🚀 Straight to the Moon
Your pension just booked a window seat.
Good morning!
Humanity has been parking its gods in the sky since it stood upright. Babylon read the future there, Rome lodged Jupiter there, the America of 2026 parks reusable rockets there. SpaceX makes its Nasdaq debut this week under the ticker SPCX: a $1.75T valuation, $75B raised, two and a half times the Aramco record, and 555,555,555 shares priced at $135. Numerology is a house tradition: Twitter went for $54.20 a share, a cannabis joke worth $44B, signed by a man whose earlier rendition of the same gag, Tesla at $420, had already cost him a $20M SEC fine and the chairmanship of his own board. Six thousand years of spiritual elevation, concluding as a line in a brokerage account.
The theology sits in the index plumbing. Nasdaq has rewritten its canon law to order: a fast-entry procedure beatifies very large capitalisations after 15 trading sessions, effective 3 July, and an ad hoc rule triples the weighting of companies whose float stays below 20%. Some $600B of passive money tracks the Nasdaq 100 to the basis point. At a 1% weighting, $6B of buying lands mechanically on a 5% float, 7% of available shares hoovered up without a single human brain forming an opinion on the profitability of an orbital launcher that lists at 95x sales after a $4.9B net loss in 2025. Morningstar puts fair value at $780B, under half the asking price. Only S&P Dow Jones declined to amend the missal. Old churches have a slowness that occasionally passes for dignity.
The saver wiring £300 a month into an ETF believed the religious phase of investing was over. No more active-management gurus, no more certainty salesmen in signet rings, nothing but 0.2% fees and the market average. Come July, that saver will hold SpaceX without ever having formed the intention, or any other. Calvin had a name for the mechanism: irresistible grace, salvation descending on the elect without consultation. The collateral differs, a pension rather than a soul, assembled transfer by transfer over 20 years and now partly riding on a rocket its owner will only ever watch lift off in vertical video, between two adverts for protein powder.
Credit where it is owed: Musk's rockets fly, which places him above the prophetic average, a profession that has been promising heaven since the Bronze Age without shipping a single prototype. The stroke of genius is not up there, though; it is in the pipe. Every church in history tripped over the same design flaw: the believer's faith, a perishable commodity, expensive to maintain through sermons, miracles and Sunday collections. Indexation has fixed it. The retail tranche will gather the believers, the passive funds will gather everyone else. A cult with no preaching, congregants optional, and the tithe collected at source, by direct debit, on the 5th of the month.
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🗞️ Top Story
- 🇬🇧 Battle Fatigue. Al Carns resigns as armed forces minister, following John Healey out the door in protest over Sir Keir Starmer’s defence spending, leaving Labour’s leadership exposed. (BBC)
- 🇬🇧 Major Departure. After Defence Secretary John Healey resigns over funding disputes, Keir Starmer appoints ex-paratrooper Dan Jarvis to calm a shaken ministry. (Le Figaro)
- 🇬🇧 Night Shift. Belfast streets burn for a second night after a stabbing, as racist mobs ignore the injured man’s family’s plea for calm. (Spiegel)
- 🇫🇷 Evian on the Rocks. Emmanuel Macron hosts a G7 summit in Evian overshadowed by Middle East conflict and Trump’s unpredictability, as leaders scramble to find common ground. (Le Monde)
- 🇦🇱 Dreams on the Rocks. Jared Kushner’s Sazan Island resort plan faces resistance from Albanian officials, turning a real estate fantasy into a political headache. (Bloomberg)
- 🇺🇸 Deal or No Deal. Donald Trump claims a breakthrough agreement to end the Iran conflict is imminent, while Tehran insists nothing has actually been finalized yet. (BBC)
