🥪 Lunchbox Swap
When the big kid shares, check the expiry date.
Good morning!
SpaceX told the satellite industry last week that it will take no more Falcon 9 bookings for flights after 2028, and it has shut the rideshare service that let startups buy a slot on a rocket the way backpackers buy a bus ticket. Days earlier, Gwynne Shotwell said Crew Dragon, the only American capsule currently flying astronauts, would eventually be wound down so that Boeing could "have some business". The generosity is touching. Boeing has lost more than $2B on Starliner, whose only crewed test left two astronauts parked on the space station for nine months until a Dragon came to collect them.
In the second quarter, rockets brought in $962M of SpaceX's $7.8B revenue and lost $542M doing it. Starlink made $4.3B and was the only segment in profit. The AI division, a bundle of xAI, X and a cloud business, earned $2.56B, lost $1.26B and swallowed $15.8B of the quarter's $18.4B in capital spending. Mars was demoted in February in favour of a lunar city, announced by a man who a year earlier had called the Moon "a distraction". Musk changes destinations the way a tour operator reprints its brochures, and the June IPO, the largest on record at $135 a share, was sold on the AI story.
Musk deserves the ridicule for the brochures, much less for the arithmetic. A listed company valued at about 85 times sales that starves a loss-making sideline to feed the division its shareholders bought is doing what its prospectus promised. SpaceX never signed a public service charter. Washington built its dependence on one supplier unaided, and has just paid $946M for three more Dragon flights while lining up two more from Boeing, whose capsule needs a new rocket since only six Atlas Vs remain. Europe, laughed at for a decade over Ariane's leisurely pace, signed €543.6M of launcher contracts in August, and Isar Aerospace reached orbit on 5 September.
The epigones Europe built to clone SpaceX may end up serving the customers SpaceX no longer wants, which beats the business plan they started with. For 15 years, operators of weather satellites, university cubesats and startups with three engineers were told that orbit had become a commodity, and they planned their constellations around a timetable owned by one man. Commodities do not get withdrawn because the supplier found a shinier product. Favours do. If NASA's plan holds, the crews flying after 2030 will ride in a capsule whose last crewed test ended with its passengers hitching a lift home from the competitor. Next time, the competitor will have left the business.
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🗞️ Top Story
- 🇫🇷 Aid and Abet. French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu promises fuel subsidies and energy checks to calm mass protests, but also unveils €54B in spending cuts just months before elections. (El Pais)
- 🇺🇸 Immunity Idol. Saudi Arabia argues for sovereign immunity as New York's top court weighs whether 9/11 families can finally bring their case to trial after 22 years. (BBC)
- 🇧🇷 Family Feud. Thousands march through Rio to protest Flavio Bolsonaro's presidential bid, fearing a return to hardline politics and another Bolsonaro era. (Le Temps)
- 🇨🇳 Silent Partner. Chinese blogger Feng Rui, known as Xiao Wu, has been detained after years of documenting labor conditions, confirming Beijing's ongoing crackdown on worker rights activists. (Libé)
- 🇹🇭 Memory Hole. Fifty years after the Thammasat massacre, opposition MP Anusorn Tamajai calls for an end to coups in Thailand as the elite avoids reckoning with its violent past. (Le Monde)
- 🇪🇬 Silence of the Press. The entire Matsadaash newsroom faces terrorism charges after Egyptian prosecutors allege foreign-funded misinformation, sending a chilling message to journalists questioning the government. (Le Monde)
