Citigroup will exit the retail banking business in Mexico, mostly conducted via subsidiary Banamex, selling the unit directly or via an IPO. The group’s latest strategic move comes as it focuses on profitability and its retail banking business in the U.S. More: - The Banamex business was acquired by the group in 2001 for $12.5B and was rebranded as Citibanamex in 2016 after investing $1B in an effort to improve customer service and expand offerings.
- Citigroup’s Mexico banking division contributed to 15% of overall consumer banking revenue, totaling $3.5B in the first three quarters of last year.
- The Mexican consumer unit was strategically important but accounted for suboptimal returns.
- Mexican billionaire Ricardo Salinas announced his interest in acquiring Citibanamex in a tweet.
- A key client defrauded Banamex out of $400M.
- Citigroup announced in April last year that it had identified 13 markets across the Middle East, Asia, Europe, and Africa where it intends to shut down retail operations.
- The group has since retreated from half of the markets, resulting in a writeoff of $2B.
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Tiger Global Management led a $115M Series C funding into SeekOut, an AI-assisted recruitment platform for hiring diverse talent. The recent funding increased SeekOut’s valuation to $1.2B, up from $500M in March 2021, when it raised $65M in Series B funds. More: - The company has raised $189M to date.
- The recruitment platform has customers across the technology, pharmaceutical, aerospace, defense, and banking sectors.
- SeekOut’s Talent-360 platform, which currently has 707 million public profiles, uses AI tools to source candidate profiles, build a database of applicants, and match candidates to job posts using data analytics.
- The firm has seen 300% revenue growth, and its annual recurring revenue ranges between $25M-$50M.
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 A message from XMATTERS xMatters, an Everbridge Company is excited to announce our Digital Operations Platform. Register now for our launch event where you will hear from tech leaders on how your business can streamline operations, learn from customers who have leveraged the Everbridge solution to speed up their digital transformation, and attend live demos showcasing the power of the new Digital Operations Platform.
Join us, as we celebrate the launch of Everbridge’s Digital Operations Platform on February 9th, and discuss how our platform can help you: - Enable organizational resilience by managing digital and physical events through a single pane of glass
- Streamline resolution across digital operations teams
- Activate collaboration hubs and provide guided remediation steps for faster resolution
- Build automated runbooks with existing tools using the low-code/no-code visual workflow designer
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 Maersk's container ship Logistics group AP Moller-Maersk plans to go carbon-neutral by 2040, a decade earlier than its prior commitment. The targets are aggressively set, considering that Maersk is aiming to decarbonize the entire business rather than its shipping line alone. More: - To achieve the goal, the freighter group has imposed aggressive milestones – to cut emissions by 70% across its port terminal business, use green fuels on 25% of its ocean freight, and force its air freight business to use 30% sustainable aviation fuel – to be achieved by 2030.
- Maersk has placed an order for eight new ships, with an option for four additional ships, from Hyundai Heavy Industries that are capable of running on green methanol.
- The new ships will be capable of running on conventional fuel when required and cost $175M each, approximately 10-15% higher than traditional ships.
- Delivery of the first eight vessels is expected in 2024.
- The shipping group faces a challenge to source the estimated half-million tons of green fuel required annually, since current green methanol production tops at 35,000 tons per year.
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 Tereos Tereos, a France-based producer of sugar, ethanol, and starch products, has entered a definitive agreement to sell its 11.7% stake in Copagest to Axereal in return for Axereal’s 2.8% stake in Tereos-Agro Industries. Tereos will have completely exited the malt production business after the sale completes. More: - Tereos, the world’s second-largest sugar producer by volume, is selling its stake in Copagest, estimated to be worth $71.08M as of the close of 2020-2021 fiscal year in March, to reduce the group’s high debt.
- Copagest is the holding company of Axereal’s malt business company Boortmalt, which has become the world’s largest malt producer since it acquired Cargill in 2019.
- Tereos announced in September that it will sell its minority stakes in two Chinese starch joint ventures.
- The group raised $400M (€350M) on Wednesday in unsecured notes with a yield of 4.75% due in 2027 and plans to use the incoming funds to repay existing debt.