- 🇺🇸 Jet Lag. The will cut a third of its fighter jets and key warships from NATO operations in Europe, accelerating Trump's push to shrink America's security umbrella. (New York Times)
- 🇨🇴 Jungle Law. At least 48 people died in a week of fighting between FARC dissidents in Colombia's Guaviare region, as rival groups battle for Amazon smuggling routes. (Courrierinternational)
- 🇵🇪 Margin Call. Keiko Fujimori leads Peru’s presidential runoff by just 650 votes with 98% counted, leaving the country suspended between recounts and recriminations. (Boursier)
- 🇯🇵 Back in Orbit. After a failed 2023 attempt, Japan's flagship H3 rocket puts six satellites in space, proving the program can still deliver liftoff. (Le Monde)
- 🇰🇷 Drone Alone. Former South Korean president Yoon Suk Yeol was sentenced to 30 years in prison for sending military drones into North Korea to provoke tensions and justify martial law. (Le Monde)
- 🇳🇪 Law and Disorder. Niger's military regime has enacted a new penal code criminalizing homosexuality and related identities, imposing prison terms of up to 20 years and hefty fines in a sweeping crackdown. (Le Temps)
- 🌍 Hot Ticket. A new scientific study finds the world will hit the symbolic 1.5°C warming threshold by 2030, decades earlier than climate negotiators once hoped. (Les Echos)
🇬🇧 United Kingdom
- 🇬🇧 Fizz and Fury. Labour’s internal discord returns as John Healey quits in protest at Keir Starmer’s defence budget, leaving the party’s unity on ice once again. (BBC)
- 🇬🇧 Hate Street. Northern Ireland secretary Hilary Benn condemns violent anti-immigration protests in Belfast after 16 arrests and 12 police injuries in a second night of unrest. (The Guardian)
🇺🇸 United States
- 🇺🇸 Spoiler Alert. President Trump and Defense Secretary Hegseth publicly announced upcoming strikes on Iran before they happened, abandoning all pretense of military secrecy. (New York Times)
- 🇺🇸 Hazmatinee. The Pentagon went into lockdown for nearly three hours after a hazardous materials scare, only to discover it was a false alarm and lift the order. (Wall Street Journal)
🏛️ Economy
- 🇪🇺 Ahead of the Curve. The European Central Bank becomes the first major bank to hike rates, hoping to contain war-induced inflation before it spreads further. (Wall Street Journal)
- 🇨🇭 Power Play. FIFA boss Gianni Infantino unveils a supersized World Cup in North America, chasing record profits while fans and players brace for the fallout. (Le Parisien)
- 🇺🇸 Goal Standard. Tickets for the 2026 World Cup final in the are hitting $10,000 as dynamic pricing and host costs send fans and budgets reeling. (Bloomberg)
- 🇺🇸 Crude Awakening. The Trump administration slaps sanctions on Cuba's state oil company Cupet, barring citizens from doing business and threatening penalties for foreign partners. Washington accuses Havana of weaponizing energy while Cuba faces mounting blackouts. (Spiegel)
- 🇨🇳 Great Firewall of AI. China unveils a $295B investment plan to supercharge its AI industry, aiming to close the gap with the US once and for all. (Bloomberg)
- 🇹🇷 Turkish Delights. Opposition MP Gökhan Günaydin exposes Turkish Airlines' board salaries topping €40K a month, sparking outrage online while Parliament shrugs in silence. (Le Monde)
- 🌍 World Slow Bank. The World Bank slashes its 2026 global growth prediction to 2.5 percent, citing Middle East instability and rising oil prices as the main culprits. (Boursier)
🇬🇧 United Kingdom
- 🇬🇧 Gilt Trip. UK bond traders brace for volatility as the election nears and Andy Burnham quietly positions himself as a potential rival to Keir Starmer. (Bloomberg)
- 🇬🇧 Pay to Parent. The CMA is investigating Ryanair 🇮🇪 for making parents pay extra to sit next to their own children, questioning whether the practice is unfair under consumer law. (BBC)
- 🇬🇧 Audit and Error. The UK’s Financial Reporting Council has launched investigations into small firms Berkeley Finch, Silver Levene, and Magus over their audits of collapsed lender Market Financial Solutions, after £2B in creditor losses and fraud allegations. (Financial Times)
