Figma knows its employees have been on a wealth rollercoaster, including the stomach-dropping moment last December when regulators scuttled a $20 billion takeover by Adobe.

• That's why the company launched a tender offer this past spring, albeit at a lower valuation, and now will become the first company to join a new program that helps employees easily donate their private shares to charity.

Why it matters: Such donation programs could help employees (and ex-employees) lower their tax bills, while also doing some external good.

Zoom in: Figma is working with Daffy, a donor-advised fund manager led by former Wealthfront CEO Adam Nash.

• Its goal is to raise at least $10 million during the initial program run over the next two months.
• The program is for both employees and ex-employees who've held shares for at least a year, with the price (and income tax burden) set at fair market value. Similar to donations of public stock via donor-advised funds, no capital gains tax gets paid.

The big picture: This is not the advent of donor-advised funds accepting private stock. But it's mostly been the province of serial entrepreneurs or others with sophisticated private wealth managers, and has usually has very high minimums and fees.

What they're saying: "Part of what Daffy has tried to do is broaden access to the sorts of things the wealthy do, and private stock has been on our list for a while," Nash explains.

• "But it can be hard to donate private stock without board approval, which is time-consuming and not something boards always want to spend time on. So we decided to try working with the companies, almost like tender offers for charity. Maybe even as an optional part of regular tender offers. If you do it all at once, the individual donation sizes matter less because the costs are amortized across all the employees."

Yes, but: Daffy itself isn't a charity. It charges users a flat fee of $20 per month, and a one-time, 1.5% fee when the private stock becomes liquid (and thus can be sold and donated).

The bottom line: Unicorn startups are staying private longer, with some of the waits beginning to feel infinite. That puts a lot of pressure on rank-and-file with paper wealth, and programs like what Figma is doing with Daffy could be something of arelease valve.

X-energy, a Rockville, Maryland, developer of small modular reactors, raised $500 million led by Amazon's Climate Pledge Fund.

Why it's the BFD: SMRs could help power Amazon's AI ambitions without dashing its climate goals.

• To that end, the company also agreed to fund development of four SMRs in Washington state. It previously signed an MOU to explore an SMR project in Virginia.

Details: Amazon will have two seats on the board of X-energy, which once planned to go public via SPAC.

• Other investors in the round include Ares Management, NGP, Ken Griffin, and the University of Michigan.

Reality check: "The idea behind SMRs is that they can be built in factories and delivered to project areas quickly and for a lower cost compared to a traditional large centralized nuclear plant. But they are highly regulated and SMR project designs are notorious for going over budget." — Katie Fehrenbacher, Axios Pro

🚑 Oshi Health, a virtual gastrointestinal clinic network, raised $60m in Series C funding. Oak HC/FT led, and was joined by Bessemer Venture Partners, Flare Capital Partners, Frist Cressey Ventures, CVS Health Ventures, and Takeda Digital Ventures. axios.link/3KhQjZO

• Jüsto, an online grocer in Latin America, raised $50m led by insider General Atlantic and $20m in debt from HSBC Mexico. justo.mx

• Yellow Card, an Africa-focused crypto platform, raised $33m in Series C funding led by Blockchain Capital. axios.link/3NOf7et

• ODD, a Japanese maker of diamond semiconductor amplifiers, raised around $27m. Globis Capital Partners led, and was joined by Coral Capital, aSTART, Green Co-Invest Investment, Japan Post Bank Spiral Regional Innovation Fund, Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance, SMBC VC. axios.link/3BQWtQf

• Fable, a Toronto-based digital platform for people with disabilities, raised US$25m in Series B funding led by Five Elms Capital. axios.link/3Ns3WHQ

• SynthBee, a Fort Lauderdale, Fla., compute intelligence startup led by MagicLeap founder Rony Abovitz, raised $20m in seed funding from Crosspoint Capital. synthbee.com

• Inshur, a provider of embedded insurance solutions for the on-demand economy, raised $19m. Viola Growth led, and was joined by MS&AD Ventures. axios.link/3BKb289

