🔎 Looking for the Billion

Blink and your savings are gone.

A Free Lunch newsletter archive of July 1, 2026

Also available:🇫🇷 Édition française


🌍 All editions
🇬🇧 United Kingdom
🇺🇸 United States

Good morning!

Between 20 and 22 July, H2O Asset Management posts a final cheque of €135.7M and slides shut the drawers it opened 6 years ago, calling it an orderly liquidation with recovery reaching 358.2%. The figure earns the admiration owed to a croupier who deals himself a winning hand then tips his hat. That 358.2% is measured not against what savers put in but against the carcass the funds had become by August 2020, gorged on the illiquid debt of Lars Windhorst’s collapsing Tennor empire. Against the €1.64B the funds were worth at the start, the arithmetic turns grim: €614.8M handed back, 37.4% recovered, €1.03B evaporated.

The real sleight of hand came with the 2025 buyout. For €250M, holders of 79.54% of the assets surrendered every future claim against the whole apparatus: managers, depositaries, auditors, distributors. 75,000 forms, each posing one equation to a saver who, after 5 years, wanted a sliver back: take a fraction now and stay quiet, or wait and litigate. Most signed, and blaming them is difficult. France’s market regulator had already dropped €93M in record fines on the firm and its bosses, plus a 5-year ban on Bruno Crastes, upheld on final appeal in June 2025, which graciously ordered the loser to pay €3K in costs. A record sanction returns not a cent to the people it was meant to protect. It frames nicely on the wall.

H2O itself is thriving. It has rebranded the disaster a « reputational chapter, » a tender phrase for a vanished billion, and gone back to selling uncorrelated alpha to paying institutions. Crastes, barred from managing funds, resurfaced as director of corporate strategy, rather like barring a chef from the kitchen but leaving him the menu. The savers’ action, bankrolled by the funder Deminor, has been bundled out of the Paris commercial court to a suburban one in Bobigny, not by the plaintiffs but by the banking parents BPCE and Natixis, the firms that buyout was built to shield. 5 of the court’s merchant judges sat among the claimants, the presiding judge having shared the bench with one 28 times last year. The same flaw runs through nursing-home and meal-voucher scandals: a bench drawn from business, now and then forgetting that a judge should not also be a plaintiff. The saver’s prize is a reset that drags any verdict into the 2030s.

The 75,000 are not institutions. Many are retail savers handed the product by an adviser they trusted, some old enough that 2031 is less a date than a bet against the actuarial tables. They waited 6 years for a fraction of their savings, signed away their day in court, and now watch the trial they refused to trade slide toward a decade some will not live to see. For the people who paid for the loss, the only thing that liquidated on schedule was the right to be heard while it still mattered.

