🥚 Cracking for Nasdaq
Shiny shells, scrambled hopes.
Good morning!
Nine European startups have decided, in the year of grace 2026, that the fastest way onto an American stock exchange is to reverse into a shell company holding nothing but cash and a two-year fuse. The SPAC ended its previous outing with a corpse count worth cataloguing: one forensic tally puts cumulative investor losses at $46B across 67 bankrupt de-SPACs, the average survivor trading down 55% from its sacred $10 launch price. Nikola, Lordstown, Virgin Orbit, 23andMe: a graveyard of press releases that promised to reinvent transport, genomics and gravity and delivered chapter 11 instead. European founders have surveyed this charnel house and concluded that the problem last time was simply that it wasn't them.
To be fair, the machinery has been tightened. The 2024 SEC rules force sponsors to disclose how much of the pie they pocket, which turns out to be the same 20% of post-merger equity for a nominal $25K stake that made the thing so morally bracing in the first place. Revenue thresholds now discourage the purely hallucinatory listing, and the market has thinned to 138 vehicles raising $25.8B in 2025, a tenth of the 2021 delirium. The lawyers call this SPAC 4.0, as though naming a thing after a software patch confers maturity. The number that survives the housekeeping is the redemption rate, which sails past 95%: the investors underwriting these listings mostly intend to grab their $10 back and leave before the music stops.
Why the continent's finest suddenly crave a Nasdaq ticker via the back door is less a mystery than a confession. European exchanges have watched their best names drift west for a decade, and the local IPO window has the reliability of a Swiss train timetable enforced by Italian dispatchers. A negotiated merger offers a valuation agreed in a room rather than discovered in a market, precisely the appeal to a founder whose last round priced them somewhere north of sanity. Private equity, sitting on portfolio companies well past their exit-by date and leaning on impatient limited partners, has spotted the same door. The blank cheque, once the retail investor's guillotine, is being repurposed as the institutional fire exit.
Nobody involved is pretending the target will thrive as a public company. The sponsors get paid for closing, not for performing. The arbitrageurs get their capital back at the vote. The banks, who earned $8B in fees last cycle regardless of which SPACs cratered, are already circling. Everyone in the structure has been insulated from the one outcome that matters, whether the business works five years hence. The only party left holding the risk is whoever forgets to redeem, the believer who read the deck and took the projections seriously. Every functioning con needs a mark, and the genius of the SPAC is that it dresses him up as a shareholder.
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🗞️ Top Story
- 🇬🇧 Br-Exit Strategy. Andy Burnham says he would like the UK to rejoin the EU someday, but insists the public. Not politicians. Will decide if that happens. (The Guardian)
- 🇫🇷 Class Action. France's government offers major concessions to student protesters, including scrapping Parcoursup and adding 15,000 university spots, but demonstrations are set to continue. (El Pais)
- 🇸🇪 Majority Report. Elisabeth Thand Ringqvist of the Centre Party failed to form a government in Sweden, handing the task back to Parliament's president as coalition talks stall. (Boursier)
- 🇷🇴 Spy Hard. Romania’s intelligence service accuses Russia of orchestrating a sabotage network that triggered a fire near a Brasov arms factory, calling it part of a wider Kremlin campaign to disrupt European defense. (Le Figaro)
