Andy Rachleff is funding startups again, more than two decades after stepping down as a founding partner of legendary venture capital firm Benchmark.

Why it matters: His new mission is curing cancers instead of generating profits for limited partners.

Driving the news: Rachleff tells Axios that he's spearheading a new investment program for the Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation, where he chairs the board.

• It's called InVEST and will provide $50,000 equity checks to any Damon Runyon-sponsored scientists who secure at least $500,000 in seed funding for their startups.
• For the scientists, it's a way to prove to venture firms that they're "fundable."
• For Damon Runyan, it's a way to create a philanthropic flywheel — as its alumni have founded such companies as Moderna, Juno Therapeutics, Beam Therapeutics, and Arbor Biotechnologies.

Zoom in: Damon Runyan focuses exclusively on young scientists, or at least scientists who are relatively early in their careers.

• Rachleff and CEO Yung Lie argue that most major scientific breakthroughs come from this cohort, but that most funding goes to older colleagues.
• "The average age where people get their first individual NIH grant is over 40, but the average age of a Nobel Laureate in medicine is just 36 at the time they conceive of their breakthrough," Rachelff explains.

By the numbers: Damon Runyan backs around 70 new scientists per year, has 1,400 alumni, and spins out between 10 and 20 startups per year.

• It had initially considered creating some sort of investment program whereby the startups would pay royalties but decided that could impede growth.
• All investments will come from the foundation's endowment.

The bottom line, per Rachleff: "We view this as an incredible win-win. And that's a very good thing in a world where scientific funding is under attack."

Warner Bros. Discovery (Nasdaq: WBD) this morning announced plans to split into two publicly traded companies, splitting its cable networks from its movie studio and streaming business.

Why it's the BFD: It took just three years for the $43 billion merger of Discovery and WarnerMedia to officially turn into a pumpkin, and will mark the fourth time that some of these assets are on the move.

Zoom in: The split is expected to occur by the middle of 2026.

• One business would include HBO Max and studios, while the other would include brands like CNN, Discovery, and TNT Sports.

The bottom line: "Without NBA TV rights, the value proposition of WBD's cable networks had fallen significantly, despite the fact that they still provide the company with steady cash flows. But CEO David Zaslav became a Hollywood giant and escaped the cable biz, so it's hard to call the 2022 merger a total failure for him." — Sara Fischer, Axios

• Scale AI, an SF-based data labeling startup, is in talks to raise more than $10b from Meta, per Bloomberg. axios.link/4jHZqmy

🚑 Mosanna Therapeutics, a Swiss and Silicon Valley biotech focused on obstructive sleep apnea, raised $80m in Series A funding. Pivotal bioVenture Partners and EQT Life Sciences co-led, joined by Forbion, Broadview Ventures, Norwest, Forty51 Ventures, Supermoon Capital, and High-Tech Gründerfonds. mosanna.com

• Guardz, a Miami-based cybersecurity startup for MSPs, raised $56m in Series B funding, per Axios Pro. ClearSky led, joined by Phoenix Financial and insiders Glilot Capital Partners, SentinelOne, Hanaco Ventures, iAngels, GKFF Ventures, and Lumir Ventures. axios.link/4jIjTaL

• Pactum, a Mountain View, Calif.-based enterprise procurement platform, raised $54m in Series C funding led by Insight Partners. pactum.com

• Octaura, a fintech focused on CLO and syndicated loan trading, raised $46.5m from Bank of America, Citi, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, Morgan Stanley, Wells Fargo, Moody's, Barclays, Deutsche Bank, BNP Paribas, Apollo, Motive Partners, MassMutual Ventures, and OMERS Ventures. octaura.com

⚡ Runwise, a New York-based maker of software and hardware for managing building energy and water consumption, raised $30m in Series B funding, per Axios Pro. Menlo Ventures led, joined by MassMutual Ventures, Nuveen Real Estate, Multiplier Capital, and Munich Re Ventures, Soma Capital, Alumni Ventures, Helium-3, Cooley, and Fifth Wall. axios.link/4kHxtfN

• Turnkey, a crypto wallet startup, raised $30m in Series B funding. Bain Capital Crypto led, joined by Sequoia Capital, Lightspeed Faction, Galaxy Ventures, Wintermute Ventures, and Variant. axios.link/445V1oC

• Definely, a U.K. legal tech startup, raised $30m in Series B funding from Revaia, Alumni Ventures, Beacon Capital, Clio, Octopus Ventures, Zrosk Investment Management, The Raine Group, and Cornerstone VC. axios.link/45bE4dD

• Altura, a U.K. bid management software startup, raised €8m in Series A funding. Octopus Ventures led, joined by insiders Fortino Capital, and Curiosity VC. axios.link/43ASy5F

• Mixus, a developer of "colleague-in-the-loop" AI agents, raised $2.6m in pre-seed funding led by Liquid 2 Ventures. mixus.ai

• Abry Partners invested in Burgess Hodgson, a U.K. provider of ccounting and biz advisory services to SMEs. burgesshodgson.co.uk

• Advent International offered to buy U.K. testing equipment maker Spectris (LSE: SXS) for £3.7b. axios.link/45f4Hyn

