If the government succeeds in breaking up Big Tech, private equity is more likely to be a seller than buyer.

State of play: Google and the Justice Department are locked in a trial over allegations that the search giant's advertising business is anticompetitive.

• If the government wins, it will ask for divestitures.

The big picture: Private equity execs are beginning to ponder what this could mean for them. Whether it be this particular case, or the future cases that regulators seem determined to bring.

Zoom in: It's no secret that private equity is struggling to exit portfolio companies.

• One reason is that logical acquirers, such as Big Tech, are worried about antitrust lawsuits.
• But if companies like Google are forced to spin off large units, there's a burgeoning belief that those newly independent businesses would feel fewer shackles (particularly if regulators effectively forced their creation).
• There also would be fewer redundancies with the former parent companies.

Yes, but: The odds of the government prevailing, let alone multiple times, remains in "Jets win the Super Bowl" territory. It's possible, but past is often prologue.

The bottom line: The Biden administration has intentionally made it harder for private equity to sell its companies, but might be throwing an indirect lifeline.

BlackRock and Partners Group today announced a partnership to offer wealthy individuals a simpler way to access private markets.

Why it's the BFD: The world's largest asset manager keeps pushing deeper into private equity, following its recent acquisitions of both Global Infrastructure Partners and Preqin.

• For BlackRock, it's about higher fees. For private equity, it's about new money.

Details: BlackRock and Partners have developed a "model portfolio" that provides diversified private markets exposure via a single investment.

• Beginning next year it will be available for individuals with at least $2.2 million of assets (minus real estate) who want up to 10% exposure.

The bottom line: "Partners Group was an early mover in private wealth, and launched the first U.S. private-equity fund aimed at individuals in 2009. Still, as a Swiss firm, it isn't as well known in the U.S. as its competitors. By joining forces with BlackRock, which has roughly 30,000 wealth advisers using its model portfolios, Partners hopes to extend its reach." — The Wall Street Journal

🚑 F2G, a British developer of therapies for life-threatening rare fungal infections, raised $100m. AMR Action Fund and ICG co-led, and were joined by insiders Novo Holdings, Advent Life Sciences, Sofinnova Partners, Forbion, Blue Owl Healthcare Opportunities, Morningside Ventures, Brace Pharmaceuticals, and Merifin Capital. axios.link/4eooMDL

🚑 Inflammatix, a Sunnyvale, Calif., molecular diagnostics startup focused on acute infection and sepsis, raised $57m in Series E funding co-led by Khosla Ventures and Think.Health. inflammatix.com

🚑 Habitat Health, a SF-based provider of home care support for older adults, raised more than $50m from Town Hall Ventures, NEA, and Kaiser Permanente. axios.link/3XG9KDu

• Aembit, a Silver Springs, Md.-based provider of non-human identity and access management solutions, raised $25m in Series A funding. Acrew Capital led, and was joined by insiders Ballistic Ventures, Ten Eleven Ventures, Okta Ventures, and CrowdStrike Falcon Fund. aembit.io

• Polly, an SF-based provider of mortgage capital markets software, raised $25m led by 8VC, with participation from Menlo Ventures, Meritech, Khosla Ventures, and Fifth Wall. polly.io

🚑 Nirvana, a health-care bill transparency startup, raised $24.2m in Series A funding, per Axios Pro. Northzone led, and was joined by Inspired Capital, Eniac Ventures, and Surface Ventures.

• Jus Mundi, a French legal AI startup, raised €20m in Series B funding. Acton Capital and True Global Ventures co-led, and were joined by C4 Ventures and FJ Labs. jusmundi.com

• AIfleet, an Austin, Texas-based trucking tech startup, raised $16.6m in Series B funding. Heron Rock led, and was joined by Volvo Group VC, Obvious Ventures, Ibex Investors, Compound, Winthrop Square, and Cooley. axios.link/3XEJYQa

🌎 Solasta Bio, a developer of green insecticides, raised $14m in Series A funding. Forbion led, and was joined by FMC Ventures, Corteva, Cavallo Ventures, Rubio Impact Ventures, Scottish Enterprise, UKi2S, SIS Ventures, and the University of Glasgow. axios.link/3Zgcuca

• Landbase, an SF-based agentic AI GTM platform, raised $12.5m. A*, 8VC, and First Minute Capital co-led, alongside Inovia Capital, Picus, and General Catalyst. landbase.com

• Cypher Games, a Turkish mobile games developer, raised $10m led by Raine Group. axios.link/4d6drqJ

• Operant AI, an SF-based runtime AI application protection platform, raised $10m in Series A funding. SineWave Ventures and Felicis co-led, and were joined by Alumni Ventures, Massive, Calm Ventures, and Gaingels. operant.ai

• Delli, a London platform for independent food and drink, raised $6m in seed extension funding co-led by Balderton and HV Capital. delli.market

• Beebop.ai, a startup that enables electric utilities to control home devices, raised $5.5m in seed funding led by Angular Ventures, per Axios Pro.

