🚚 Frozen assets
Meat’s fresh, but those numbers smell.
Good morning!
A French frozen-meat operation called Féroce just opened a Crowdcube round at €18M, three months after walking off M6's answer to Dragons' Den with €150K for 5% at a €3M pre-money. Six-fold jump in 90 days, no new revenue, no acquisition, no patent. The deck explains the leap with "funds approached us, we declined", omitting that those funds were accepted with rapturous gratitude on national television. At 10.8× revenue for an outfit shipping frozen beef liver, the multiple sits where a Series B AI startup would blush to ask. The closest comparable named in Féroce's own deck trades between 1× and 3×.
The platform booking the order has form. Crowdcube has been running this play out of its Exeter base since 2011, and the showcase asset just imploded. BrewDog sold to a cannabis conglomerate in March for £33M, and 220K "Equity Punks" who poured £75M into the Aberdeenshire brewery over a decade are walking away with discount vouchers on their next six-pack. TSG, with a 22% stake and 2017 preference shares, takes the proceeds first. The punks who bought at £25.15 a share in 2021, when the implied valuation hit £2B, get nothing. James Watt, who departed as CEO in May 2024 trailing BBC investigations into the workplace culture his fans were subsidising, has declared himself "heartbroken". The pose is touching given the £50M he reportedly cashed out in the 2017 deal. Heartbroken, presumably, on the way to the bank.
The mechanics rhyme. A brand with an emotional moat (craft beer, ethical meat, sustainable trainers) cycles through reality TV or influencer marketing, converts the customer list into a captive retail book at a multiple no professional would entertain. The retail subscriber buys an illiquid 5% with a 65% drag-along that hands every exit decision to the founder's holding. The platform takes 2.49% on entry and 5% on exit. Reg CF expanded to $5M in 2021, and five years on, StartEngine and Wefunder are surfacing the same archaeology of buried valuations.
The defence was always honest in principle. VCs ignore profitable mid-sized businesses, communities should own pieces of the brands they love. Féroce is not a fraud: 10 tonnes shipped in December, 90% retention at twelve months, real customers eating real liver. The problem is what grew on top. The mechanism converts subscriber lists into exit liquidity for founders, at valuations professionals refused, in structures that strip every shareholder protection. The Féroce subscriber wants ethical protein and mission. They are about to get a position they cannot exit, in a holding that votes for them, in a brand that may yet sell to a cannabis firm for the price of a London townhouse. The Equity Punks just lived that ending. The Féroce subscribers are signing up for the same one. There is no sarcastic register that makes that funny.
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🗞️ Top Story
- 🇬🇧 Royal Flush. King Charles’s US state visit presents Trump with the ultimate test: choosing between love of monarchy and irritation with Downing Street. (Washington Post)
- 🇩🇪 Rift Happens. Chancellor Merz and SPD officials trade barbs in public as disagreements on reforms and spending threaten to unravel Germany’s already unpopular coalition government. (El Pais)
- 🇩🇪 Exit Strategyless. Friedrich Merz claims the US went to war with Iran without a plan, leaving itself at the mercy of Iranian negotiators and global ridicule. (El Pais)
- 🇷🇺 Fleet Escape. Despite an ongoing blockade, a Russian superyacht linked to a Putin confidant made it through the Strait of Hormuz without incident. (BBC)
- 🇺🇸 Crown Contact. King Charles visits the for the first royal state visit since 2007, aiming to defend "democratic values" and patch up a rocky Anglo-American relationship in a speech to Congress. (BBC)
- 🇺🇸 Witless Protection. Trump insists Jimmy Kimmel be fired for joking Melania had the glow of a "future widow," proving presidential skin is thinner than ever. (Spiegel)