🇺🇸 United States
- 🇺🇸 SECret Intelligence. Donald Trump plans to nominate former SEC chairman John Clayton as Director of National Intelligence, because nothing says spycraft like securities regulation. (Wall Street Journal)
- 🇺🇸 Still Working On It. Jobless claims rose to 229,000 last week, a bump that economists say does not threaten the labor market's resilience. (Wall Street Journal)
- 🇺🇸 Pump Fiction. wholesale prices jumped 1.1% in May, outpacing forecasts as energy costs soared, putting annual producer inflation at 6.5% and fueling fresh Fed headaches. (Cnbc)
🏢 Real Estate
- 🇪🇺 Home Alone. The ECB’s rate hike leaves French property buyers facing the prospect of higher mortgage costs and a market that feels less welcoming by the day. (Le Figaro)
- 🇺🇸 Park and Wreck. Frank Rolfe, once a mobile home billionaire, is now staring down bankruptcy as his business model finally hits a dead end. (Bloomberg)
🇺🇸 United States
- 🇺🇸 Sister Act. Manhattan rents have driven young professionals like Katie Rettig to move into convents, where $5,000 apartments are swapped for nuns and curfews. (Wall Street Journal)
- 🇺🇸 Home Truths. David Morales and a wave of young politicians are putting housing affordability front and center, arguing their age and rent bills prove the point. (New York Times)
🔗 On-chain
- 🇺🇸 Rocket Club. SpaceX is set to debut on the Nasdaq with traders betting it will close above a $2T market cap, joining the ultra-exclusive $2T company club. (Cnbc)
- 🇺🇸 Bot and Sold. Coinbase 🇺🇸 unveils a tool letting AI agents like ChatGPT and Claude trade crypto and make payments for users, aiming to turn bots into the new financial middlemen. (Cnbc)
- 🇺🇸 Pitch Perfect Storm. With over $2B wagered on Kalshi and Polymarket before the first whistle, the World Cup is already a trading floor in disguise. (Cointribune)
💱 Listed Markets
- 🇩🇪 Silicon Curtain. Infineon’s new German chip plant marks another EU move to wall off critical tech production from global supply shocks. (Bloomberg)
- 🇩🇪 Auto Pilot. Mercedes-Benz partners with Tytan Technologies to make anti-drone vehicles, steering its ailing car business straight into Europe’s booming defense sector. (Cnbc)
- 🇺🇸 To the Moon. SpaceX 🇺🇸 launches its IPO with a $75B raise and a $1.8T valuation, giving Musk more control than most countries grant their leaders. (BBC)
- 🇺🇸 Store Wars. Apple announces it will purge underperforming apps from the App Store, forcing developers to fight for user attention or face deletion. (Webrazzi)
- 🇺🇸 Capex and the City. Oracle 🇺🇸 spent $55.7B on data centers in one year, beating its own guidance by $5.7B and already eyeing a fresh $40B raise. (Thenextweb)
- 🇺🇸 All That Glitters. The gold rush fizzles as the metal drops to its lowest point since November, with investors chasing SpaceX and higher rates instead. (Financial Times)
- 🇯🇵 Bubble Trouble. SoftBank’s $120B rally made it Japan’s top company for three days, echoing its dot-com era peak before Toyota took back the lead. (Thenextweb)
- 🇰🇷 Data and Confused. Coupang 🇰🇷 is hit with a record $409M fine after exposing data of 33M customers, blamed for lax security rather than hacking prowess. (Boursier)
🛎️ Big Deals (M&A)
- Frasers 🇬🇧 offers to acquire the remaining 74% of Hugo Boss 🇩🇪 for $2.3B cash at a 4% premium.
- Yorkshire Building Society 🇬🇧 to acquire Atom Bank 🇬🇧 for £600M+ (≈€693M).
- Akeneo 🇫🇷 acquires Pricing Hub 🇫🇷, a pricing-management platform that links product data and price decisioning.
- CHR Group 🇫🇷 acquires Rmoni Digital Solutions B.V. 🇳🇱, a specialist in connected monitoring, real-time sensor and temperature monitoring for foodservice and retail.
- LVM Versicherung 🇩🇪 acquires a stake in travelträger Verwaltungsgesellschaft mbH 🇩🇪, expanding its mobility involvement.
- Barceló 🇪🇸 acquires Atrápalo 🇪🇸 (100% stake) via Ávoris, pending CNMC approval.
- Swapfiets 🇳🇱 acquires Dance 🇩🇪 after Pon supported Swapfiets with €140M.
- Kinepolis 🇧🇪 acquires Showcase Cinemas 🇺🇸 for $30M, comprising 13 cinemas in the United States.
