🎩 Hats Off, Gloves On

Whose hand is in the cookie jar this week?

A Free Lunch newsletter archive of July 10, 2026

Also available:🇫🇷 Édition française

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🇺🇸 United States

Good morning!

The world’s loudest champion of deregulation spends his second term micromanaging the technology sector with the enthusiasm of a Soviet industrial planner. Donald Trump, who built a career on the promise of getting government out of the way, an article of Republican faith for the better part of forty years, has in practice become the most interventionist tech regulator anywhere. He makes Brussels look like a libertarian book club.

The scorecard, for those keeping count: an executive order converting a TikTok ban into a fire sale engineered to benefit Oracle’s Larry Ellison, a Trump ally whose proximity to the White House is matched only by his proximity to a very convenient acquisition. A 10% government stake in Intel, the sort of move that in any other context would be called industrial policy and denounced as socialism. The suspension of security clearances across SentinelOne, a cybersecurity firm, because it had hired Chris Krebs, the former head of America’s cyber-defence agency, who committed the sin of calling the 2020 election secure. And the blacklisting of Anthropic as a « supply-chain risk to national security », a designation once reserved for foreign adversaries, for refusing to let the Pentagon strip the safety limits from its own AI. None of this is deregulation. It is regulation by grudge.

The administration’s AI policy framework doubles down: federal pre-emption of state-level AI rules, a ban on « woke AI » (undefined, which is the point), and chip export approvals routed through Commerce Department discretion, creating a chokepoint that can be weaponised against anyone who falls out of favour. Meanwhile the EU, supposedly the villain in this story, is quietly dismantling rules through the standard legislative process its critics routinely ignore. The irony of Europeans deregulating while Americans nationalise chipmakers is rich enough to spread on toast.

Beneath the farce, the same result sits on both sides of the Atlantic: more power to the biggest players. Rules made by executive whim favour those with access; deregulation without accountability favours those with scale. On one continent a president hands a chipmaker to the state and a social network to a friend; on the other, a commission quietly files down the rules it once swore were essential. The winners in either system are not scrappy startups, or consumers, or markets. They are the people already in the room when the decisions get made. Dressed up on one shore as freedom and on the other as strength, the outcome looks identical from any distance.

🎩 Hats Off, Gloves On

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🗞️ Top Story

  • 🇬🇧 Majority Rules. With 322 Labour MPs nominating Andy Burnham and no serious rivals left, the former Manchester mayor is on track for Downing Street. (Bbc)
  • 🇮🇹 Spy Another Day. Italy expels two Russian diplomats accused of spying on military aid to Ukraine, giving them three days to pack their bags and go. (Libé)
  • 🇪🇸 Heat of the Moment. At least 12 people died in a devastating wildfire in southern Spain, prompting emergency military deployment and a somber warning from Prime Minister Sánchez. (France Info)
  • 🇺🇦 Trigger Warning. Ukrainian intelligence officer Vladyslav Reut, who confessed to killing Monaco bombing suspect Anastasiia Berezovska, now claims his accomplice pulled the trigger instead. The case has Kyiv’s security services squirming as both men remain jailed and the motive stays murky. (Bbc)
  • 🇺🇸 Love Actually. For 48 hours, the NATO summit swung from confrontation to a Trump-led « love-in, » leaving allies dizzy and the big questions unresolved. (Cnbc)
  • 🇨🇳 Venom Drift. As southern China battles deadly floods, a snake farm’s escapees add a new hazard for residents already facing rising waters and mass evacuations. (Le Parisien)
  • 🇹🇷 Trigger Happy. Erdogan handed out engraved revolvers with live ammo to NATO heads, sparking confusion, airport lockboxes, and some very awkward thank-yous. (Le Figaro)
  • 🇮🇷 Martyr State. Ayatollah Khamenei’s funeral tour crossed Iran and Iraq, ending in Mashad as crowds and banners called for vengeance against the US after his death in a US-Israeli strike. (Libé)
🇬🇧 United Kingdom
  • 🇬🇧 Gift Aid. The Met Police are investigating £500,000 in Reform UK donations from Fiona Cottrell, mother of Farage aide George Cottrell, over possible evasion of donation rules. (Financial Times)
  • 🇬🇧 Stitch in Time. The Bayeux Tapestry has arrived at the British Museum for a year-long loan, marking its first journey outside France and sparking both celebration and conservation anxiety. (Le Parisien)
🇺🇸 United States
  • 🇺🇸 Target Missed. Federal immigration officers killed Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, who was not the intended suspect, while searching for two Guatemalans in Houston. (New York Times)