🔎 Looking for the Billion

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🗞️ Top Story

  • 🇬🇧 War Chestnuts. Keir Starmer unveils an extra £15B for UK defence, but warns the Ministry of Defence it cannot treat spending as a bottomless pit. (The Guardian)
  • 🇪🇺 Luck of the Irish. Ireland assumes the rotating Council presidency, landing in the hot seat as budget fights and digital euro debates heat up. (Handelsblatt)
  • 🇪🇺 Make Jobs, Not War. Europe’s surge in US arms orders now props up nearly 200,000 American defense jobs, a fact NATO’s Rutte is eager for Trump to notice. (Financial Times)
  • 🇲🇨 Blast and Furious. A package bomb injured three people in Monaco but authorities say it is not being treated as terrorism, with the suspect still on the run. (Boursier)
  • 🇺🇸 Second Guess. The Supreme Court has agreed to hear challenges to AR-15 bans in Illinois and Connecticut, setting up a major test for gun laws this fall. (New York Times)
  • 🇺🇸 Born Identity. The Supreme Court blocks Trump’s attempt to end birthright citizenship, ruling 6-3 that the Constitution guarantees citizenship to nearly all born on soil. (New York Times)
  • 🇺🇳 Rule Benders. The United Nations rewrites its own budget rules to dodge financial collapse after chronic nonpayment by the US and late checks from China. (Wall Street Journal)
🇬🇧 United Kingdom
  • 🇬🇧 Sideline Story. Angela Rayner, once tipped as Labour’s next leader, now finds herself excluded from Andy Burnham’s inner circle as he prepares for Number 10. (Financial Times)
  • 🇬🇧 Bullionaire. Nigel Farage pocketed £270,000 from Direct Bullion for his gold-pitching side gig, out-earning his MP salary in a single payment. (The Guardian)
  • 🇯🇲 Royal Appeal. Jamaica will send a delegation to London to present King Charles with an official reparations petition, seeking clarity on Britain’s role in slavery restitution. (The Guardian)
🇺🇸 United States
  • 🇺🇸 Royalty Treatment. Vice President J.D. Vance reported up to $7.4M in earnings last year, with most of the haul coming from “Hillbilly Elegy” book royalties and investments. (Wall Street Journal)
  • 🇺🇸 Heat of July. Over 60M Americans face record-breaking temperatures as an extreme heatwave grips the just in time for Independence Day celebrations. (Le Monde)
  • 🇺🇸 Midterm Mania. Trump pushes the Republican Party to hold an off-cycle convention in Dallas, proving he never met a spotlight he didn’t like. (New York Times)
  • 🇺🇸 Cell Blocked. Inmates at Bertie-Martin Regional Detention Center in North Carolina seized keys, took two guards hostage, and held the jail for hours before surrendering. (New York Times)
  • 🇺🇸 House Call. Representative Tom Kean Jr. ended 100 days of silence by revealing his absence was due to hospitalization for depression, returning to Congress with a public statement and a fundraising event on the same day. (New York Times)

🏛️ Economy

  • 🇫🇷 Cool Runnings. French inflation dropped to 2.0% in June, beating forecasts as lower energy costs helped cool price pressures faster than expected. (Wall Street Journal)
  • 🇪🇺 Bloc Party. The Mercosur summit in Paraguay exposed deep rifts over the trade deal, as President Peña slammed internal imbalances and demanded fairer benefits for all members. (Ouest-France)
  • 🇪🇺 Tax and the City. As the races to close a €2T budget, member states clash over new taxes on online betting, crypto, and tobacco, proving fiscal unity is always a gamble. (Libé)
  • 🇪🇺 Tax and Balance. As Ireland begins its Council term, it must lead on digital regulation while its own economy thrives on tech giants’ low-tax presence. (Ouest-France)
  • 🇪🇺 Sintra Confidence. Christine Lagarde tells the ECB retreat that Europe’s financial system is less exposed to external shocks, thanks to reforms and climate progress. (Bloomberg)
  • 🇺🇸 Shell Game. Executives from the top three egg producers allegedly conspired to keep egg prices high before Christmas, sending grocery bills soaring for millions. (Wall Street Journal)
  • 🇲🇽 Slim Chances. With billionaires like Carlos Slim thriving, Mexico faces mounting calls for a tax on the ultrarich to address its glaring wealth gap. (Le Monde)
  • 🇧🇷 Bean Counters. Arabica prices soared to their highest single-day gain in two years as Brazil’s supply outlook darkened, leaving traders and roasters scrambling. (Bloomberg)
  • 🌎 Deal or No Deal. Global mergers and acquisitions surged in the first half of 2024, pushing total deal value past $2.5T and keeping bankers busy. (Bloomberg)
  • 🌎 Millionaire Maker. UBS reports a record 950,000 new millionaires worldwide in 2025, with nearly half from the US and most wealth gains fueled by rising asset values. (Le Parisien)
  • 🇮🇷 Crude Awakening. The end of the US blockade lets Iran ship 40M barrels and charge 20% more, turning pent-up supply into a sudden profit surge. (Cnbc)
  • 🌍 Pump Peace. With the US and Iran agreeing to end hostilities, oil prices drop and inflation eases, letting governments and consumers finally exhale. (Les Echos)
🇬🇧 United Kingdom
  • 🇬🇧 Current Affairs. The UK energy price cap jumps by £220, pushing 13.5M households into fuel poverty as bills top 10% of income for millions. (The Guardian)
  • 🇬🇧 Track Record. UK MPs warn the £45B Northern Powerhouse Rail project could repeat HS2’s overruns and mismanagement, citing a lack of credible planning or cost control. (The Guardian)
  • 🇬🇧 Watt’s Up. Britain needs to invest £89B in its electricity network by 2030, NESO warns, or consumers will pay the price for outdated infrastructure. (Boursier)
🇺🇸 United States
  • 🇺🇸 Mood Swing. consumer confidence inched up to 91.2 in June, says The Conference Board, but Americans remain less optimistic than economists hoped. (Wall Street Journal)
  • 🇨🇦 Ticking Up. Canada’s GDP grew 0.5% in April, marking its strongest monthly gain in nine months and dousing immediate recession fears for now. (Wall Street Journal)