- 🇺🇸 Royally Scheduled. Despite recent security worries in DC, King Charles III and Queen Camilla land in the to mend UK-US ties. The official line: nothing. Not even gunfire. Can stop the visit. (Le Monde)
- 🇺🇸 Chopper of Destiny. The Air Force is replacing its aging presidential helicopters with 26 HH-60W Jolly Green II "apocalypse helicopters" designed to evacuate Donald Trump if disaster strikes. (Le Parisien)
- 🇮🇩 Track Record. A long-distance train collided with a stationary commuter train near Jakarta, leaving at least 14 dead and more than 80 hospitalized as rescue efforts continue. (Ouest-France)
- 🇮🇷 Diplomatic Freeze. Iranian Foreign Minister Araghchi meets with Putin as talks with the US stall, giving Moscow another chance to play peacemaker in the region. (Washington Post)
- 🇮🇷 Strait Outta Options. Iran has proposed a deal to the US to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and defer nuclear talks, but negotiations remain stalled and oil markets are holding their breath. (Cnbc)
- 🇮🇶 Business Class. Iraq's president taps businessman Ali Al-Zaidi as prime minister-designate after US pressure blocks Nouri Al-Maliki's comeback, shifting the power game in Baghdad. (Le Monde)
- 🇪🇬 Peace Talks, Again. Negotiators from Israel and Hamas gather in Cairo to discuss Gaza's future, with U.S., Egyptian, Qatari, and Turkish mediators hoping for a breakthrough despite ongoing fighting. (Le Temps)
- 🇲🇱 Kidal Instinct. The Tuareg rebels and jihadist groups have seized control of Kidal, forcing the Malian army and Russian mercenaries to retreat once again. (Le Monde)
- 🇨🇩 Mine Over Matter. Backed by US and UAE funding, DR Congo is creating a $100M Mining Guard unit to secure mineral sites and supply routes from rebels and rivals. (Financial Times)
- 🌍 Collateral Damage. Six people were killed and dozens injured when the Sudanese army struck a Darfur camp for displaced civilians with a drone on Monday morning. (Le Monde)
- 🌍 Skyfall. A flight departing Juba airport ended in tragedy with 14 fatalities, as South Sudan suffers yet another deadly air accident. (Le Parisien)
🇬🇧 United Kingdom
- 🇬🇧 Pressure Cooker. Keir Starmer faces a Commons vote on whether to launch a parliamentary probe into his disputed statements about Mandelson’s ambassadorial vetting and alleged pressure on officials. (BBC)
- 🇬🇧 Unwell to Do. Healthy life expectancy in the UK has fallen by two years since 2012, hitting just under 61 for men and women, with only the US doing worse. (BBC)
🏛️ Economy
- 🇪🇸 Armed and Fabulous. Spain tops the global charts for military spending growth in 2025, boosting its defense budget by 50% to a record $34.2B, despite US criticism. (El Pais)
- 🇪🇺 Gas Ceiling Brussels’ methane crackdown risks driving up costs and reducing energy imports, just as Europe braces for another potential crisis. (Financial Times)
- 🇪🇺 Exit Strategy. European governments are migrating away from American software, awarding $211M in sovereign cloud contracts, though the road to true tech independence is full of familiar potholes. (TechCrunch)
- 🇪🇺 Great Wall of Tariffs. Beijing signals it could hit back over the EU’s industrial accelerator law, while Brussels tries to keep calm and carry on. (Le Monde)
- 🇺🇸 Facebooked. The FTC reveals Americans lost $2.1B to social media scams last year, with Facebook leading the pack in digital deception. (TechCrunch)
- 🇺🇸 Fed or Alive. Jerome Powell’s chairmanship expires soon, but only he can choose if he remains a Fed governor until 2028. (Wall Street Journal)
- 🇻🇪 Well Short. Less than 30% of Venezuela’s oil wells are operating, with output stuck at 1M barrels a day despite the world’s largest reserves. (Le Monde)
- 🇦🇺 Pay Per View. The Australian government wants tech giants to strike commercial deals with news outlets or face fines worth 2.25% of their local revenue. (Ouest-France)
- 🌍 Work in Progress. The International Labour Organization warns that stress and workplace harassment now cause 840,000 deaths globally each year, with digital overload adding a modern twist to an old story. (Le Monde)
