🥲 Still Here

🗞️ Top Story

• 🇩🇪 Remaniac. Friedrich Merz’s much-hyped cabinet shakeup devolves into chaos, leaving his authority even weaker ahead of looming far-right gains. (Libé)
• 🇩🇪 Pride and Prejudice. Germany’s AfD, long opposed to Pride flags and LGBTQ rights, may gain political ground after the Berlin attack despite its anti-LGBTQ stance. (New York Times)
• 🇪🇸 Hot Seat. Pedro Sanchez’s cross-party climate pact goes up in smoke as right-wing lawmakers refuse to sign on despite raging wildfires. (Le Monde)
• 🇧🇪 Ring Leader. Antwerp diamond bosses gifted Trump a lavish « Freedom 250 » ring just as he scrapped US tariffs on Belgian diamonds, prompting a rabbi to file a corruption complaint. (Le Temps)
• 🇺🇸 Surprise Party. Iran fired a volley of ballistic missiles at troops in the Middle East, all of which the Pentagon claims were intercepted, abruptly ending the recent pause in hostilities. (Financial Times)
• 🇺🇸 Cold Warmer. President Zelensky will meet President Trump at the White House as the two leaders signal a thaw in their once-frosty relationship and discuss stalled Ukraine peace talks. (New York Times)
• 🇧🇷 Aid and Abet. As the global HIV conference opens in Brazil, UN officials warn that slashed US and European aid budgets now threaten key prevention programs worldwide. (Libé)
• 🇻🇪 Marching Orders. With transition talks set to begin, rival Venezuelan groups fill the streets, each demanding their version of democracy while the US watches closely. (Le Monde)
• 🇯🇵 Faulty Towers. Japan’s Kumamoto area endured a 7.1 earthquake, leaving tens of thousands without power and transport paralyzed, while nuclear plants remain stable for now. (El Pais)
• 🇮🇷 Hotline Bling. Iran touts phone diplomacy with Saudi and Omani officials about the Strait of Hormuz, as Trump congratulates himself on negotiations Iran denies are occurring. (Cnbc)
• 🇺🇳 Walkout of Fame. The US stormed out of a Security Council meeting after France compared its human rights record to North Korea and Russia, turning diplomatic drama into performance art. (Le Temps)

• 🇬🇧 Track Record. South Western Railway slows trains and revises timetables as heatwave-driven drought shrinks soil beneath England’s rails, proving even infrastructure can sweat. (The Guardian)
• 🇬🇧 Fake It to Break It. A tribunal judge rebukes the Home Office for using AI-invented information to block an asylum claim, likening it to submitting fabricated evidence. (The Guardian)
• 🇬🇧 Head Offence. Green Party leader Zack Polanski refuses to apologise to Nigel Farage after reposting a guillotine-themed image, insisting it was an honest mistake and accusing Farage of amplifying the controversy for political gain. (Bbc)

• 🇺🇸 Memoir Material. Biden’s own words on tape confirm he kept classified files after leaving office, but the special counsel still found no grounds for prosecution. (New York Times)
• 🇺🇸 Think Tanked. The Heritage Foundation is in turmoil as internal battles over Trumpism and rising extremism mirror the Republican Party’s post-Trump identity crisis. (New York Times)

🏛️ Economy

• 🇩🇪 Staying Afloat. Germany’s economy is set for slight Q2 growth, says the Bundesbank, as industrial exports and consumer spending keep recession at bay for now. (Boursier)
• 🇪🇺 Banana Republics. The European Commission eyes a « high-risk » list for imported organic products such as bananas and tea, hoping to patch up the battered bio label. (Les Echos)
• 🇨🇭 Pitch Perfect. Infantino wants FIFA to create a $20B company selling 20 percent of World Cup rights to private investors, with UEFA warning that football’s leadership is not for sale. (Die Zeit)
• 🇺🇸 Pace Yourself. Over 1,000 employees from OpenAI 🇺🇸, Anthropic 🇺🇸, Meta 🇺🇸, and Google 🇺🇸 urge the to regulate AI development, warning that unchecked progress risks spiraling beyond human control. (Die Zeit)
• 🇦🇺 Fuel’s Gold. The Australian government backs a $4M feasibility study for a new refinery, betting on sovereignty over profitability for the first time since the 1960s. (Le Figaro)

• 🇬🇧 Control Freaks. Business secretary Jonathan Reynolds insists the new UK government welcomes private investment, even as PM Andy Burnham champions more public ownership in sectors like water and steel. (Financial Times)
• 🇬🇧 AI Caramba. The Bank of England launches a probe into London banks’ surging exposure to Asian AI-linked equities, fearing a tech-fueled bubble could burst on their balance sheets. (Financial Times)

• 🇺🇸 Bot Blocked. The Trump administration has banned new Chinese-made humanoid robots and power inverters, citing national security risks and escalating the tech standoff with Beijing. (Bbc)
• 🇺🇸 Ticket to Hide. Delaware Life, owned by Dodgers boss Mark Walter, reclassified $100M in loans to “Dodger Tickets LLC” as related-party assets after prosecutors began investigating its private credit dealings. (Financial Times)
• 🇺🇸 Miles to Go. With new car loans averaging almost 6 years, buyers enjoy lower monthly bills but pay more in the end for the ride. (Cnbc)
• 🇺🇸 Tariff Wars. The National Republican Congressional Committee launched digital ads attacking House Democrats who oppose Trump’s tariffs, framing them as siding with China just months before the 2026 midterms. (Cnbc)

🏢 Real Estate

• 🇺🇸 Freeze Frame. New York’s mayor celebrated a two-year rent freeze for nearly 1M tenants, reigniting the global debate over whether rent controls help or harm cities. (Financial Times)
• 🇺🇸 Home Alone. New York City publishes a list of luxury pied-à-terre owners, including boldface names, as a warning before hitting them with a new tax. (Wall Street Journal)
• 🇯🇵 Seismic Bids. Investors piled into Japanese construction shares after the Kyushu quake, anticipating that rebuilding demand will outweigh the human toll. (Bloomberg)

• 🇬🇧 Block Discount. UK housebuilders are unloading bundles of unsold homes to institutional investors at record discounts of 15% to 20% as private buyers retreat. (Financial Times)
• 🇬🇧 Gridlocked. Plans for 24 hyperscale data centers in Scotland ignite a national debate, with locals fearing energy shortages and little benefit beyond big tech’s bottom line. (Financial Times)

• 🇬🇧 Block Discount. UK housebuilders are unloading bundles of unsold homes to institutional investors at record discounts of 15% to 20% as private buyers retreat. (Financial Times)

🔗 On-chain

• 🇺🇸 Compliance Theater. Binance 🇨🇳 has tightened its cooperation with police, forcing law enforcement to navigate slower international channels and frustrating global crime investigations. (New York Times)
• 🇺🇸 Bit by Bit. Strategy collects $544M in fresh capital, only to announce it will not be adding to its Bitcoin stash just yet. (Journalducoin)
• 🇰🇷 Chip Shot. A single trade in SK Hynix stock triggered a $60M wipeout in crypto bets, proving that correlation can be a dangerous game. (Bloomberg)

💱 Listed Markets

• 🇬🇧 Folded Away. Google DeepMind has disbanded its Nobel-winning AlphaFold team, shifting key researchers to Gemini and other AI projects in a sweeping strategy overhaul. (Financial Times)
• 🇩🇪 Auto Correct. Mercedes revises its 2026 revenue outlook downward as China’s market sours, signaling another rough road ahead for German carmakers. (Les Echos)
• 🇳🇱 Chip Shot. NXP Semiconductors 🇳🇱 beat profit and revenue forecasts for Q2 thanks to growth across all markets, but investors still sent shares down 5.8% after hours. (Wall Street Journal)
• 🇺🇸 Swipe Right. Visa 🇺🇸 saw revenue climb last quarter on resilient spending, but the company is still trimming about 7% of jobs to keep pace with industry shifts. (Wall Street Journal)
• 🇺🇸 Gravity Test. SpaceX and Tesla 🇺🇸 have shed $1.5T in value, and SpaceX’s first earnings plus a looming lockup expiration could pull shares even lower. (Cnbc)
• 🇺🇸 Buyer Beware. eBay and several former executives will pay $56M to newsletter writers Ina and David Steiner, who were harassed with threats and bizarre mail in 2019. (TechCrunch)
• 🇺🇸 Plane and Simple. Boeing reported a $428M quarterly loss after another $280M overrun on its Air Force One project, with delivery now delayed to 2028. (New York Times)
• 🇰🇷 AI Caramba. Despite a 557 percent profit jump from AI chip sales, SK Hynix shares slid as results failed to satisfy market expectations. (Financial Times)
• 🇭🇰 Tech Off, Bank On. As hopes for tech fade, Hong Kong financial shares rally toward a two-year high, proving money still loves tradition. (Bloomberg)
• 🇦🇪 Footnote Fetish. PwC Middle East published “thought leadership” reports on AI and electric vehicles packed with fake citations and AI-generated hallucinations, embarrassing a firm that sells itself as an expert on responsible tech. (Financial Times)