🏢 Real Estate

  • 🇬🇧 Square Footloose. Barclays 🇬🇧 drops £750M to purchase its 1M sq ft Canary Wharf headquarters outright, trading rent uncertainty for near-permanent residency. (Financial Times)
  • 🇬🇷 Falling Apart. A residential building collapsed in Athens near Petralona, prompting emergency searches for victims while construction work next door is under scrutiny. (France Info)
  • 🇸🇬 Flat Out. Singapore home prices rose again this quarter, but the rate of increase has flattened compared to recent surges. (Bloomberg)
🇺🇸 United States
  • 🇺🇸 Loss Angeles. A New York homeowner is listing a tiny property for $9M after pouring $16M into it, proving even real estate can shrink dreams. (Nypost)
  • 🇺🇸 Rent Quest. Los Angeles is offering generous incentives to attract a $1.7B affordable housing investment, hoping developers will finally answer the city’s call for relief. (Bloomberg)
  • 🇺🇸 House Edge. home prices rose 0.8% in April according to the Case-Shiller index, nudging higher even as affordability keeps buyers cautious. (Wall Street Journal)

🔗 On-chain

  • 🇬🇧 Leverage Lost. Binance 🇨🇳 and Changpeng Zhao face a £150M UK lawsuit from 1,692 investors who claim the exchange pushed unauthorized leveraged crypto products and caused heavy losses. (Financial Times)
  • 🇫🇷 Crypto Guard. France’s Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez pledges tighter security for cryptocurrency professionals after 77 attacks or attempted attacks this year, a sharp rise from 2025. (Le Figaro)
  • 🇪🇺 Exit Scam. From July 1, just 244 crypto groups can legally serve clients, while Binance and 1,700 others are shown the door by the bloc’s new licensing regime. (Financial Times)
  • 🇺🇸 Coin of the Realm. President Trump reported over $1B in crypto earnings for 2025, with $635M from a meme coin and $500M from his sons’ firm, outshining his real estate empire. (Bbc)
  • 🇺🇸 Plastic Fantastic. Visa, Mastercard, and Google join over 140 firms to launch Open USD, a stablecoin targeting business users with no-cost minting and a partner-run model, shaking Circle’s dominance. (FinExtra)

💱 Listed Markets

  • 🇬🇧 Screen Test. Paramount’s deal to sell its UK assets to Warner Bros. Discovery faces a possible government intervention as regulators worry about media concentration. (Bloomberg)
  • 🇪🇺 Talk Different. Apple’s Tim Cook met virtually with the EU’s Henna Virkkunen to hash out how Siri AI might enter Europe without violating competition rules or racking up penalties. (Financial Times)
  • 🇺🇸 Gray Matters. Ford 🇺🇸 rehired nearly 350 veteran engineers after its AI-driven quality controls failed to match human expertise, proving experience is not just a data point. (Le Parisien)
  • 🇺🇸 Just Dot It (Later). Nike 🇺🇸 reported another drop in quarterly sales as sluggish demand in China keeps tripping up its global performance, but executives insist this was all part of the plan. (Wall Street Journal)
  • 🇺🇸 Next of Fin. The largest intergenerational wealth transfer in history is underway, forcing Wall Street to chase Gen Z and millennial heirs who prefer crypto and startups over classic banking. (Financial Times)
  • 🇺🇸 Chip Happens. Micron, Intel, and AMD added a staggering $2T in market value last quarter as investors chased AI gains beyond Nvidia, tripling their stock prices in the process. (Cnbc)
  • 🇺🇸 Prime Offset. Amazon 🇺🇸 agrees to buy half the carbon credits from the Bacon Tree reforestation project, adding a green badge to its delivery empire. (Bloomberg)
🇺🇸 United States
  • 🇺🇸 Loan Survivor. Shares of Sable 🇺🇸 plunged 55% after the oil driller revealed it is struggling to repay a major loan from Exxon 🇺🇸, leaving investors with little comfort. (Bloomberg)

