What is Jeff Bezos up to?

• That was the question buzzing yesterday after the WSJ reported that the humble bookseller is in talks to raise $100 billion for a fund that would buy manufacturing companies "and seek to use AI technology to accelerate their path to automation."

What we know, based on sources familiar with the situation:

• This fund is connected to Project Prometheus, of which Bezos serves as co-CEO.
• PP, which hasn't said anything publicly, isn't about automating factories and putting those workers on the street. Instead, it's focused on using AI to optimize pre-production machinery and processes, such as prototyping.
• Innovation tied to inputs and materials, rather than to assembly robots.

What we don't know, because it wasn't shared by sources familiar with the situation:

• How all of this will be structured. Is the fund under the corporate umbrella of PP, which is said to be raising its own capital? Does PP become a vendor to the fund's portfolio companies, maybe on an exclusive basis?
• It's also unclear is Bezos' rocket company, Blue Origin, plays into any of this. Maybe the fund's cornerstone investment? Or if it will invest in Chinese manufacturers, including so-called "dark factories" whose floors already are mostly automated.
• Finally, there's that $100 billion figure. SoftBank Vision Fund is the only private vehicle to ever raise that much cash, or anything close to it, and was heavily reliant on Middle Eastern sovereigns that may be holding onto their wallets a bit tighter right now.

The fund feels a bit like a private equity rollup.

• Design a new playbook for an industry, buy up lots of companies in that industry, and then apply the new playbook.
• All led by a visionary leader — or two, as Bezos is joined atop PP by Vik Bajaj, co-founder of Google's Verily (see BFD below).

The bottom line: Bezos made his mark by merging the digital with the physical. He seems ready to try again.

Verily, a life sciences company formed by Google over a decade ago, raised $300 million in a funding round that results in Alphabet no longer having a control stake.

Why it's the BFD: It's a Google moonshot that never quite reached orbit, burning a lot of the search giant's cash.

• Verily previously raised around $3.5 billion, including $1 billion from Alphabet in 2022. Other backers included Silver Lake and Temasek — with all of them remaining on Verily's cap table.

Zoom in: The new round was led by Series X Capital, a new fund led by Gideon Yu — the former CFO of Facebook and YouTube, who also was president of the San Francisco 49ers.

• Series X has stayed pretty quiet, outside of SEC filings showing that it raised nearly $600 million for its debut fund.
• The goal is to focus on spinouts from Alphabet's moonshot factory, originally called Google X, and word is that it's quietly done a couple other deals.

Other investors in the new Verily round include Alphabet, UCHealth, and the University of Colorado Anschutz.

The bottom line: Verily is expected to focus on precision medicine going forward.

• Past efforts have included COVID testing, contact lenses for monitoring diabetes, an opioid abuse rehab facility, and the release of sterile mosquitoes to eliminate disease.

• Kalshi, the largest predictions marketplace in the U.S., raised $1b at a $22b valuation led by Coatue, as reported by the WSJ and confirmed by Axios. axios.link/3PwlneG

• Fal, an SF-based cloud service for AI video models, is in talks to raise $300m to $350m at a valuation of around $8b, per The Information. axios.link/4dxOmZz

• Oasis Security, an Israeli startup that helps manage non-human accounts, raised $120m in Series B funding. Craft Ventures led, joined by Sequoia Capital, Accel, and Cyberstarts. axios.link/4rNXRY9

• Bluesky, a social network, disclosed that it raised $100m in April 2025 led by Bain Capital Crypto, with Alumni Ventures, True Ventures, Anthos Capital, Bloomberg Beta, and Knight Foundation participating. Flashback.

• Cape, an Arlington, Va.-based mobile carrier, raised $100m in Series C funding. Bain Capital Ventures and IVP led, joined by 01 Advisors, 137 Ventures, Definition, and Fifth Down Capital. axios.link/4rFsG12

• GeoWealth, an NYC-based wealth management tech platform, raised $42.5m in Series C extension funding from Goldman Sachs. axios.link/3PbQgFl

• Anori, a building approvals platform spun out of Alphabet, raised $26m. Prologis and Builders VC led, joined by Series X Capital. axios.link/4uGtkxZ

🌎 Eternal Ag, a German developer of autonomous harvesting robots for greenhouses, raised €8m from Simon Capital, Oyster Bay Venture Capital, EquityPitcher Ventures, and Backbone Ventures. axios.link/4rLBCSP

⚡️ Pado AI, an SF-based developer of energy efficiency software for data centers, raised $6m in seed funding led by NovaWave Capital. axios.link/4rLBDGn

🌎 Homaio, a French retail investment site for carbon markets, raised €3.6m. Raise Ventures led, joined by Groupe Eren, XAnge, and Redstone. axios.link/4snuwoA

• Cleavr, a French autonomous accounts receivable platform, raised €1m from Kima Ventures and Better Angle. axios.link/4uz88Kh

🔥 3M (NYSE: MMM) and Bain Capital agreed to buy Madison Fire & Rescue, a rescue technology and fire-suppression products company, for $1.95b from Madison Industries. axios.link/4rLBN0r

• AirX Climate Solutions, a Gryphon Investors portfolio company, acquired Northern Air Systems, a Rochester, N.Y.-based maker of packaged HVAC systems. axios.link/4lKysNO

🚑 Bridgepoint is prepping a £1b+ buyout offer for Spire Healthcare (LSE: SPI), a U.K. private hospital operator, per Sky News. axios.link/3NBiuZA

• Burlington Capital Partners and RF Investment Partners acquired RS Boes, a Pensacola, Fla.-based franchisee of building services company Neighborly. axios.link/4uXyDJR

