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Add Misfits Market to the list of grocery startups that continue to raise cash despite the pandemic ebbing in the US. 

The New Jersey-based grocery-delivery service said it raised $200 million in Series C funding Wednesday, taking it into unicorn territory, which would be a valuation of more than $1 billion. The venture-capital fund Accel and hedge fund D1 Capital co-led the round, which raised Misfit’s total funding to date to $301.5 million.

Expanding Misfits’ operations to serve all of the 48 contiguous states is CEO and founder Abhi Ramesh’s main goal in the near-term. That includes investing a chunk of the latest funding in opening new warehouses and improving Misfits’ fulfillment technology, which the company develops in-house and doesn’t purchase from third parties.

Read more: Beverage startup Hydrant just raised $8.5 million from sport stars like Aaron Rodgers and Sloane Stephens. Now the low-sugar-hydration company is bulking up its marketing muscle to take on Gatorade

Building that technology is a more expensive route than outsourcing, Ramesh said. But he added that it also gives the company a leg up over rivals, especially given the challenges of filling grocery orders: Ramesh said that Misfits’ technology helps it decide how big a box to use for an order based on its contents, destination, and other variables.

“Our approach was kind of like the Amazon approach in the early days,” Ramesh told Insider. “I believe very strongly that owning a lot of that fulfillment infrastructure will be a true moat in the long-term.”

That’s an advantage that could one day generate revenue for Misfits if it decides to license its technology to other companies, though Ramesh said it doesn’t have plans to do so right now. “At the end of the day, that infrastructure, it’s powering Misfits Market,” he said. “There’s no reason why we couldn’t license it to power some other brand.”

Grocery-delivery startups have continued raising money in 2021, even as more US consumers get vaccinated and society opens back up. Players like Imperfect Foods and Good Eggs have also closed new funding rounds this year. And many, including Hungryroot, are tweaking their offerings and technology to keep customers ordering even as shopping at stores, a relatively riskier choice at the …read more

Source:: Business Insider

Another Bravo couple is headed for splitsville.

In an April 22 Instagram story, “Real Housewives of Atlanta” friend Falynn Guobadia announced that she and her husband, Simon Guobadia, are calling it quits. Guobadia has appeared alongside her husband during this season of “The Real Housewives of Atlanta.”

In her Instagram story, Guobadia wrote, “After two years of marriage and 5 years of friendship, Simon and I have made the difficult decision to go our separate ways. We are deeply thankful for the impact we have made in each other’s lives, as well as the bonds formed with each other’s children. This mutual decision was not made lightly, and despite our current willingness to be transparent, we only ask our friends and supporters to be respectful of our privacy as our family gets through this very difficult period.”

pic.twitter.com/UPB77cdlrD

— Jane Herz (@Jane_Herz) April 22, 2021

Guobadia continued, “I would like to say thank you to all of my supporters who have shown a great deal of love for our family. You all do not go unnoticed.”

Guobadia Recently Shut Down Rumors About Her Marriage

A post shared by Falynn Guobadia (@falynnguobadia)

In recent months, some “Real Housewives of Atlanta” fans have speculated about Guobadia’s marriage after it was discovered that she wasn’t following her husband on Instagram anymore. However, during a March 31 interview with The Jasmine Brand on Instagram Live, Guobadia shut down those rumors regarding her marriage.

“Simon and I, we go through our marital issues, just like everyone else,” Guobadia explained at the time to The Jasmine Brand. “Everybody has their own sh**. Whether we unfollow and we follow back…and we delete our stuff or whatever the case is, just let us go through our stuff. We’re just like everyone else. We’re normal people.”

LaToya Ali Added Fuel to Those Rumors on Twitter

Hubby kicked her out the empire and can’t afford a flight. Meet me at the Reunion #RHOA

— LATOYA FOREVER (@latoyaforever) March 25, 2021

In March, “Real Housewives of Atlanta” friend LaToya Ali added more fuel to the fire, implying that Guobadia and her husband had split before it had been made public. Ali shaded Guobadia on Twitter, writing, “Hubby kicked her out the empire and …read more

Source:: Heavy.com

Summary List Placement

The headline mortgage rate’s plunge below 3% last year was a big deal. It added fuel to a housing market boom that continues to this day.