- Intralot 🇬🇷 acquires Evoke 🇬🇮 for £243.1M (52p/share).
- Adeline Sterner 🇸🇪 acquires Bonti 🇸🇪.
- Industeam 🇱🇺 acquires Norméca 🇫🇷 (€131.8M group revenue (2023).
- Trump Media & Technology Group 🇺🇸 to merge with TAE Technologies 🇺🇸 in a $6B deal, cancels planned spinoff of Truth Social 🇺🇸 and other media assets.
- Salesforce 🇺🇸 acquires m3ter 🇬🇧, integrates consumption-based billing into Agentforce.
- Amazon 🇺🇸 signs a multi-year agreement with Corning 🇺🇸 to buy optical fibre for $B, creating about 1,000 jobs at Corning’s North Carolina factories.
- Cloudflare 🇺🇸 acquires Voidzero 🇺🇸, the maker of Vite and its toolchain (Vite, Vitest, Rolldown, Oxc), and commits $1M to a Vite ecosystem fund.
- OpenAI 🇺🇸 acquires Ona 🇺🇸 to support its AI coding assistant, Codex.
- KKR 🇺🇸 acquires a majority stake in Crowe 🇺🇸 for nearly $3B, marking a private-equity investment in the accounting sector.
- Dana 🇺🇸 combines with Eaton’s Mobility business 🇺🇸 in a $5.1B deal, creating a supplier for commercial- and light-vehicle markets.
- Blackstone 🇺🇸 is in talks to buy H&R REIT 🇨🇦, a Canadian property firm.
- KKR 🇺🇸 and Energy Capital Partners 🇺🇸 to acquire DCC 🇮🇪 for $7.6B cash, a 33% premium for the European energy distribution firm.
- Amwins Group 🇺🇸 and Dragoneer Investment Group 🇺🇸 are interested in acquiring Steadfast Group 🇦🇺 at a $5.4B valuation including debt, a 52% premium.
- Starbucks 🇺🇸 considers a stake sale in Starbucks Japan 🇯🇵 at a $3B valuation.
- Humana 🇺🇸 divests its minority stake in Gentiva 🇺🇸 for $900M, hospice care firm.
- Nuvei 🇨🇦 in "advanced" talks to acquire Payoneer Global 🇺🇸 for $2.7bn, deal could be signed "in the coming days" but may not materialise. Price (including cash) implies an EV of ~$2.3bn.
- Ant International 🇨🇳 considers raising $1B at a $10B valuation. Backed by General Atlantic and Silver Lake.
- TDK 🇯🇵 acquires Fabric8Labs 🇺🇸 for $400M cash, a high-precision 3D printing pioneer.
- Bizlink Holding 🇹🇼 acquires Interplex 🇺🇸's information and communications technology/data centre unit for $850M cash plus a $50M earnout, expected to close in H2 2026.
- Ennoconn 🇹🇼 launches a $1.7B takeover bid for Kontron 🇦🇹.
- Woodside 🇦🇺 acquires Browse LNG Project 🇦🇺, buying a stake in the offshore LNG development.
- Northern Star Resources 🇦🇺 rejects activist Elliott 🇺🇸's proposal to sell some smaller assets or pursue a full sale.
- Otokar 🇹🇷 acquires Automecanica Mediaș 🇷🇴 for €85M, finalizing the purchase and preparing local production of Cobra II armored vehicles.
- Oyak 🇹🇷 launches talks to acquire a 43% stake in Tekfen 🇹🇷 from Can Kultur Sanat Egitim Kurumlari Isletmeciligi 🇹🇷 following fraud investigations.
