U.K. private equity and venture capital investors are girding themselves for a dour July 4th, when British voters are expected to barbecue the Conservative Party for the first time in 14 years.

The big picture: Labour Party leaders have pledged to eliminate the favorable tax treatment of carried interest, thus raising the figure to 45% from 28%.

• In short, they argue that carried interest is a fee for service rather than a capital gain, since the PE executives themselves don't put money at risk (GP contributions would be excluded).
• Labour estimates that the move would generate £565 million in extra tax revenue per year by fiscal 2028, although that number number may shrink if investors flee the country.

Catch up quick: Carried interest tax fights are old hat in the U.S., although they always end up with private equity scoring a knockout blow.

• Presidents Obama, Trump, and Biden all campaigned on changing the tax treatment of carried interest, but none got it done.
• A big difference in the U.K., however, is that the country in 2015 created a special tax category for carried interest — thus making it easier for politicians to target.

By the numbers: U.K.-based funds raised nearly £60 billion in fund capital last year, while private capital investments in U.K. businesses topped £20 billion, per the BVCA.

• PE-backed M&A for U.K. companies is up more than 68% so far this year, making it the busiest YTD period since 2021, according to LSEG.

The bottom line: If July 4th goes as expected, British VC and PE pros are likely to get taxation with representation.

Slushy, a Miami online platform for adult creators, raised $10.2 million in venture capital funding from backers like The Chainsmokers' Mantis VC.

Why it's the BFD: Adult content is lucrative, popular, and typically ignored by early-stage investors.

• OnlyFans, for example, couldn't secure VC backing desite generating over $500 million in profits on more than $1 billion in revenue.

Investors include The Chainsmokers' Mantis VC, Electric Feel Ventures, ex-Shutterstock CEO Jon Oringer, Tinder co-founder Sean Rad, actor Edison Chen, and Grammy winner Brooklyn Johnny.

The bottom line: Slushy says that it had over 1 million users and 10,000 creators on the platform through the end of March, and that it takes a 20% cut of creator revenue. It also emphasizes discoverability for smaller creators, which it claims to be a differentiator from OnlyFans.

🚑 EvolutionaryScale, a developer of protein-building AI models, raised $142m in seed funding. Nat Friedman, Daniel Gross and Lux Capital co-led, and were joined by Amazon and NVentures. axios.link/3XD0T6f

• Etched, an SF maker of specialized chips for transformers, raised $120m. Primary Venture Partners and Positive Sum Ventures co-led, and were joined by Hummingbird, Fundomo, Fontinalis, Lightscape, Earthshot, Two Sigma, Oceans Venture, Skybox Data Centers, and Peter Thiel. axios.link/4euSGH4

🚑 Exsilio Therapeutics, a Boston-based genomic medicines startup led by ex-Moderna chief medical officer Tal Zaks, raised $82m in Series A funding. Novartis Venture Fund and Delos Capital co-led, and were joined by OrbiMed, Insight Partners, JPMorgan Life Sciences Private Capital, CRISPR Therapeutics, Innovation Endeavors, Invus, Arc Ventures, and Deep Insight. axios.link/3KX8zsk

🌎 Neustark, a Swiss carbon removal startup, raised $69m. Decarbonization Partners led, and was joined by Blume Equity and insiders Holcim, Siemens Financial Services, Verve Ventures, and ACE Ventures. axios.link/3xwsEmd

• Prewave, an Austrian supply chain sustainability and compliance platform, raised €63m in Series B funding. Hedosophia led, and was joined by insiders Creandum, Ventech, Kompas, Speedinvest, and Working Capital Fund. axios.link/4bdyfvD

🚑 SkyCell, a Swiss developer of medicine and vaccine transportation containers, raised $59m in Series D extension funding from Tybourne Capital Management and CCI. axios.link/4byNYpj

🚑 Function, an Austin, Texas-based membership service for health testing, raised $45m, per Axios Pro. A16z led, and was joined by Wisdom.vc, Draft Ventures, K5 Ventures, G9 Partners, 53 Stations, Embiid Ventures, Blake Griffin, Zac Efron, Jimmy Rollins, and Colin Kaepernick. axios.link/3VXIdNl

• TechWolf, a Belgian internal talent management platform, raised $42.8m in Series B funding. Felix Capital led, and was joined by SAP, ServiceNow, Workday, Acadian Ventures, Fortino Capital Partners, Notion Capital, SemperVirens, and 20VC. axios.link/45ETSUe