- 🇪🇷 Axis of Feasible. As war in Iran and Houthi attacks disrupt the Red Sea, Eritrea’s dictatorship suddenly finds itself courted by the US and other powers for its strategic coastline. (Le Parisien)
🇬🇧 United Kingdom
- 🇬🇧 Remote Control. George Galloway is running for parliament in Holborn and St Pancras without setting foot in the UK, campaigning entirely from self-imposed exile in Russia. (The Guardian)
- 🇬🇧 Budget Squeeze. Chancellor John Healey’s fiscal headroom shrinks by nearly £12B after the Iran war, leaving tax rises and spending cuts back on the table. (Financial Times)
- 🇬🇧 Margin Call. Revised data and higher costs mean John Healey faces shrinking fiscal headroom as the OBR prepares to lower growth and raise debt forecasts. (Financial Times)
🇺🇸 United States
- 🇺🇸 Return to Sender. IRS veteran Brian Visalli sues the agency, alleging it disclosed his confidential tax information to punish him for criticizing its lax pursuit of corporate tax cheats. (New York Times)
🏛️ Economy
- 🇬🇧 Rate Escape. The UK Court of Appeal has quashed the convictions of five former Barclays bankers jailed for manipulating benchmark interest rates, rewriting a key chapter of the post-crisis blame game. (BBC)
- 🇫🇷 Looped In. France’s economy is stalled by a vicious cycle where fears about its debt make growth even harder to achieve, trapping policymakers in their own feedback. (Wall Street Journal)
- 🇬🇷 Power Couple. The US and Greece announce unprecedented defense and energy cooperation, with Athens buying more F-35s and both sides touting their alliance as stronger than ever. (Le Monde)
- 🇪🇺 Paywall of Europe. The Parliament aims to raise its budget by €200B, targeting digital titans and crypto profits for cash, with Romania set to gain €6B more. (Startupcafe)
- 🇪🇺 Hybrid Theory. The plans to cap imports of Chinese hybrid cars, aiming to shield its auto industry from a €1B-per-day trade deficit with China. (Bloomberg)
- 🇳🇴 Private Eyes. Norway’s government proposes the world’s first national ban on AI smart glasses in sensitive public spaces, putting Meta and rivals on notice before the tech goes mainstream. (Financial Times)
- 🇺🇸 Yield Signs. Kristalina Georgieva of the IMF urges global leaders to rein in spending after bond yields spike, making debt more expensive and fiscal choices even tougher. (Financial Times)
- 🇺🇸 Deposit Disruption. Automated AI tools may soon nudge savers to demand higher yields, putting $500B of bank equity at risk and making passive banking a thing of the past. (Financial Times)
- 🇺🇸 Private Practice. The SEC's Republican commissioners back proposals to let ordinary Americans invest in private equity and venture funds, opening a once-exclusive club to the masses. (Agefi)
- 🇺🇸 Terminated by Algorithm. California outlaws firings based solely on AI decisions, insisting humans must actually participate in the process of letting people go. (Breakit)
- 🇸🇻 Rain Delay. Facing record drought from El Niño, El Salvador passes a food security plan after crops are already hit, prompting opposition claims of government foot-dragging. (Le Temps)
🇬🇧 United Kingdom
- 🇬🇧 Heir Supply. Kemi Badenoch proposes slashing inheritance tax, a move that would redirect £6B to the wealthiest families while the Treasury foots the bill. (The Guardian)
🇺🇸 United States
- 🇺🇸 Passive Aggressive. After probing the Exxon board shakeup, the SEC tells asset managers to stop acting like activists or risk losing their regulatory privileges. (Financial Times)
- 🇺🇸 Bond Spiral. Mortgage convexity trading pressures investors to dump Treasuries as yields climb, fueling a feedback loop that worsens bond routs just when nerves are frayed. (Financial Times)
- 🇺🇸 Barrel Roll. crude oil inventories fell by 3.2M barrels last week, confounding analyst forecasts of a 1.7M barrel increase and catching the market off guard. (Wall Street Journal)
- 🇺🇸 Tax and the City. Union leader Dave Regan wants California’s richest to fund health care with a new wealth tax, aiming to turn a local fight into a national campaign. (Bloomberg)
