • Francisco Partners 🇺🇸 acquires Command Alkon 🇺🇸 from Thoma Bravo 🇺🇸 for $1.3B.
  • KKR 🇺🇸 acquires a 51% stake in Global Print 🇨🇦 for $500M, the legal and tax publishing business of Thomson Reuters.
  • Whatnot 🇺🇸 acquires Shaped 🇺🇸, a machine-learning company specializing in real-time recommendation and search systems.
  • NextEra Energy 🇺🇸 and Dominion Energy 🇺🇸 file to combine, seeking regulatory approval to form the nation’s largest electric utility with ~10M retail customers across four states. Proposes $2.25B in bill credits to customers in VA, NC and SC. Combined portfolio includes solar, battery storage, nuclear and natural gas.
  • Uber 🇺🇸 acquires Delivery Hero 🇩🇪 in a €12.5B deal, paying roughly €41 per share.
  • IMCO 🇨🇦 acquires a 25% stake in TIP Group 🇳🇱 from I Squared Capital 🇺🇸 at a $4.6B valuation, including debt.
  • Barito Renewables Energy 🇮🇩 offers to buy Energy Development Corp. 🇵🇭 for $5B equity value, geothermal sector.
  • Genesis Minerals 🇦🇺 merges with Vault Minerals 🇦🇺 to create the country’s third-largest gold producer worth $9B.
  • Emirates NBD 🇦🇪 and Fairfax Financial 🇨🇦 bid for IDBI Bank 🇮🇳’s 60% stake in the $10B-listed lender.
  • Harith 🇿🇦 gets antitrust approval to acquire FlySafair 🇿🇦.
🇺🇸 United States
  • Arsenal Média 🇨🇦 acquires BPM Sports 🇨🇦 for $1.8M, radio sports network (three stations: Montréal, Gatineau, Québec).

🧳 Private Markets & VC

  • 🇩🇪 Bubble Trouble. German defence tech start-up Helsing just raised $1.8B at an $18B valuation, sparking warnings of a sector-wide investment bubble as its revenue multiple dwarfs rivals. (Financial Times)
  • 🇪🇺 Blue Tick Box. The has accepted X‘s 🇺🇸 proposed fixes after slapping the platform with a €120M fine for DSA violations, but the appeal and investigations roll on. (Le Monde)
  • 🇺🇸 Claude Nine. Anthropic is lining up investor meetings for a potential IPO, aiming to beat OpenAI to Wall Street with a $965B valuation. (Cnbc)
  • 🇺🇸 Great Model Wall. Thinking Machines 🇺🇸 debuts its Inkling AI, blending Chinese tech from DeepSeek and Moonshot with ambitions, as the global AI race blurs national lines. (Financial Times)
  • 🇺🇸 Prom and Circumstance. While their classmates danced at prom, Neros’ founders built drones and now have a $500M Army contract to show for it. (Wall Street Journal)
  • 🇨🇳 Artificial Selection. DeepSeek’s Liang Wenfeng leapfrogs Dario Amodei and Greg Brockman after a $19B overnight boost, topping the AI billionaire leaderboard with $36B. (Thenextweb)
  • 🇯🇵 Safe Bets. Japan’s state-supported PE fund targets $1.9B for economic-security deals, where national safety and investor returns go hand in hand. (Bloomberg)
  • 🇸🇦 Crude Awakening. Saudi Aramco considers backing Humanoid, a UK robotics firm chasing $200M and unicorn status with its lineup of industrial and domestic robots. (Sifted)