🦞 Fortifi, a Texas-based food processor owned by KKR, acquired Area 52, a Canadian maker of automated crustacean processing equipment. fortififoodsolutions.com

• Goldman Sachs Asset Management invested $600m of equity to help finance the purchase of a 40% stake in Coca-Cola's Indian bottling business by Indian conglomerate Jubilant Bhartia Group, per Bloomberg. axios.link/3FNmJNF

🚑 H.I.G. Capital acquired ITH Group, a U.K. provider of aseptic pharma compounding services. ithgroup.uk

🚑 Madison Dearborn Partners completed its purchase of a "significant ownership position" in NextGen Healthcare, an Atlanta-based EHR/EMR company, from Thoma Bravo. nextgen.com

• Sagard Canada agreed to acquire Canadian wealth manager Lorne Park Capital (TSX: LPC) for around C$127m. axios.link/3HumibD

• Sojourner Consumer Partners acquired certain North American assets of Lornamead, a German maker of personal care products. axios.link/45aHPQs

• Synapse ITS, a Greenville, Texas-based portfolio company of Vance Street Capital, acquired GovComm, a Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based maker of wrong-way vehicle detection systems. synapse-its.com

• Velocity Capital Management and Texas Permanent School Fund are backing a $500m investment effort by Elevate, which will help colleges and universities fund college athletics projects. axios.link/43NZLxW

Three companies plan to price U.S. IPOs this week: Chime, Voyager Technologies, and Ategrity Specialty Insurance. axios.link/4dPRQoq

• Aura Minerals, a Latin America-focused gold and copper miner trading in Toronto (ORA), filed for a $200m float on the Nasdaq (AUGO). axios.link/45Jh3yL

🚑 Caris Life Sciences, an Irving, Texas-based precision medicine company focused on cancer, set IPO terms to 23.5m shares at $16-$18. It would have a $5.2b fully diluted value, were it to price in the middle, compared to a $7.8b mark in a 2021 round led by Sixth Street. It plans to list on the Nasdaq (CAI). axios.link/4ky63ZN

• Cantor Equity Partners III, the 12th SPAC formed by Cantor Fitzgerald, filed for a $200m IPO. axios.link/3Fw2PXz

• CoastalSouth Bancshares, a community bank serving South Carolina and Georgia, filed for an $80m IPO. It plans to list on the NYSE (COSO). axios.link/4dY74YC

• Gemini, a crypto exchange platform led by the Winklevoss twins, filed confidential IPO papers. Backers include Morgan Creek Digital Assets. axios.link/4e2SrDu

• HCM III Acquisition, a SPAC formed by Hondius Capital Management, filed for a $220m IPO. axios.link/4dTcuUP

• Slide Insurance, a Tampa, Fla.-based home insurer, set IPO terms to 20m shares at $15-$17. It would have a $2.2b fully diluted value, were it to price in the middle, reports $201m of net income on $847m in revenue for 2024, and plans to list on the Nasdaq (SLDE). axios.link/3FTiuA9

• IonQ (NYSE: IONQ) will pay $1.08b to buy rival British quantum computing company Oxford Ionics, which has raised over $30m from firms like Braavos, Oxford Science Enterprises, Prosus Ventures, Torch Partners, and Lansdowne Partners. axios.link/3FQ0aI8

• L'Oréal (Paris: OR) agreed to buy a majority stake in British skin-care brand Medik8 from Inflexion (which retains a minority stake). axios.link/4dYBPwy

• Baker Hughes (Nasdaq: BKR) agreed to sell its sensor unit to Crane (NYSE: CR) for $1.15b. axios.link/3FLKvJY

• EchoStar (Nasdaq: SATS) is weighing a Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing, as a means of protecting its wireless spectrum licenses "from the threat of revocation by federal regulators," per the WSJ. axios.link/43DiTQA

• Frasers (LSE: FRAS) approached British makeup and skin-care retailer Revolution Beauty (LSE: REVB) about a takeover, per Sky News. axios.link/3HvaJB4

• Honeywell (NYSE: HON) completed its $2.16b purchase of Sundyne, an Arvada, Colo.-based maker of centrifugal pumps and compressors, from Warburg Pincus. axios.link/3QIM5OM

• Qualcomm (Nasdaq: QCOM) agreed to buy British semiconductor firm Alphawave IP Group (LSE: AWE) for around $2.4b. axios.link/45aeTrP

• BharCap Partners, a Connecticut-based PE firm focused on financial services, raised $652m for its second fund. bharcap.com

• CataCap, a Danish PE firm, is raising €500m for its first defense and aerospace fund, per PEI. axios.link/4kUFduz

🎵 HarbourView Equity Partners secured a second $500m in debt financing from KKR, per Bloomberg. axios.link/43BnQcC

• Lakestar, a Swiss VC firm, is raising up to $300m for a defense-tech fund, per Bloomberg. axios.link/3SIscZe

• Moelis & Co. announced that Ken Moelis will transition to an executive chairman role, while firm co-founder and president Navid Mahmoodzadegan will become CEO. axios.link/3HsCN8h