Colorado today will become the second state to require pre-merger notifications, regardless of industry.

• Washington became the first earlier this year, and at least five other states — including California — and the District of Columbia are considering similar rules.

Why it matters: States often lack visibility into pending mergers. These new laws aim to change that dynamic, which could increase antitrust enforcement actions.

Zoom in: The Colorado and Washington rules are aimed at companies or individuals who are required by federal law to make Hart-Scott-Rodino (HSR) filings, if those parties do a certain level of business in the respective states.

• In short, those HSR filings now must be sent contemporaneously to the state AGs. No extra paperwork, just extra envelopes.

The big picture: States always have had the right to enforce their own antitrust laws.

• Sometimes that's been efforted because federal authorities declined to act, such as with T-Mobile/Sprint (which eventually went through). Sometimes it's because states believe a merger presents unique harms to their people, beyond FTC or DOJ suits, such as with Kroger-Albertsons (which collapsed).
• Often, however, state AGs have found themselves playing catch-up, and it's particularly tough to win antitrust cases once the merger has closed.

Behind the scenes: A longtime antitrust attorney tells me that state antitrust officials hold remote meetings at least twice per month, via the National Association of Attorneys General, and sometimes break out into sector-specific groups.

• These new notification rules appear to allow Colorado and Washington staffers to share the HSR filings with peers, so other states could get added visibility without passing laws of their own.

The bottom line: It's still too early to know what Trump 2.0 antitrust policy will look like, but we do know that the broader regulatory regime is about to get more bites at the apple.

The National Football League agreed to sell the NFL Network and certain other media assets, including linear rights to the RedZone channel, to Disney-owned ESPN, in exchange for a 10% equity stake.

Why it's the BFD: Media ethics professors will have a field day with this one.

• ESPN has long had a financial relationship with the NFL, which many ESPN journalists are charged with covering, but there's usually a bright line between commercial partnerships and actual ownership.

Zoom in: ESPN said in a press release that it's 80% owned by Walt Disney Co. and 20% by Hearst, without disclosing which entity is divesting or the financial terms.

• The NFL will retain both NFL Films and NFL.com.

The bottom line: For ESPN, this is aimed at bolstering its upcoming streaming service. For the NFL, it's about added distribution, including internationally.

OpenAI is in early talks for an employee tender offer at a $500 billion valuation, per Bloomberg.

• Clay, an NY-based marketing services startup, raised $100 million at a $3.1 billion valuation. CapitalG led, joined by Meritech Capital Partners and Sequoia Capital. axios.link/3HbkdBG

• Rillet, a French ERP to automate accounting, raised $70m in Series B funding. A16z and Iconiq led, joined by Sequoia Capital and Oak HC/FT. rillet.com

🚑 Metis Technologies, a Chinese nanodelivery biotech, raised $55.7m in Series D funding led by Beijing Medical and Health Industry Investment Fund and Daxing Industrial Investment Fund. axios.link/45mc7hI

🚑 Positive Development, a McLean, Va.-based autism therapy startup, raised $51.5m in Series C funding led by aMoon, B Capital, and Flare Capital Partners. axios.link/456F5TR

• Lorikeet, an Australian customer experience startup, raised US$35m in Series A funding, per Axios Pro. QED Investors led, Blackbird, Square Peg, Airtree, Obvious Ventures, Skip Capital and Athletic Ventures. axios.link/45odEDU

• D-Tools, a Concord, Calif.-based provider of business management software, raised $12m in Series C funding. StellarIQ led, joined by Greybull Stewardship. axios.link/3ULolLJ

• Kontext, an SF-based advertising platform for AI chatbots and GenAI apps, raised $10m in seed funding. M13, led, joined by Torch Capital and Parable VC. axios.link/4ftW9Xy

🌎 SG Enviro, a Singaporean wastewater treatment tech developer, raised $8m from Emerald Technology Ventures. axios.link/3HppYeW

⚡️ Wattch, an Atlanta-based solar and battery storage management provider, raised $6m in seed funding led by Spero Ventures. axios.link/3H26gWK

• PodUp, an Idaho-based podcasting platform, raised $5.8m from backers like the North Texas Angel Network and HBS Alumni Angels Association. podup.com

• Bisly, an Estonian provider of smart building automation solutions, raised €4.3m led by 2C Ventures. axios.link/4m0SZwx

• CodeKarma, an Indian software productivity platform, raised $2.5m in pre-seed funding led by Prosus, Accel, and Xeed Ventures. axios.link/4mdVax1

• Apollo agreed to acquire a majority stake in Dallas-based Stream Data Centers. axios.link/3GZWCE5

🚑 Argosy Healthcare Partners acquired ORSS, a Chicago-based provider of staffing solutions for operating rooms in acute care hospitals and ambulatory surgery centers. orstaffingsolutions.com

⚡ Blackstone agreed to buy energy data platform Enverus from Hellman & Friedman and Genstar Capital for more than $6b. axios.link/4oozXln

• Blackstone also plans to acquire Japanese tech services firm TechnoPro (Tokyo: 6028) via a $3.5b tender offer.

