diff --git a/CHANGES.md b/CHANGES.md
index 0944371fecceef6eb888bfee4031ebc5f81d5749..f5ac026df5d1dfcd8bdb1a72bd8ffaa811736e8e 100644
--- a/CHANGES.md
+++ b/CHANGES.md
@@ -1,3 +1,12 @@
+Synapse 1.37.1rc1 (2021-06-29)
+==============================
+
+Features
+--------
+
+- Handle inbound events from federation asynchronously. ([\#10269](https://github.com/matrix-org/synapse/issues/10269), [\#10272](https://github.com/matrix-org/synapse/issues/10272))
+
+
 Synapse 1.37.0 (2021-06-29)
 ===========================
 
diff --git a/changelog.d/10269.bugfix b/changelog.d/10269.bugfix
deleted file mode 100644
index 3cefa0578869a063352f5a718e5f45e9e2cf8d6c..0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
--- a/changelog.d/10269.bugfix
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-Handle inbound events from federation asynchronously.
diff --git a/changelog.d/10272.bugfix b/changelog.d/10272.bugfix
deleted file mode 100644
index 3cefa0578869a063352f5a718e5f45e9e2cf8d6c..0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
--- a/changelog.d/10272.bugfix
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-Handle inbound events from federation asynchronously.
diff --git a/synapse/__init__.py b/synapse/__init__.py
index 0900492619b72688e1f60c8161c3237a3fea17c3..2070724c3444ce16226584b863128cb6b644be93 100644
--- a/synapse/__init__.py
+++ b/synapse/__init__.py
@@ -47,7 +47,7 @@ try:
 except ImportError:
     pass
 
-__version__ = "1.37.1a1"
+__version__ = "1.37.1rc1"
 
 if bool(os.environ.get("SYNAPSE_TEST_PATCH_LOG_CONTEXTS", False)):
     # We import here so that we don't have to install a bunch of deps when