After venture capitalists burned mountains of cash on "cleantech" investments in the late aughts, the postmortems stressed that VC shouldn't be used as a substitute for project finance.

Why it matters: VCs forgot the lesson, pumping billions into electric vehicle makers.

• Some of them never got to commercialization, or at least to delivery.
• Some went public, and have since seen their shares delisted or severely devalued. Last week's example of the former was Arrival, which had raised more than $100 million in VC funding before going public in 2021 via SPAC.
• Rivian still is valued at around $15 billion, but that's a far cry from the $27.6 billion valuation it got in its Series F round.

What happened: Tesla, which is proving to be the exception to the rule.

• VCs, including those that passed on Tesla in its early days, looked at Elon Musk's success and assumed it could be replicated. Detroit by the Bay.
• Never mind that many of these VCs had never invested in complex manufacturing, let alone vehicle manufacturing. This was as much about software and consumer marketing as it was about hardware, they thought, and automaking was a commodified task that predated the semiconductor.

Zoom out: VCs also trusted that they'd solved for the other big cleantech-era error — getting out too far ahead of the market, in terms of cost and wider infrastructure.

• In this case, there seemed to be customer demand, from both consumers and transportation businesses. Particularly as new government incentives kicked in.
• Moreover, there appeared to be a burgeoning network of EV chargers that would only grow (even before passage of the Inflation Reduction Act).
• Both of these were true, but not nearly to the extent that VCs expected.
• Even many traditional automakers have struggled with EVs. Just last week, Volvo announced that it will stop pouring money into Polestar, whose shares are trading at just 15 cents, while Renault recently canceled a planned IPO for its EV unit and Ford cut back productions plans for its F-150 Lightning.

Disclaimer: I own an electric vehicle (Ford, not Tesla), and really do enjoy it (minus the severe range issues in winter).

The bottom line: Cleantech has been rebranded to climate tech, and has become a viable venture capital category.

• But not giant equity funding rounds for EV manufacturing, which was and remains better suited to project finance.

Novo Holdings, the parent company of Danish pharma giant Novo Nordisk, agreed to buy New Jersey-based contract manufacturer Catalent (NYSE: CTLT) for around $16.5 billion in cash.

Why it's the BFD: This is about boosting production of Wegovy, the anti-obesity drug whose demand has far outpaced supply.

• Novo Nordisk also makes Ozempic, but hasn't run into the same capacity issues because U.S. regulators only have approved that drug for diabetes, whereas Wegovy can be prescribed for more general weight loss.

Details: The $63.50 per share purchase price represents a 16.5% premium to Friday's closing price, and a 39.1% premium to trading before Catalent's board announced a strategic review in late August.

• Novo says has the support of activist investor Elliott Management, which took a 2% stake in Catalent last year.
• As part of the deal, Novo Nordisk will buy three of Catalent's fill-finish sites from Novo Holdings for $11 billion.

The bottom line: "The popularity of Wegovy has seen the company restrict supply while it scrambles to increase stocks. In recent months, it has outlined plans to invest more than $6 billion to increase capacity. Last month, Novo Nordisk began gradually increasing supplies of lower-dose strengths, having limited supply in the U.S. since May to safeguard access for current patients." — Dominic Chopping & Chris Wack, WSJ

• ProducePay, an LA-based financing and marketplace platform for the fresh produce market, raised $38m in Series D funding. Syngenta Group Ventures led, and was joined by Commonfund, Highgate Private Equity, G2 Venture Partners, Anterra Capital, Astanor Ventures, Endeavor8, Avenue Venture Opportunities, Avenue Sustainable Solutions, and Red Bear Angels. https://axios.link/3HNbGkV

• Oobit, a Lithuanian crypto payment app, raised $25m in Series A funding. Tether led, and was joined by CMCC Global, 468 Capital, and Solana co-founder Anatoly Yakovenko. www.oobit.com

• Jua, a Swiss weather forecasting startup, raised $16m in seed funding. 468 Capital and the Green Generation Fund co-led, and were joined by Promus Ventures, Kadmos Capital, Flix Mobility founders, Session.vc, Virtus Resources Partners, Notion.vc, and InnoSuisse. https://axios.link/4broM5a

🚀 Interlune, a lunar resource harvesting startup led by ex-Blue Origin execs, raised $15.5m, per an SEC filing. https://axios.link/3UsTnJE

• Reken, an SF-based AI cybersecurity startup, raised $10m in seed funding. Greycroft and FPV Ventures co-led, and were joined by Firebolt Ventures, Fika Ventures, Omega Venture Partners, Homebrew, and JAZZ Venture Partners. https://axios.link/3w7zduA

• Peripass, a Belgian trucking yard logistics startup, raised €7.5m led by Welvaartfonds. https://axios.link/3um62TS