Fundraising

  • Neko Health 🇸🇪 (Healthtech): $700M (Lightspeed Venture Partners, O.G. Venture Partners, Atomico, General Catalyst, Lakestar, Liberty City Ventures, Positive Sum, BDT & MSD Partners, Ari Emanuel, Claudia Schiffer, Sir Matthew Vaughn, Danny Meyer, Jimmy Iovine, Maria Sharapova, Mark Zuckerberg, Priscilla Chan, Thierry Henry, Tim Ferriss, will.i.am, Alexis Ohanian, Alex Tew, Michael Acton-Smith, Gary Vaynerchuk, Jessie Inchauspé, Katie Haun, Raj Shamani, Steven Bartlett, Zoë Saldaña, Marco Perego-Saldaña)
  • PixVerse 🇸🇬 (AI Video): $439M (CDH Investments, Alibaba, Lollapalooza Capital, Ivy Capital, Grand Mount Capital, Eastern Bell Capital, Mirae Asset, BlueFocus, CloudAlpha, iGlobe Partners, LionX Ventures)
  • Walden Robotics 🇺🇸 (Robotics): $300M (Toyota (Toyota Motor Corp, Toyota Invention Partners, Toyota Ventures), Deviation Capital, NVIDIA, Boeing, AE Ventures, Samsung Ventures, Prologis Ventures, CoreWeave Ventures, Calibrate Ventures, Colle Capital, Shine Capital, NextView Ventures, Squarepoint Capital, One Madison Group, KAS Venture Partners, Menlo Ventures)
  • Udaan 🇮🇳 (B2B e-commerce): $160M
  • Emergent 🇮🇳 (AI): $130M (Creaegis, MNI Ventures-Claypond, Sentinel Global, Khosla Ventures, SoftBank Vision Fund 2, Lightspeed, Y Combinator)
  • BRINC 🇺🇸 (Public safety): $125M (Motorola Solutions)
  • Lumin Digital 🇺🇸 (Fintech): $115M (Light Street Capital, clients)
  • TerraFirma 🇺🇸 (Construction): $115M (Kleiner Perkins, Bain Capital Ventures, Glade Brook Capital Partners, BANNER VC, Saga Ventures, Trust Ventures, Definition, PEAK6, Magnetar Capital, Ravelin Capital, angel investors from SpaceX, Anduril, Base Power, Shinkei, Hadrian)
  • Spectro Cloud 🇺🇸 (AI infrastructure): $100M (Growth Equity at Goldman Sachs Alternatives, AMD Ventures, Ericsson, LG Technology Ventures, Maximus)
  • Cover Genius 🇦🇺 (Insurtech): $100M (Vista Credit Partners)
  • Forge Nano 🇺🇸 (Semiconductors): $97M (Samsung SDI, Horizons Ventures, others)
  • Singularity (Defense): $80M (Khosla Ventures, Felicis)
  • Buenavista Equity Partners 🇪🇸 (Private equity): €75M (Fond-ICO Global)
  • Flex 🇺🇸 (Fintech): $70M (Halo)
  • State Affairs 🇺🇸 (Policy intelligence): $70M (Founders Fund, Khosla Ventures, and others)
  • Senra Systems 🇺🇸 (Aerospace): $65M (Lowercarbon Capital, Interlagos, General Catalyst, Sequoia Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, Founders Fund, Dylan Field, CIV, 8VC, The Friedkin Group, Jaws Estates Capital, Sozo Ventures, Alumni Ventures)
  • Norrsken Evolve 🇸🇪 (Climate tech): €62M (European Investment Fund, Saminvest, SmartCap Green Fund, Skaala)
  • Oak 🇮🇱 (Cybersecurity): $60M (Accel, Greylock Partners, CRV, Hetz Ventures, AlphaDrive Ventures)
  • InstaLILY (AI): $60M (Energize Capital)
  • Valarian 🇬🇧 (Infrastructure): $50M (New Enterprise Associates, Lightbank, XTX Markets, Sequel, LitVC, Gokul Rajaram, Nikesh Arora)
  • Stark Power 🇮🇱 (Energy): NIS 146M (~$48M) (Migdal Insurance, Mor Investment House, Harel Insurance, others)
  • TYLSemi 🇺🇸 (Semiconductors): $43M (Matter Venture Partners, Viola Ventures, GHOVC, Egis Technology)