🏛️ Economy

  • 🇬🇧 Inside Track. The FCA reports suspicious trading before 41% of UK takeover deals in 2025, setting a new record and fueling fears of rampant insider leaks. (Financial Times)
  • 🇩🇪 Tomahawk Down. Germany will buy US Tomahawk missiles to fill a strategic gap in its defenses, aiming to counter Russian Iskander threats from Kaliningrad. (Le Monde)
  • 🇪🇺 Euro Step. Lawmakers in the European Parliament endorsed the digital euro, moving the closer to launching its own central bank digital currency in 2029. (FinExtra)
  • 🇪🇺 Read My Lips. The ECB hiked rates last month but refused to signal what comes next, determined not to repeat its 2011 communication missteps. (Boursier)
  • 🇺🇸 Toxic Assets. New York is suing 3M, DuPont, and others for decades of selling PFAS « forever chemicals » while allegedly hiding their dangers from the public. (Cnbc)
  • 🇸🇳 Bridge Too Far. Senegal’s push for world-class infrastructure collapses under the weight of undisclosed debt, turning optimism into a lesson in fiscal reality. (Bloomberg)
🇬🇧 United Kingdom
  • 🇬🇧 Platform Shoes. NHS England stands tall on Palantir’s reported success, but the hospitals’ own data is full of holes, leaving the 15% improvement looking shaky. (Financial Times)
  • 🇬🇧 Current Affairs. The UK’s National Energy System Operator has issued a fresh call for extra power supplies as a heatwave pushes electricity demand to new highs. (The Guardian)
🇺🇸 United States
  • 🇺🇸 Fed Up. John Williams of the New York Fed insists inflation is still too high and energy relief is not here yet. (Wall Street Journal)
  • 🇺🇸 Aloha Ouch. Hawaii lands dead last in CNBC’s 2026 state business rankings, with even its famed quality of life dragged down by soaring childcare costs and crumbling infrastructure. (Cnbc)

🏢 Real Estate

  • 🇬🇧 Square Pegs. Montpelier Square’s Georgian mansions, once the crown jewels of Knightsbridge, are sitting unsold for over a year with prices slashed by 30 percent or more. (Financial Times)
  • 🇩🇪 Rent Alert. The Linke’s « Mietwucher » app has enabled 10,255 German households to report landlords for excessive rents, exposing widespread overcharging that averages €250 above legal limits. (Die Zeit)
  • 🇮🇹 Cloud Nine. Italy is betting €25.4B on a data center boom, hoping to transform itself into the Mediterranean’s next digital hub and outpace France and Germany. (Le Figaro)
🇺🇸 United States
  • 🇺🇸 Stamp of Disapproval. Domani Inspection Services, which approved the Midtown conversion that went awry, has been repeatedly cited for missing warning signs on other NYC jobs. (New York Times)
  • 🇺🇸 Rate Expectations. Economists forecast a bump in June home sales, but the market delivered a 2.4% drop instead, thanks to stubbornly high borrowing costs. (Wall Street Journal)

🔗 On-chain

  • 🇮🇱 Bot Portfolio. eToro 🇮🇱 introduces an AI-driven app overhaul, aiming to turn millions of user trades into personalized investment advice. Because who needs human instinct? (Startupcafe)

💱 Listed Markets

  • 🇬🇧 Heartbreak Hotel. AstraZeneca 🇬🇧 shares tumbled over 10% after its rare heart drug failed a key trial, leaving investors with little to love. (Bloomberg)
  • 🇺🇸 Faith-Based Computing. Microsoft 🇺🇸 once looked untouchable in AI, but its early lead has faded as costs soar and rivals outpace its Copilot ambitions. (Financial Times)
  • 🇺🇸 Channel Surfing. With audiences losing interest, Netflix 🇺🇸 looks to live TV and bundled offerings, searching for a way to keep viewers tuned in. (Wall Street Journal)
  • 🇺🇸 Golden Years. Goldman Sachs 🇺🇸 lands $70B in retirement fund deals with Verizon and Lockheed Martin, betting on steady fees over Wall Street drama. (Cnbc)
  • 🇺🇸 Meta Morphosis. Meta is set to manufacture an in-house AI chip this September, hoping to boost computing power and cut $145B in infrastructure costs. (Cnbc)
  • 🇨🇳 Meta Unplugged. Beijing has forced Meta to reverse its $2B Manus acquisition, clearing the way for Tencent to lead a new investor group. (Financial Times)
  • 🇰🇷 Chip Happens. South Korea’s SK Hynix, now valued near $1T after a sevenfold rally, debuts on Nasdaq as it rides the AI memory boom into the US market. (Cnbc)
  • 🇭🇰 Panel Beaters. Senior bankers from JPMorgan 🇺🇸 and Citi 🇺🇸 are joining Hong Kong’s exchange listing panel, giving Wall Street a front-row seat in the city’s IPO game. (Bloomberg)
🇬🇧 United Kingdom
  • 🇬🇧 Float On. The London Stock Exchange saw seven IPOs raise £577M in early 2026, marking a tentative comeback for the UK listings market. (Uktech)