🍷 Bain Capital agreed to buy Accolade Wines, Australia's second largest winemaker, form Carlyle. https://axios.link/49pO4ij

• Investcorp made a passive minority investment in Banner Ridge Partners, a New York-based private equity secondaries firm. https://axios.link/3HK9qLk

• Investindustrial and the Bagnoli family acquired FdA Group, an Italian frozen bakery products maker, from BC Partners for a reported €1.1b. https://axios.link/42qrLXk

• Thoma Bravo agreed to buy Everbridge (Nasdaq: EVBG), a Burlington, Mass.-based provider of critical event management and national public warning solutions, for $1.5b, pr $28.60 per share (20% premium over Friday's closing price). https://axios.link/3HOCSje

• BBB Foods, operator of more than 2,200 discount groceries in Mexico, set IPO terms to 28.1m shares at $14.50-$16.50. It would have a $1.7b fully diluted value, were it to price in the middle, and plans to list on the NYSE (TBBB). https://axios.link/42uIb14

🚑 EQT again is reviving IPO plans for Galderma, a Swiss dermatology company that could be worth around $20b, per the FT. https://axios.link/492QPGi

🚑 Metagenomi, an Emeryville, Calif.-based gene editing startup, set IPO terms to 6.3m shares at $15-$17. It would have a $600m market value, were it to price in the middle, and plans to list on the Nasdaq (MGX). The company raised around $390m in VC funding from firms like Bayer (12.97% pre-IPO stake), Humboldt Fund (6.07%), Sozo Ventures (5.64%), and Moderna (5.47%). https://axios.link/483zPhZ

• Reddit picked the NYSE for its upcoming IPO, per the WSJ. https://axios.link/3Sr4ZKj

• Black Hawk Acquisition, a SPAC led by Kent Kaufman (BEEC Capital), filed for a $60m IPO. https://axios.link/49mosTd

• Helix Acquisition II, a health care SPAC formed by Cormorant Asset Management, increased its proposed IPO size to $150m from $100m. https://axios.link/3SpGLQO

• H.I.G. Capital is seeking a buyer for Usalco, a Baltimore-based specialty chemicals firm that could fetch $2b (including debt), per Bloomberg. https://axios.link/484OSrM

• Metcash (ASX: MTS) agreed to buy Superior Food, an Australian food services provider, for around A$412m from Quadrant Private Equity. https://axios.link/491SDzg

⚡ The Stephens Group sold Summit Industrial Construction, a Houston-based provider of engineering services for the oil and gas industry, to Comfort Systems USA (NYSE: FIX).

🚑 Diagnosticos da America, a listed Brazilian health care provider with around a $1.1b market cap, is considering strategic alternatives that could include a sale, per Bloomberg. https://axios.link/4839ZL1

🚑 Elanco Animal Health (NYSE: ELAN) agreed to sell its farmed fish health products business to Merck & Co. (NYSE: MRK) for $1.3b. https://axios.link/4bt0eIQ

• Fosun International is considering a sale of its 10% stake in Ageas, Belgium's largest insurer, which is valued at nearly $800m, per Bloomberg. https://axios.link/3wbi5no

⚡ TotalEnergies (Paris: TTEF) is seeking to sell a 50% stake in a $2.5b portfolio of U.S. and European renewable energy projects, per Reuters. https://axios.link/49j9ZYi

• Yandex (Nasdaq: YNDX) agreed to sell its flagship Russian assets to a group of Russian investors for around $5.21b. https://axios.link/3SuDorC

• One Equity Partners is raising its ninth flagship PE fund, per an SEC filing. It currently is investing out of a $2.75b fund closed in 2022.

• Wonder Ventures of LA raised $57m for its fourth pre-seed fund and $45m for an opportunities fund. https://axios.link/3weisO0

• Gaurav Ahuja left Thrive Capital, where he was a partner, Axios has learned. https://axios.link/493bUk0

• Lee Bryan joined Hidden Harbor Capital Partners as a partner. He previously was with Comvest. www.hh-cp.com

• Solomon Owayda joined fund placement firm Monument Group as a partner. He previously was founding partner of Mozaic Capital Advisors. https://axios.link/49imeV1

• KKR co-CEO Joe Bae and Merck CEO Ken Frazier were elected to Harvard University's governing board, succeeding David Rubenstein (Carlyle) and Paul Finnegan (Madison Dearborn). https://axios.link/42ribU1

Satya Nadella just passed the decade mark as Microsoft's CEO, leading it past Apple to become the world's most valuable company.

• He's sidestepped most of the controversies that have dogged his Big Tech peers, while leaning hard into tech megatrends like cloud, gaming, and AI.
• One hallmark of his tenure has been dealmaking, including a key investment in OpenAI and multi-billion dollar acquisitions of Minecraft creator Mojang (2014), LinkedIn (2016), GitHub (2018), ZeniMax (2020), and Activision Blizzard (2023).