- 🇳🇴 Peace Out. After losing the Nobel Peace Prize, Donald Trump insulted Norway at a rally and called for fewer Norwegian immigrants to the US. (New York Times)
- 🇺🇸 Bounty Hunter. Donald Trump offers $1M for tips leading to arrests for election fraud in the midterms, still chasing proof for claims he cannot deliver. (Spiegel)
- 🇺🇸 Case Closed? House Democrats call for a special prosecutor to investigate Donald Trump's ties to Jeffrey Epstein, but the White House insists Trump is fully cleared of any wrongdoing. (Die Zeit)
- 🇺🇸 Primary Ambition. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is crisscrossing the to boost progressive candidates in the midterms, with her own 2028 presidential run hanging in the balance. (El Pais)
- 🇺🇸 Comey and Go. James Comey, ex-head of the FBI and frequent Trump critic, faces new charges for allegedly ordering leaks of national defense secrets to the press. (Le Figaro)
- 🇧🇷 Winner Takes Recall. Lula secures a historic fourth presidential term, yet Bolsonaro wants the runoff invalidated, proving some losses are harder to accept than others. (Bloomberg)
- 🇨🇳 Red Run. With a nod to Mao's epic trek, Xi Jinping tells party brass to pack their bags and follow his lead toward a fourth mandate. (Le Figaro)
- 🇮🇱 Due Processed. A UN commission accuses Israel of crimes against humanity in the occupied West Bank, including extermination and torture, charges Israel instantly rejects as a political hit job. (France Info)
🇬🇧 United Kingdom
- 🇬🇧 Current Affairs. Nearly 90,000 homes in northern Britain remain without power after Storms Boelo and Austen battered the region, with more high winds on the way and travel still disrupted. (The Guardian)
🇺🇸 United States
- 🇺🇸 Jet Set, Go. Ken Paxton’s travel record. 350 trips on the public dime, 25 abroad. Lands him in the spotlight as rivals question his taste for luxury over duty. (New York Times)
🏛️ Economy
- 🇬🇧 Back to the Future. Andy Burnham signals a willingness to revisit free movement with the EU, raising the prospect of undoing a core Brexit pillar in plain sight. (BBC)
- 🇪🇺 Raw Deal. The is considering creating a €2B agency to buy into mineral companies, hoping to shield itself from supply shocks and dependence on China, just as the US did under Trump. (Financial Times)
- 🇪🇺 Gas Lighting. European gas prices hit a four-year high at €97 per megawatt-hour as traders brace for winter shortages and Middle East conflict fallout. (The Guardian)
- 🇺🇸 Cash on Lock. Maurice Obstfeld, ex-IMF chief economist, suggests Trump's escalating trade wars might revive capital controls, reshaping the free flow of money worldwide. (Les Echos)
- 🇺🇸 Tax and Fracture. California’s proposed one-time billionaire tax to fund Medicaid has Democrats feuding, as unlikely alliances form to kill or save the idea. (Wall Street Journal)
- 🇯🇵 Six Appeal. UA Zensen, one of Japan's largest labor unions, wants a 6% pay raise for 2027, signaling that the wage push is far from over. (Bloomberg)
🇬🇧 United Kingdom
- 🇬🇧 Spread Thin. John Healey’s Budget suspends import taxes on everyday items such as marmalade and gherkins, offering households up to £21 in annual relief and a side of political sniping. (BBC)
- 🇬🇧 Pension Tension. Chancellor John Healey will introduce a new tax allowance in the Budget to ensure low-income pensioners are not hit with income tax as the state pension rises above the personal allowance. The move promises relief from paperwork and surprise tax bills, though the Treasury is still vague on the details. (BBC)
- 🇬🇧 Remote Control. Labour backbenchers urge Burnham to run Britain's industrial revival from Manchester, claiming the civil service lacks the skills to deliver from London. (The Guardian)
🏢 Real Estate
- 🇬🇧 Walk This Way. The city of London is turning part of Oxford Street into a pedestrian zone, hoping footfall will do what traffic could not: bring shoppers back. (Boursier)