• 🇬🇧 Trading Places. Barclays posted a 17% profit jump in H1 thanks to strong equities trading, but rising costs and Wall Street envy sent the stock down 4%. (Boursier)

• 🇺🇸 Flat Rate. UPS expects third-quarter domestic revenue to be flat, but CEO Carol Tomé insists the company has moved past its recent bumps and is back on track for growth. (Cnbc)

🛎️ Big Deals (M&A)

• 9fin 🇬🇧 completes an employee secondary share sale with its employees 🇬🇧 after a $170m Series C at a $1.3bn valuation. More than half of eligible staff cashed out.
• Saint-Gobain 🇫🇷 acquires Phu My Innovative Materials (PMIM) 🇻🇳, one of Vietnam’s largest modern plasterboard plants, ~€20M revenue in 2025.
• Stellantis 🇳🇱 cedes its stake in Free2move 🇫🇷 to Mutares 🇩🇪. Sale of the car‑sharing unit, completion expected by end‑2026, buyer plans to develop a mobility platform and pursue EV transition.
• Grupa Kapitałowa Valeza 🇵🇱 acquires Prime ASI 🇵🇱 (purchases 32M shares (27.40% of capital and votes) in a secondary shareholder transaction, defence/dual‑use sector).
• Cyera 🇺🇸 acquires Oasis Security 🇺🇸 for $1B. Deal mostly cash with remainder in Cyera shares.
• Coalesce Capital 🇺🇸 makes a strategic growth investment in Workstreet 🇺🇸, an AI-native compliance and cybersecurity services provider.
• Aquila 🇨🇦 acquires Enocta 🇹🇷, a learning technologies company serving 550+ institutions, 70+ partners and 3.5M+ users. Aquila is part of a TSX‑listed global group.
• Ebanx 🇧🇷 partners with Pagaleve 🇧🇷 to launch Pix 4x, a BNPL on Pix offering four biweekly instalments, using Pagaleve’s ML/AI risk engine for sub-3s credit decisions.
• PetroChina 🇨🇳 weighs selling part of its 15% stake in LNG Canada 🇨🇦.
• Prince Al Waleed bin Talal Al Saud 🇸🇦 acquires a 5% stake in Lucid Motors 🇺🇸, buying just over 19M shares when Lucid’s market cap was below $2B.
• Angola 🇦🇴 sells a 15% stake in Unitel 🇦🇴 for $321M in the largest IPO in the nation’s history. Dominant mobile operator.

• The Team 🇺🇸 acquires Casey Wasserman’s remaining stake 🇺🇸 with additional investment from Providence Equity Partners 🇺🇸.

🧳 Private Markets & VC

• 🇺🇸 Crack of Dawn. Anthropic’s Claude AI model uncovered vulnerabilities in a weakened encryption algorithm, hinting that AI may soon challenge the core security assumptions of the internet. (New York Times)
• 🇺🇸 Collateral Damage. Wall Street banks including Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan are demanding more collateral from hedge funds as AI stock losses trigger automatic margin calls and expose leverage risks. (Financial Times)
• 🇺🇸 Bank Shot. Elon Musk’s X Money app debuts in the, letting X subscribers send money, earn up to 6% APY, and flash an X-branded Visa card. (TechCrunch)
• 🇺🇸 Pay Now, Byte Later. Apple teams up with Klarna🇸🇪 to offer device leases starting at $12 per month, making pricey iPhones and Macs a subscription habit instead of a one-time splurge. (TechCrunch)
• 🇨🇳 Freeze Frame. DeepSeek halts its $74B fundraising round after its founder makes a dramatic exit, leaving investors with more questions than answers. (Journalducoin)
• 🇸🇬 Fashion Police. Shein 🇸🇬 discloses an active FTC probe into its US business, adding regulatory suspense to its already ambitious Hong Kong IPO plans. (Wall Street Journal)

• 🇺🇸 Barely Legal. Elon Musk’s xAI is suing Minnesota to block a law banning « nudify » apps, arguing it violates free speech and threatens $50B in penalties. (Cnbc)

