Cleaning out the notebook as we head into the long weekend...

✨ Control check: We're expecting Anthropic's S-1 to flip as soon as next week, after which we'll have a better sense of how much control CEO Dario Amodei really has.

• Anthropic has a complex governance structure, including oversight by both a corporate board and a long-term benefit trust, but there was a recent report that Amodei and other co-founders could be getting supervoting rights before the IPO.
• Amodei, who is said to only have around a 2% economic ownership, is as close to a (p)doomer as a frontier lab CEO could be. And his company often asks job candidates how they'd feel if Anthropic gave up on AI for safety reasons — eviscerating its financial value.
• The big question is whether Amodei could really stop Anthropic's roll if he wanted to. But we should know soon.

🆕 New firm alert: Generational Growth Partners has launched as a PE firm focused on lower midmarket deals in consumer services and hospitality (including restaurants).

• Its founder is Mark Saadine, who spent the past 14 years at Bain Capital, including nearly three as a managing director. He's joined by Kaelin Goulet, who previously led North America consumer private equity for Boston Consulting Group.
• Expect a particular emphasis on companies with an experiential angle. No word yet on fundraising.

⚽ Sports stuff: Josh Kushner recently made his first public comments on the failed FIFA deal, over which UEFA is trying to subpoena his records, while Carlyle and Dynasty Equity disclosed that they backed Vinod Khosla's $9.6 billion purchase of the NFL's Seattle Seahawks.

⚖️ Black block: Former private equity titan Leon Black is suing the House Oversight Committee, in front of which he'd been asked to appear yesterday for a second round of questioning over his ties to Jeffrey Epstein.

• Black is trying to fight subpoenas for any NDAs he may have signed, with his lawyer calling it a "fishing expedition."

💰 ROI: Ron Conway's SV Angel was one of the original investors in Hugging Face, which yesterday agreed to be acquired by Nvidia for nearly $13 billion.

• According to a letter sent to limited partners, its original investment out of Fund VI was $200,000 at a $5 million valuation in 2016. It then kept investing out of multiple rounds.
• Proceeds for Fund VI will be around $250 million, or around a 275x MOIC, while SV Angel also will net another $62 million from Hugging Face investments out of other funds.
• A.Capital, led by Conway's son Ronny, first invested $2.7 million at a $13 million valuation in 2018. Its proceeds are a whopping $1.5 billion, on a 220x MOIC.

Flex (Nasdaq: FLEX) has agreed to acquire EPC Power, a Poway, California-based power conversion systems maker, from Goldman Sachs and Cleanhill Partners for $4.4 billion in cash.

Why it's the BFD: It's a big-money reminder that there's a lot of vital technology between the data center and its energy source.

Catch up quick: Goldman and Cleanhill acquired EPC in 2022.

The bottom line: "EPC Power said its technology is designed to give data centre developers speed-to-power and to address the volatility of AI computing loads, which can cause megawatt swings in power demand in a fraction of a second." — Andy Colthorpe, Energy Storage News

• Crusoe, a Denver-based data center developer that's been speaking to banks about an IPO, raised $3b at a $30b valuation, per Bloomberg. Atreides Management and Valor Equity Partners led, joined by Mubadala. axios.link/4zSeRBK

• Thinking Machines, an AI lab founded by ex-OpenAI CTO Mira Murati, is in talks to raise at least $1b at a $40b+ valuation led by Accel, per The Information. axios.link/4x57swc

• Gimlet Labs, an SF-based developer of AI inference software, raised $300m at a $3b valuation. A16z led, joined by Arm and M12. axios.link/4qUkP0J

• Town, an SF-based personal AI assistant, is in talks to raise $90m at a $1b valuation led by Forerunner Ventures and Menlo Ventures, with a16z and First Round Capital participating, per Upstarts. Index Ventures was set to lead, but withdrew after backing rival Instinct. axios.link/4qUfuGZ

🚑 Superluminal Medicines, a Boston-based obesity drug developer, raised $60m in Series B funding from BVF Partners, Deep Track Capital, Perceptive Advisors, RA Capital Management, NVentures, Catalio Capital Management, and Eli Lilly. axios.link/3SJm9am

• Guardio, a consumer cybersecurity company, raised $40m at a $1.1b valuation from Wiz CEO Assaf Rappaport, ION Crossover Partners, Union Tech Ventures, Vintage Investment Partners, Cerca Partners, and Emerge Ventures. axios.link/461BLsT

• Diameter Pay, a Jersey City, N.J.-based payments infrastructure startup, raised $10m in Series A funding. CMT Digital and Lightspeed Faction led, joined by SixThirty Ventures, Stellar Development Foundation, Tech Council Ventures, Onigiri Capital, and BitRock Capital. axios.link/3SM52o7

• Ollie, a San Diego-based AI assistant, raised $7.5m in seed funding. Khosla Ventures led, joined by AI House. axios.link/4ic2xG7

• Laters, a Singaporean online travel agency, raised $1.5m in seed funding led by XBO Ventures. axios.link/4ydfEeP

🌎 MOA Foodtech, a Spanish fermentation startup turning ag waste into ingredients, raised €3.3m from the European Innovation Council Fund, Swanlaab Innvierte Agri Food Tech, and CDTI-Innvierte. axios.link/4gMWAx3