• Local Kitchens, a Davis, Calif., multi-brand "under one roof" restaurant concept, raised $40m in Series B funding led by insider General Catalyst. axios.link/4crgbPA

• Route, a post-purchase tracking startup, raised $40m in Series C funding at a $1.4b valuation, per Fortune. Hanaco VC led, and was joined by Jaws Ventures, Madrona Ventures, and Granger. axios.link/3VUWdqZ

• Deskpro, an Austin, Texas-based provider of help desk solutions, raised $25m in Series A funding led by Elsewhere Partners. deskpro.com

🌎 LiveEO, a German provider of satellite data for infrastructure and climate risk management, raised €25m in Series B funding co-led by NordicNinja and DeepTech & Climate Fonds, as first reported by Axios Pro. axios.link/3zhDj4O

• Formic, a Chicago-based robots-as-a-service platform for manufacturers, raised $24.7m in Series A funding. Blackhorn Ventures led, and was joined by Mitsubishi HC Capital America, NEC, Translink Capital, Alumni Ventures, FJ Labs, Lux Capital, Initialized Capital, and Lorimer Ventures. axios.link/3XDu5tD

• Rocketlane, a Covina, Calif., customer onboarding platform, raised $24m in Series B funding co-led by 8VC, Matrix Partners India, and Nexus Venture Partners. axios.link/3VVJkwH

• Innatera, a Dutch developer of ultra-low power neuromorphic processors, raised $21m in Series A funding from Innavest, InvestNL, EIC Fund, MIG Capital, Matterwave Ventures and Delft Enterprises. innatera.com

• Zyod, an Indian B2B clothing manufacturing platform, raised $18m in Series A funding. RTP Global led, and was joined by Lightspeed, Alteria Capital, Stride Ventures, Stride One, and Trifecta Capital. axios.link/4bhSLuP

• Sift, a developer of unified observability solutions for complex machine development, raised $17.5m in Series A funding led by GV. siftstack.com

🚑 FirstVet, a Swedish online veterinary platform, raised €20m in Series C funding. Telus Global Ventures led, and was joined by insiders OMERS Ventures, Mubadala Capital, and Cathay Innovation. axios.link/3XFMOVt

• AnchorZero, a platform that helps founders leverage Roth IRAs, raised $8m in seed funding. Bain Capital Crypto and Spark Capital co-led, and were joined by Ethereal Ventures, Mischief Capital, Pascal Capital, and Robot Ventures. anchorzero.com

• Connect Money, an Egyptian provider of embedded financial services to non-bank customers, raised $8m in seed funding. DisrupTech Ventures, Algebra Ventures and Lorax Capital Partners co-led, and were joined by One Stop Capital and MDP. axios.link/4cheEvE

• Created by Humans, an AI rights licensing platform initially focused on book authors, raised $5m in seed funding from Craft Ventures, Floodgate, Launch, Slow Ventures, Garry Tan, and Walter Isaacson. axios.link/3VSYDX8

🚑 Marble Health, a New York provider of therapy for teens, raised $5m in seed funding from Khosla Ventures, Town Hall Ventures, IA Ventures, Daybreak Ventures and Lorimer Ventures. axios.link/3xBG9kr

• TestParty, a New York software compliance startup, raised $4m in seed funding co-led by Harlem Capital and the Urban Innovation Fund. axios.link/3VZ0icH

⚡ VoltR, a French developer and reprocessor of lithium-ion batteries, raised €4m from C4 Ventures, Exergon, Pays de la Loire Participations, and Anjou Amorçage. axios.link/4ez2TCq

🚑 Cureosity, a German gamified therapy startup, raised €3.8m from TechVision Fund and Nomainvest. axios.link/3VTBnZ3

• Chift, a Belgian unified IPO for SaaS companies, raised €2.3m in seed funding from Entourage, Shapers, and Seeder Fund. axios.link/4bgTLiX

• Benchmark Mineral Intelligence, a British price reporting agency whose backers include Spectrum Equity, acquired smaller peer Rho Motion for around $50m. axios.link/3xtpJL7

⚡ Brookfield agreed to buy a 53% stake in Neoen, a listed French renewable energy developer, at a €6.09b enterprise value. axios.link/3KZqjDu

🚑 Frazier Healthcare Partners acquired BioMatrix, a Plantation, Fla., provider of home-based infusion services, from ACON Investments. Biomatrixsprx.com