🏢 Real Estate
- 🇪🇸 Home Truths. Maricarmen Abascal, the 87-year-old whose eviction ignited Spain's housing protests and political crisis, has died according to the Madrid Tenants' Union. Her story forced a national reckoning, but change arrived too late for her. (BBC)
- 🇺🇸 Love All, Sell All. Tennis legend John McEnroe lists his Malibu beachfront villa for $35M, trading Pacific waves for New York courtside seats and city life. (Le Parisien)
🇬🇧 United Kingdom
- 🇬🇧 House Arrest. Surging mortgage costs have trapped UK buyers on the sidelines, with prices and sales falling and estate agents reporting a sharp drop in demand. (Financial Times)
- 🇬🇧 Exit Strategy. Billionaires are leaving London and luxury home buyers are now demanding steep discounts, turning the city’s prime property market into a buyer’s playground. (Bloomberg)
🇺🇸 United States
- 🇺🇸 High and Dry. Mortgage rates in the are now at a three-year peak, and would-be buyers are stepping back as affordability evaporates. (CNBC)
🔗 On-chain
- 🇺🇸 Fundz Down. A Florida judge orders Brian Early and Alisha Ann Kingrey to pay over $30M for allegedly defrauding 9,000 people in a crypto and metals scam, according to the CFTC. (Bloomberg)
- 🇺🇸 Perpetual Motion. Kalshi 🇺🇸 has asked the CFTC to approve a never-expiring oil futures contract, promising traders endless action if regulators give the green light. (Bloomberg)
💱 Listed Markets
- 🇬🇧 Pump Fiction. Shell 🇬🇧 expects its refineries to nearly double profit margins to $42 per barrel, thanks to global fuel shortages and record-high pump prices. The oil giant is set to cash in while consumers pay the price. (The Guardian)
- 🇩🇪 Driven Down. Mercedes-Benz 🇩🇪 reported an 8% drop in car sales for Q3 as weak demand in China erased gains in Europe and the US. (Wall Street Journal)
- 🇺🇸 Rate Expectations. Gold prices hover near a nine-week low at $4,110 an ounce as investors brace for a possible rate hike by year-end. (Bloomberg)
- 🇺🇸 Apple Turnover. Apple 🇺🇸 CEO Tim Cook offloaded $63.9M in stock following a performance-based vesting, reminding everyone that even the boss likes to take profits. (Webrazzi)
- 🇺🇸 Risky Business. A congressional panel says trading platform Webull 🇺🇸 has deep ties to the Chinese government, sending its stock down 18% as the company cries foul. (CNBC)
- 🇯🇵 Bubble Trouble. The Nikkei and Topix both slid as renewed inflation worries, sparked by stubborn oil prices, knocked Japanese cyclical stocks off their winning streak. (Bloomberg)
🇬🇧 United Kingdom
- 🇬🇧 Credit Crunch. Arini Capital Management’s flagship hedge fund has plunged nearly 16 percent this year after a series of bad bets on distressed corporate debt, turning last year’s high-flyer into 2024’s cautionary tale. (Financial Times)
- 🇬🇧 Rent Control. Palantir 🇺🇸 secured another £5M from the UK to keep running the Homes for Ukraine platform, as ministers scramble to build their own system and fend off criticism over tech dependence. (Financial Times)
🛎️ Big Deals (M&A)
- Opus 2 🇬🇧 has agreed to acquire Cork-based legal-tech company Bundledocs 🇮🇪.
- Kortext 🇬🇧 has acquired edtech platform StudyStash 🇬🇧.
- Informa 🇬🇧 has agreed to acquire events business Clarion 🇬🇧 from Blackstone 🇺🇸 for $3B, including debt.
- Frasers Group 🇬🇧 acquires an 8.8% stake in Under Armour 🇺🇸.
- Trade Nation 🇬🇧 has agreed to acquire the UK client portfolio of Stratos Markets Limited 🇬🇧, which operates as FXCM and Tradu in the UK. The transfer is expected to be completed by the end of November.
- Shares 🇫🇷 has completed the acquisition of banking-as-a-service and payments platform Treezor 🇫🇷 from Société Générale 🇫🇷.
- Personio 🇩🇪 has acquired Berlin-based fintech Circula 🇩🇪, a travel-expense and expense-management software provider.
- SAP 🇩🇪 has agreed to acquire Belgian AI workforce startup TechWolf 🇧🇪 in a deal expected to close in Q4.