• Treehouse, an installation platform for electrification projects, raised $16.6m in Series A funding from Flourish Ventures, Eaton, Veriten, MassMutual Ventures, inVest Ventures, CarMax, Montage Ventures, Acrew Capital, Holman, Virta Ventures, and Invest Detroit. axios.link/3Y71bks

• Najar (fka Welii), a Paris provider of enterprise SaaS investment management, raised €15m in Series A funding from 13books Capital, Portage, and Tomcat. najar.ai

• Agency, a Boston-based B2B customer success startup, raised $12m in seed funding co-led by Sequoia Capital and HubSpot Ventures. axios.link/3BHyzXe

• Opacity Labs, a data verification platform using zero-knowledge proofs, raised $12m in seed co-led by Archetype and Breyer Capital, with participation from a16z Crypto Startup Accelerator, Finality Capital Partners, Bodhi Ventures, and Escape Velocity. axios.link/3BK3qCL

• Zerve, an Irish data science and AI development platform, raised $7.6m led by Paladin Capital Group, with Elkstone also participating. zerve.ai

• Tako, an SF-based AI search engine, raised $5.75m in seed funding co-led by A* and Abstract Ventures. trytako.com

🚑 SuppCo, a supplements information site and marketplace, raised $5.5m in seed funding. USV and True Ventures co-led, and were joined by Box Group and Compound Ventures. supp.co

• Abel, an SF-based startup that uses AI to turn police body camera footage into reports, raised $5m in seed funding. Day One Ventures led, and was joined by YC and Long Journey Ventures. abelpolice.com

• Acquired.com, a U.K. payments startup focused on recurring commerce, raised £4m from Beach Point Capital Management. axios.link/3Y7IzAK

• Diesta, a London-based provider of B2B payments solutions for the insurance industry, raised $3.8m in seed funding led by FinTech Collective, with participation from Commerce Ventures, Restive Ventures, and SixThirty. axios.link/3Ytvmnj

• Zepto, an Indian grocery delivery company, is in talks to raise $100m, per TechCrunch. This would be its third fundraise of 2024, including a $340m round led last month by General Catalyst at a $5b valuation. axios.link/3NrrNrg

🚑 Truemeds, an Indian online pharmacy, is in talks to raise between $30m-$40m at around a $300m valuation led by Accel, per TechCrunch. axios.link/3Y8BS19

• ACA Group, backed by Genstar Capital, acquired Effecta Compliance Group, a regulatory consultancy for financial services firms in the U.K. and UAE. acaglobal.com

• American Industrial Partners agreed to buy the architectural coatings business of PPG (NYSE: PPG) for $550m. axios.link/3A0tqt0

• Autura, a Nexa Equity portfolio company that provides government towing management software, merged with Traxero, a private towing company backed by Radian Capital. autura.com

• Advent International is prepping a takeover bid for Tate & Lyle (LSE: TATE), a British provider of food and beverage ingredients, per the FT. axios.link/3UcXU1J

• Gryphon Investors acquired RapidAir, an Auburndale, Wis., maker of branded compressed air solutions, from Pfingsten. rapidair.com

• Indium, a Cupertino, Calif., portfolio company of EQT, agreed to buy a majority stake in Experion, a product engineering services company. indium.tech

• Invex Ventures acquired Manigo, a London-based banking-as-a-service startup that had raised $6m from Allegro Capital and Level39. axios.link/3UbFmis

🚑 RTI Surgical, an Alachua, Fla.-based CDMO owned by Montagu, acquired Collagen Solutions, an Eden Prairie, Minn., maker of tissue scaffolds and other biomaterials-based medical devices. rtix.com

🚑 PAI Partners upped its takeover offer for Sanofi's consumer health unit (Opella) by around €200m, after Sanofi entered exclusive talks with Clayton Dubilier & Rice, per Bloomberg. axios.link/4f2gtOJ

• Permira completed its $7.2b take-private buyout of Squarespace, a website-building platform for businesses and brands. Both Accel and General Atlantic remain "meaningful" shareholders. axios.link/3A0ufSC