- 🇩🇪 Less Is More. Justice Minister Stefanie Hubig pushes a flexible building law to reduce red tape and costs, betting that fewer luxury requirements will finally boost affordable housing. (Die Zeit)
- 🇺🇸 Tree Moratorium. A federal judge has halted Donald Trump's East Potomac golf course renovation in Washington after hundreds of trees were cut, freezing all further clearing until further notice. (Le Temps)
🔗 On-chain
- 🇸🇪 Crown Control. The Riksbank signals it may be time for a digital krona, fearing the Swedish currency could lose its grip as stablecoins and the digital euro approach. (FinExtra)
💱 Listed Markets
- 🇬🇧 Interest Gained. HSBC reported $9.6B in pre-tax profit for Q3, up 32%, as cost cutting and rising rates fattened margins, though investors seemed unimpressed. (Financial Times)
- 🇩🇰 Trial by Fire. Genmab 🇩🇰 shares jumped after its experimental ovarian cancer drug Rina-S slashed the risk of disease progression or death by 71% in a late-stage trial, sending analysts scrambling to update their forecasts. (Bloomberg)
- 🇺🇸 Fold in One. Apple’s $2,668 iPhone Duo faces screen issues just days after release, prompting the company to offer replacements for affected devices. (BBC)
- 🇺🇸 Cloud Nine to Five. Amazon CEO Andy Jassy says AWS has already sold most of its cloud capacity through 2027, as AI demand turns future infrastructure into a pre-booked commodity. (Webrazzi)
- 🌎 Gilt Trip. Gold prices rebound above $4,000 after last week's AI-fueled selloff, as traders bet the Fed will keep rates steady for now. (Bloomberg)
- 🇰🇷 Home Turf War. Chinese automaker BYD is launching a major push into South Korea, taking on Hyundai and Kia with aggressively priced EVs and hybrids. (Bloomberg)
🇬🇧 United Kingdom
- 🇬🇧 Safe as Stocks. Despite years of neglect and shrinking market share, UK equities are now seen as a defensive play for investors wary of global volatility. (Financial Times)
🇺🇸 United States
- 🇺🇸 Prime Connection. Verizon 🇺🇸 raises its full-year forecast and lands a $2B-plus deal with Amazon Web Services 🇺🇸 to power AI infrastructure, dialing up optimism for both giants. (Wall Street Journal)
- 🇨🇦 Circle of Life. Couche-Tard 🇨🇦 wants to buy Cumberland Farms 🇺🇸 for as much as $8B, proving the convenience store empire never stops expanding. (Bloomberg)
🛎️ Big Deals (M&A)
- Smith & Nephew 🇬🇧's talks to merge with Johnson & Johnson 🇺🇸's orthopedics unit collapsed over control disagreements at a $22B valuation.
- Dalmore Capital 🇬🇧, Apax Partners 🇬🇧 and Nordic Capital 🇸🇪 are interested in acquiring UK commercial equipment supplier JLA Group 🇬🇧 from Cinven 🇬🇧 for potentially more than $1.3B.
- Moneyfarm 🇬🇧 rejected a ~$300M takeover approach from eToro 🇮🇱.
- The UK 🇬🇧 and Canada 🇨🇦 have abandoned talks to merge their defense financing banks.
- Frasers Group 🇬🇧 has increased its stake in Hugo Boss 🇩🇪 to 50.08% for $8.5M, making the German apparel company a subsidiary.
- BlueSpring 🇫🇷 takes a 5% stake in N4 Group 🇫🇷 for more than €13M at the French sports equipment and sports nutrition company’s IPO. Bpifrance 🇫🇷 joins its board.
- BASF 🇩🇪 boosted its cash takeover offer for Evonik Industries 🇩🇪 to $12.3B.
- Barilla 🇮🇹 acquires healthy macaroni and cheese maker Goodles 🇺🇸 for $750M in cash.
- Forestalia Renovables 🇪🇸 is considering a sale of its power assets for up to $337M.
- Destinus 🇳🇱 has acquired radar AI company Perciv AI 🇳🇱. The founding team will continue working within Destinus in Delft.
- Belgium 🇧🇪 is considering selling all or part of its 5.7% stake in BNP Paribas 🇫🇷.
- EOS Capital Partners 🇬🇷 has acquired a 70% stake in UTC International Transport 🇬🇷, an air freight forwarding company specializing in refrigerated and perishable goods.