🧳 Private Markets & VC
- 🇪🇺 Follow the Leader. As SpaceX, OpenAI, and Anthropic prep $3.6T in US tech IPOs, BNP Paribas expects European startups to chase the same public listing spotlight. (Thenextweb)
- 🇺🇸 Rocket Returns. Founders Fund and Andreessen Horowitz are set to score record profits if SpaceX 🇺🇸 goes public, proving venture capital really is out of this world. (Bloomberg)
- 🇺🇸 Chip Happens. Apollo says the world faces a compute shortage as AI demand explodes, predicting trillions in private credit will flood data centers and infrastructure. (Bloomberg)
- 🇺🇸 Base Jump. Base10, the Black-led venture capital firm, has increased its assets under management to $2.6B, proving that scale is no longer just for the usual suspects. (Bloomberg)
- 🇨🇳 Fund and Games. Dreame Technology’s rapid rise, fueled by government equity, has triggered Beijing to clamp down on China’s chaotic tech funding model. (Cnbc)
- 🇰🇷 Bond Voyage. The AI-fueled rally powering Samsung and SK Hynix has left South Korean government bonds with the worst performance among 44 tracked markets this year. (Thenextweb)
- 🇭🇰 Peak Interest. Odd Lots takes its global market curiosity to Hong Kong, dissecting what makes the city’s financial ecosystem tick. (Bloomberg)
Fundraising
- Digital Asset 🇺🇸 (Blockchain): $355M (a16z crypto, 7RIDGE, ABN Amro, Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, Alumni Ventures, Apollo Funds, BNP Paribas, Broadridge, Citadel Securities, CME Ventures, Coinbase Ventures, Greenwulf Asset Management, Hanwha Investment & Securities, HSBC, iCapital, Liberty City Ventures, Optiver, Polychain, R136 Ventures, S&P Global, SBI Group, Smash Capital, SoFi, Tradeweb, William Blair)
- Nesto 🇨🇦 (Fintech): $302M
- Mujin 🇯🇵 (Robotics): $233M
- Standard Bots 🇺🇸 (Robotics): $200M (General Catalyst, RoboStrategy)
- Twinco Capital 🇳🇱🇪🇸 (Fintech): €165M
- Inveready 🇪🇸 (Asset management): €150M
- Koho 🇨🇦 (Fintech): $130M
- Addverb Technologies 🇮🇳 (Robotics): >$100M
- Current 🇺🇸 (Fintech): $80M (Springcoast Partners, Andreessen Horowitz, Tiger Global Management, Avenir, Foundation Capital, Wellington Management, Sapphire Ventures, QED Investors, General Catalyst, Cross River)
- PhoenixAI 🇺🇸 (AI): $80M (Sky9 Capital, Atypical Ventures, Olive Technology Ventures)
- CameraMatics 🇮🇪 (Mobility): €49M
- Hypha 🇺🇸 (Fintech): $50M (TriEdge Investments, Bankwell, Cammeby’s International, CFG Bank, Crescent Heights, Dwight Capital, MONTICELLOAM, LLC, Yakar Partners)
- InCharge Energy 🇺🇸 (Energy): $46M (S2G Investments, QIC)
- Forage 🇺🇸 (Fintech): $40M (Mouro Capital, Nyca Partners, PayPal Ventures, Long Journey Ventures, Intuit Ventures, NextLadder Ventures, Pivotal Ventures, FJ Labs)
- Pi 🇺🇸 (Cybersecurity): $35M (Brightmind Partners, Third Point Ventures, George Kurtz, Yevgeny Dibrov, Nadir Izrael)
- Turnout 🇺🇸 (Advocacy): $35M (HighPost Capital, Shine Capital, LGVP, Mangusta Capital, Honeystone Ventures, Omri Casspi)
- Coram AI 🇺🇸 (Physical security): $35M (Ansa Capital, Battery Ventures, UP.Partners, 8VC, Mosaic Ventures)
- Pogo 🇺🇸 (AI): $32M (Josh Buckley (Buckley Ventures), Mantis (The Chainsmokers), 20VC (Harry Stebbings), Village Global, Lenny Rachitsky, founders of Honey)
- Aryon Security 🇮🇱 (Cybersecurity): $29M (Brightmind Partners, Skinos Ventures, Datadog, Blumberg Capital)
- Ánima Kitchent 🇪🇸 (Animation): €24.9M (DNEG, ReDefine Originals)
- Earlytrade 🇦🇺 (Fintech): $25M (S3 Ventures, Brick & Mortar Ventures)
- Jedify 🇺🇸 (AI): $24M (Norwest, S Capital VC, Cerca Partners, Oceans Ventures, Snowflake)