🛎️ Big Deals (M&A)

  • Triton Partners 🇬🇧 to acquire Bureau Veritas 🇫🇷’s petroleum, petrochemical and coal activities. Those activities generated ~€450M revenue in 2025.
  • Rio Tinto 🇬🇧 agrees new financial terms with Oyu Tolgoi 🇲🇳 for the $18B copper mine project. Cuts management fees by 50% and reduces loan interest rate by 2.5 percentage points.
  • CVC 🇬🇧 acquires Clevertech 🇮🇹 (acquisition of the industrial automated packaging company).
  • Bridgepoint 🇬🇧 acquires Kayne Anderson Real Estate 🇺🇸 for $1.4B, bringing the investment firm’s assets to $117B.
  • Schneider Electric 🇫🇷 acquires Cognite 🇳🇴 for $3.1B, an industrial-AI firm.
  • Ipsen 🇫🇷 acquires Memo Therapeutics AG 🇨🇭 for an initial €200M, plus milestone payments up to €700M+, centered on potravitug, a phase II antibody targeting BKPyV.
  • CMA CGM 🇫🇷 nears $1.4B acquisition of FedEx Supply Chain 🇺🇸, FedEx’s third-party logistics unit, in cash. Deal could be announced soon and includes freight-forwarding partnerships.
  • Axel Springer 🇩🇪 acquires Telegraph Media Group 🇬🇧 for £575m, taking control of the 171‑year‑old newspaper titles in a media-sector deal.
  • Lufthansa 🇩🇪 to acquire a minority stake in TAP 🇵🇹 as part of TAP’s 49% $1.7B privatization, preparing a rival bid to Air France-KLM.
  • Rainer Abicht Elbreederei 🇩🇪 acquires Gregors 🇩🇪. Gregors will continue as a brand, Rainer Abicht operates >40 ships and ~200 employees.
  • Gin 🇮🇹 acquires Sae (Sapere Aude Editori), owner of Il Tirreno 🇮🇹 in a binding agreement for the 100% cessione.
  • Eni 🇮🇹 and XRG 🇦🇪 (ADNOC investment unit) agree to buy 32% stakes in an LNG production and export project in Argentina from YPF 🇦🇷
  • Aikido 🇧🇪 acquires Root 🇧🇪 for $50M+ in a cybersecurity deal, the scale‑up’s fourth acquisition in short order.
  • Consortium around Wouter Vandenhaute 🇧🇪 seeks to acquire Royal Antwerp FC 🇧🇪, with Toby Alderweireld among minority investors.
  • Ambea 🇸🇪 makes a recommended public offer for Humana 🇸🇪 at a $305M valuation.
  • Söderberg & Partners 🇸🇪 acquires Benchmark Capital 🇬🇧 for more than £200mn, a financial planning arm overseeing £36.9bn AUM as Sweden-based Söderberg expands in the UK and is backed by KKR and TA Associates.
  • Digmatix 🇱🇻 acquires Elian Solutions 🇷🇴 and its subsidiary Elian Development Systems 🇷🇴 for €6M, a deal involving Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central expertise, with BT Capital Partners and Oaklins Baltics as M&A advisors.
  • CVC 🇱🇺 acquires Irca 🇮🇹 from PE firm Advent 🇺🇸.
  • Msc 🇨🇭 acquires 49% of Vizhinjam International Seaport 🇮🇳 for $1.4B, a high‑draft container transshipment port in Kerala.
  • Joby Aviation 🇺🇸 and Toyota Motor 🇯🇵 form joint venture Joby Toyota Aero Manufacturing Preparation Company (JTAMPC) 🇯🇵 to produce the S4 Series. Joby owns 49% and Toyota 51%, exclusive manufacturing rights and royalty-free IP license, board with two Joby and three Toyota directors. Joby’s six-rotor eVTOL tested point-to-point flights in NYC.