• Mother Games, a Brooklyn-based mobile game developer, raised $5m from BoxGroup, Shine, and Lerer Hippeau. axios.link/3ZkLuZ9

• Cerrion, a Swiss provider of video AI solutions for manufacturing, raised $5m co-led by YC and Goat Capital. axios.link/4cY4iR2

• Optalitix, a British insurance and finance software startup, raised $3m led by insider Calculus Capital, with participation from 24Haymarket. optalitix.com

• Osavul, a Ukrainian media intelligence startup, raised €2.8m from 42CAP, u.ventures, and SMRK VC Fund. osavul.cloud

🌎 Brineworks, a Dutch CO2 extraction startup, raised $2.2m led by Pale Blue Dot. axios.link/4d2T8ub

• DC Connected, a German vehicle diagnostics platform, raised €2.1m in seed funding from Borusan Ventures, Venpace, Atlas Ventures, APX, and Bloomhaus Ventures. axios.link/3TrQvv8

• 4M Building Solutions, a commercial cleaning and janitorial services owned by O2 Investment Partners, acquired both Hi-Tec (Jenison, Mich.) and Thario Building Services (Green Bay, Wis.). 4-m.com

• Aldine Capital invested in Capstone Holdings, a software and digital services firm focused on the retail and payment processing markets.

🚑 Archimed agreed to buy Jeisys Medical, a listed South Korean producer of non-invasive aesthetic medicine devices, for $742m. axios.link/3AYTZit

• Coalesce Capital agreed to acquire Miller Environmental Group, a Calverton, N.Y., provider of waste, industrial, and environmental services, from GenNx360 Capital Partners. millerenv.com

• Novatus, a London provider of reg-tech for financial institutions raised $40m from Silversmith Capital Partners. https://axios.link/47mXKKA

• Renovus Capital Partners acquired QualX, a Springfield, Va., provider of information management solutions to the federal government. qlxcorp.com

• The Row, a fashion brand founded by the Olsen twins, raised funding from Mousse Partners and Tethys Invest. axios.link/4gmM26z

• SEVA invested in Chicory, a New York-based contextual commerce media platform. chicory.co

• Shamrock Capital invested in Nth Degree, a Duluth, Ga.,-based event management and experiential marketing company. nthdegree.com

• Tower Arch Capital recapitalized Miller Industries, a Fenton, Mich., maker of custom modular systems. millc.com

🚑 Bicara Therapeutics, a Cambridge, Mass.-based developer of dual-action biologics, increased the number of shares being offered in its IPO, to 14.7m from 11.9m. The price range remains $16-$18. The Phase 1 biotech plans to list on the Nasdaq (BCAX). It's raised over $300m in VC funding from firms like RA Capital (16.1% pre-IPO stake), Red Tree (9.8%, Omega Funds (6%), Invus (6%), TPG (5.7%), Aisling Capital, Fairmont, F-Prime Capital, Deerfield, and Braidwell. axios.link/3MJcqKE

• Springer Nature, a German academic publisher owned by BC Partners, says it plans to go public in Frankfurt, possibly by year-end. axios.link/3BajOfb

🎬 Angel Studios, a film studio behind "Sound of Freedom," agreed to go public at an implied $1.6b via a merger with Southport Acquisition Corp. (OTC: PORTW), a SPAC led by Jeb Spencer (TVC Capital) and Jared Stone (Northgate Capital) that was supposed to focus on financial software. axios.link/3XGXR0p

• Future Vision II Acquisition, a China-focused TMT SPAC, raised $50m in its IPO. axios.link/4cfHPPN

⚡ Delek Logistics (NYSE: DKL) completed its $230m acquisition of H2O Midstream, a services firm focused on the Midland Basin in Texas, from EIV Capital. delekus.com

• Mastercard (NYSE: MA) agreed to buy Somerville, Mass.-based threat intelligence firm Recorded Future from Insight Partners and Pantheon for $2.65b. axios.link/4gfUWTH

• General Mills (NYSE: GIS) agreed to sell its U.S. and Canadian yogurt units to French dairies Groupe Lactalis and Sodiaal, respectively, for $2.1b. axios.link/3Znv029

• Fika Ventures, an early-stage firm focused on B2B startups, raised $160m for its fourth fund. fika.vc

• Rethink Impact, a VC firm focused on women-led startups, raised $250m for its third fund. rethinkimpact.com

• Sound Point raised $1.2b for its third direct lending fund. soundpointcap.com

• Asymmetric Capital Partners promoted Nancy Chou to partner and Matty Mejia-Johnston to principal. acp.vc

• David Bauer is stepping down as KKR's head of ECM to join JPMorgan as co-head of ECM. axios.link/3B4jvCP

• Don More joined Cascadia Capital as a managing director of tech and software investment banking. He previously was with Lincoln International. axios.link/47l5WLa

Where the world sees a growing problem with power-hungry AI data centers, entrepreneurs and investors see a major opportunity, Axios Pro's Katie Fehrenbacher writes.

• Amazon, Google and Microsoft, as well as smaller data center companies, will be spending a massive amount of money building out data center infrastructure and procuring energy for them.
• In a year when climate tech financing has gotten more difficult, entrepreneurs are hoping this major spigot of money will flow their way.
• One of them is Exowatt, a solar storage startup whose backers include backed by Sam Altman, Leonardo DiCaprio, and a16z.

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