The rate climbed back above 3% earlier this year, but now it’s sinking once again as the buying spree hits new snags. That could give potential buyers at least a little help as home prices sit at record highs.

The average 30-year fixed mortgage rate fell to 2.97% from 3.04% this week, Freddie Mac said in a Thursday press release. The reading marks a third weekly decline and places the rate at its lowest point since late February.

The average 15-year fixed mortgage rate dipped to 2.29% from 2.35%. That’s also the lowest since February.

Mortgage rates tumbled to several record lows throughout the pandemic as the Federal Reserve’s promise to hold interest rates near zero dragged on borrowing costs. Such rates are mostly influenced by Treasury yields, and the Fed’s rate cut and emergency asset purchases placed huge pressure on home loan costs.

Yet the headline mortgage rate began to edge higher in January as vaccination and reopening hopes led investors to dump Treasurys for riskier assets. The sell-off boosted mortgage rates for several weeks and defied the Fed’s messaging that it still planned to hold rates near zero through 2023.

The recent reversal of that uptrend allows potential homebuyers to breathe a sigh of relief. An unprecedented imbalance in home supply and demand has pushed prices up to their highest on record. And although the pace of home sales has slowed somewhat, contractors haven’t made much progress toward addressing the supply shortage.

A sustained climb in mortgage rates would further cut into affordability just as the economy is rebounding.

“The drop in mortgage rates is good news for homeowners who are still looking to take advantage of the very low rate environment,” Sam Khater, chief economist at Freddie Mac, said in a statement. “Low and declining mortgage rates provide these homeowners the opportunity to reduce their monthly payment and improve their financial position.”

Elsewhere in housing data, sales of existing homes slowed for a second straight month in March as surging prices and weak supply cut into the market boom. Supply crept higher to 1.07 million units, but that level is still down some 28% from the year-ago period.

Housing starts rebounded last month as firms look to fill the hole, but until construction translates to completed …read more

Source:: Business Insider

Summary List Placement

Deutsche Bank is offering its incoming US investment banking interns the choice to come into the office this summer, a spokesperson for the bank told Insider.

The bank informed its class of 141 interns this week that the 10-week internship will be a hybrid program, changing course from its March 1 announcement to interns that the program would likely be virtual. 

The interns have until April 26 to respond to a survey the bank sent them in which they must indicate whether they will participate virtually or in-person. Interns who choose the in-person program will come to the office three days a week. While most of the US investment banking interns will be based in New York, some were hired into offices in Chicago, Boston, San Francisco, and Jacksonville. 

The spokesperson said the bank came to this decision after monitoring regional pandemic guidelines and receiving feedback from its Junior Leadership Council, a group comprised of junior employees which bank leadership consults for input on key issues. 

Drew Goldman, Deutsche Bank’s global head of investment banking advisory and coverage, told Insider in an interview that more than half of the interns had already turned in their surveys, and of that group, over 90% want to be in the office this summer.

Goldman, who started his career as an analyst at Bear Stearns, said that the in-person program will allow interns to gain a deep understanding of the job, but that the bank is committed to providing the same quality experience for every intern regardless of their choice. 

“A natural reaction for someone could be, let me go down the aisle to the desk where the intern is versus, let me Zoom [them]. We as a senior team have committed to not advantaging or disadvantaging people because of whether they’re in-person or whether they’re remote. It will require more work on our part to make sure that they are part of deal teams but we all want them to get evaluated on an equal basis with other people who are there in person,” Goldman said.

“It’s going to be harder, it might even be awkward at times, but we’re going to have to find ways to be able to do that so that everyone feels that they’re a part of the team and a part of the analyst process.”

The bank emphasized the importance of inclusion in its recruiting process for this year’s intern class. The class, …read more

Source:: Business Insider