- The Dutch government 🇳🇱 plans to cut its stake in ABN Amro 🇳🇱 to 10.5% from 20.7%. The lender welcomes the move.
- STRABAG Property and Facility Services 🇦🇹 has received regulatory approval to acquire Brenneka Install 🇷🇴 and Samivo Instal 🇷🇴, with the two Romanian building-services companies generating €25.5M in combined 2025 revenue.
- Draycott 🇵🇹 will acquire ECS 🇵🇹 from hedge fund Davidson Kempner 🇺🇸.
- Impecta Fröhandel 🇸🇪 has completed the acquisition of bankrupt e-commerce company Wexthuset 🇸🇪 from its bankruptcy estate on October 5, 2026.
- Cris-Tim 🇷🇴 has agreed to acquire Via Trend Ready Meals 🇷🇴 and its subsidiary Snack 4U Concept 🇷🇴 for an undisclosed amount, subject to closing conditions by the end of November 2026.
- CVC 🇱🇺 raised its offer to take private Recordati 🇮🇹 to $11.8B.
- Euroleague 🇪🇺 rejected the NBA’s 🇺🇸 merger offer to create NBA Europe.
- Paramount Skydance 🇺🇸 has completed its $110B acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery 🇺🇸.
- Blue Duck 🇺🇸 is pushing Snap 🇺🇸, valued at $10B, to raise capital by selling a stake in its nascent Specs unit.
- Blackstone 🇺🇸, Bain Capital 🇺🇸, and Warburg Pincus 🇺🇸 are preparing final bids for the real estate unit of Fuji Media 🇯🇵, which could fetch $6.3B.
- McKesson 🇺🇸 and CD&R 🇺🇸 to acquire infusion services provider Option Care Health 🇺🇸 for $5.8B including debt.
- Energy Transfer 🇺🇸 has agreed to acquire Vaquero Midstream 🇺🇸 for $2.63B in cash and stock.
- Uber 🇺🇸 will acquire catering firm ezCater 🇺🇸 for $2.3B in cash.
- Seagate Technology 🇺🇸 and Toshiba 🇯🇵 are competing to acquire TDK 🇯🇵's magnetic-heads business for hard-disk drives, potentially valued at several billion dollars.
- BDT & MSD Partners 🇺🇸 will acquire a majority stake in luxury senior-housing operator Sunrise Senior Living 🇺🇸 for $1B.
- AT&T 🇺🇸 will form a fiber joint venture with Global Infrastructure Partners 🇺🇸 and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board 🇨🇦.
- Nasdaq Ventures 🇺🇸 has made a strategic investment in One Trading 🇪🇺, a derivatives and digital assets exchange.
- Emera 🇨🇦 has agreed to acquire Canadian Utilities 🇨🇦 for $10B in an all-stock deal.
- Fotovat family 🇨🇦 re-acquired a minority stake in Riverside Natural Foods 🇨🇦 from Prelude Growth Partners at a $1B valuation.
- Wittington Investments 🇨🇦 has agreed to acquire Boots 🇬🇧 from Sycamore Partners 🇺🇸 for $8.9B including debt, in partnership with Stefano Pessina and his family.
- Weston Family 🇨🇦 and Fairfax Financial 🇨🇦 acquire Boots 🇬🇧 for $8.9B.
- Trafigura 🇸🇬 and partners have agreed to build a $300M high-voltage transmission line linking Zambia’s power grid to the DRC Copperbelt.
- CIMB Group 🇲🇾 is exploring a sale of its Philippines business at a potential $200M valuation.
- International Resources Holdings 🇦🇪 has made a cash bid for Kenmare Resources 🇮🇪, valued at $280M.
🇺🇸 United States
- Pacolet Milliken 🇺🇸 has acquired 100% of Georgia Renewable Power 🇺🇸, owner of two biomass plants with 116 MW of combined capacity.
- Stryten Energy 🇺🇸 has completed the acquisition of C&D Trojan 🇺🇸, supported by a $650M term-loan financing led by Silver Point Capital 🇺🇸.