⚡ Brookfield Asset Management will pay $6b to acquire part of Duke Energy's (NYSE: DUK) business in Florida. axios.link/4lay9cZ

• BV Investment Partners acquired a majority stake in The Millennium Alliance, a P2P sales enablement platform. mill-all.com

• Francisco Partners agreed to acquire Elite, a provider of legal software and payment solutions, from TPG. axios.link/4liHTlE

• GHK Capital Partners acquired Rogers Building Solutions, a Douglasville, Ga.-based provider of HVAC and plumbing services to commercial and industrial end markets. rogersbuildingsolutions.com

🚑 GreyLion invested in Slipstream IT, a Bue Bell, Pa.-based IT consultant to the pharma industry. Existing backer Denali Growth Partners reinvested. slipstream-it.com

• JMI Equity led a $355m minority investment in First Due, a Miami-based public safety software developer. TCV and Serent Capital participated. axios.link/3J1ijUO

• Lightview Capital acquired Vermana, an Orlando-based commercial pool services provider. Aldine and Patriot Capital also participated. axios.link/41tSfYB

🚑 Macquarie Group agreed to buy a minority stake in Portuguese hospital operator Luz Saude, besting CVC Capital Partners and KKR, per Bloomberg. axios.link/4oovVcW

• Organicgirl, a portfolio company of Arable Capital Partners, acquired the fresh vegetables business of Dole (NYSE: DOLE) for $140m. axios.link/3J48fu6

🚑 Heartflow, a Mountain View, Calif.-based cardiovascular disease diagnostics company, increased its IPO terms to 16.67m shares at $16-$17. It previously planned to sell 12.5m shares at $15-$17. It plans to list on the Nasdaq (HTFL), and has raised over $900m from firms like Bain Capial Life Sciences, HealthCor Partners, Wellington, and USVP. axios.link/4m3FnAN

• IQiyi, a Chinese streaming entertainment service owned by Baidu, plans to raise $300m in a Hong Kong listing this year, per Bloomberg. axios.link/3HlkodG

• Boxabl, a modular building startup, agreed to go public at an implied $3.5b valuation via a reverse merger with FG Merger II (Nasdaq: FGMC), a SPAC that had been aimed at financial services. Early backers included BuildTech VC, Elevation Capital, and Other People's Capital. axios.link/45DJLRa

• Bachan's, a Japanese BBQ sauce brand, hired Centerview Partners to explore a sale, per Axios Pro. The California-based company has raised $17m from Prelude Growth Partners and Sonoma Brands Capital. axios.link/4fxW9Ws

• Hg is seeking to sell London-based financial data firm FE fundinfo, which could fetch nearly $2b, per Reuters. axios.link/45Ejan6

• Lufthansa abandoned its attempt to buy a stake in Spanish airline Air Europa, leaving Turkish Airlines as the only known remaining bidder. axios.link/3H25r06

🚑 SERB Pharmaceuticals of France agreed to acquire Princeton, N.J.-based cancer company Y-mAbs Therapeutics (Nasdaq: YMAB) for $412m. axios.link/4fonFFD

🚑 Yomeishu Seizo (Tokyo: 2540), a Japanese maker of medicinal liquors, hired bankers to explore take-private acquisitions, per Bloomberg. axios.link/3J20epG

• Butterfly Equity raised $527m for a single-asset continuation fund focused on Mexican fast-casual chain Qdoba. axios.link/4mwSIS8

• Painswick Capital Management, founded by former AEA Investors CEO John Garcia, raised $1.5b for a debut fund that will focus on single-asset continuation vehicles. axios.link/46DTZC8

• Prelude Growth Partners raised $600m for its third CPG fund. axios.link/46LaRXQ

• Joe Fath joined VC firm Eclipse as a partner and head of growth. He previously spent over two decades with T. Rowe Price. axios.link/4fyjzeb

• Ryan Horstman (ex-Vortus Investments) and Peter Schnuck (Sunrise Strategic Partners) joined Kainos Capital as CFO and VP, respectively. axios.link/3JmKE7W

• Raz Mayshar joined Qualcomm Ventures as a senior investment manager. He previously was with Next Gear Ventures. axios.link/45leP77

Carlyle and TPG both reported second-quarter earnings this morning, both beating Wall Street estimates.

• Apollo, Blackstone, and KKR each beat in earlier Q2 reports.

All five firms have seen major stock price appreciation over the past year, save for "Liberation Day" hiccups, with Carlyle leading the way.