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🍋 Billionaire Riri

🍋 Billionaire Riri

Rihanna is America’s youngest self-made billionaire. A burger king employee that hasn’t missed a day of work for 27 years raised $350k and counting for his efforts. Turkey’s inflation is out of control and so is cryptogeddon. The latest company in deep trouble is Vault, which stopped withdrawals joining other troubled companies like Celsius and CoinFlex.

Short Squeez
July 05, 2022

Together With

"At one price, any company is a terrible purchase, and at another price virtually any company is a good investment." — David Hurwitz

Good Morning! Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend. While you might be wanting to take an extra day off, a Burger King employee didn't miss a day of work for 27 years. When he received a goodie bag for his efforts (incl. a Starbucks cup lmao), his daughter started a GoFundMe, which raised $350k at the time of writing.

Just as the world doesn't seem like it's falling apart, Turkey's annual inflation rate hit 79% in June. If crypto was your alternative to the lira, watch out. Peter Thiel and Coinbase-backed crypto lender Vauld has suspended withdrawals and is exploring a possible restructuring after users pulled ~$200 million out over the last three weeks.

Sweater is a fintech platform providing everyday investors access to venture capital investing. If you're looking for a simple way to gain access to the VC asset class, Sweater is the way to go.

1. Story of the Day: Billionaire Riri

If pop star and cosmetics mogul wasn't enough to put on her resume, Rihanna can also now add America's youngest self-made billionaire woman to her CV. At $1.4 billion, her net worth landed her the 21st spot on the list of America's richest self-made women, and she also happens to be the only one under the age of 40.

While Rihanna's fame, and some of her fortune, comes from her very successful music career, most of her wealth comes from her companies Fenty Beauty, Fenty Skin, and Savage X Fenty. Earlier this year, Savage X Fenty, which Rihanna owns 30% of, was reportedly working with advisors on an IPO valuing the lingerie company at $3 billion.

Her 50% ownership of Fenty Beauty (the other half of which is owned by LVMH), has also been a strong performer in her portfolio. Fenty Beauty generated $550 million in revenue in 2020.

Riri is such a boss, she's not even interested in the valuations and recognition. She told T Magazine in 2019 that financial success was "not going to stop me from working," because she never really planned on making a fortune. Instead of trying to hit the next success milestone, she is more focused on donating the money to charitable causes.

"My money is not for me; it's always the thought that I can help someone else. The world can really make you believe that the wrong things are priority, and it makes you really miss the core of life, what it means to be alive," she said.

In 2012, she started the Clara Lionel Foundation to provide resources to education and climate-focused initiatives. One of the first efforts a year after the foundation began, raised $60 million for women and children affected by HIV/AIDS.

Short Squeez Takeaway: Talk about winning the game of life. Rihanna was not born with a silver spoon in her mouth, but worked her way up to A-List celebrity status, only to not really care about being in the spotlight. Instead she's building businesses, that she doesn't even want to get unfathomably rich from, but rather be able to fund philanthropic efforts. Shine bright like a diamond, Caribbean Queen!

2. Markets Rundown

Stock markets were closed for the holiday, but crypto enjoyed some gains on while folks were grillin' and chillin'.

Movers & Shakers

Markets were closed for July 4th.

Private Dealmaking

Mona, a California based meta world-building platform, raised $14.6 million in Series A funding
Kogniz, an AI start-up attempting to autonomously detect mass shooters, raised $10 million
Shore Capital Partners announced closing second $292 million food & beverage fund
Soba, developing a web 3 platform to allow anyone to create games, raised a $13.5 million seed round
Coding Dojo, which provides coding training for students to become self-sufficient developers, raised $10 million in funding

3. Top Reads

Investors are counting on the 3rd quarter — typically a ‘no man’s land’ — to set up a year-end rally (CNBC)
Coal makes a comeback as the world thirsts for energy (WSJ)
As interest rates climb and the economy cools, can companies pay their debts? (Econom ist)
Bitcoin hints at a bottom, but it may be different this time (BB)
The S&P 500 just had its worst first half in more than 50 years, which ‘stressed’ this classic investment strategy (CNBC)
Glut of goods at target, Walmart is a boon for liquidators (WSJ)
The IPO market is hibernating, waiting for the market to turn (CNBC)
Skyrocketing global fuel prices threaten livelihoods and social stability (NYT)
Missing Cryptoqueen: FBI adds Ruja Ignatova to top ten most wanted (BBC)

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Sweater VC has officially launched. Download the app.

4. Book of the Day: Ageless: The New Science of Getting Older Without Getting Old

Aging—not cancer, not heart disease—is the underlying cause of most human death and suffering. The same cascade of biological changes that renders us wrinkled and gray also opens the door to dementia and disease.

We work furiously to conquer each individual disease, but we never think to ask: Is aging itself necessary? Nature tells us it is not: there are tortoises and salamanders who are spry into old age and whose risk of dying is the same no matter how old they are, a phenomenon known as “biological immortality.”

In Ageless, Andrew Steele charts the astounding progress science has made in recent years to secure the same for humans: to help us become old without getting frail, to live longer without ill health or disease.

“For every day you survive, you gain another six hours—meaning that a good night’s sleep isn’t really time wasted, as you’re getting most of it back thanks to rising life expectancy.”

5. Short Squeez Picks

Researcher tells AI to write a paper about itself, then submits it to academic journal
In age-old ritual, Mexican mayor weds alligator to secure abundance
Giant concrete-eating snails trigger florida quarantine
PBR unveils the world’s largest case of beer…The 1844 pack

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6. Daily Visual: Average Price of July 4 Cookout in 2022

Source: Axios

7. Daily Acumen: Don’t Worry, Be Happy, Live Longer

Happiness protects the heart. A ten-year study of 1,739 Canadian adults found that having a positive outlook on life can reduce your risk of heart disease and heart attack by as much as 22 percent.

People who tend to express positive emotions were compared to people who tend to express negative emotions. In the study, it was concluded that people who are happier, have a much lower risk of developing heart disease.

Even a 15-to 20-minute dose of daily happiness may improve your health, but that doesn’t mean you have to pretend you’re on a paid holiday. It’s the little things that make us truly happy.

These behaviors or happiness activities can include reading, walking, working in your garden, scrapbooking, or anything else that brings you joy.