🛎️ Big Deals (M&A)

  • Frasers Group 🇬🇧 launches a €2.7B takeover bid for Hugo Boss 🇩🇪. Target urges shareholders to reject the offer.
  • Tesco 🇬🇧 explores a sale of its CEE operations
  • Amarenco 🇫🇷 and AMPYR Distributed Energy 🇬🇧 acquire TotalEnergies 🇫🇷’s distributed solar generation assets (~170 MW) on rooftops across seven European countries.
  • Xavier Niel 🇫🇷 acquires Vodafone Group 🇬🇧 from e& 🇦🇪 for £4.4B, taking a 16.21% stake at 110p a share (15% premium).
  • Revolutionrace 🇸🇪 acquires 90% of Icaniwill 🇸🇪 in a SEK700M deal with an option on the remainder.
  • EQT 🇸🇪 acquires Copia Power 🇺🇸 for $2.6B, a data centre power and infrastructure platform formerly held by Carlyle, delivering Carlyle a >5x return.
  • Omnidocs 🇩🇰 acquires Xink 🇩🇰 in its sixth deal in 2.5 years, pushing annual revenue past €27M and expanding its document/email signature management offerings.
  • CVC 🇱🇺 acquires DistroKid 🇺🇸, a music distributor.
  • Dream Finders Homes 🇺🇸 boosts takeover offer for Beazer Homes 🇺🇸 by 24% to $875M.
  • Frazier Healthcare Partners 🇺🇸 acquires MatrixCare 🇺🇸 for $490M cash, health-care software.
  • Perpetuals.com 🇺🇸 in talks to acquire the core business of AI Financial 🇺🇸 for $15M
  • Apollo Global Management 🇺🇸 acquires Bayer’s contraceptives arm 🇩🇪 for $3.4B.
  • Apollo 🇺🇸 acquires easyJet 🇬🇧 for £5.7bn, trumping Castlelake’s £5.5bn proposal with an offer of £7.15 per share.
  • MDA Space 🇨🇦 acquires 70% of CLS 🇫🇷. CNES retains 30% and CNP sells its 66% stake bought in 2020. Deal to close at year-end pending regulatory approvals.
  • Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank 🇯🇵 will take a 15% stake in Morrison 🇳🇿

🧳 Private Markets & VC

  • 🇬🇧 Loan Star. UK fintech Lendable 🇬🇧 pledges its personal loan portfolio to raise £500M, proving that in fintech, debt is the new collateral. (Bloomberg)
  • 🇫🇷 Seed Money Talks. Paris-based Gradium just raised $100M in seed funding with Nvidia joining the round, aiming to bring ultra-fast AI voices to Silicon Valley’s doorstep. (TechCrunch)
  • 🇫🇷 Kid Capital. The VC Under 30 Awards spotlighted France’s next wave of venture investors, handing out five prizes to young talent ready to step out from the partners’ shadow. (Maddyness)
  • 🇺🇸 Break Point. Fidji Simo, who helped steer OpenAI’s ChatGPT business, exits her leadership role after worsening health issues, saying the path to healing cannot be postponed any longer. (Le Figaro)
  • 🇺🇸 Preferred Partners. OpenAI proclaims GPT 5.6 will power Microsoft 365 Copilot, aiming to quiet speculation that the tech giants are drifting apart. (TechCrunch)
  • 🇺🇸 Bubble Trouble. Anduril’s Brian Schimpf warns that defense tech IPOs in the current frenzy risk overvaluation, insisting his company will not join the stampede. (Cnbc)
  • 🇺🇸 Atlas Shrugged. OpenAI is shutting down its Atlas AI browser but will fold its browsing features into ChatGPT’s desktop app and a Chrome extension instead. (TechCrunch)
  • 🇺🇸 Twice Upon a Time. Mercor tells investors it has a term sheet for a $20B valuation, just months after its $10B Series C and a major revenue leap. (TechCrunch)