- 🌍 Peak Arms. Despite a slight dip in US outlays, global military expenditure climbed to a fresh all-time high of $2.89T, thanks to rising European and Asian investments. (Spiegel)
🇬🇧 United Kingdom
- 🇬🇧 Phantom Figures. That infamous 100 percent UK debt-to-GDP milestone? Turns out it vanished on revision, with the ONS quietly lowering the ratio to 93.8 percent. (Financial Times)
🇺🇸 United States
- 🇺🇸 Cash and Carry. Ultrawealthy figures such as Sergey Brin and Tom Steyer are steering California politics with deep pockets and deeper ambitions. (New York Times)
- 🇺🇸 Weed Whiplash. Trump’s alliance with MAHA faces rupture as the Supreme Court and Congress side with Bayer over glyphosate lawsuits and shield the chemical in the farm bill. (Cnbc)
🏢 Real Estate
- 🇬🇧 Freeze Frame. Rachel Reeves is reportedly considering a one-year freeze on private sector rents in England to buffer households from war-fueled inflation. (The Guardian)
- 🇺🇸 Server Farms. Rural Americans are pushing back as data center projects move into farm country, pitting AI infrastructure ambitions against water, land, and local livelihoods. (Financial Times)
🇬🇧 United Kingdom
- 🏴 Listed Concerns. The Victorian Society has named England and Wales' 10 most endangered Victorian buildings, spotlighting crumbling icons like Tees Transporter Bridge and Barrow’s old clubrooms. (The Guardian)
🔗 On-chain
- 🇺🇸 Peak Performance The $TRUMP token has fallen from $75 to under $3, but Donald Trump still celebrated his crypto faithful at an exclusive Mar-a-Lago event. (Boursier)
- 🇺🇸 Buy and Bye. MicroStrategy is pausing its high-profile Bitcoin buying spree and returning to more traditional stock sales, leaving crypto fans with less to cheer about. (Bloomberg)
- 🌏 Gilt Trip. Tether and Fasset 🇸🇬 unveil a gold-backed Visa card that rewards spending with XAU₮, making your wallet as shiny as your ambitions. (FinExtra)
💱 Listed Markets
- 🇬🇧 Oil Change. BP surpasses ExxonMobil 🇺🇸 as the top big-oil stock during the Iran conflict, making market turmoil look like an opportunity. (Bloomberg)
- 🇫🇷 Payback Time. Altice France is on track to sell for $28B, with Patrick Drahi set to eclipse his hedge fund adversaries in the final tally. (Bloomberg)
- 🇺🇸 Classified Refusal. Hundreds of Google employees urge CEO Sundar Pichai to block Pentagon use of Google AI for secret military projects, echoing Anthropic's earlier stance. (Washington Post)
- 🇺🇸 Joke’s on You. Trump calls for Jimmy Kimmel’s dismissal from Disney following a “widow” joke about Melania. ABC has yet to comment on the feud. (Wall Street Journal)
- 🇨🇳 AIron Curtain. China shuts down Meta's Manus AI acquisition, drawing a digital red line and daring the US to respond. (Washington Post)
🇬🇧 United Kingdom
- 🇬🇧 Licence to Bill Sadiq Khan questions Scotland Yard’s plan to pay Palantir tens of millions for AI, arguing the company’s ethics do not match London’s. (The Guardian)
🛎️ Big Deals (M&A)
- Shell 🇬🇧 acquires Arc Resources 🇨🇦 for $13.6B, expanding its reach in Western Canada.
- Bridgepoint 🇬🇧 acquires a majority stake in iC Consult 🇩🇪, a leading independent provider of identity security services.
- Forvia 🇫🇷 sells its automotive interiors business to Apollo Global Management 🇺🇸 for $2.1B.
- Nexans 🇫🇷 signs an agreement to acquire Republic Wire, Inc. 🇺🇸, a recognized manufacturer of low voltage copper and aluminum wire products, for €5201.2M.
- E.ON 🇩🇪 is nearing a £600M deal to acquire Ovo 🇬🇧, a UK household gas and electricity supplier.
- Avantea 🇮🇹 acquires Equitechnic 🇫🇷, a company specialized in equine reproduction and semen freezing.
- Vinted 🇱🇹 sells €880M of existing shares to investors including Teachers’ Venture Growth and Schroders Capital, reaching an €8B valuation.
- Paramount 🇺🇸 seeks FCC approval for Middle East sovereign-wealth funds to acquire a substantial equity stake as part of its $81B acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery 🇺🇸.
- Starboard Value 🇺🇸 takes a significant stake in Dynatrace 🇺🇸, becoming a top-five shareholder.