Fundraising

• iwoca 🇬🇧 (Fintech): £250M (a leading UK bank, Waterfall Asset Management)
• Spur Intelligence 🇺🇸 (Cybersecurity): $200M (Insight Partners)
• Dwelly 🇬🇧 (Proptech): $170M (EQT Growth, General Catalyst, Trinity Capital, Max Junestrand, Victor Riparbelli, Mati Staniszewski)
• PEX 🇺🇸 (Fintech): $160M (Bluff Point Associates, Clear Haven Capital Management)
• Claris Biotherapeutics 🇺🇸 (Biotech): $118M (Samsara Biocapital, Catalio Capital Management, Adage Capital Management, Sofinnova Investments, Aisling Capital, ADAR1 Capital Management, Novo Holdings, Janus Henderson Investors, Mass General Brigham Ventures)
• Enigma 🇺🇸 (Robotics): $71M (Index Ventures, Ribbit Capital, Conviction Partners, leaders from OpenAI, Anthropic, DeepMind, xAI, Cognition, Wiz)
• Act Security 🇮🇱 (Cloud security): $60M (Team8, Bessemer Venture Partners, Hetz Ventures, Claltech, Notable Capital, Startpoint Capital, SVCI)
• Claros Technologies 🇺🇸 (Environmental): $55M (Treehouse Family Capital LLC, Daikin America, Veralto, Bush Foundation, Nord Asset Management, Saint Paul & Minnesota Foundation)
• Eightco Holdings 🇺🇸 (Digital assets): $52.5M (World Foundation)
• World Foundation 🇺🇸 (Identity): $52.5M (Pantera Capital, Bain Capital Crypto, Eightco Holdings (ORBS), Selini Capital, Susquehanna Crypto)
• Fish Audio 🇺🇸 (Voice AI): $52M (Coreline Ventures, Capital Today, 359 Capital, Play Time, HF0, 645 Ventures, Parable, Carya Venture Partners, Alphalist Partners, leading angel investors)
• Flourish Health 🇺🇸 (Healthcare): $46M (B Capital, F-Prime, Cherryrock Capital)
• ProphetX 🇺🇸 (Prediction market): $35M (Parlay Capital, Data Point Capital, FDJ Ventures, Greenwave Ventures, Connexa Capital, Impellent Ventures, the Operating Group, Sharp Alpha Advisors, Chicago Trading Company Ventures, Belvedere Trading, principals at White Swan Data, principals at Consolidated Trading, Ematiq)
• Hush Security 🇮🇱 (Cybersecurity): $30M (Akamai Technologies, Battery Ventures, YL Ventures)
• Natural 🇺🇸 (Fintech): $30M (Forerunner Ventures, Aarmaan Ali, Baris Akis, Ramtin Naimi, Nichole Wischoff, Darragh Buckley, Pablo Palafox, Paul Klein IV, Akshay Kothari, Henri Stern, Max Segall, Pete Koomen, Dylan Babbs, Art Levy, Jake Paul, Logan Paul)
• Epitel 🇺🇸 (Healthcare): $26M (Catalyst Health Ventures, Genoa Ventures)
• ZuriQ 🇨🇭 (Quantum): $25.5M (Quantonation, Forward.one, Extantia, Firgun Ventures, existing investors)
• Excedr 🇺🇸 (Life sciences): $25M (BOK Financial, existing investors, global single-family offices)
• CORE Biomedicine 🇺🇸 (Biotech): $21M (UTokyo Innovation Platform Co., Ltd., Elikon Venture, InnoPinnacle Fund, Mitsubishi UFJ Capital Co., Ltd., Suzhou Capital Group Co., Ltd., CD Capital, YuanBio Venture Capital, Vision Incubate Co., Ltd., Root Venture Partners)
• Elio 🇺🇸 (Hardware): $21M (Innovation Endeavors, Xora, Kevin Weil, Scribble VC, UpWest, Resolute Ventures)
• Array Labs 🇺🇸 (Aerospace): $21M (Mitsubishi Electric Corporation, Catapult Ventures, Kompas VC, Y Combinator)
• Healia 🇺🇸 (Healthcare): $18M (111° West Capital, Y Combinator, First Round Capital, Pioneer Fund, GoAhead Ventures, North Coast Ventures)
• Vivid Dx 🇬🇧 (Diagnostics): $15M (Oxford Science Enterprises, Cedars-Sinai Intellectual Property Co., Jameel Investment Management Company, additional strategic investors)
• Sent 🇺🇸 (Messaging): $12M (Companyon Ventures, Bessemer Venture Partners, Urban Innovation Fund, CP Overture)
• metr 🇩🇪 (Proptech): €10.5M (SBG – Sächsische Beteiligungsgesellschaft mbH, Kachel GmbH (WIKA), IBB Capital, BRAWO Capital, Next Big Thing AG, business angels)
• DeltaVision 🇩🇪 (Spacetech): €10.2M (KT Ventures, Valemount Capital, Futury Capital, private investors)
• Procode Inc. 🇺🇸 (Healthcare): $10M (Health Velocity Capital)
• Buildforce 🇺🇸 (Staffing): $10M (Saepio Capital, Blue Heron Capital, Revolution’s Rise of the Rest Seed Fund, S3 Ventures, Chicago Ventures)
• Tiger Technology 🇧🇬 (Hybrid cloud): €8.7M (TCEE Fund IV, 3TS Capital Partners, TDJ, Endeavor Catalyst, Impetus, MFG)
• Pstryk 🇵🇱 (Smart Energy): €7M (Future Energy Ventures, Axpo Group, Montis VC, ff Venture Capital, Simpact Ventures, angel investors)
• Dopl Technologies 🇺🇸 (Healthcare): $6.3M (SpringTide Ventures)
• Alpen 🇺🇸 (Building materials): $6M (Inherent Capital, Arborview Capital)
• Aurenar 🇺🇸 (Healthcare): $5.7M (Go Red for Women Venture Fund, Solas BioVentures, BJC Health, Kaleida Capital)
• Mirae 🇺🇸 (Healthcare): $5.4M (Oxford Science Enterprises)
• DITTO 🇳🇱 (Femtech): €5.2M (FoodLabs, EKA Ventures, angel investors)
• Pilot Protocol 🇺🇸 (Software): $4.5M (Version One Ventures, Precursor Ventures, Night Capital, Todd & Rahul Capital, Lenny Rachitsky, Ben Tossell)
• Perceptual Robotics 🇬🇧 (Renewables): £4M+ (Investing for Purpose, Loggerhead Ventures, One Planet Capital, Innovate UK)
• 5U AI 🇩🇪 (Logistics): $3.2M (Emerge Capital, senior executives from DHL, GEODIS, DSV, Maersk, Ceva Logistics)
• Beelzebub 🇮🇹 (Cybersecurity): €3M (United Ventures)

Fund Watch

• Brookfield Asset Management 🇨🇦: $2B (Brookfield Middle East Partners, regional private equity fund. First close. PIF anchor)
• Align Ventures 🇺🇸: $125M (Early-Stage Fund II, oversubscribed early-stage consumer fund — $2M–$10M checks into 15–20 brands)

🔔IPO

• Jersey Mike’s 🇺🇸 (Restaurants): IPO said to be more than 10 times oversubscribed.
• DexForce 🇨🇳 (Robotics): said to be considering a Hong Kong IPO, size not disclosed.
• Zhongji Innolight 🇨🇳 (Optics): pricing 54.5M shares at HK$980 each, raising about HK$53.4B (~$6.8B), below its HK$1,010 maximum.
• Elevate Campuses 🇮🇳 (Education): said to launch a $267M India IPO August.
• OKX 🇸🇨 (Crypto): plans an IPO within two years with ICE backing (no fundraising amount disclosed).

🧳 Debt

• SoftBank Group 🇯🇵: sold ¥90B (~$550M) in yen bonds to institutions (three‑ and five‑year tranches with 3.270% and 3.886% coupons, the highest for these maturities).

• Riverwards Group 🇺🇸: raised $37.3M in construction financing for 2507 Almond Street.
• Arixa Capital 🇺🇸: closed a $74.8M construction loan for an 83‑unit townhome community in Flagstaff, AZ.
• Kennedy Funding 🇺🇸: closed a $1.26M cash-out refinance land loan in Cartagena, Colombia.

❌ Failures

• GSK 🇬🇧: to cut jobs under a £1.9bn cost‑cutting plan while investing £400m in UK life sciences and moving 1,000+ scientists to Cambridge.
• Diageo 🇬🇧: opened a collective dismissal affecting 97 of 127 employees at its Milan office.
• Nothing 🇬🇧: the London smartphone maker confirms restructurings and job cuts after reports of up to 40% of roles being cut and says Phone (4b) sold 29,537 units on day one.
• Lufthansa 🇩🇪: launches « New Ways » to cut up to 550 full-time positions (part of a previously announced 4,000-job reduction).
• Zurich 🇨🇭: FINMA imposed a partial sales ban, prompting the insurer to let staff go.
• Visa 🇺🇸: cutting about 2,600 jobs, roughly 7% of its workforce.

• Lenzing 🇦🇹: the Austrian textile maker closed sites in the UK and Austria as part of a turnaround plan.

• Legendary Beverly Hills restaurant 🇺🇸: closed abruptly after a 30-year run, leaving celebrity clientele demanding answers.

🎯 For a Few More Minutes…

• 🇩🇪 Not So Innocent. Hans Asperger, long celebrated for his work on autism, is now exposed as a collaborator in the Nazi regime’s eugenics policies. (Le Figaro)
• 🇨🇳 Lost and Unfound. Families of MH370 victims appeal Malaysia Airlines’ compensation ruling in Beijing, demanding truth and accountability after 12 years of unanswered questions and unresolved grief. (Le Parisien)
• 🇰🇪 Ivory Mystery. Fourteen elephants have died under unclear circumstances near Kenya’s Amboseli National Park, prompting a rapid inquiry and lab tests for disease or poisoning. (Bbc)
• 🇿🇼 Bone New World. A 210-million-year-old dinosaur skeleton found near Lake Kariba introduces Musango matusadonaensis, challenging the idea that early southern African dinos were all the same cast. (Le Monde)