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 A message from LOHIKA Learn Why Web3 Matters to Your Business. Web3 is the next evolution of the Internet. If Web 2.0 was about user-generated content and social media platforms, Web3 is about decentralized services powered by the blockchain. Smart contracts and NFTs are Web3 technologies that run on the blockchain. Lohika is hosting an online event with our friends from Refresh Miami. We gathered a panel of Web3 experts that will explain what blockchain, smart contracts and NFTs are, then discuss related business opportunities in the present and future. The panel: Join us on January 26, 2022 at 10am PT / 1pm ET. Register Here
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Checkout.com raised $1B in Series D funding from investors including Franklin Templeton, the Qatar Investment Authority, Insight Partners, and Tiger Global Management. The transaction, which increased the firm’s valuation to $40B, will help fuel expansion into the U.S. More: - The full-stack payment solution provider was valued at $15B when it raised $540M in a Series C round in January last year.
- The payment solution provider, which has offices in 19 countries and 1,700 employees, liquidated 2.5% of its share for the Series D funding.
- Checkout targets large global merchants with high transaction volumes.
- Their clientele includes Netflix, Farfetch, Grab, NetEase, Pizza Hut, and several fintech startups such as Klarna, Qonto, Revolut, and WorldRemit.
- The company’s payout feature, which can transfer money to bank accounts, is used by TikTok and MoneyGram.
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2TM is set to acquire a controlling stake in the Portuguese crypto exchange CriptoLoja. Softbank-backed 2TM runs Latin America’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, Mercado Bitcoin. More: - The transaction, pending approval from Banco de Portugal, is valued at $2.2B and will maintain the positions of founders Luis Gomes and Pedro Borges as business co-heads after the acquisition.
- 2TM’s acquisition of CriptoLoja, Portugal’s first virtual asset provider operating since June 2021, is key to its strategic expansion into the larger European market where it intends to start an over-the-counter (OTC) operation.
- Softbank led a $200M Series B funding in Mercado Bitcoin in July 2021, valuing the crypto exchange marketplace at $2.1B.
- Mercado Bitcoin added over 700,000 new customers to its platform in the first five months of 2021 and saw transaction volumes crossing $5B during the same time period.
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- The Texas Geothermal Energy Alliance (TxGEA) trade group formed for transitioning to a low-carbon energy source will launch on Thursday. The alliance is backed by reputed oil and gas companies Halliburton, Repsol, Chevron, Baker Hughes, and CenterPoint Energy.
- Merit, the online digital identity company, raised a $50M Series B investment led by Rose Park Advisors.
- The Volkswagen Group's global deliveries dropped by 4.5% to 8.9 million units in 2021, despite witnessing EV growth of 96% to 452,900 vehicles. Deliveries in China dropped 14.1% as compared to the year before.
- Israeli data security startup Eureka raised $8M seed funding led by YL Ventures.
- The London High Court directed English Premier League's Hong Kong-based telecasting outlet PPLive Sports International to pay $212M for failing to honor the broadcasting agreement during the pandemic.
- Foxconn has restarted its southern India iPhone assembly plant, which was closed in December after protests ensued when 250 female workers fell ill with food poisoning. While the plant is operational in one shift with 120 workers, it will take two months to produce at full capacity.
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Upcoming Events: - January 13 - Education within the Metaverse with Steve Grubbs (VictoryXR) (Register Here)
- January 18 - Venturing in VC - Episode #3 with Wiz Abdulla (Space Cadet) (Register Here)
- January 19 - Music in the Metaverse with Jonathan Gray (Clap for Encore) (Register Here)
- January 25 - Need To Know NoCoder - Leon Young (Cogniss) (Register Here)
- January 25 - Venturing in VC - Episode #4 (Register Here)
- January 27 - Understanding the Metaverse (Register Here)
- February 03 - Blockchain Gaming & Play-to-Earn Economies (Register Here)
- February 10 - The Business of Wellness (Register Here)
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- February 23 - Need to Know NoCoder: Derya Sousa (Kianda Technologies) (Register Here)
- February 24 - Alternative Investments (Register Here)
- March 03 - The $12B Appetite for Amazon Aggregators (Register Here)
- March 10 - NoCode's impact on the Gig Economy (Register Here)
- March 23 - Need to Know NoCoder: Nichole Bestman (Bubble) (Register Here)
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 |  | Karan Chafekar is a Management Consultant, Business enthusiast, and Licensed Pilot. | | | | Editor | Aaron Crutchfield is based in the high desert of California. Over the last two decades, he has spent time writing and editing at various local newspapers and defense contractors in California. When he's not working, he can often be found looking at the latest memes with his kids or working on his 1962 Ford. | |
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