Fundraising

  • Kraken Technology Group 🇬🇧 (Defence): $175M (DTCP, British Business Bank, Nato Innovation Fund, Rheinmetall, Inocea Group, HICO, Thesiger Capital Group, BOKA Capital, Supernova Invest, Hakluyt Capital)
  • Prime Intellect 🇺🇸 (AI): $130M (Radical Ventures)
  • Norm.ai 🇺🇸 (Legaltech): $120M (Khosla Ventures, Bain Capital Ventures, Craft Ventures, Coatue Management, Vanguard Group, New York Life Insurance Company, TIAA, Fenwick & West, Tony James, Jeff Hammes)
  • Pearl 🇺🇸 (Healthcare): $110M (Andreessen Horowitz, Viking Global Investors, AlleyCorp, Ulysses Capital, Trinity Capital)
  • Databento 🇺🇸 (Fintech): $97M (New Enterprise Associates, DRW Venture Capital, Redpoint Ventures, Tribe Capital)
  • Flare Therapeutics 🇺🇸 (Biotech): $85M (Third Rock Ventures, Nextech Invest, Pfizer Ventures, Boxer Capital, GordonMD Global Investments LP, Invus, Casdin Capital, Eli Lilly and Company, Novartis, Agent Capital, Eventide Asset Management)
  • Ollama 🇺🇸 (AI): $65M (Theory Ventures, Benchmark, 8VC, Y Combinator, Pace Capital, 49 Palms, GTMFund)
  • Venice.ai 🇺🇸 (AI): $65M (Dragonfly, North Island Ventures, Coinbase Ventures, Archetype, Morgan Creek, Liquid2 Ventures, Founders’ Co-op)
  • Kaon AI (Entertainment): $60M (B Capital, Goodwater Capital, and others)
  • Hippo Harvest 🇺🇸 (Agtech): $30M (Cox Farms, Congruent Ventures, Hawthorne Food Ventures, Collaborative Fund, Fresh Investment Club)
  • Alchemab Therapeutics 🇬🇧 (Biotech): €29.3M (British Business Bank)
  • Alta (AI): $25M (IN Venture)
  • Tangos 🇮🇱 (Fincrime): $20M (Red Dot Capital Partners, Leaders Fund, Clarim Ventures, VentureIsrael, Signal Fire, Clutch Capital, Selah Ventures, Bright Data)
  • Grace Investment Machine (GIM) 🇭🇰 (Fintech): $20M (Hony Capital, IDG Capital, Monolith Capital)
  • QIZ Security 🇺🇸 (Cybersecurity): $17M (Bessemer Venture Partners, Merlin Ventures, Evolution Equity Partners, Qbeat Ventures, Singtel Innov8, Qino Cyber Capital)
  • EdVisorly 🇺🇸 (Edtech): $13.3M (Breachway Capital, U.S. News & World Report, Lumina Foundation, Strada Education Foundation, Motley Fool Ventures, Juvo Ventures, Zeal Capital Partners)
  • Hostie 🇺🇸 (Hospitality): $12M (Obvious Ventures, Gradient, Scribble Ventures, Burst Capital, Behind Genius Ventures, Tim Stannard, Stuart Brioza, Nicole Krasinski, Elizabeth DePalmer)
  • Fuchs & Eule 🇩🇪 (PropTech): €10M (GET Fund, PI Impact, WaVe-X, SET Ventures, Picus Capital, Realyze Ventures)
  • Kapture CX 🇮🇳 (AI): $10M (Bajaj Finserv Ventures, Cactus Venture Partners, India Alternatives)
  • geoSurge 🇬🇧 (AI): £9.4M
  • Kord 🇬🇧 (Fintech): $8.6M (Guinness Ventures)
  • Luffy AI 🇬🇧 (Industrial AI): £8.1M (BGF, MIG Capital, Bow Capital, Chrysalix, Momenta, UKI2S)
  • Pixel-Flo 🇬🇧 (Display): £5.25M (Northern Gritstone, SCVC, Parkwalk Northern Universities Venture Fund, HTGF)
  • Lissi 🇩🇪 (Identity): €3.5M (Ventech, BM H Beteiligungs-Managementgesellschaft Hessen, main incubator (Commerzbank Group), Ninepointfive Ventures)
  • Finto 🇩🇪 (Accounting): $3.4M (Y Combinator, Gradient, Lightspeed)