- eFormed Ventures 🇺🇸 has acquired Outdoor Life 🇺🇸 from Recurrent Ventures 🇺🇸.
- Anyflo 🇸🇬 has completed the acqui-hire of Native 🇺🇸, a Bitcoin lending platform on Sui. Mysten Labs invested $1M in Anyflo.
🧳 Private Markets & VC
- 🇫🇷 Call Waiting. Vocca IA lands $20M from investors to boost its AI-powered medical secretary service, promising clinics fewer phone calls and more free time. (Les Echos)
- 🇫🇷 Driven to Accelerate. Aiffin, the Ukrainian-French fintech, joins Moove Lab at Station F on its second application, betting its AI can speed up car leasing for France’s entrepreneurs. (Ain)
- 🇩🇪 Fuel's Errand. The much-hyped e-kerosene project at Schwedt lingers in limbo as €350M in state funding meets a stalled decision process. (Die Zeit)
- 🇪🇸 Fortune Undercover. Sandra Ortega, the richest woman in Spain and Zara’s main heiress, manages to blend into small-town life while sitting atop a fashion empire. (Bloomberg)
- 🇪🇺 Arms Race. Venture investment in European defense tech is set to surge over 300% to $10.5B by 2026, making drones and anti-drone systems the hottest tickets in the VC arsenal. (Ain)
🇺🇸 United States
- 🇺🇸 Mass Effect. Furientis wins its first government contract to build mass-producible interceptor missiles, landing a Department of War deal and $25M from Benchmark to scale up production. (VCAonline)
Fundraising
- DeepSeek 🇨🇳 (AI): $15B (CATL, Tencent)
- Madagascar 🇲🇬 (Energy, mining): $5B (Gemcorp Capital Management)
- Lambda 🇺🇸 (AI): $4B
- Biren 🇨🇳 (Semiconductors): $515M
- Vinci 🇺🇸 (AI): $250M (Advent, Temasek, Xora)
- Capitolis 🇺🇸 (Fintech): $220M (Citi)
- Type One Energy 🇺🇸 (Energy): $200M (Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Clutterbuck Capital, Lowercarbon Capital, Siemens Energy Ventures, SiteGround Capital)
- Ledgebrook 🇺🇸 (Insurtech): $200M (Allianz X, Rockefeller Capital Management)
- Matchpoint Therapeutics 🇺🇸 (Biotech): $150M (Nextech Invest, Norwest, Invus, BB Biotech, T1D Fund, BOLD Longevity Growth)
- General Medicine 🇺🇸 (Healthcare): $120M (a16z)
- Parallel Systems 🇺🇸 (Mobility): $100M (AVP, Hillspire, Agility Global, Cobalt Capital, Anthos Capital, Congruent Ventures, Riot Ventures, Collaborative Fund)
- Spiko (Fintech): $90M (NEA)
- Nous Research 🇺🇸 (AI): $90M (Nvidia, Microsoft’s M12, Samsung, Robot Ventures, Union Square Ventures, Y Combinator, Menlo Ventures)
- Multiply Labs 🇺🇸 (Healthcare): $75M (NantWorks, AstraZeneca, Lux Capital, Founders Fund)
- TeddyHoldings.AI 🇺🇸 (Legal): $60M
- Mecka AI 🇺🇸 (Robotics): $60M (Sequoia, Nvidia, M12)
- Stuut 🇺🇸 (Fintech): $52.5M
- Sensible Biotechnologies 🇸🇰 (Biotech): $47M (€42M) (Oxford Science Enterprises, Tech Horizons, OTB Ventures, In-Q-Tel, Recode Ventures, Isomer Capital, Y Combinator, Backed VC, Kaya VC, Civilization Ventures, BlueYard Capital, Christoph Huber’s family office, Tim Garnett)
- Wiremind 🇫🇷 (Software): €35M (IronWave, Bpifrance, Seaya Andromeda)