• Souk, a London-based partnership automation platform, raised $1.6m in pre-seed funding. Sure Valley Ventures led, joined by Antler and Fuel Ventures. axios.link/3UCufSD

🌎 Remedium, a Saudi carbon management startup, raised $1.5m in pre-seed funding led by Kaltaire Investments. axios.link/4cqhSPE

• Nscale is investing in humanoid robot maker Figure, alongside a $3.5b compute deal. axios.link/4ycVlhE

• Airswift, a Gemspring Capital portfolio company, acquired select upstream oil and gas workforce solutions of New Tech Global. axios.link/3UxgTqY

• Ally Waste, backed by RF Investment Partners, acquired Swift Integrated Services, a Utah-based provider of dumpster management and waste brokerage services. axios.link/4x4bWU0

• AMS Fulfillment, an ecommerce logistics firm just put on the block by Fort Point Capital, acquired Utah-based Vox Fulfillment. axios.link/4yo3qAk

🚑 CVC Capital Partners invested in Unitex, a provider of health-care textile services. axios.link/4gCdnEi

• EQT agreed to buy a majority stake in U.K. insurance broker McGill and Partners for $2b from Warburg Pincus. axios.link/4zSto0p

🎵 HarbourView Equity Partners acquired the producer royalties and related rights for music producer David Kershenbaum, including for Tracy Chapman hits "Fast Car," "Baby Can I Hold You," and "Talkin' Bout a Revolution." axios.link/4zVHA8Q

🚑 KKR agreed to acquire a minority stake in Malaysian hospitals group Avisena. axios.link/4gQrLHW

• RTB Holdings, backed by M&T Capital Partners, acquired Boost Transport, a Gainesville, Ga.-based provider of managed transportation services. axios.link/4hafOOk

• Truelink Capital acquired JT Thorpe Group, a Salt Lake City-based provider of industrial maintenance and thermal management services. axios.link/4cqpHVw

• TSG Consumer invested in Los Tacos No. 1, an NYC-based taco restaurant chain. axios.link/4qS1ttp

🍺 Saothair Capital Partners completed its acquisition of an alcoholic beverage portfolio from Heineken, including Magic Hat, Seagram's Escapes, Lipton Hard Iced Tea, and Labatt Blue. axios.link/4wZMoXX

• Veryon, backed by Accel-KKR, acquired Polaris Aero, a Scottsdale, Ariz.-based aviation software company. axios.link/4cnWuKX

⚡ Voltaris Power, a Mill Point Capital portfolio company, acquired Electronic Power Design, a Houston-based provider of power distribution equipment for data centers. axios.link/4h9Bb2o

• Oura, the Finnish smart ring maker, filed for an IPO that might raise up to $3b. It reports $61m of net income on $1.2b of revenue for the first nine months of 2026, versus $1m on $697m for the year-earlier period. It plans to list on the Nasdaq (OURA) and has raised over $1.5b in VC funding from firms like Fidelity, Forerunner Ventures, Bedford Ridge Capital, and Lifeline Ventures. This past February it completed a $534m tender offer. axios.link/4cqDCLp

🚑 KKR agreed to sell its 10% stake in Nordic Bioscience, a Danish biomarkers developer, back to company founder Claus Christiansen. axios.link/4cte2p2

• NWPX Infrastructure (Nasdaq: NWPX) acquired Serpentix Conveyor, a maker of conveyor systems for municipal wastewater treatment plants. Sellers include Dry Fly Capital. axios.link/4r1K6GE

• Promus Equity Partners sold Associated Steel Group, an Oklahoma City, Okla.-based maker of metal building systems for U.S. commercial construction, to Hanwa Co. (Tokyo: 8078).

• ServiceNow (NYSE: NOW) is reportedly acquiring Sweep, an Israeli agentic workspace startup that had raised $57m from firms like Insight Partners and Bessemer Venture Partners. axios.link/4r1K6GE

🎃 Spencer Spirit, parent company of Spencer's Gifts and Spirit Halloween, completed its $350m acquisition of retailer Hot Topic from Sycamore Partners. axios.link/4z0rR83

• Arxis (Nasdaq: ARXS), an industrial compounder backed by Arcline Investors, acquired both Schatz Bearing and StratEdge. axios.link/4gMbVOd

• Delivery Hero's board said it supports a takeover bid from Uber (NYSE: UBER). axios.link/3UxRv4o

• South Korea plans to merge several state-run energy companies, and separately merge its four regional port authorities. axios.link/4xAC1uK

• PayPal Ventures paused plans to sell its portfolio, after bids came in lower than expected, per Axios Pro. axios.link/4x2FqBz

• Swish Ventures of Israel raised $250m for its third fund. axios.link/3UonVhH

🚑 Michael Mazhari joined BlackArch Partners as a director in its life sciences and health care group. He previously was with Houlihan Lokey. axios.link/4yhWyUS

The U.S. economy added 162k jobs in August, more than tripling expectations, with backward revisions adding another 55k jobs. The unemployment rate held steady at 4.1%.

• Elsewhere in econ data, diesel fuel prices today hit an all-time high of $5.85 per gallon, per AAA.