• Skimmer, an Austin, Texas, provider of software for pool services businesses, raised $74m from Mainsail Partners. getskimmer.com

• Silver Lake agreed to buy Zuora (NYSE: ZUO), a Redwood City, Calif., company that helps companies launch subscription services, for $1.7b, or $10 per share (18% premium). GIC also is participating. axios.link/48b6iV8

• Two Circles, a London-based sports data firm owned by Charterhouse Capital Partners, agreed to buy engagement marketing agency Kore from Serent Capital, per Sportico. axios.link/4f3psyw

⚡ OQ SAOC, Oman's state energy company, raised over $2b in an IPO of its E&P business. axios.link/3UdUdsG

🚑 Rigaku, a Japanese X-ray testing tools maker backed by Carlyle, raised $863m in a Tokyo IPO. axios.link/3NP08kt

• Apex Fintech Solutions, a Dallas-based custody and clearing firm, acquired Stamford, Conn.-based embedded wealth tech provider Fintron, which had raised around $16m from firms like AUA Capital Management, Connecticut Innovations and Sage Venture Partners. apexfintechsolutions.com

• Flock Safety, an Atlanta-based provider of public safety tech valued by VCs at over $4b, acquired Aerodome, a developer of drone-as-first-responder tech. Flock, while Aerodome had raised over $21m from CRV, a16z, Karman Ventures, and Ford Street Ventures. axios.link/3YowJU2

• Partners Group is weighing a sale of IPO for Dutch conveyor-belt maker Ammega, which could be valued at around $4.6b, per Bloomberg. axios.link/3YpOZN0

• Vantage Towers, a German portfolio company of KKR, hired Morgan Stanley to find buyers for its Spain assets, per Bloomberg. A deal could fetch around €1b. axios.link/3YsJOf6

🏈 The Buffalo Bills are in talks to sell minority stakes to former U.S. soccer player Jozy Altidore and ex-NBA players Vince Carter and Tracy McGrady, per Sportico. axios.link/3NxAD6I

• Cyera, an Israeli cloud data security startup valued by VCs at $1.4b, is paying $162m in cash and stock to buy Trail Security, a provider of data loss prevention solutions. axios.link/4h2vWj7

• Descartes Systems (Nasdaq: DSGX) acquired Sellercloud, a Cranbury, N.J., provider of omnichannel ecommerce solutions, for $110m. axios.link/4dODt20

🏈 Tom Gores, a private equity billionaire and owner of the Detroit Pistons, agreed to pay $750m for a 27% stake in the NFL's LA Chargers, per CNBC. axios.link/3Y22y3K

• N Brown Group (LSE: BWNG), a British online retailer, is being taken private for £191m by its largest shareholder. axios.link/4dQitYA

• Saba Infraestructuras, a Spanish parking operator, agreed to merge with Belgium's Interparking. axios.link/403GsAB

• Sidenor, a Spanish steelmaker, expressed interest in buying Spanish trainmaker Talgo (Madrid: TLGO), which was blocked by the government from being acquired by a Hungarian company. axios.link/3Yacvw1

• BlackFin Capital Partners, a Paris-based PE firm focused on financial services, raised €1.8b for its fourth fund. blackfin.com

• Eldridge Industries acquired a 10% stake in Blue Owl's third GP stakes fund. axios.link/3Y8KhBR

• Victor Capital Partners raised $310m for its second midmarket PE fund. victorcapitalpartners.com

• Jon Fox, former president of Värde Partners, joined MidOcean Partners as global head of capital formation. midoceanpartners.com

• Karen Greene joined SeventySix Capital as managing director of IR. She previously was with Lake Resources. axios.link/488GDMS

• Ankur Luther left Morgan Stanley to join LionTree to focus on tech banking in the media and entertainment sectors. axios.link/487Ua7i

Morgan Stanley yesterday joined the parade of strong earnings from Wall Street banks, Axios' Pete Gannon writes.

• Taken together, the results point to a long-awaited pickup in U.S. corporations tapping both the equity and debt markets.