- F2 🇺🇸 (Fintech): $24M (HighlandX, Left Lane Capital, NFX, Y Combinator, Torch Capital)
- F2 AI (Private markets): $24M
- Minerva 🏳️ (Unknown): $20M
- Rem3dy Health 🇬🇧 (HealthTech): €16M (Suntory, Estrella Galicia, Apollo Hospitals, UPSA)
- Capsa AI 🇬🇧 (Fintech): $18M
- 01Health 🇬🇧 (Healthcare): £11.2M (Gresham House Ventures, Balderton Capital, Eka Ventures, Wavemaker360, Nicolas Cary)
- Upriver 🇺🇸 (AI): $14M (Valley Capital Partners, Hetz Ventures)
- Golden Analytics 🇺🇸 (Analytics): $14M (Insight Partners, NEA, Madrona)
- Mendo 🇫🇷 (AI): €12M (Ventech, Educapital, Tomcat, OVNI)
- SyntheticFi 🇺🇸 (Wealth-tech): $13M (Y Combinator, Social Leverage, others)
- Trustap 🇮🇪 (Fintech): $10M (Aperture Capital, TX Ventures, existing investors)
- Rivvun AI 🇺🇸 (Enterprise): $7.55M (Sitara Capital, 3one4 Capital)
- Artis 🇺🇸 (Martech): $7.3M (LiveOak Ventures, mark vc, Capital Factory)
- Uncovr 🇫🇷 (Healthcare): $7M (Index Ventures, Seedcamp, Frst, No Label Ventures, Entrepreneurs First, Jean Nehme, Othman Laraki, Charlie Songhurst)
- Niteshift 🇺🇸 (AI): $7M (Greylock, Amplify Partners, BoxGroup, SV Angel)
- RELAI 🇺🇸 (AI): $6.9M (.406 Ventures, AITFund, Non sibi Ventures, TEDCO)
- ArchAstro 🇺🇸 (AI): $6.2M (20VC, Kyber Knight)
- Fearn 🇺🇸 (Legaltech): $5.5M (Kindred Ventures, a16z speedrun, Designer Fund, Essence VC)
- Chptr 🇺🇸 (Media): $5.5M (CityRock, Tribute Technology, iHeartMedia, Sinclair, Hearst)
- ENLAYE 🇫🇷 (Proptech): €4.25M
- Promake 🇹🇷 (AI): $4M (212, Ak Portföy GSYF, Arya VC, Gelecek Etki Fonu, JIMCO, Maxis Ventures)
- Flipflow 🇪🇸 (Retail): €3M (4Founders)
- Rosso 🇮🇹 (Healthcare): €3M
- Zazume 🇪🇸 (Proptech): €2.5M (Nordstar, GTV Capital)
- Volteum 🇬🇧 (Mobility): €2.5M (Movens Capital, WakeUp Capital, Aidiom, Day One Capital, Techstars, Nesprit)
- Opereit 🇪🇸 (Logistics): €2.2M (Seedcamp, Yellow)
- Paymove 🇵🇱 (Fintech): €2.12M (4growth VC, Kogito Ventures, several business angels)
- Rotomate 🇫🇮 (Industrial AI): €2.1M (Kvanted, Robin Capital, Angel Invest, Accel’s scout programme, Business Finland)
- OurMind 🇳🇱 (Healthcare): €2.1M (4impact Capital, group of general practitioners and medical specialists)
- TurnUp 🇧🇪 (Healthcare): €2M (Newion, RDY Ventures)
- Record OS 🇬🇧 (Fintech): $2M
Fund Watch
- Carlyle 🇺🇸: $15B (9th flagship fund, currently raising)
- Ares 🇺🇸: $8.5B (3rd ABF fund)
- Base10 Partners 🇺🇸: $850M (Seed & Series A Fund IV. Series B Fund II. Early-stage and Series B funds for real-economy automation)
- Mycor Capital Management 🇺🇸: $800M (credit-focused firm - $800M from Millennium, AUM now $2.5B)
- Edge Focus 🇺🇸: $500M (JV with large private credit manager to purchase consumer auto loans over 2.5 years)
- Neuberger Specialty Finance 🇺🇸: $300M
- CAA & TPG Integrated Media Co. 🇺🇸: $250M
- Société Générale 🇫🇷: €100M (Article 9 infrastructure fund)
- Generation Tech Partners 🇩🇪: €50M (AI roll-up fund targeting ~30 German owner‑managed service SMEs, AI transformation, 5-7y hold)
- Bcas 🇪🇸: €18M (EIF guarantee to mobilize up to €72M for student/education financing)
- InterCapital 🇷🇴: €5M (InterCapital Poland WIG30TR UCITS ETF, WIG30 total-return Poland equity ETF)
- Carbon13 🇬🇧: undisclosed (SEIS Fund X, 10th SEIS fund for climate startups)
- Star51 Capital 🇺🇸: undisclosed (inaugural medtech venture fund. Operator-led ecosystem fund anchored by Abbott & Mayo Clinic)
🔔IPO
- Thyssenkrupp 🇩🇪 (Industrial): considering an investor vote on a potential spinoff of its materials trading unit tk accelis.