Fund Watch

  • SkyKnight Capital 🇺🇸: $2B (5th private equity fund)
  • Nest 🇬🇧: $1.3B (state-backed pension, investing in VC)
  • Paradigm 🇺🇸: $1.2B (3rd venture fund, backs crypto « technical frontier » startups)
  • Chemistry 🇺🇸: $500M (2nd venture fund)
  • Expeditions 🇪🇺: $225M (defense tech VC fund for sovereign military technologies in Europe)
  • Ruya Ventures 🇬🇧: $50M (£37.7M) (first pre-seed VC fund, deep tech for lab-to-market, 20-company portfolio)

🔔IPO

  • CFC 🇬🇧 (Insurance): exploring a London IPO that could value it at over $6.7B.
  • Ennismore Lifestyle Group 🇫🇷 (Hospitality): Accor’s unit has lined up banks for a US IPO.
  • DIGI Spain Telecom 🇪🇸 (Telecom): set IPO price at €5.60/share, issuing €150M of new shares while Digi România sells €137M of existing stock, with a greenshoe that could lift total proceeds to ~€330M.
  • Zhipu 🇨🇳 (AI): seeking to raise $4B after its stock jumped 1,500% since its January Hong Kong listing.
  • Iluvatar CoreX 🇨🇳 (AI GPUs): considering an $800M Hong Kong share sale six months after its Hong Kong IPO.
  • Momenta 🇨🇳 (Autonomous driving): backed by GM and Toyota, raised $750M in its Hong Kong IPO and jumped 6% on debut.
  • SmartHR 🇯🇵 (HR): KKR-backed platform delayed its IPO after failing to convince investors of a $1B valuation.
  • SK Hynix 🇰🇷 (Semiconductors): raised $26.5B in a US IPO, the biggest foreign debut.
  • Foundation Healthcare 🇸🇬 (Healthcare): fell 8% after raising $187M in a Singapore IPO priced at the lower end of its marketed range.
  • Centrum 🇺🇿 (Logistics): preparing a London IPO.
  • Oman India Fertiliser 🇴🇲 (Fertiliser): jumped 23% after raising $680M in Oman’s biggest IPO this year.
  • Asyad Group 🇴🇲 (Shipping): plans to sell a 5% stake worth $190M in its shipping unit to lift the free float to 25%.

🧳 Debt

  • Aria 🇫🇷: raised €7M and launched a €240M debt facility to scale invoice financing.
  • QTS Realty Trust 🇺🇸: seeking $2B to repay debt and pay dividends to owner Blackstone.
  • OpenAI 🇺🇸: received a $520M credit line from Bank of America.
  • Aviation Capital Group 🇺🇸: signed a $1.48B unsecured term loan facility maturing July 2031. Amounts undrawn, to be drawn by Jan 2027.
  • Trinity Capital 🇺🇸: originated $709M of new commitments and funded $619M in Q2 2026.
  • Bangladesh 🇧🇩: exploring a debut overseas sovereign bond sale.

❌ Failures

  • Serta Simmons Bedding 🇺🇸: lenders from its 2020 restructuring were ordered to pay $260M in damages plus $142M in interest for excluding minority lenders.
  • Pacifica Hospital of the Valley 🇺🇸: filed for Chapter 11 after Covid-related financial losses and a dispute with lenders.

🎯 For a Few More Minutes…

  • 🇪🇸 Card Seats. CaixaBank 🇪🇸 is recycling expired bank cards into public benches for rural villages visited by its mobile branches, turning plastic into a place to wait. (FinExtra)
  • 🇵🇱 Swipe Right, Spy Night. Polish security experts warn that dating apps are increasingly used as « honey traps » by foreign intelligence services to target military, government, and ordinary users alike. (France Info)
  • 🇺🇸 Robo Sapiens. Hyundai’s new Metaplant in Georgia welcomes 120 robots and 160 automated vehicles, making the humans feel like guests in their own factory. (Le Monde)
  • 🇺🇸 Wake Up Call. NASA’s New Horizons probe, parked 9.5B km from Earth beyond Pluto, has emerged from 321 days of hibernation to resume its lonely mission. (Le Parisien)
  • 🇧🇷 Family Ties. Brazilian authorities rescued a 62-year-old woman in Fortaleza after 55 years of domestic servitude for three generations of the same family, who must now compensate her with an apartment and $10,000. (El Pais)

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