- Noah 🇬🇧 (Fintech): $38M (Endeit Capital, FJ Labs, LocalGlobe, Felix Capital, Joe Lonsdale, David Helgason)
- Healthleap 🇿🇦 (Healthcare): $38M (Sequoia Capital, First Round Capital, Hummingbird Ventures)
- Vitalize 🇺🇸 (Healthcare): $31M (Oak HC/FT, Norwest,.406 Ventures, Constellation Ventures, Y Combinator, Rock Health Capital, MemorialCare Innovation Fund)
- Tian Keyu’s AI Lab 🇨🇳 (AI): $30M (5Y Capital, IDG Capital)
- Flai 🇺🇸 (AI): $27M (Base10 Partners)
- VoltR 🇫🇷 (Battery): €22M (SPI Fund 2, Bpifrance, Decathlon PULSE)
- Furientis 🇺🇸 (Defense): $25M (Benchmark)
- Rivercell 🇫🇷 (Healthcare): $25M (HV, HCVC, Alven, Bpifrance Digital Venture)
- Wally 🇺🇸 (Healthcare): $25M (Maveron, Bling Capital, Jack Abraham)
- AblePay Health 🇺🇸 (Healthcare): $20M (F-Prime, A1 Health Ventures,.406 Ventures)
- Finmid 🇩🇪 (Fintech): €17M (Big Pi Ventures, Mainset, Earlybird)
- Navra 🇺🇸 (Fintech): $19M (Ribbit)
- Everphone 🇩🇪 (Mobility): €15M (Commerzbank, KfW)
- Avarra 🇺🇸 (AI): $17M (Duration Ventures)
- Siena 🇺🇸 (AI): $17M (York IE, Joyance Ventures, Aglaé Ventures, Sierra Ventures, Super Angel Fund)
- Mogul 🇺🇸 (Proptech): $15.5M (Draper Associates)
- Ampersand (AI): $15M (Bessemer Venture Partners)
- FYDY (AI): $12M (Lightspeed, General Catalyst)
- Netsec 🇫🇷🇮🇹 (Cybersecurity): €8.93M (Partech, Primo Capital, View Different)
- Authors First 🇺🇸 (Entertainment): Over $10M (Brand Foundry, Robert Hamwee, Bolt Ventures, Andy Mills, Mike Duggal, John Kline)
- Deepslate 🇩🇪 (AI): €7.7M (42CAP, Alstin Capital, SIVentures, business angels)
- Outer Spaces 🇺🇸 (Energy): $8M (Upfront Ventures)
- Aleph Surgical 🇺🇸 (Healthcare): $7.5M (Andreessen Horowitz, BoxGroup, Reveille VC, Constellation, FDVC, Valkyrie Ventures, Discipulus Ventures, Maniac Ventures)
- Konsileo 🇬🇧 (InsurTech): €5.9M (Committed Capital, ACF Investors)
- Trmeric 🇺🇸 (AI): $6.5M (Hitachi Ventures, Schema Ventures, CerraCap Impact Venture Capital, FalconX Ventures, Executive Venture Fund, Gokul Rajaram, Yatish Mishra, Shailesh Lakhani)
- calliora 🇩🇪 (Healthcare): $6M (Bertelsmann Healthcare Investments, Redalpine, Ulrich Wandschneider, Sara Siegel, Peter Sarlin, Frank Hutter)
- Comparables.ai (AI): $6M (Pragmatech, Araya Ventures)
- PlannerPal 🇬🇧 (AI): $6M (Mercia Ventures, Ada Ventures)
- Zeroset 🇺🇸 (AI): $5.2M (Gradient, 2048 Ventures, Leblon Capital)
- MintNeuro 🇬🇧 (Semiconductors): $5M (Odyssey Ventures, 33East, JSK Investments, Alumni Ventures, Empirical Ventures, Jumpspace Ventures)
- Melius (AI): $5M (General Catalyst)
- Golbriak Space 🇪🇪 (Space): €4M
- Chiplytics 🇺🇸 (Semiconductors): $4.5M (Scout Ventures, Waypoint Ventures, QKSS, Industrious Ventures, Interwoven Ventures, Seattle Alliance of Angels, Red Bear Angels)
- Cori Clinical 🇬🇧 (Healthcare): €3.56M (Breega, Enzo, Heartfelt, Together Ventures, Bynd)