- Satispay 🇮🇹 (Fintech): reportedly planning to raise €120M to expand beyond payments into stock/ETF trading, savings, investments and pensions.
- Einride 🇸🇪 (Trucking): listed on Nasdaq via a SPAC at a $1.35B pre-money valuation, down from $1.8B and well below ~$5B earlier talks.
- Parabilis Medicines 🇺🇸 (Biotech): raised $745M for a $3.8B market cap and surged 58% in its trading debut after pricing above the marketed range.
- ERock 🇺🇸 (Energy): raised $640M in its IPO at a $4.7B valuation.
- Trump Media and Technology & TAE Technologies 🇺🇸 (Media): will not spin off Truth Social and other media assets.
- Apotex Health 🇨🇦 (Pharma): SK Capital-backed company raised $930M in Canada's biggest IPO since 2021.
- Mujin 🇯🇵 (Robotics): planning an IPO by 2030.
- ASICS 🇯🇵 (Footwear): to spin off its high-end Onitsuka Tiger business.
- SK Hynix 🇰🇷 (Semiconductors): planning a US listing that could raise up to $14B as soon as August via ADRs.
🧳 Debt
- Aéroports de Paris 🇫🇷: issued a €600M 9‑year bond.
- OpenAI 🇺🇸: exploring backing a $500B AI data center project.
- Apollo 🇺🇸: backed a record $35B private credit deal to fund an AI infra platform with Blackstone and Broadcom to help Anthropic lease Google TPUs.
- Cypress Creek Energy 🇺🇸: secured $3.5B to finance Phases 1 and 2 of the Steel River Energy Center.
- SoftBank 🇯🇵: talks to raise a $6B margin loan backed by OpenAI shares stalled.
- Nippon Steel 🇯🇵: raised $560M in its first straight-bond offering since acquiring United States Steel.
- Dangote Refinery 🇳🇬: seeks to raise $1B in a private debt sale.
- Zambia 🇿🇲: completed a controversial buyback of GDP-linked bonds after raising its offer (amount undisclosed).
❌ Failures
- Néolithe 🇫🇷: after raising €80M, the industrial startup was placed in judicial reorganization to refound its technology.
- Hydronic 🇫🇷: placed in redressement judiciaire in May 2026 and sold to LFB Group at the commercial court; €21.5M revenue (2024), 140 employees.
- Uber 🇺🇸: eliminated 23% of roles in its People and Places (HR) division as new president Jill Hazelbaker reshapes the company.
- Microsoft 🇺🇸: cutting hundreds of Azure jobs in China, underscoring the splintering of the borderless cloud.
- Xbox 🇺🇸: reportedly planning significant layoffs amid declining revenue after Microsoft poured >$20B into gaming and a nearly $500M drop.
🎯 For a Few More Minutes…
- 🇫🇷 The Great Imitation. Paris prosecutors are trying six Georgians accused of stealing priceless Pushkin works from the BNF and replacing them with lookalike facsimiles, a first-of-its-kind operation that stunned France’s literary guardians. (Ouest-France)
- 🇩🇪 Past Imperfect. A German impressionist’s cityscape hides swastikas, X-rayed decades later, showing how history can be painted over but not deleted. (Le Figaro)
- 🇺🇸 Code Lawn. The cryptic "86 47" etched into the Mall grass has authorities scrambling for answers, while Trump’s team sees menace in every blade. (Le Temps)