  • ORANGE JUICE 🇺🇸 (Investment): $40M (Ricardo Salinas)
  • Velocity 🇺🇸 (Fintech): $38M (Dragonfly, FirstMark, Activant Capital, Capital One Ventures, QED Investors, Coinbase Ventures, Wintermute Ventures, Ripple)
  • Corner Health 🇺🇸 (Healthcare): $32.5M (Oak HC/FT, First Round Capital, Zigg Capital)
  • Monumental 🇳🇱 (Construction): $32M (Khosla Ventures, Plural, Hummingbird)
  • Feathery 🇺🇸 (Fintech): $30M (Portage Ventures, Index Ventures, Allstate Strategic Ventures, Clocktower Ventures, Erie Strategic Ventures, Bain Capital Ventures)
  • Syntetica 🇫🇷 (Recycling): $30M (Lululemon, MAS Holdings, Bpifrance – Ecotechnologies 2, European Innovation Council, EQT Ventures, SWEN Capital Partners, family offices)
  • Hadrius (Regtech): $27M (CRV)
  • TytoCare 🇮🇱 (Healthcare): $25M+ (Insight Partners, HOOP, OliveTree, OrbiMed, Qumra Capital, Qualcomm Ventures, West Fountain Global Fund, Echo Health Ventures, MTIP Health, Memorial Care)
  • ReElement Technologies 🇺🇸 (Materials): $25M (US government)
  • Rime 🇺🇸 (Voice AI): $24M (M13, Twilio Ventures, Corazon Capital, Unusual Ventures)
  • Augmodo 🇺🇸 (Wearables): $21M (TQ Ventures, Lerer Hippeau, Jefferson River Capital, Arena Holdings, Chemist Warehouse, New Fare, Interlace, Webb Investment Network)
  • Thira 🇺🇸 (AI): $21M (Madrona)
  • Cyclops 🇺🇸 (Fintech): $20M (Nava Ventures, Castle Island Ventures, Coinbase Ventures, Circle, Lasagna Ventures, Global PayTech Ventures)
  • Overtone 🇺🇸 (Dating): $18M (FirstMark Capital, Pace Capital, Match Group)
  • NeoCem 🇫🇷 (Construction): €17M (Crédit Mutuel Impact, investisseurs historiques, Innovation Fund de l’Union européenne)
  • InsideDesk 🇨🇦 (Healthtech): $12.6M (Pender Ventures, Round13 Capital, Graphite Ventures)
  • Kintai 🇪🇸 (Fintech): €10M (Barlon Capital, Prosegur, TQ Eurocredit, Institut Català de Finances)
  • Gridcog 🇬🇧 (Energy): $10M (ABB)
  • Speakeasy 🇺🇸 (Events): $8.8M (Positive Sum, Yamaha’s Music Innovations Fund)
  • Every Half Coffee Roasters 🇻🇳 (Coffee): $8M (Openspace Capital, DSG Consumer Partners)
  • Glacis Labs 🇺🇸 (Crypto): $6.8M (Lightspeed Faction, Franklin Templeton, Coinbase Ventures, Again, Protein Capital, Techni Ventures)
  • Promptwatch 🇳🇱 (AI Search): €6M (seed + speed Ventures, Blum Ventures, Arches Capital)
  • Ravee Optics 🇺🇸 (Optics): $6M (BIG Capital, JobsOhio Ventures, CincyTech)
  • Solges Energy 🇫🇷 (Solar): €5M (Caisses d’Épargne Rhône Alpes, Loire Drôme Ardèche)
  • Float 🇸🇪 (Fintech): €4.5M (CHAPTERS Group AG)
  • Prolo 🇬🇧 (Construction): £4.2M (Triple Point Ventures, a16z Scout Fund, Anamcara Capital, Concrete VC, Foundation Ventures, Haatch, Koro Capital, Love Ventures, Portfolio Ventures)
  • Proaction 🇺🇸 (Mobility): $4.2M (GTMfund, Breakers, Aviso Ventures, Iowa InnoVenture, Holman Growth Ventures, Iowa Economic Development Authority)
  • Guthrie AI 🇺🇸 (Construction): $4M (Chicago Ventures)
  • Visibuilt 🇩🇰 (Biotech): €3.34M (EIFO, Unconventional Ventures, Proptechfonden, EMDFonden)
  • Time is Brain 🇪🇸 (Healthcare): €3M
  • Saible 🇬🇧 (Construction fintech): £2.9M