🗞️ Top Story

• 🇬🇧 Track Record. South Western Railway slows trains and revises timetables as heatwave-driven drought shrinks soil beneath England’s rails, proving even infrastructure can sweat. (The Guardian)
• 🇬🇧 Fake It to Break It. A tribunal judge rebukes the Home Office for using AI-invented information to block an asylum claim, likening it to submitting fabricated evidence. (The Guardian)
• 🇬🇧 Head Offence. Green Party leader Zack Polanski refuses to apologise to Nigel Farage after reposting a guillotine-themed image, insisting it was an honest mistake and accusing Farage of amplifying the controversy for political gain. (Bbc)
• 🇩🇪 Remaniac. Friedrich Merz’s much-hyped cabinet shakeup devolves into chaos, leaving his authority even weaker ahead of looming far-right gains. (Libé)
• 🇩🇪 Pride and Prejudice. Germany’s AfD, long opposed to Pride flags and LGBTQ rights, may gain political ground after the Berlin attack despite its anti-LGBTQ stance. (New York Times)
• 🇪🇸 Hot Seat. Pedro Sanchez’s cross-party climate pact goes up in smoke as right-wing lawmakers refuse to sign on despite raging wildfires. (Le Monde)
• 🇧🇪 Ring Leader. Antwerp diamond bosses gifted Trump a lavish « Freedom 250 » ring just as he scrapped US tariffs on Belgian diamonds, prompting a rabbi to file a corruption complaint. (Le Temps)
• 🇺🇸 Surprise Party. Iran fired a volley of ballistic missiles at troops in the Middle East, all of which the Pentagon claims were intercepted, abruptly ending the recent pause in hostilities. (Financial Times)
• 🇺🇸 Cold Warmer. President Zelensky will meet President Trump at the White House as the two leaders signal a thaw in their once-frosty relationship and discuss stalled Ukraine peace talks. (New York Times)
• 🇧🇷 Aid and Abet. As the global HIV conference opens in Brazil, UN officials warn that slashed US and European aid budgets now threaten key prevention programs worldwide. (Libé)
• 🇻🇪 Marching Orders. With transition talks set to begin, rival Venezuelan groups fill the streets, each demanding their version of democracy while the US watches closely. (Le Monde)
• 🇯🇵 Faulty Towers. Japan’s Kumamoto area endured a 7.1 earthquake, leaving tens of thousands without power and transport paralyzed, while nuclear plants remain stable for now. (El Pais)
• 🇮🇷 Hotline Bling. Iran touts phone diplomacy with Saudi and Omani officials about the Strait of Hormuz, as Trump congratulates himself on negotiations Iran denies are occurring. (Cnbc)
• 🇺🇳 Walkout of Fame. The US stormed out of a Security Council meeting after France compared its human rights record to North Korea and Russia, turning diplomatic drama into performance art. (Le Temps)

🏛️ Economy

• 🇬🇧 Control Freaks. Business secretary Jonathan Reynolds insists the new UK government welcomes private investment, even as PM Andy Burnham champions more public ownership in sectors like water and steel. (Financial Times)
• 🇬🇧 AI Caramba. The Bank of England launches a probe into London banks’ surging exposure to Asian AI-linked equities, fearing a tech-fueled bubble could burst on their balance sheets. (Financial Times)
• 🇩🇪 Staying Afloat. Germany’s economy is set for slight Q2 growth, says the Bundesbank, as industrial exports and consumer spending keep recession at bay for now. (Boursier)
• 🇪🇺 Banana Republics. The European Commission eyes a « high-risk » list for imported organic products such as bananas and tea, hoping to patch up the battered bio label. (Les Echos)
• 🇨🇭 Pitch Perfect. Infantino wants FIFA to create a $20B company selling 20 percent of World Cup rights to private investors, with UEFA warning that football’s leadership is not for sale. (Die Zeit)
• 🇺🇸 Pace Yourself. Over 1,000 employees from OpenAI 🇺🇸, Anthropic 🇺🇸, Meta 🇺🇸, and Google 🇺🇸 urge the to regulate AI development, warning that unchecked progress risks spiraling beyond human control. (Die Zeit)
• 🇦🇺 Fuel’s Gold. The Australian government backs a $4M feasibility study for a new refinery, betting on sovereignty over profitability for the first time since the 1960s. (Le Figaro)

🏢 Real Estate

• 🇬🇧 Block Discount. UK housebuilders are unloading bundles of unsold homes to institutional investors at record discounts of 15% to 20% as private buyers retreat. (Financial Times)
• 🇬🇧 Gridlocked. Plans for 24 hyperscale data centers in Scotland ignite a national debate, with locals fearing energy shortages and little benefit beyond big tech’s bottom line. (Financial Times)
• 🇺🇸 Freeze Frame. New York’s mayor celebrated a two-year rent freeze for nearly 1M tenants, reigniting the global debate over whether rent controls help or harm cities. (Financial Times)
• 🇺🇸 Home Alone. New York City publishes a list of luxury pied-à-terre owners, including boldface names, as a warning before hitting them with a new tax. (Wall Street Journal)
• 🇯🇵 Seismic Bids. Investors piled into Japanese construction shares after the Kyushu quake, anticipating that rebuilding demand will outweigh the human toll. (Bloomberg)

🔗 On-chain

• 🇺🇸 Compliance Theater. Binance 🇨🇳 has tightened its cooperation with police, forcing law enforcement to navigate slower international channels and frustrating global crime investigations. (New York Times)
• 🇺🇸 Bit by Bit. Strategy collects $544M in fresh capital, only to announce it will not be adding to its Bitcoin stash just yet. (Journalducoin)
• 🇰🇷 Chip Shot. A single trade in SK Hynix stock triggered a $60M wipeout in crypto bets, proving that correlation can be a dangerous game. (Bloomberg)

💱 Listed Markets

• 🇬🇧 Folded Away. Google DeepMind has disbanded its Nobel-winning AlphaFold team, shifting key researchers to Gemini and other AI projects in a sweeping strategy overhaul. (Financial Times)
• 🇬🇧 Trading Places. Barclays posted a 17% profit jump in H1 thanks to strong equities trading, but rising costs and Wall Street envy sent the stock down 4%. (Boursier)
• 🇩🇪 Auto Correct. Mercedes revises its 2026 revenue outlook downward as China’s market sours, signaling another rough road ahead for German carmakers. (Les Echos)
• 🇳🇱 Chip Shot. NXP Semiconductors 🇳🇱 beat profit and revenue forecasts for Q2 thanks to growth across all markets, but investors still sent shares down 5.8% after hours. (Wall Street Journal)
• 🇺🇸 Swipe Right. Visa 🇺🇸 saw revenue climb last quarter on resilient spending, but the company is still trimming about 7% of jobs to keep pace with industry shifts. (Wall Street Journal)
• 🇺🇸 Gravity Test. SpaceX and Tesla 🇺🇸 have shed $1.5T in value, and SpaceX’s first earnings plus a looming lockup expiration could pull shares even lower. (Cnbc)
• 🇺🇸 Buyer Beware. eBay and several former executives will pay $56M to newsletter writers Ina and David Steiner, who were harassed with threats and bizarre mail in 2019. (TechCrunch)
• 🇺🇸 Plane and Simple. Boeing reported a $428M quarterly loss after another $280M overrun on its Air Force One project, with delivery now delayed to 2028. (New York Times)
• 🇰🇷 AI Caramba. Despite a 557 percent profit jump from AI chip sales, SK Hynix shares slid as results failed to satisfy market expectations. (Financial Times)
• 🇭🇰 Tech Off, Bank On. As hopes for tech fade, Hong Kong financial shares rally toward a two-year high, proving money still loves tradition. (Bloomberg)
• 🇦🇪 Footnote Fetish. PwC Middle East published “thought leadership” reports on AI and electric vehicles packed with fake citations and AI-generated hallucinations, embarrassing a firm that sells itself as an expert on responsible tech. (Financial Times)

🛎️ Big Deals (M&A)

• 9fin 🇬🇧 completes an employee secondary share sale with its employees 🇬🇧 after a $170m Series C at a $1.3bn valuation. More than half of eligible staff cashed out.
• Saint-Gobain 🇫🇷 acquires Phu My Innovative Materials (PMIM) 🇻🇳, one of Vietnam’s largest modern plasterboard plants, ~€20M revenue in 2025.
• Stellantis 🇳🇱 cedes its stake in Free2move 🇫🇷 to Mutares 🇩🇪. Sale of the car‑sharing unit, completion expected by end‑2026, buyer plans to develop a mobility platform and pursue EV transition.
• Grupa Kapitałowa Valeza 🇵🇱 acquires Prime ASI 🇵🇱 (purchases 32M shares (27.40% of capital and votes) in a secondary shareholder transaction, defence/dual‑use sector).
• Cyera 🇺🇸 acquires Oasis Security 🇺🇸 for $1B. Deal mostly cash with remainder in Cyera shares.
• Coalesce Capital 🇺🇸 makes a strategic growth investment in Workstreet 🇺🇸, an AI-native compliance and cybersecurity services provider.
• Aquila 🇨🇦 acquires Enocta 🇹🇷, a learning technologies company serving 550+ institutions, 70+ partners and 3.5M+ users. Aquila is part of a TSX‑listed global group.
• Ebanx 🇧🇷 partners with Pagaleve 🇧🇷 to launch Pix 4x, a BNPL on Pix offering four biweekly instalments, using Pagaleve’s ML/AI risk engine for sub-3s credit decisions.
• PetroChina 🇨🇳 weighs selling part of its 15% stake in LNG Canada 🇨🇦.
• Prince Al Waleed bin Talal Al Saud 🇸🇦 acquires a 5% stake in Lucid Motors 🇺🇸, buying just over 19M shares when Lucid’s market cap was below $2B.
• Angola 🇦🇴 sells a 15% stake in Unitel 🇦🇴 for $321M in the largest IPO in the nation’s history. Dominant mobile operator.