• Jennmar, a Pittsburgh portfolio company of FalconPoint Partners and Ace & Co., acquired the assets of Dumotech, a Canadian maker of hard-rock mining products. jennmar.com

🚑 L Catterton acquired Stripes Beauty, a menopause products brand founded by actor Naomi Watts. axios.link/4ckIsaP

⚡ Macquarie agreed to sell its 40% stake in Italian energy group Hydro Dolomiti Energia at around a €1b enterprise value to a consortium that includes Equitix, Tages Capital, and La Finanziaria Trentina. axios.link/3RH8qx2

• North American Rail Solutions, a Ft. Worth, Texas-based portfolio company of DFW Capital Partners, acquired Tri Innovations, a Canadian provider of engineering, procurement, and construction consulting services. americantrack.com

• Recochem, a Canadian portfolio company of CapVest Partners, acquired the auto care business of KIK Consumer Products. recochem.com

• SCI Flooring, a Romulus, Mich., portfolio company of Rainier Partners, acquired Carpetbaggers, a provider of flooring installation services in the Indianapolis area. commercial-carpet.net

• Transom Capital Group acquired Virginia Tile, a Livonia, Mich., distributor of tile, decorative surfaces, and installation accessories. virginiatile.com

• Birkenstock (NYSE: BIRK) filed for a secondary public offering of 14 million shares, valued at $837m as of yesterday's close. Sellers would include L Catterton. axios.link/4eDQzAJ

• TWFG, a Texas-based personal and commercial P&C insurer, filed for a $100m IPO. It reports $26m in net income on $173m in revenue for 2023, and plans to list on the Nasdaq (TWFG). Backers include RenaissanceRE Ventures. axios.link/45BDB2t

• Urban Revivo, a Chinese fast-fashion retailer, is considering a Hong Kong IPO, per Bloomberg. axios.link/3zifx8Q

• OpenAI acquired Multi (fka Remotion), an SF video collaboration platform that had raised $13m from firms like Greylock, WndrCo, First Round Capital, and Script Capital. axios.link/4eO34Km

🚑 Progyny (Nasdaq: PGNY) acquired Apryl, a German fertility benefits platform that had been seeded by firms like Breega and Accel. progyny.com

• Stellex sold Continental Global Material Handling, a Canadian maker of bulk material handling conveyor systems, to Precision Pulley & Idler. cgmh.com

• Thoma Bravo is weighing a sale of Trader, a Canadian auto marketplace that could fetch around C$4b, per Bloomberg. axios.link/3VHu7OH

• Boeing (NYSE: BA) is offering $4.08b, or $35 per share, to buy Spirit AeroSystems (NYSE: SPR), maker of the 737 MAX plane's body that spun out of Boeing two decades ago, per Bloomberg. axios.link/3RCnYlp

⚡ Cerberus Capital Management is investing $315.5m into Eos Energy (Nasdaq: EOSE), an Edison, N.J.-based long-duration energy storage company. axios.link/3VyhfdA

• Hut 8 (Nasdaq: HUT), a crypto miner, raised $150m in convertible note financing from Coatue. axios.link/4bgubL8

🚑 Illumina (Nasdaq: ILMN) completed its spinoff of Grail, the early cancer screening company it founded, spun off, and then reacquired over the objections of antitrust regulators in both the U.S. and Europe. axios.link/3RHaK6Z

• KKR is targeting $20b for its 14th North American buyouts fund, per Reuters. axios.link/4cyC6Er

• 8-bit Capital. a VC firm co-led by Jonathan Abrams (Nuzzel, Friendster) and Kent Lindstrom (Nuzzel), is raising up to $60m for its second fund, per an SEC filing.

• Ahoy Capital, a VC fund-of-funds and direct investor led by Chris Douvos, is raising up to $75m for its second fund, per an SEC filing.

• New Era Advisors was launched by Beth Rahn, former head of family capital at McNally Capital, as a fundraising advisory for female and underrepresented private market fund managers. new-era-advisors.com

• Rackhouse Ventures, an SF-based early-stage VC firm led by Kevin Novak (ex-Uber) raised $45m for its second fund. rackhouse.vc

• Strange Ventures, led by Tara Tan (ex-IDEO), is raising $10m for its debut fund, per an SEC filing.

• Kenny Kraft joined Houlihan Lokey as a managing director of consumer, food, and retail banking. He previously was with JPMorgan. axios.link/45GlCYU