- Elliott Investment Management 🇺🇸 builds a stake in Nippon Express Holdings Inc. 🇯🇵, causing shares to jump significantly.
- The Sterling Group Foundation Fund 🇺🇸 acquires Scruggs 🇺🇸, a provider of municipal water infrastructure solutions.
- Rox Capital Partners 🇺🇸 sells The Scruggs Companies 🇺🇸 to The Sterling Group 🇺🇸.
- Re/Max Holdings 🇺🇸 set to be sold to The Real Brokerage 🇺🇸 in a deal valued at roughly $550M.
- Ligand Pharmaceuticals 🇺🇸 to acquire Xoma 🇺🇸 for nearly $740M.
- Thermo Fisher Scientific 🇺🇸 to sell its microbiology business to Astorg 🇪🇺 for about $1.075B.
- Meta 🇺🇸's $2B acquisition of AI start-up Manus 🇸🇬 has been blocked by Chinese regulators.
- Apollo 🇺🇸 backs dental firm vVardis 🇬🇧 at a valuation of over $1B.
- Eli Lilly 🇺🇸 to acquire Ajax Therapeutics 🇺🇸 for up to $2.3B in cash, focusing on blood cancer treatments.
- TPG 🇺🇸 acquires a majority stake in Japanese logistics assets from ESR 🇸🇬.
- Daiwa 🇯🇵 to acquire Orix Bank 🇯🇵 for $2.3B.
- Digital Edge 🇸🇬 is exploring options, including a sale, valued at $10B.
🧳 Private Markets & VC
- 🇪🇺 Vintage Value. Vinted 🇱🇹 is now worth $9.4B after a secondary share sale, proving old clothes can fetch new money. (Wall Street Journal)
- 🇳🇴 Fjord Mustang. Carlyle 🇺🇸 co-founder David Rubenstein is backing a new data center project in Norway, hoping the Nordic chill will power global computing. (Bloomberg)
- 🇺🇸 Unchained GPT. OpenAI has ended its exclusive AI partnership with Microsoft, allowing it to offer its models to new partners and platforms. (Bloomberg)
- 🇺🇸 Open Season The battle between Elon Musk and OpenAI lands in an Oakland courtroom, pitting claims of mission betrayal against accusations of a power grab. (New York Times)
- 🇺🇸 Power Shift. As private equity dealmaking slows, limited partners regain leverage over firms like Blackstone and KKR, rewriting the usual balance of power. (Bloomberg)
- 🇺🇸 Appocalypse Now. OpenAI is reportedly developing a smartphone with MediaTek and Qualcomm, replacing traditional apps with AI agents that handle every task directly. (TechCrunch)
Fundraising
- Ineffable Intelligence 🇬🇧 (AI): $1.1B (Sequoia Capital, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Index Ventures, Google, Nvidia, British Business Bank, Sovereign AI)
- Suja 🇺🇸 (Food & Beverage): $213M
- Avoca 🇺🇸 (AI): $125M (Meritech, General Catalyst, Kleiner Perkins)
- Sereact 🇩🇪 (Robotics): $110M (Headline, Bullhound Capital, Felix Capital, Daphni, Air Street Capital, Creandum, Point Nine)
- Comfi 🇲🇦 (Fintech): $65M
- Orkes 🇺🇸 (Tech): $60M
- Snabbit 🇮🇳 (Home Services): $56M (Susquehanna Venture Capital, Mirae Asset Venture Investments, Bertelsmann India Investments, Nexus Venture Partners, Lightspeed, FJ Labs)
- Nervonik 🇺🇸 (Healthcare): $52.5M (Amzak Health, Elevage Medical Technologies, U.S. Venture Partners, Lumira Ventures, Foothill Ventures, Shangbay Capital)
- Serif Biomedicines 🇺🇸 (Biotech): $50M
- Fathom Therapeutics 🇺🇸 (Biotech): $47M (Sutter Hill Ventures, Chemistry, Alexandria Venture Investments, Empire State Development's NY Ventures)
- SquareMind 🇫🇷 (Medtech): $18M (Deeptech 2030, Bpifrance, Sonder Capital, Adamed, Calm/Storm Ventures, Teampact Ventures)
- Audion 🇫🇷 (Adtech): $15M (Elevation Capital Partners, Founders Future, Bpifrance)
- Redpine 🇸🇪 (AI): €6.8M (NordicNinja, Luminar Ventures, Node.vc)
- Tolergyx 🇫🇷 (Healthcare): €6M
- Zellify 🇬🇧 (Tech): €3.1M (Sebastian Knutsson, Johannes Schildt)
- Betterness 🇺🇸 (Fintech): $2.5M
- TriFetch 🇺🇸 (Logistics): $1.9M
Fund Watch
- Silver Rock Capital Partners 🇺🇸: $4B (largest credit fund, lending to challenged companies)
- Northwestern Mutual 🇺🇸: $150M (Fund III, venture capital for fintech and insurtech)
🔔IPO
- ST GROUP 🇫🇷 (Finance): successfully raised €2.07M in the world's first natively tokenized IPO on the Lightning Stock Exchange.