🧳 Private Markets & VC

• 🇺🇸 Crack of Dawn. Anthropic’s Claude AI model uncovered vulnerabilities in a weakened encryption algorithm, hinting that AI may soon challenge the core security assumptions of the internet. (New York Times)
• 🇺🇸 Collateral Damage. Wall Street banks including Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan are demanding more collateral from hedge funds as AI stock losses trigger automatic margin calls and expose leverage risks. (Financial Times)
• 🇺🇸 Bank Shot. Elon Musk’s X Money app debuts in the, letting X subscribers send money, earn up to 6% APY, and flash an X-branded Visa card. (TechCrunch)
• 🇺🇸 Pay Now, Byte Later. Apple teams up with Klarna🇸🇪 to offer device leases starting at $12 per month, making pricey iPhones and Macs a subscription habit instead of a one-time splurge. (TechCrunch)
• 🇨🇳 Freeze Frame. DeepSeek halts its $74B fundraising round after its founder makes a dramatic exit, leaving investors with more questions than answers. (Journalducoin)
• 🇸🇬 Fashion Police. Shein 🇸🇬 discloses an active FTC probe into its US business, adding regulatory suspense to its already ambitious Hong Kong IPO plans. (Wall Street Journal)

Fundraising

• iwoca 🇬🇧 (Fintech): £250M (a leading UK bank, Waterfall Asset Management)
• Spur Intelligence 🇺🇸 (Cybersecurity): $200M (Insight Partners)
• Dwelly 🇬🇧 (Proptech): $170M (EQT Growth, General Catalyst, Trinity Capital, Max Junestrand, Victor Riparbelli, Mati Staniszewski)
• PEX 🇺🇸 (Fintech): $160M (Bluff Point Associates, Clear Haven Capital Management)
• Claris Biotherapeutics 🇺🇸 (Biotech): $118M (Samsara Biocapital, Catalio Capital Management, Adage Capital Management, Sofinnova Investments, Aisling Capital, ADAR1 Capital Management, Novo Holdings, Janus Henderson Investors, Mass General Brigham Ventures)
• Enigma 🇺🇸 (Robotics): $71M (Index Ventures, Ribbit Capital, Conviction Partners, leaders from OpenAI, Anthropic, DeepMind, xAI, Cognition, Wiz)
• Act Security 🇮🇱 (Cloud security): $60M (Team8, Bessemer Venture Partners, Hetz Ventures, Claltech, Notable Capital, Startpoint Capital, SVCI)
• Claros Technologies 🇺🇸 (Environmental): $55M (Treehouse Family Capital LLC, Daikin America, Veralto, Bush Foundation, Nord Asset Management, Saint Paul & Minnesota Foundation)
• Eightco Holdings 🇺🇸 (Digital assets): $52.5M (World Foundation)
• World Foundation 🇺🇸 (Identity): $52.5M (Pantera Capital, Bain Capital Crypto, Eightco Holdings (ORBS), Selini Capital, Susquehanna Crypto)
• Fish Audio 🇺🇸 (Voice AI): $52M (Coreline Ventures, Capital Today, 359 Capital, Play Time, HF0, 645 Ventures, Parable, Carya Venture Partners, Alphalist Partners, leading angel investors)
• Flourish Health 🇺🇸 (Healthcare): $46M (B Capital, F-Prime, Cherryrock Capital)
• ProphetX 🇺🇸 (Prediction market): $35M (Parlay Capital, Data Point Capital, FDJ Ventures, Greenwave Ventures, Connexa Capital, Impellent Ventures, the Operating Group, Sharp Alpha Advisors, Chicago Trading Company Ventures, Belvedere Trading, principals at White Swan Data, principals at Consolidated Trading, Ematiq)
• Hush Security 🇮🇱 (Cybersecurity): $30M (Akamai Technologies, Battery Ventures, YL Ventures)
• Natural 🇺🇸 (Fintech): $30M (Forerunner Ventures, Aarmaan Ali, Baris Akis, Ramtin Naimi, Nichole Wischoff, Darragh Buckley, Pablo Palafox, Paul Klein IV, Akshay Kothari, Henri Stern, Max Segall, Pete Koomen, Dylan Babbs, Art Levy, Jake Paul, Logan Paul)
• Epitel 🇺🇸 (Healthcare): $26M (Catalyst Health Ventures, Genoa Ventures)
• ZuriQ 🇨🇭 (Quantum): $25.5M (Quantonation, Forward.one, Extantia, Firgun Ventures, existing investors)
• Excedr 🇺🇸 (Life sciences): $25M (BOK Financial, existing investors, global single-family offices)
• CORE Biomedicine 🇺🇸 (Biotech): $21M (UTokyo Innovation Platform Co., Ltd., Elikon Venture, InnoPinnacle Fund, Mitsubishi UFJ Capital Co., Ltd., Suzhou Capital Group Co., Ltd., CD Capital, YuanBio Venture Capital, Vision Incubate Co., Ltd., Root Venture Partners)
• Elio 🇺🇸 (Hardware): $21M (Innovation Endeavors, Xora, Kevin Weil, Scribble VC, UpWest, Resolute Ventures)
• Array Labs 🇺🇸 (Aerospace): $21M (Mitsubishi Electric Corporation, Catapult Ventures, Kompas VC, Y Combinator)
• Healia 🇺🇸 (Healthcare): $18M (111° West Capital, Y Combinator, First Round Capital, Pioneer Fund, GoAhead Ventures, North Coast Ventures)
• Vivid Dx 🇬🇧 (Diagnostics): $15M (Oxford Science Enterprises, Cedars-Sinai Intellectual Property Co., Jameel Investment Management Company, additional strategic investors)
• Sent 🇺🇸 (Messaging): $12M (Companyon Ventures, Bessemer Venture Partners, Urban Innovation Fund, CP Overture)
• metr 🇩🇪 (Proptech): €10.5M (SBG – Sächsische Beteiligungsgesellschaft mbH, Kachel GmbH (WIKA), IBB Capital, BRAWO Capital, Next Big Thing AG, business angels)
• DeltaVision 🇩🇪 (Spacetech): €10.2M (KT Ventures, Valemount Capital, Futury Capital, private investors)
• Procode Inc. 🇺🇸 (Healthcare): $10M (Health Velocity Capital)
• Buildforce 🇺🇸 (Staffing): $10M (Saepio Capital, Blue Heron Capital, Revolution’s Rise of the Rest Seed Fund, S3 Ventures, Chicago Ventures)
• Tiger Technology 🇧🇬 (Hybrid cloud): €8.7M (TCEE Fund IV, 3TS Capital Partners, TDJ, Endeavor Catalyst, Impetus, MFG)
• Pstryk 🇵🇱 (Smart Energy): €7M (Future Energy Ventures, Axpo Group, Montis VC, ff Venture Capital, Simpact Ventures, angel investors)
• Dopl Technologies 🇺🇸 (Healthcare): $6.3M (SpringTide Ventures)
• Alpen 🇺🇸 (Building materials): $6M (Inherent Capital, Arborview Capital)
• Aurenar 🇺🇸 (Healthcare): $5.7M (Go Red for Women Venture Fund, Solas BioVentures, BJC Health, Kaleida Capital)
• Mirae 🇺🇸 (Healthcare): $5.4M (Oxford Science Enterprises)
• DITTO 🇳🇱 (Femtech): €5.2M (FoodLabs, EKA Ventures, angel investors)
• Pilot Protocol 🇺🇸 (Software): $4.5M (Version One Ventures, Precursor Ventures, Night Capital, Todd & Rahul Capital, Lenny Rachitsky, Ben Tossell)
• Perceptual Robotics 🇬🇧 (Renewables): £4M+ (Investing for Purpose, Loggerhead Ventures, One Planet Capital, Innovate UK)
• 5U AI 🇩🇪 (Logistics): $3.2M (Emerge Capital, senior executives from DHL, GEODIS, DSV, Maersk, Ceva Logistics)
• Beelzebub 🇮🇹 (Cybersecurity): €3M (United Ventures)

Fund Watch

• Brookfield Asset Management 🇨🇦: $2B (Brookfield Middle East Partners, regional private equity fund. First close. PIF anchor)
• Align Ventures 🇺🇸: $125M (Early-Stage Fund II, oversubscribed early-stage consumer fund — $2M–$10M checks into 15–20 brands)

🔔IPO

• Jersey Mike’s 🇺🇸 (Restaurants): IPO said to be more than 10 times oversubscribed.
• DexForce 🇨🇳 (Robotics): said to be considering a Hong Kong IPO, size not disclosed.
• Zhongji Innolight 🇨🇳 (Optics): pricing 54.5M shares at HK$980 each, raising about HK$53.4B (~$6.8B), below its HK$1,010 maximum.
• Elevate Campuses 🇮🇳 (Education): said to launch a $267M India IPO August.
• OKX 🇸🇨 (Crypto): plans an IPO within two years with ICE backing (no fundraising amount disclosed).