  • Paramount 🇺🇸 acquires Warner Bros Discovery 🇺🇸 for $110B. Lisa Nandy ‘minded to’ ask UK regulators to assess the mega-merger covering Channel 5, CNN, TNT Sports, Paramount+ and HBO Max.
  • Digital Realty 🇺🇸 acquires Blackstone 🇺🇸’s majority stake in three fully leased Virginia data centres for $7.8B, in a Northern Virginia data‑centre transaction.
  • USD.AI 🇺🇸 partners with BSQ Capital Partners 🇸🇬 to form a joint venture to provide senior secured, GPU-backed financing across Asia‑Pacific targeting up to $300M initially, with a path to $1B.
  • Jana 🇺🇸 builds a bigger stake in Alkami 🇺🇸 and pushes for a sale.
  • Martin Marietta Materials 🇺🇸 merges with Lhoist North America 🇺🇸 in a $13.5B cash-and-stock deal, including debt.
  • Carlisle 🇺🇸 makes multiple unsolicited offers for Owens Corning 🇺🇸 that could result in a $10B+ cash-and-stock deal.
  • Rocket Lab Corp. 🇺🇸 acquires Iridium Communications 🇺🇸 in an $8B cash-and-stock transaction.
  • San Mateo Midstream 🇺🇸 (Matador Resources’ midstream JV) acquires Cardinal Midstream Partners 🇺🇸’s operating units for $752M cash.
  • Verizon 🇺🇸 merges its international business with BT Group 🇬🇧 into a joint venture, with Verizon making a $625M equalization payment.
  • KKR 🇺🇸 invests in SK Renewable Assets 🇰🇷 to form a $1.3B platform.
  • Martis Capital 🇺🇸 acquires a majority stake in Deerfield Group 🇺🇸, a healthcare marketing, communications and media agency. Founders retain significant ownership and Deerfield has grown revenue >30% annually since 2017.
  • Alcoa 🇺🇸 acquires South32 🇦🇺’s bauxite, alumina and aluminum operations across Australia, Brazil and South Africa in a cash-and-stock deal valued at up to $5.6B.
  • Authentic Brands Group 🇺🇸 acquires Care Bears 🇺🇸 from private-equity firms IVEST Consumer Partners and Cloverlay. Care Bears is run by Cloudco Entertainment and is on track for $750M+ in retail sales this year, while Authentic’s IP generates over $36B in annual retail sales.
  • Jana Partners 🇺🇸 builds a new stake in Everpure 🇺🇸, accumulating more than 1 million shares and expected to disclose the holding in a regulatory filing.
  • Zymeworks 🇨🇦 to acquire respiratory-focused Theravance Biopharma 🇺🇸 for $930M cash.
  • Great-West Lifeco Inc. 🇨🇦 acquires Milliman Inc. 🇺🇸 for $340M, buying its retirement plan and benefits administration business. Adds about $130B in client assets and 1.5M participants, with ~$20M in cost synergies and ~$50M integration costs, expected to close in H2.
  • Bank of Montreal 🇨🇦 acquires Euroz Hartleys Group Ltd (capital markets unit) 🇦🇺 for A$145M ($142M), a Perth-based metals and mining-focused equity capital markets, M&A and strategic advisory business.
  • Industries Gould 🇨🇦 acquires a Mississippi factory 🇺🇸 for $20M, quadrupling production capacity and adding 100,000+ sq ft connected by CN rail.
  • Coles 🇦🇺 in talks to acquire Greencross 🇦🇺, a pet shop and vet business.
  • Emirates NBD 🇦🇪 is in talks to buy HSBC’s Turkey unit 🇹🇷.