- Pershing Square 🇺🇸 (Finance): expected to raise $5B in its upcoming IPO led by Bill Ackman.
- Hemab 🇺🇸 (Biotech): seeking to raise $212M in its IPO backed by Novo.
- Hawkeye 360 🇺🇸 (Surveillance): seeking up to $416M in its IPO.
- Seaport 🇺🇸 (Pharma): seeking $212.4M in its IPO.
- CATL 🇨🇳 (Batteries): raised $5B in a Hong Kong share placement priced at the low end.
🧳 Debt
- Societe Generale 🇫🇷: eyeing an SRT deal tied to over $10B of loans.
- Reden Solar 🇫🇷: refinanced €1.1B in debt to accelerate its operations in Europe.
- BASF Coatings 🇩🇪: launching a $2B loan sale for buyout.
- Walmart 🇺🇸: plans to sell investment-grade bonds on Monday.
- Intel 🇺🇸: kicking off a bond sale to finance the buyback of its stake in an Ireland plant.
- Colombia 🇨🇴: bought back $4.4B in bonds weeks before election.
- Hongqiao 🇨🇳: priced $1.5B in a convertible bond sale near the low end.
- AFL 🇦🇺: raised AUD 600M in its inaugural Kangaroo bond issuance, maturing February 20, 2036.
❌ Failures
- Claire's 🇬🇧: the company closed all 154 stores in the UK and Ireland, resulting in the loss of 1,300 jobs.
- Fibre Excellence 🇫🇷: placed in judicial recovery on April 27, 2026, with a 6-month grace period to find a buyer after ceasing payments.
- Edilteco France 🇫🇷: after entering judicial recovery in January 2025, the insulation solutions specialist has successfully restructured and emerged from the process.
- SergeFerrari 🇨🇭: the company plans to stop production at its Swiss PET yarn factory, affecting 62 jobs, to enhance industrial competitiveness.
- STG Logistics 🇺🇸: the company is emerging from Chapter 11 after reducing over $1B in debt and securing up to $150M in new capital.
- Forvis Mazars 🇺🇸: the accounting firm laid off about 250 workers, or 3% of its U.S. workforce, as part of a restructuring.
- Axis Bank 🇮🇳: the bank cut over 3,000 jobs as part of its digital transformation efforts.
🎯 For a Few More Minutes…
- 🇫🇷 Bee Our Guest. Over 10,000 bees swarmed under a bike seat near the Louvre in just 30 minutes, forcing Paris authorities to call in an urban beekeeper for a rooftop relocation. (Le Figaro)
- 🇫🇷 Cell Blocked. Guards at Paris's La Santé prison staged a blockade to protest overwork and understaffing, as overcrowding reaches what they call "apocalyptic" levels. (Libé)
- 🇫🇷 Card Sharks A collector in Dordogne was robbed of $325K in Pokémon cards, highlighting how nostalgia-fueled markets are now prime targets for organized crime. (France Info)
- 🇫🇷 Back to the Marble. The famed Venus of Arles, usually at the Louvre, is on display in her city of origin until October, drawing crowds and local pride. (Le Parisien)
- 🇺🇸 Trademark It Off Taylor Swift has filed for trademarks on her voice and image to block AI-generated imitations, adding intellectual property to her arsenal against digital fakes. (BBC)