🧳 Debt

• SoftBank Group 🇯🇵: sold ¥90B (~$550M) in yen bonds to institutions (three‑ and five‑year tranches with 3.270% and 3.886% coupons, the highest for these maturities).

❌ Failures

• GSK 🇬🇧: to cut jobs under a £1.9bn cost‑cutting plan while investing £400m in UK life sciences and moving 1,000+ scientists to Cambridge.
• Diageo 🇬🇧: opened a collective dismissal affecting 97 of 127 employees at its Milan office.
• Nothing 🇬🇧: the London smartphone maker confirms restructurings and job cuts after reports of up to 40% of roles being cut and says Phone (4b) sold 29,537 units on day one.
• Lufthansa 🇩🇪: launches « New Ways » to cut up to 550 full-time positions (part of a previously announced 4,000-job reduction).
• Lenzing 🇦🇹: the Austrian textile maker closed sites in the UK and Austria as part of a turnaround plan.
• Zurich 🇨🇭: FINMA imposed a partial sales ban, prompting the insurer to let staff go.
• Visa 🇺🇸: cutting about 2,600 jobs, roughly 7% of its workforce.

🎯 For a Few More Minutes…

• 🇩🇪 Not So Innocent. Hans Asperger, long celebrated for his work on autism, is now exposed as a collaborator in the Nazi regime’s eugenics policies. (Le Figaro)
• 🇨🇳 Lost and Unfound. Families of MH370 victims appeal Malaysia Airlines’ compensation ruling in Beijing, demanding truth and accountability after 12 years of unanswered questions and unresolved grief. (Le Parisien)
• 🇰🇪 Ivory Mystery. Fourteen elephants have died under unclear circumstances near Kenya’s Amboseli National Park, prompting a rapid inquiry and lab tests for disease or poisoning. (Bbc)
• 🇿🇼 Bone New World. A 210-million-year-old dinosaur skeleton found near Lake Kariba introduces Musango matusadonaensis, challenging the idea that early southern African dinos were all the same cast. (Le Monde)

🗞️ Top Story

• 🇺🇸 Surprise Party. Iran fired a volley of ballistic missiles at troops in the Middle East, all of which the Pentagon claims were intercepted, abruptly ending the recent pause in hostilities. (Financial Times)
• 🇺🇸 Memoir Material. Biden’s own words on tape confirm he kept classified files after leaving office, but the special counsel still found no grounds for prosecution. (New York Times)
• 🇺🇸 Think Tanked. The Heritage Foundation is in turmoil as internal battles over Trumpism and rising extremism mirror the Republican Party’s post-Trump identity crisis. (New York Times)
• 🇺🇸 Cold Warmer. President Zelensky will meet President Trump at the White House as the two leaders signal a thaw in their once-frosty relationship and discuss stalled Ukraine peace talks. (New York Times)
• 🇧🇷 Aid and Abet. As the global HIV conference opens in Brazil, UN officials warn that slashed US and European aid budgets now threaten key prevention programs worldwide. (Libé)
• 🇻🇪 Marching Orders. With transition talks set to begin, rival Venezuelan groups fill the streets, each demanding their version of democracy while the US watches closely. (Le Monde)
• 🇩🇪 Remaniac. Friedrich Merz’s much-hyped cabinet shakeup devolves into chaos, leaving his authority even weaker ahead of looming far-right gains. (Libé)
• 🇩🇪 Pride and Prejudice. Germany’s AfD, long opposed to Pride flags and LGBTQ rights, may gain political ground after the Berlin attack despite its anti-LGBTQ stance. (New York Times)
• 🇪🇸 Hot Seat. Pedro Sanchez’s cross-party climate pact goes up in smoke as right-wing lawmakers refuse to sign on despite raging wildfires. (Le Monde)
• 🇧🇪 Ring Leader. Antwerp diamond bosses gifted Trump a lavish « Freedom 250 » ring just as he scrapped US tariffs on Belgian diamonds, prompting a rabbi to file a corruption complaint. (Le Temps)
• 🇯🇵 Faulty Towers. Japan’s Kumamoto area endured a 7.1 earthquake, leaving tens of thousands without power and transport paralyzed, while nuclear plants remain stable for now. (El Pais)
• 🇮🇷 Hotline Bling. Iran touts phone diplomacy with Saudi and Omani officials about the Strait of Hormuz, as Trump congratulates himself on negotiations Iran denies are occurring. (Cnbc)
• 🇺🇳 Walkout of Fame. The US stormed out of a Security Council meeting after France compared its human rights record to North Korea and Russia, turning diplomatic drama into performance art. (Le Temps)

🏛️ Economy

• 🇺🇸 Bot Blocked. The Trump administration has banned new Chinese-made humanoid robots and power inverters, citing national security risks and escalating the tech standoff with Beijing. (Bbc)
• 🇺🇸 Ticket to Hide. Delaware Life, owned by Dodgers boss Mark Walter, reclassified $100M in loans to “Dodger Tickets LLC” as related-party assets after prosecutors began investigating its private credit dealings. (Financial Times)
• 🇺🇸 Miles to Go. With new car loans averaging almost 6 years, buyers enjoy lower monthly bills but pay more in the end for the ride. (Cnbc)
• 🇺🇸 Pace Yourself. Over 1,000 employees from OpenAI 🇺🇸, Anthropic 🇺🇸, Meta 🇺🇸, and Google 🇺🇸 urge the to regulate AI development, warning that unchecked progress risks spiraling beyond human control. (Die Zeit)
• 🇺🇸 Tariff Wars. The National Republican Congressional Committee launched digital ads attacking House Democrats who oppose Trump’s tariffs, framing them as siding with China just months before the 2026 midterms. (Cnbc)
• 🇩🇪 Staying Afloat. Germany’s economy is set for slight Q2 growth, says the Bundesbank, as industrial exports and consumer spending keep recession at bay for now. (Boursier)
• 🇪🇺 Banana Republics. The European Commission eyes a « high-risk » list for imported organic products such as bananas and tea, hoping to patch up the battered bio label. (Les Echos)
• 🇨🇭 Pitch Perfect. Infantino wants FIFA to create a $20B company selling 20 percent of World Cup rights to private investors, with UEFA warning that football’s leadership is not for sale. (Die Zeit)
• 🇦🇺 Fuel’s Gold. The Australian government backs a $4M feasibility study for a new refinery, betting on sovereignty over profitability for the first time since the 1960s. (Le Figaro)

🏢 Real Estate

• 🇺🇸 Freeze Frame. New York’s mayor celebrated a two-year rent freeze for nearly 1M tenants, reigniting the global debate over whether rent controls help or harm cities. (Financial Times)
• 🇺🇸 Home Alone. New York City publishes a list of luxury pied-à-terre owners, including boldface names, as a warning before hitting them with a new tax. (Wall Street Journal)
• 🇬🇧 Block Discount. UK housebuilders are unloading bundles of unsold homes to institutional investors at record discounts of 15% to 20% as private buyers retreat. (Financial Times)
• 🇯🇵 Seismic Bids. Investors piled into Japanese construction shares after the Kyushu quake, anticipating that rebuilding demand will outweigh the human toll. (Bloomberg)