Fund Watch

  • Greylock 🇺🇸: $1.5B (18th fund, early-stage first checks)
  • EQT 🇸🇪: $599M (€526M) (continuation VC to buy stakes from EQT Ventures I, led by HarbourVest)
  • Vita Inclinata Technologies 🇺🇸: $450M (merging with Tavia Acquisition Corp., SPAC — $450M pre-money EV)
  • Pictet Alternative Advisors 🇨🇭: $255M (1st global environmental PE co‑investment fund)
  • LionLight Capital 🇺🇸: $215M (inaugural fund, growth-focused private equity)
  • SuperCharger Ventures 🇲🇹: Fund I, edtech & future-of-work, pre-seed & seed, initial tickets up to €250K
  • Bestinver Gestion 🇪🇸: winding down LatAm equities fund

🔔IPO

  • Barratt Redrow 🇬🇧 (Homebuilding): launched a £386M ($516.9M) share buyback program after pretax profit rose.
  • Syngenta 🇨🇭 (Agriculture): said to face fresh delays to its $5B Hong Kong IPO.
  • Switch 🇺🇸 (Data centers): DigitalBridge-backed operator could raise $10B in a IPO at an $80B valuation.
  • Cadillac Mines 🇨🇦 (Gold): filed for a Canadian IPO.
  • YPF power unit 🇦🇷 (Energy): filed for a US IPO.
  • DeepSeek 🇨🇳 (AI): preparing to file for an IPO this year while fundraising at a $70B valuation.
  • CXMT 🇨🇳 (Memory): seeking to raise $9.8B in its China IPO.
  • Samsung 🇰🇷 (Conglomerate): reportedly exploring a US listing tied to its $1.3T Korea-listed valuation.
  • Indo-MIM 🇮🇳 (Precision engineering): seeking to raise $420M a downsized India IPO.

🧳 Debt

  • Advent & Stripe 🇺🇸: banks committed $50B to back a potential $53B LBO of PayPal.
  • Goldman Sachs 🇺🇸: sold $10B of investment-grade bonds.
  • GMI Cloud 🇺🇸: seeking a $635M GPU-backed bank loan.
  • Aditya Birla 🇮🇳: lined up $1.5B acquisition financing from Japan’s MUFG to fund its $1.8B purchase of Sprng Energy.

❌ Failures

  • Altice International 🇳🇱: creditors say it defaulted on more than €2bn of debt after a drop-down removed key assets from their security.
  • International Card Services (ICS) 🇳🇱: will impact about 450 of its ~850 employees as core operations are outsourced to Worldline from Q2 2028.
  • Glencore 🇨🇭: a Dutch court rejected its attempt to buy back logistics unit Access World Group via a private transfer after opponents raised valuation concerns.
  • Lucid 🇺🇸: the EV maker is reportedly weighing going private or filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
  • Oncoclinicas 🇧🇷: preparing to file for an out-of-court debt restructuring.

🎯 For a Few More Minutes…

  • 🇫🇷 Wipe Out. Ice cream fans in France face a seasonal riddle: why do parlors supply napkins that wipe nothing except hope from sticky fingers? (Le Temps)
  • 🇯🇵 Bearbnb. A family in Iwate called police after finding a bear helping itself to their fridge and trash, as bear intrusions surge across Japan. (Le Figaro)
  • 🇻🇳 Rock Bottom. Authorities in Vietnam have raided over 20 locations and arrested 30 people tied to Phu Nhuan Jewelry 🇻🇳 after uncovering a $10M diamond trafficking network. (Le Figaro)

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