🧳 Private Markets & VC

  • 🇫🇷 Quantum Leap. Crédit Agricole CIB 🇫🇷 and startup Pasqal 🇫🇷 are deepening their partnership to bring quantum computing into real-world finance, aiming for operational use by 2028. (Maddyness)
  • 🇵🇱 Seed Money. Polish hardware startup Ora Computing lands €3.5M from Accel, ElevenLabs, and Vercel’s CEO, making early-stage funding look easy in Eastern Europe. (Therecursive)
  • 🇪🇺 Risky Business. KKR 🇺🇸 is in talks with major UK and European insurers to break into pension risk transfers, aiming for joint ventures instead of full takeovers. (Financial Times)
  • 🇪🇺 Exit Fee. France pushes to keep the UK out of the €5B Scaleup Europe Fund, and European founders are not applauding the move. (Sifted)
  • 🇺🇸 Model Behavior. The Trump administration has lifted export controls on Anthropic’s Claude Fable 5 and Mythos 5, letting the AI models return to global users after weeks of regulatory drama. (Cnbc)
  • 🇺🇸 Blast from the Past. After a New Glenn rocket exploded in May, Blue Origin shifts to a redesigned launchpad, aiming to fly again before 2027 arrives. (Cnbc)
  • 🇯🇵 Basic Instincts. Uniqlo aims to overtake H&M and Zara with its minimalist LifeWear, betting that global shoppers want quality basics over fast fashion drama. (Financial Times)
  • 🇮🇳 Value Proposition. Indian investment bank Equirus is reportedly weighing a fundraising round that would value the firm at $600M, because unicorn dreams never go out of style. (Bloomberg)