- Spire Capital Partners 🇵🇱 has completed a significant minority investment in GoPOS 🇵🇱, a HoReCa technology company.
- Evertrace 🇩🇰 acquires Veck 🇫🇮 in its fourth acquisition, adding Veck’s startup discovery technology.
- Eurofins Scientific 🇱🇺 is weighing a sale of materials testing firm EAG Laboratories 🇺🇸, valued at $16B.
- CVC 🇱🇺 and GBL 🇧🇪 secure a 74.3% stake in Recordati 🇮🇹 at a $12.3B valuation, below the 90% threshold required for delisting.
- Roche 🇨🇭 acquires rights from Zymeworks 🇨🇦 to develop and commercialize an experimental lung cancer drug for $813M.
- Veritas Capital 🇺🇸 explores a $10B sale of aerospace aftermarket company Chromalloy 🇺🇸.
- Bon Secours Mercy Health 🇺🇸 is nearing a takeover of surgical care provider Surgery Partners 🇺🇸 at a $6B valuation including debt.
- Tesla 🇺🇸 and Nvidia 🇺🇸 will invest $2.8B in Samsung Electro-Mechanics 🇰🇷 to fund advanced chip substrate facilities.
- Pitchwise Holdings 🇺🇸 will acquire a 42% stake in Spanish soccer club Valencia 🇪🇸 from Meriton Holdings 🇸🇬 at a $1.4B valuation.
- Gilead Sciences 🇺🇸 will acquire PepStar Therapeutics 🇺🇸' oral inflammation drug program for $1.275B in cash.
- Goldman Sachs Alternatives 🇺🇸 will acquire a majority stake in Celnor Group 🇬🇧 from Inflexion 🇬🇧 for $1.12B.
- Guggenheim Partners 🇺🇸 is looking to sell WNBA team Los Angeles Sparks 🇺🇸 for $700M.
- DoorDash 🇺🇸 is in advanced talks to acquire Maplebear 🇺🇸, the parent of Instacart, for roughly $17B.
- DoorDash 🇺🇸 is in advanced talks to acquire Instacart 🇺🇸 for around $17B.
- Founders of Ben & Jerry’s 🇺🇸 are exploring a deal with a KKR 🇺🇸 executive to separate the brand from Magnum Ice Cream 🇳🇱. Magnum Ice Cream 🇳🇱 is resisting the proposal.
- Apollo Global Management 🇺🇸 is buying a minority stake of nearly 10% in Mubadala Capital 🇦🇪 and committing capital across its investment strategies.
- Meta Platforms 🇺🇸 has acquired AI data analytics startup Sundial 🇺🇸, integrating its technology and team into Meta’s DATA unit.
- Anthropic 🇺🇸 and Hg 🇬🇧 will establish a European AI consulting company, with offices in London and Berlin, planned for launch by the end of 2026.
- EQT Corporation 🇺🇸 has agreed to acquire Range Resources Corporation 🇺🇸 in an all-stock deal valuing the combined company at more than $50B.
- AVID Property Group 🇦🇺 has joined the bidding war to acquire Ingenia Communities 🇦🇺 with a $1.6B bid.
🇺🇸 United States
- AIM Processing 🇺🇸 has acquired plastic injection molder Retlaw Industries 🇺🇸.
- Kos Biotechnology Partners 🇺🇸🇬🇷 makes a strategic investment in Golden Age Health 🇸🇬, a rare-disease pharmaceutical platform.