🔗 On-chain

• 🇺🇸 Compliance Theater. Binance 🇨🇳 has tightened its cooperation with police, forcing law enforcement to navigate slower international channels and frustrating global crime investigations. (New York Times)
• 🇺🇸 Bit by Bit. Strategy collects $544M in fresh capital, only to announce it will not be adding to its Bitcoin stash just yet. (Journalducoin)
• 🇰🇷 Chip Shot. A single trade in SK Hynix stock triggered a $60M wipeout in crypto bets, proving that correlation can be a dangerous game. (Bloomberg)

💱 Listed Markets

• 🇺🇸 Swipe Right. Visa 🇺🇸 saw revenue climb last quarter on resilient spending, but the company is still trimming about 7% of jobs to keep pace with industry shifts. (Wall Street Journal)
• 🇺🇸 Gravity Test. SpaceX and Tesla 🇺🇸 have shed $1.5T in value, and SpaceX’s first earnings plus a looming lockup expiration could pull shares even lower. (Cnbc)
• 🇺🇸 Buyer Beware. eBay and several former executives will pay $56M to newsletter writers Ina and David Steiner, who were harassed with threats and bizarre mail in 2019. (TechCrunch)
• 🇺🇸 Plane and Simple. Boeing reported a $428M quarterly loss after another $280M overrun on its Air Force One project, with delivery now delayed to 2028. (New York Times)
• 🇺🇸 Flat Rate. UPS expects third-quarter domestic revenue to be flat, but CEO Carol Tomé insists the company has moved past its recent bumps and is back on track for growth. (Cnbc)
• 🇩🇪 Auto Correct. Mercedes revises its 2026 revenue outlook downward as China’s market sours, signaling another rough road ahead for German carmakers. (Les Echos)
• 🇳🇱 Chip Shot. NXP Semiconductors 🇳🇱 beat profit and revenue forecasts for Q2 thanks to growth across all markets, but investors still sent shares down 5.8% after hours. (Wall Street Journal)
• 🇬🇧 Folded Away. Google DeepMind has disbanded its Nobel-winning AlphaFold team, shifting key researchers to Gemini and other AI projects in a sweeping strategy overhaul. (Financial Times)
• 🇰🇷 AI Caramba. Despite a 557 percent profit jump from AI chip sales, SK Hynix shares slid as results failed to satisfy market expectations. (Financial Times)
• 🇭🇰 Tech Off, Bank On. As hopes for tech fade, Hong Kong financial shares rally toward a two-year high, proving money still loves tradition. (Bloomberg)
• 🇦🇪 Footnote Fetish. PwC Middle East published “thought leadership” reports on AI and electric vehicles packed with fake citations and AI-generated hallucinations, embarrassing a firm that sells itself as an expert on responsible tech. (Financial Times)

🛎️ Big Deals (M&A)

• The Team 🇺🇸 acquires Casey Wasserman’s remaining stake 🇺🇸 with additional investment from Providence Equity Partners 🇺🇸.
• Cyera 🇺🇸 acquires Oasis Security 🇺🇸 for $1B. Deal mostly cash with remainder in Cyera shares.
• Coalesce Capital 🇺🇸 makes a strategic growth investment in Workstreet 🇺🇸, an AI-native compliance and cybersecurity services provider.
• Aquila 🇨🇦 acquires Enocta 🇹🇷, a learning technologies company serving 550+ institutions, 70+ partners and 3.5M+ users. Aquila is part of a TSX‑listed global group.
• Ebanx 🇧🇷 partners with Pagaleve 🇧🇷 to launch Pix 4x, a BNPL on Pix offering four biweekly instalments, using Pagaleve’s ML/AI risk engine for sub-3s credit decisions.
• Saint-Gobain 🇫🇷 acquires Phu My Innovative Materials (PMIM) 🇻🇳, one of Vietnam’s largest modern plasterboard plants, ~€20M revenue in 2025.
• Stellantis 🇳🇱 cedes its stake in Free2move 🇫🇷 to Mutares 🇩🇪. Sale of the car‑sharing unit, completion expected by end‑2026, buyer plans to develop a mobility platform and pursue EV transition.
• Grupa Kapitałowa Valeza 🇵🇱 acquires Prime ASI 🇵🇱 (purchases 32M shares (27.40% of capital and votes) in a secondary shareholder transaction, defence/dual‑use sector).
• 9fin 🇬🇧 completes an employee secondary share sale with its employees 🇬🇧 after a $170m Series C at a $1.3bn valuation. More than half of eligible staff cashed out.
• PetroChina 🇨🇳 weighs selling part of its 15% stake in LNG Canada 🇨🇦.
• Prince Al Waleed bin Talal Al Saud 🇸🇦 acquires a 5% stake in Lucid Motors 🇺🇸, buying just over 19M shares when Lucid’s market cap was below $2B.
• Angola 🇦🇴 sells a 15% stake in Unitel 🇦🇴 for $321M in the largest IPO in the nation’s history. Dominant mobile operator.

🧳 Private Markets & VC

• 🇺🇸 Crack of Dawn. Anthropic’s Claude AI model uncovered vulnerabilities in a weakened encryption algorithm, hinting that AI may soon challenge the core security assumptions of the internet. (New York Times)
• 🇺🇸 Collateral Damage. Wall Street banks including Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan are demanding more collateral from hedge funds as AI stock losses trigger automatic margin calls and expose leverage risks. (Financial Times)
• 🇺🇸 Barely Legal. Elon Musk’s xAI is suing Minnesota to block a law banning « nudify » apps, arguing it violates free speech and threatens $50B in penalties. (Cnbc)
• 🇺🇸 Bank Shot. Elon Musk’s X Money app debuts in the, letting X subscribers send money, earn up to 6% APY, and flash an X-branded Visa card. (TechCrunch)
• 🇺🇸 Pay Now, Byte Later. Apple teams up with Klarna🇸🇪 to offer device leases starting at $12 per month, making pricey iPhones and Macs a subscription habit instead of a one-time splurge. (TechCrunch)
• 🇨🇳 Freeze Frame. DeepSeek halts its $74B fundraising round after its founder makes a dramatic exit, leaving investors with more questions than answers. (Journalducoin)
• 🇸🇬 Fashion Police. Shein 🇸🇬 discloses an active FTC probe into its US business, adding regulatory suspense to its already ambitious Hong Kong IPO plans. (Wall Street Journal)