🚑 Chartis, a Blackstone portfolio company, acquired Leap AI, an SF-based provider of health-care ops enablement tech. axios.link/4rLcbR8

• IK Partners acquired Domek Group, a Dutch financial services intermediary, from Capital A. axios.link/4bV2Kd5

🚑 Palladium Equity Partners agreed to acquire a majority stake in DME Express, a provider of medical equipment for hospitals, from WayPoint Capital Partners. axios.link/4uMczBQ

• Sterling Investment Partners acquired Cyber Advisors, a Maple Grove, Minn.-based cybersecurity and managed IT services provider. axios.link/3PNNdDh

🚑 Syneos Health, a Morrisville, N.C.-based CRO, acquired Bestudy, a Chinese CRO. Syneos is owned by Patient Square Capital, Veritas Capital, and Elliott Investment Management, while Bestudy raised VC funding from firms like Enovation, Loyal Valley Capital, and Hygeia Capital. axios.link/4dw3XbZ

🚑 Viventium, an LLR Partners portfolio company, acquired Perks4Care, a Boca Raton, Fla.-based rewards platform for post-acute care workers. axios.link/4bmcQDR

⚡️Zenobē Energy, backed by KKR, acquired Revolv, an SF-based fleet charging firm that had raised $17m from firms like Greenbacker Capital Management and Trucks VC. axios.link/4sWlHSw

• BHAV Acquisition, a tech SPAC led by Giri Devanur (reAlpha Tech), raised $100m in its IPO. axios.link/4dx3qGT

• Janus Living, a senior housing REIT carved out of Healthpeak Properties (NYSE: DOC), raised $840m in its IPO. It priced at the high end of its $18-$20 range, for a $5.1b fully diluted value, and will list on the NYSE (JAN). axios.link/4cZ6dbK

• Amazon (Nasdaq: AMZN) acquired Rivr, a Swiss maker of stair-climbing delivery robots that had raised over $20m from Amazon, HSG, Bezos Expeditions, Linear Capital, and Armada Investment. axios.link/4rGLz3G

• CVC Capital Partners and Nordic Capital are exploring a sale or listing of Cary Group, a Swedish vehicle glass repair firm that could fetch over €3b, per Bloomberg. axios.link/4bBBwqH

• KKR is in talks to sell Canadian data-center cooling company CoolIT Systems for up to US$5b to Ecolab (NYSE: ECL), per the WSJ. axios.link/3NBxpTr

🚑 Novartis (NYSE: NVS) will pay $2b upfront and up to $1b in earnouts for a breast cancer drug from Synnovation Therapeutics, a Wilmington, N.C.-based biotech that's raised around $140m from Third Rock Ventures, Lilly Asia Ventures, Cormorant Asset Management, Nextech Invest, and Sirona Capital. axios.link/4uH6hDo

• Permira sold its stake in AltamarCAM, a Madrid-based private markets manager with €20b in AUM, to Mercer. axios.link/4bSmbmW

• Savvy Games, owned by Saudi PIF, agreed to buy Chinese game studio Moonton from ByteDance for $6b. ByteDance backers include HSG, KKR, General Atlantic, and NEA. axios.link/4sODzhW

• B&G Foods (NYSE: BGS) completed its $10b cash purchase of the broth and stock business of Del Monte Foods, including the College Inn and Kitchen Basics brands. axios.link/4uGVKYN

• Unilever (NYSE: UL), meanwhile, confirmed talks to sell its food business — including Hellmann's mayo — to McCormick & Co. (NYSE: MKC). A deal could be worth more than $30b.

🚑 Embecta (Nasdaq: EMBC) agreed to acquire Owen Mumford, a U.K. maker of drug delivery devices, for £100m upfront and up to £50m in earnouts. axios.link/4uXYpxB

📺 Nexstar (Nasdaq: NXST) said it's completed its takeover of rival broadcaster Tegna (NYSE: TGNA), even though eight states sued to block the deal. The deal received FCC approval yesterday.

• Blackstone raised $12b for its third Asia-Pacific buyout fund, per Bloomberg. axios.link/4sfoUwu

• Partners Group is targeting at least $1b for its first India-focused buyout fund, per Reuters. axios.link/4bH4xS1

• QHP Capital of Raleigh, N.C., raised $1.1b for a single-asset CV focused on Azurity Pharmaceuticals. HarbourVest led, joined by Pantheon Ventures,and Audax Strategic Capital. axios.link/47Q9xlR

• American Pacific Group promoted Rahul Mohan to managing director. axios.link/4cYYTg9

• John Chirico is retiring as Citigroup's global chair of investment banking. axios.link/3NMdl0Q

• Greg Ferrari and Liz Hocker are joining The Texas Stock Exchange as COO and global head of listings and capital markets, respectively. Ferrari was Nasdaq's head of North American exchange trading, while Hocker was NYSE's regional head of capital markets. axios.link/4siKfVN

• Raudel Yanez joined HighVista Strategies as a managing director and head of a new PE secondaries business. He previously was with Kline Hill Partners. axios.link/3NtBFoc

Mariana Minerals this summer plans to raise up to $100 million at a $700 million pre-money valuation, Axios Pro's Alan Neuhauser reports.

• The Houston-based mining company is working to restart the Centennial copper mine in Utah, possibly by as early as next month.
• Existing backers include a16z, Khosla Ventures, Breakthrough Energy Ventures, and Earthshot Ventures.

The big picture: Copper yesterday joined the broader metals sell-off that began when bombs started dropping on Tehran.

• Copper is used in everything from home wiring to smartphones, and increasing domestic production has been a key goal for President Trump.
• Price pressure suggests that investors are getting nervous about slower economic growth.