🧳 Private Markets & VC
- 🇪🇺 Safety Net. Following a €200M penalty for unsafe goods, Temu 🇨🇳 promises the it will overhaul risk checks and product moderation within four months. (Boursier)
- 🇺🇸 Golden State of Mind. California startups have already raised $385B in 2026, outpacing any previous full-year total and doubling last year’s haul. (Crunchbase)
- 🇺🇸 Paper Planes. Flapping Airplanes, an AI firm with no product on the market, soars to a $5.6B valuation after a $1B funding round led by top VCs. (Startupper)
🇬🇧 United Kingdom
- 🇬🇧 Loan Ranger. Revolut 🇬🇧 has launched personal loans in the UK, offering up to £25,000 at rates from 6.9% to 29.3%. High street banks just got a new challenger. (FinExtra)
- 🇬🇧 Licence to Drill. The Bank of England orders a deep review of Revolut’s 🇬🇧 product approval process, just as the fintech celebrates its long-awaited UK banking licence. (Financial Times)
- 🇩🇪 Return Policy. DWS is restricting withdrawals from its “Grundbesitz Europa” fund to 10%, leaving investors waiting as property prices and confidence both slide. (Financial Times)
Fundraising
- Bedrock Robotics 🇺🇸 (Robotics): $600M (CapitalG, Emergence Capital)
- Warp 🇺🇸 (Healthcare): $215M (Lightspeed, IVP, Mayfield, Lux Capital, Premji Invest, Menlo Ventures)
- Elementl Power 🇺🇸 (Nuclear energy): $200M (DS Investment Partners, Samsung C&T Corp.)
- Star Therapeutics 🇺🇸 (Biotechnology): $200M (OrbiMed, Janus Henderson Investors, Agent Capital, Catalio Capital Management, Cormorant Asset Management, New Leaf Venture Partners, NYBC Ventures, RA Capital Management, Redmile, Sofinnova Investments, Soleus Capital, a leading sovereign wealth fund)
- Nevis 🇬🇧 (WealthTech): €62M (EQT Ventures)
- Pearl 🇮🇱 (Crypto): $55M (Lightspeed, Ribbit Capital, Square Peg)
- Formic 🇺🇸 (AI): $50M (Mercato Partners)
- Coherence Neuro 🇺🇸 (Healthcare): $45M (Founders Fund, OpenAI Startup Fund, Lux Capital, 8VC, Timeless, Olive Capital, Ahren, Blackbird, Possible Ventures, Topology Ventures, Artesian, XEIA Venture Partners, Xtal, Divergent)
- Cognitive Credit 🇬🇧 (Fintech): $40M (Summit Partners)
- adsilico 🇬🇧 (Healthcare): £10M (PXN Ventures, Northern Gritstone, Parkwalk)
- Newpress 🇺🇸 (Media): $12M (Emerson Collective, Glick Family Investments)
- Omnichat 🇭🇰 (AI): US$10M (Openspace Capital, Darwin Ventures, Acorn Pacific Ventures)
- Matiks 🇮🇳 (Gaming): $10M (General Catalyst, Ronnie Screwvala, Info Edge Ventures, Tanglin Venture Partners, Untitled Ventures)
- Ailytics 🇸🇬 (AI): $7.4M (Tin Men Capital, SEEDS, Safie)
- Sonexos 🇨🇭 (DeepTech): €5.4M (Valquest Partners, Robert Bosch Venture Capital GmbH, industry angels and private investors)
- BOB (Fintech): $5.5M (Mischief)
- DropGenie 🇨🇦 (Biotech): $5M (BDC Thrive Venture Fund, Skeleton Key, Merck Global Health Innovation Fund, CQDM, Real Ventures, Anges Quebec)
- Nagare Labs 🇺🇸 (AI): $5M (Playground Global)
- Colare 🇺🇸 (HR tech): $2.5M (Afore Capital, Garage Capital, Acadian Ventures)
- Arke Telekom 🇹🇷 (Defense): €1M (ACT Venture Partners)
- Rayscape 🇷🇴 (Healthcare): €263,568
Fund Watch
- Canada 🇨🇦: $1.75B (startup investment program to retain companies domestically)
- Blackbird 🇦🇺: $750M (6th VC fund, largest ever in Australia)
- Seaya 🇪🇸: €600M (Seaya Nova growth fund, first close)
- RCG Ventures 🇺🇸: $515M (Fund VIII, multi-tenant retail real estate fund, closed above target)
- Masia 🇪🇸: €18M (debut venture fund, closed)
- Revolut Ventures 🇬🇧: launching in 2027 (private technology investment fund, managed with Carne Group)
🔔IPO
- HSBC 🇬🇧 (Banking): announced a share buyback of up to $1 billion.