- Agentiq Sports 🇺🇸 (Fintech): $4M (defy.vc, owner of two major European football clubs)
- Bloom 🇺🇸 (Manufacturing): $3.6M (SNAK Venture Partners, Flyover Capital, Mana Ventures, Detroit Venture Partners, Invest Detroit Ventures, Michigan Outdoor Innovation Fund)
- Usawa Care 🇵🇹 (Healthcare): $3M (Armilar, Start Ventures, Oxy Capital, Jorge Marques)
- Guardrail Technologies 🇺🇸 (Cybersecurity): Nearly $3M (Filter Fund Venture Capital)
- Automobiles Dangel 🇫🇷 (Automotive): €2.25M (Capital Grand Est)
- Finches 🇩🇪 (Agritech): €2M (High-Tech Gründerfonds, Vanagon Ventures, Bayern Kapital, UnternehmerTUM Funding for Innovators, strategic industry and tech angels)
- EmberEye 🇬🇧 (Climate tech): £1.5M
- Aventix 🇸🇪 (Biotech): €1.2M (Kost Capital, Voima Ventures)
- M-Based 🇹🇷 (Materials): $700K (Maxis Venture Capital Portfolio Management, Elemental Ventures, Hatcher+)
- ReNeuroCell Therapeutics 🇬🇷 (Healthcare): €500,000 (European Innovation Council)
- Niubiq 🇪🇸 (AI): €410,000 (Club de Inversión Órbita, Angels Capital, Elephant)
Fund Watch
- TPG 🇺🇸: $10B (2nd Rise Climate private equity fund, closed)
- Disruptive 🇺🇸: $10B (venture fund, $7.5B secured, targeting 10 late-stage investments)
- Forbion 🇳🇱: $2.6B (largest European life sciences fund, raised this year)
- Sheridan Capital Partners 🇺🇸: $1.1B (Fund IV, healthcare private equity fund, closed at hard cap)
- D.E. Shaw 🇺🇸: $1B (2nd Voltaic VC and growth fund, currently raising)
- Primavera Capital 🇨🇳: $1B (continuation vehicle backed by discounted ByteDance and Ant Group stakes)
- Conversant Capital 🇺🇸: $845M (inaugural private investment fund, final close; $3.2B AUM)
- Neva SGR 🇮🇹: €600M (six venture capital funds raised)
- Headline 🇺🇸: $400M (EU VIII, 8th European early-stage AI fund, closed)
- Endeavor Catalyst 🇺🇸: $320M (Fund V, oversubscribed venture capital fund, closed)
- First Digital 🇭🇰: $250M (merger with CSLM Digital Asset Acquisition Corp III)
- Andalucía TRADE 🇪🇸: €150M (three new venture capital funds, mobilizing business investment)
- Infinite Partners 🇿🇦: $170M (2nd private equity fund)
- Graduate Ventures 🇳🇱: €125M (2nd seed fund, €100M committed, targeting AI, deep tech, healthcare and climate tech)
- DIG Ventures 🇬🇧: €106M (Fund III, backing European AI and cloud infrastructure startups)
- Sofinnova Partners 🇫🇷: €82M (Sofinnova MD Start IV, MedTech venture fund, closed oversubscribed)
- LAUNCHub Ventures 🇧🇬: €75M (Fund III, pre-seed and seed fund, €65M first close)
- PSV Tech 🇩🇰: €55M (Fund II, final close backing Nordic startups pre-product-market fit)
- Nevermind VC 🇮🇹: €23.6M (NVM Venture Lazio, first close of dual-use deeptech VC fund; €35M target)
- Fuel Ventures 🇬🇧: €11M (multi-fund VC investment from British Business Bank)
- Insignis TFI 🇵🇱: preparing Insignis AI FIZ, Poland’s first AI-managed fund
🔔IPO
- BPCE 🇫🇷 (Banking): acquired a 7% stake in Sabadell for $1.35B and will seek a board seat.