Fundraising

  • LeapXpert 🇺🇸 (Communications): $180M (Riverwood Capital, Portage Ventures)
  • Dominion Dynamics 🇨🇦 (Defence): $139M CAD (Georgian, Valor Equity Partners, Expeditions, Lakestar, OMERS, Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC), Royal Bank of Canada (RBC), Deloitte Ventures (Canada), JDY Capital, British Columbia Investment Management Corporation (BCI), Bessemer Venture Partners, Garage Capital, Golden Ventures, Silent Ventures)
  • 8090 🇺🇸 (AI): $135M (Salesforce, WNDR, Craft Ventures, TPB, LAUNCH, Nikesh Arora, Cliff Robbins, Adam D’Angelo, Shyam Ravindran, Thomas Laffont, Abhi Arun)
  • Openchip 🇪🇸 (Semiconductors): €115M
  • Reed Semiconductor 🇺🇸 (Semiconductor): $100M
  • Premier Lacrosse League (PLL) 🇺🇸 (Sports): $100M (Ares, Joe Tsai, ESPN, Glen Powell, Rob McElhenney, Warren Zeiders, Tony Cavalero, Creator Sports Capital, Next 3, FirstTracks Sports Ventures, Jed Hart, West End Investment Management, James Young, Bolt Ventures, Chris Shumway, others)
  • Higharc 🇺🇸 (Proptech): $95M (Insight Partners, Wellington Management, Fifth Wall, Spark Capital, Lux Capital, SE Ventures, Simpson Strong-Tie, PSP Partners, RXR Arden Digital Ventures, Suffolk Technologies, Vertex Ventures, NC Tweener Fund, MetaProp)
  • 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)
  • Straiker 🇺🇸 (Cybersecurity): $64M (Marathon Management Partners, Citi Ventures, Illuminate Ventures, Workday Ventures, Bain Capital Ventures, Lightspeed Venture Partners)
  • Stathera 🇨🇦 (Semiconductor): $55M (Maverick Silicon, Celesta Capital, BDC Capital, MediaTek Innovation Fund, TXC Corporation, Ultratech Capital Partners)
  • Allium 🇺🇸 (Blockchain): $40M (Amplify Partners, Kleiner Perkins, Theory Ventures)
  • Nebex 🇺🇸 (Space): $30M
  • MDOTM 🇺🇸 (Fintech): $27M
  • Taxwire 🇺🇸 (Taxtech): $25M (Headline Ventures, XYZ VC, Vinyl, Recall Capital, Nomo Ventures)
  • Theo 🇩🇪 (PropTech): €25M (Insight Partners, BlackRock)
  • Gaussion 🇬🇧 (Energy): €24.5M (BGF, AlbionVC, Autotech Ventures, UCL Technology Fund, DN)
  • Pie 🇺🇸 (AI): $19.5M (Lightspeed Venture Partners, Capital One Ventures, SciFi VC, F-Prime, Commerce Ventures, WEX Venture Capital, existing investors)
  • Tetrix 🇺🇸 (Fintech): $15M (White Star Capital, Innovation Endeavors, angel investors)
  • Queue 🇺🇸 (Healthcare): $12.6M (AlleyCorp, House Capital, Ubiquity Ventures, Grep Ventures, Banter Capital)
  • Six Robotics 🇳🇴 (Robotics): €12M
  • Pocket 🇵🇱 (AI): $11M (Accel, Y Combinator, Silicon Valley angel investors, Mati Staniszewski)
  • Proception 🇺🇸 (Robotics): $11M
  • BR-DGE 🇬🇧 (Payments): £10M
  • Arcturus 🇺🇸 (Advanced materials): $8M (Initialized Capital, 1517, Breakthrough Energy Discovery, Toyota Ventures, Wireframe Ventures)
  • Pictor Holdings Inc. 🇺🇸 (Biotech): $7.5M
  • Hypefy AI 🇭🇷 (Marketing): $7.2M (AYMO Ventures, Interactive Venture Partners, Oktogon Ventures, Euroventures)
  • Wultra 🇨🇿 (Cybersecurity): €6.8M
  • Lucida AI 🇬🇧 (Speech AI): €6.1M (Velocity Capital, Next Tier Ventures)
  • Altillion 🇺🇸 (Cleantech): $5M (EIC Rose Rock, Flathead Forge)
  • Epitome Therapeutics 🇦🇹 (BioTech): €4M
  • Maple Aviation 🇩🇪 (Healthcare): €4M (Bayern Kapital, ES Kapital, Rüdiger Schmidt, Stefan Eishold, Martin Giese (Cambridge Ventures), Bernd Bäzner, other Superangels)
  • GenerativeX 🇺🇸 (AI): $4M (Nissay Capital, Salesforce Ventures, Angel Bridge, DeepCore, SMBC Venture Capital)
  • Neuronostics 🇬🇧 (Medtech): £3m

Fund Watch

  • Ardian 🇫🇷: $3.4B+
  • Ares 🇺🇸: $1.7B (2nd Asia private credit fund, seeking >$1.7B)
  • JATT II 🇺🇸: $285M (merger vehicle, taking Talawar Therapeutics public)
  • Harpoon Ventures 🇺🇸: $155M (Fund IV, oversubscribed early-stage VC for critical technologies)
  • P101 🇮🇹: €100M (Prana101, Pre-Seed & Seed fund, currently raising)
  • Tapestry VC 🇺🇸: $80M (new fund, backing repeat founders in Europe)
  • Osney Capital 🇬🇧: €69M (debut fund, cybersecurity Seed fund)

🔔IPO

  • The AA 🇬🇧 (Roadside): pivoting to a London IPO that could value the business at roughly £5bn.
  • Bending Spoons 🇮🇹 (Media): backers raised $1.68B in an IPO as Vimeo’s parent.
  • HAY2 Socimi 🇪🇸 (Foncière): valorisée 230M€ sur Euronext Access après une cotation directe avec prix de référence à 38,40€.
  • KNDS 🇳🇱 (Defence): seeking at least a €12.5B valuation for a planned Amsterdam IPO after earlier talk of €18–20B.
  • ArcelorMittal 🇱🇺 (Steel): completed a first tranche repurchasing 10M shares (~€493.2M) at an average €49.32 and launched a second tranche of up to 10M shares.
  • Securitize 🇺🇸 (Crypto): set to list on the NYSE as SECZ on July 2, 2026 after merging with Cantor Equity Partners II.
  • Honeywell Aerospace 🇺🇸 (Aerospace): spun off from Honeywell, no IPO amount disclosed.
  • Comcast 🇺🇸 (Media): plans to spin off NBCUniversal and Sky into a new company.
  • Lime 🇺🇸 (Micromobility): raised $167M in its IPO, valuing the parent at about $1.6B (could rise to ~$200M with greenshoe).
  • CopperTech Metals 🇺🇸 (Mining): delayed a IPO that was aiming to raise more than $400M at about a $3.5B valuation.