- Prisjakt 🇸🇪 (E-commerce): began trading on the Stockholm Stock Exchange after an oversubscribed IPO.
- Windward Bio 🇨🇭 (Biotech): filed for a US IPO.
- Ardshinbank 🇦🇲 (Banking): considering a London IPO.
- Lycia Therapeutics 🇺🇸 (Biotech): raised $317.5M in an upsized IPO at a $1.65B valuation.
- Meta 🇺🇸 (Technology): announces a $95B stock offering to fund AI expansion.
- Anthropic 🇺🇸 (AI): filed its prospectus for a IPO targeting a valuation of $1.5tn-$1.75tn.
- Dongshan Precision Manufacturing 🇨🇳 (Electronics): raised $1.3B in its Hong Kong IPO.
- OYO 🇮🇳 (Travel): may pursue an Indian IPO at a lower $2.6B pre-money valuation.
- Zetwerk 🇮🇳 (Manufacturing): raised $530M at a $2.4B valuation its Indian IPO.
- Jio 🇮🇳 (Telecoms): raised $3.1B India’s largest-ever IPO.
- DIP Holding 🇦🇪 (Real Estate): targeting up to $543M in its UAE IPO, valuing the company at up to $2.7B.
🧳 Debt
- SpaceX 🇺🇸: secured $40B in debt financing to buy Nvidia AI chips.
- IQSTEL 🇺🇸: raised up to $3M in two-year senior secured notes.
- Braskem 🇧🇷: moving closer to a deal to restructure $11B of debt.
- Indonesia 🇮🇩: seeking to raise $1.5B in a panda bond sale.
- Saudi Aramco 🇸🇦: nearing a $10B revolving credit facility from global banks.
🇺🇸 United States
- Soluna 🇺🇸: fully repaid $28.7M of Generate debt.
❌ Failures
- Barclays 🇬🇧: among 36 creditors seeking to recover money from collapsed UAE Exchange Center, which has a $1B hole in its balance sheet.
- BC Partners 🇬🇧: 15 golfers have tentatively committed to its LIV Golf successor.
- Netherlands 🇳🇱: the government plans to eliminate 25,000 civil-service jobs by 2035 and replace them with AI to save €3.5B.
- Boozt 🇸🇪: the retailer is cutting 10 management positions and expects SEK 40M in restructuring costs.
- Romania 🇷🇴: insolvencies could exceed 7,000 in 2026, with 48,028 companies owing 77.6 billion lei in overdue taxes.
- JetBlue 🇺🇸: senior creditors hired PJT Partners as bankruptcy risks grow.
- Microsoft 🇺🇸: offering voluntary buyouts to around 60,000 eligible employees across several countries.
- The Browser Company 🇺🇸: will shut down Arc on macOS and Windows on December 22, 2026, shifting its teams to Dia.
🎯 For a Few More Minutes…
- 🇪🇺 Lung Shot. Two new lung cancer treatments unveiled at the Madrid oncology congress significantly boost survival rates, giving patients a rare dose of optimism from the front lines of medicine. (France Info)
- 🇺🇸 Jurassic Bark. Colossal Biosciences' Ben Lamm unveils plans for cloned and enhanced military dogs, promising the Pentagon a future of designer K-9s with $200M in funding. (Le Parisien)
- 🇯🇵 Grand Theft Granny. A 93-year-old woman in Shiga, Japan, pretended to fall for a fake police scam, helping real officers catch the would-be thief red-handed. (Le Parisien)