- ASP Data Center 🇳🇴 (Data centers): considering a Norwegian IPO to raise $100M.
- TXSE Group 🇺🇸 (Finance): raised $155M in a third funding round.
- Moonshot 🇨🇳 (AI): plans a Hong Kong IPO in Q1 after a pre-IPO round at a $50B valuation.
- Kling 🇨🇳 (AI): has selected banks for a $1B Hong Kong IPO.
- WHI Holdings 🇯🇵 (HR software): exploring an IPO or sale at a $3.2B valuation.
- Jio Platforms 🇮🇳 (Telecoms): may seek a $114B valuation its IPO.
- MNT-Halan 🇪🇬 (Fintech): seeking to raise $150M in an Egypt IPO of its local unit.
🇺🇸 United States
- Pinewood Technologies 🇬🇧 (Software): being acquired by Ridgeview Partners for €637M ahead of its delisting.
🧳 Debt
- Air Liquide 🇫🇷: raised €2B through a euro bond offering.
- SpaceX 🇺🇸: seeking $40B in investment-grade debt led by Apollo to buy Nvidia chips.
- Xylem 🇺🇸: raised $1.5B in senior notes to fund two pump acquisitions.
- Gabon 🇬🇦: seeks to raise $580M through an eight-year bond.
- Mutapa Platinum Group 🇿🇼: secured $100M to develop its Darwendale platinum project.
❌ Failures
- TalkTalk 🇬🇧: Ares is set to lose 50% of its roughly $270M stake after BT agreed to buy the telecoms firm out of insolvency.
- HSBC 🇬🇧: plans to cut up to 70% of its UK financial advisers and half of its management and specialist roles as it expands AI use.
- OPmobility 🇫🇷: lowered its 2026 targets and plans to cut around 770 jobs in France and Germany, with €120-130M in restructuring costs.
- Porsche 🇩🇪: plans to cut 25% of its workforce after its profit margin fell to 1.1% from 18%.
- Avionero 🇸🇪: cancelled its planned Spotlight listing after raising less than the SEK 6M minimum of the SEK 7.2M sought.
- Ardagh Group 🇱🇺: the packaging firm is considering selling its African glass business after creditors took control.
🇬🇧 United Kingdom
- Royal Mail 🇬🇧: plans to cut 2,500 support roles by 2027 amid declining letter volumes and financial pressure.
🎯 For a Few More Minutes…
- 🇬🇧 Boys to Men. Surgeons in the UK give a 19-year-old his best shot at future fatherhood by transplanting testicular tissue frozen before cancer treatment. (The Guardian)
- 🇸🇪 Left or Right. The Nobel Prize in Chemistry goes to Henri Kagan and Kenso Soai for cracking the code of molecular handedness, making safer and more effective medicines possible. (Boursier)
- 🇺🇸 Doge Eat Dog. Elon Musk's so-called Doge team storms Washington with a government "efficiency" crusade, sending techies to overhaul federal agencies by fiat. (The Guardian)
- 🇺🇸 Shots Fired. Chris Gallant, aiming to replace Rep. Nick LaLota in New York’s First District, took his campaign to the gun range. Literally and visually. (New York Times)
- 🇹🇭 Holy Rollers. The abbot of a famed Ayutthaya temple was defrocked and arrested after allegedly embezzling $2.7M and being caught on camera in a sex scandal with his assistant, proving even monks can fall for earthly temptations. (Le Monde)
- 🇦🇺 Caught on Tape. The infamous Australian cricket ball-tampering scandal was exposed in 2018 thanks to a series of accidental camera shots and quick-thinking TV crew, not a coordinated sting. (BBC)
🇬🇧 United Kingdom
- 🇬🇧 Cash in the Wild. Four animals. A hedgehog, puffin, barn owl, and bumblebee. Will soon star on Bank of England notes, ending the reign of famous Britons. (BBC)