🧳 Debt

  • World Bank 🇺🇸: approved $750M to back Kenya.
  • Morgan Stanley 🇺🇸: sold $350M of investment-grade bonds from a private credit fund.
  • Summit Hotel Properties 🇺🇸: completed a $650M senior unsecured credit facility refinancing.
  • Yes Bank 🇮🇳: will raise $1.7B a debt and equity sale.
  • Nigeria 🇳🇬: preparing a eurobond sale.

❌ Failures

  • Atom Bank 🇬🇧: the BBVA- and Toscafund-backed digital bank is on the brink after failing to secure takeover bids at an $800M valuation.
  • Les Echos–Le Parisien 🇫🇷: the group plans to cut 61 full-time positions (37 at Les Echos, 24 at Le Parisien), sparing the newsrooms.
  • Duralex 🇫🇷: placed in redressement judiciaire with 243 jobs at stake. Ex-CEO François Marciano intends to submit a continuity plan.
  • Bohai Trimet 🇩🇪: the insolvent auto supplier will close its Sömmerda plant, affecting ~100 jobs after filing insolvency in April 2025 and putting over 1,000 regional jobs at risk.
  • Mister Spex 🇩🇪: closes its Berlin logistics and production center, cutting 125 jobs and aiming to save millions under CEO Tobias Krauss.
  • Bit2Me 🇪🇸: proposed a collective layoff of 25 employees (~20% of its workforce) amid crypto-market uncertainty.
  • Bloobirds 🇪🇸: entered voluntary insolvency after raising €6.8M but accumulating €9M losses with only ~€400k annual sales.
  • Digmi 🇸🇪: the SaaS startup for hair salons filed for bankruptcy after failing to scale.
  • GoldenPeaks 🇪🇺: the bankrupt energy firm that borrowed $1.5B for European solar projects is facing collapse as Berenberg and Brookfield fight over its future.
  • Groupe E 🇨🇭: will cut 22–31 jobs (12–16 managerial) to save CHF 7M/yr while planning CHF 2B investment in the energy transition.
  • TPx 🇺🇸: filed for bankruptcy and is considering a roughly $1B debt haircut.
  • Microsoft 🇺🇸: planning to cut under 2.5% of its ~228,000 workforce (under ~5,700 jobs).
  • Dish DBS 🇺🇸: filed for Chapter 11 after a deal to sell spectrum to AT&T was held up, with a prepackaged plan backed by 88% of its bondholders.
  • Ethiopia 🇪🇹: the country agreed to restructure a defaulted $1B international bond.

🎯 For a Few More Minutes…

  • 🇩🇪 Goal Distraction. German national media quickly shifted focus from a mass shooting in Stade to mourning the World Cup exit, proving football still trumps tragedy. (New York Times)
  • 🇮🇹 Press Charges. Four suspects have been arrested near Naples for the October car bombing targeting investigative journalist Sigfrido Ranucci, whose reporting on the mafia has made him a perennial target. (Le Monde)
  • 🇫🇮 Off the Hook. Finland has finally disconnected its traditional fixed-line phone service, joining the digital age and retiring a network first switched on in the 1880s. (Le Parisien)
  • 🇺🇸 Colossal Miss. André Ricciardi, adman and eternal provocateur, skipped his colonoscopy and turned his terminal cancer into a Sundance-winning documentary on regret and defiant humor. (France Info)
  • 🇮🇱 Jet Set Go. An Airbus flying from Warsaw to Tel Aviv sent a false hijack signal, leading Israel to deploy fighter jets for a crisis that never was. (Spiegel)

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