Fundraising

• iwoca 🇬🇧 (Fintech): £250M (a leading UK bank, Waterfall Asset Management)
• Spur Intelligence 🇺🇸 (Cybersecurity): $200M (Insight Partners)
• Dwelly 🇬🇧 (Proptech): $170M (EQT Growth, General Catalyst, Trinity Capital, Max Junestrand, Victor Riparbelli, Mati Staniszewski)
• PEX 🇺🇸 (Fintech): $160M (Bluff Point Associates, Clear Haven Capital Management)
• Claris Biotherapeutics 🇺🇸 (Biotech): $118M (Samsara Biocapital, Catalio Capital Management, Adage Capital Management, Sofinnova Investments, Aisling Capital, ADAR1 Capital Management, Novo Holdings, Janus Henderson Investors, Mass General Brigham Ventures)
• Enigma 🇺🇸 (Robotics): $71M (Index Ventures, Ribbit Capital, Conviction Partners, leaders from OpenAI, Anthropic, DeepMind, xAI, Cognition, Wiz)
• Act Security 🇮🇱 (Cloud security): $60M (Team8, Bessemer Venture Partners, Hetz Ventures, Claltech, Notable Capital, Startpoint Capital, SVCI)
• Claros Technologies 🇺🇸 (Environmental): $55M (Treehouse Family Capital LLC, Daikin America, Veralto, Bush Foundation, Nord Asset Management, Saint Paul & Minnesota Foundation)
• Eightco Holdings 🇺🇸 (Digital assets): $52.5M (World Foundation)
• World Foundation 🇺🇸 (Identity): $52.5M (Pantera Capital, Bain Capital Crypto, Eightco Holdings (ORBS), Selini Capital, Susquehanna Crypto)
• Fish Audio 🇺🇸 (Voice AI): $52M (Coreline Ventures, Capital Today, 359 Capital, Play Time, HF0, 645 Ventures, Parable, Carya Venture Partners, Alphalist Partners, leading angel investors)
• Flourish Health 🇺🇸 (Healthcare): $46M (B Capital, F-Prime, Cherryrock Capital)
• ProphetX 🇺🇸 (Prediction market): $35M (Parlay Capital, Data Point Capital, FDJ Ventures, Greenwave Ventures, Connexa Capital, Impellent Ventures, the Operating Group, Sharp Alpha Advisors, Chicago Trading Company Ventures, Belvedere Trading, principals at White Swan Data, principals at Consolidated Trading, Ematiq)
• Hush Security 🇮🇱 (Cybersecurity): $30M (Akamai Technologies, Battery Ventures, YL Ventures)
• Natural 🇺🇸 (Fintech): $30M (Forerunner Ventures, Aarmaan Ali, Baris Akis, Ramtin Naimi, Nichole Wischoff, Darragh Buckley, Pablo Palafox, Paul Klein IV, Akshay Kothari, Henri Stern, Max Segall, Pete Koomen, Dylan Babbs, Art Levy, Jake Paul, Logan Paul)
• Epitel 🇺🇸 (Healthcare): $26M (Catalyst Health Ventures, Genoa Ventures)
• ZuriQ 🇨🇭 (Quantum): $25.5M (Quantonation, Forward.one, Extantia, Firgun Ventures, existing investors)
• Excedr 🇺🇸 (Life sciences): $25M (BOK Financial, existing investors, global single-family offices)
• CORE Biomedicine 🇺🇸 (Biotech): $21M (UTokyo Innovation Platform Co., Ltd., Elikon Venture, InnoPinnacle Fund, Mitsubishi UFJ Capital Co., Ltd., Suzhou Capital Group Co., Ltd., CD Capital, YuanBio Venture Capital, Vision Incubate Co., Ltd., Root Venture Partners)
• Elio 🇺🇸 (Hardware): $21M (Innovation Endeavors, Xora, Kevin Weil, Scribble VC, UpWest, Resolute Ventures)
• Array Labs 🇺🇸 (Aerospace): $21M (Mitsubishi Electric Corporation, Catapult Ventures, Kompas VC, Y Combinator)
• Healia 🇺🇸 (Healthcare): $18M (111° West Capital, Y Combinator, First Round Capital, Pioneer Fund, GoAhead Ventures, North Coast Ventures)
• Vivid Dx 🇬🇧 (Diagnostics): $15M (Oxford Science Enterprises, Cedars-Sinai Intellectual Property Co., Jameel Investment Management Company, additional strategic investors)
• Sent 🇺🇸 (Messaging): $12M (Companyon Ventures, Bessemer Venture Partners, Urban Innovation Fund, CP Overture)
• metr 🇩🇪 (Proptech): €10.5M (SBG – Sächsische Beteiligungsgesellschaft mbH, Kachel GmbH (WIKA), IBB Capital, BRAWO Capital, Next Big Thing AG, business angels)
• DeltaVision 🇩🇪 (Spacetech): €10.2M (KT Ventures, Valemount Capital, Futury Capital, private investors)
• Procode Inc. 🇺🇸 (Healthcare): $10M (Health Velocity Capital)
• Buildforce 🇺🇸 (Staffing): $10M (Saepio Capital, Blue Heron Capital, Revolution’s Rise of the Rest Seed Fund, S3 Ventures, Chicago Ventures)
• Tiger Technology 🇧🇬 (Hybrid cloud): €8.7M (TCEE Fund IV, 3TS Capital Partners, TDJ, Endeavor Catalyst, Impetus, MFG)
• Pstryk 🇵🇱 (Smart Energy): €7M (Future Energy Ventures, Axpo Group, Montis VC, ff Venture Capital, Simpact Ventures, angel investors)
• Dopl Technologies 🇺🇸 (Healthcare): $6.3M (SpringTide Ventures)
• Alpen 🇺🇸 (Building materials): $6M (Inherent Capital, Arborview Capital)
• Aurenar 🇺🇸 (Healthcare): $5.7M (Go Red for Women Venture Fund, Solas BioVentures, BJC Health, Kaleida Capital)
• Mirae 🇺🇸 (Healthcare): $5.4M (Oxford Science Enterprises)
• DITTO 🇳🇱 (Femtech): €5.2M (FoodLabs, EKA Ventures, angel investors)
• Pilot Protocol 🇺🇸 (Software): $4.5M (Version One Ventures, Precursor Ventures, Night Capital, Todd & Rahul Capital, Lenny Rachitsky, Ben Tossell)
• Perceptual Robotics 🇬🇧 (Renewables): £4M+ (Investing for Purpose, Loggerhead Ventures, One Planet Capital, Innovate UK)
• 5U AI 🇩🇪 (Logistics): $3.2M (Emerge Capital, senior executives from DHL, GEODIS, DSV, Maersk, Ceva Logistics)
• Beelzebub 🇮🇹 (Cybersecurity): €3M (United Ventures)

Fund Watch

• Brookfield Asset Management 🇨🇦: $2B (Brookfield Middle East Partners, regional private equity fund. First close. PIF anchor)
• Align Ventures 🇺🇸: $125M (Early-Stage Fund II, oversubscribed early-stage consumer fund — $2M–$10M checks into 15–20 brands)

🔔IPO

• Jersey Mike’s 🇺🇸 (Restaurants): IPO said to be more than 10 times oversubscribed.
• DexForce 🇨🇳 (Robotics): said to be considering a Hong Kong IPO, size not disclosed.
• Zhongji Innolight 🇨🇳 (Optics): pricing 54.5M shares at HK$980 each, raising about HK$53.4B (~$6.8B), below its HK$1,010 maximum.
• Elevate Campuses 🇮🇳 (Education): said to launch a $267M India IPO August.
• OKX 🇸🇨 (Crypto): plans an IPO within two years with ICE backing (no fundraising amount disclosed).

🧳 Debt

• Riverwards Group 🇺🇸: raised $37.3M in construction financing for 2507 Almond Street.
• Arixa Capital 🇺🇸: closed a $74.8M construction loan for an 83‑unit townhome community in Flagstaff, AZ.
• Kennedy Funding 🇺🇸: closed a $1.26M cash-out refinance land loan in Cartagena, Colombia.
• SoftBank Group 🇯🇵: sold ¥90B (~$550M) in yen bonds to institutions (three‑ and five‑year tranches with 3.270% and 3.886% coupons, the highest for these maturities).

❌ Failures

• Legendary Beverly Hills restaurant 🇺🇸: closed abruptly after a 30-year run, leaving celebrity clientele demanding answers.
• Visa 🇺🇸: cutting about 2,600 jobs, roughly 7% of its workforce.
• Lufthansa 🇩🇪: launches « New Ways » to cut up to 550 full-time positions (part of a previously announced 4,000-job reduction).
• GSK 🇬🇧: to cut jobs under a £1.9bn cost‑cutting plan while investing £400m in UK life sciences and moving 1,000+ scientists to Cambridge.
• Diageo 🇬🇧: opened a collective dismissal affecting 97 of 127 employees at its Milan office.
• Nothing 🇬🇧: the London smartphone maker confirms restructurings and job cuts after reports of up to 40% of roles being cut and says Phone (4b) sold 29,537 units on day one.
• Zurich 🇨🇭: FINMA imposed a partial sales ban, prompting the insurer to let staff go.

🎯 For a Few More Minutes…

• 🇩🇪 Not So Innocent. Hans Asperger, long celebrated for his work on autism, is now exposed as a collaborator in the Nazi regime’s eugenics policies. (Le Figaro)
• 🇨🇳 Lost and Unfound. Families of MH370 victims appeal Malaysia Airlines’ compensation ruling in Beijing, demanding truth and accountability after 12 years of unanswered questions and unresolved grief. (Le Parisien)
• 🇰🇪 Ivory Mystery. Fourteen elephants have died under unclear circumstances near Kenya’s Amboseli National Park, prompting a rapid inquiry and lab tests for disease or poisoning. (Bbc)
• 🇿🇼 Bone New World. A 210-million-year-old dinosaur skeleton found near Lake Kariba introduces Musango matusadonaensis, challenging the idea that early southern African dinos were all the same cast. (Le Monde)