We'll kick off the week by highlighting some news items...

💰 An overhauled global minimum tax is on its way. In a meeting with Indian Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said that their countries and about 140 countries are "close to reaching a deal" that ensures multinationals pay a minimum 15% rate, wherever they operate.

• Why it matters: The goal is to apply the tax to large multinational companies (though there has been skepticism over its effectiveness given these companies' deftness at minimizing such taxes).
• Details: The deal would require countries to remove all digital services tax and other similar ones, and to commit not to introduce such measures down the line. "Some significant issues, including share of profit allocation and scope of subject to tax rules, are yet to be addressed and a 'consensus agreement' would happen after working out the technical details of the proposal," notes the Economic Times.

💻 The EU is revving up more antitrust investigations. It just formally opened a probe into Microsoft's bundling of its Teams product with its Office software suite (can you hear the sound of Slack rejoicing?).

• Why it matters: This isn't an inquiry into an acquisition, but it still shows just how committed the EU is to scrutinizing anti-competitive behavior by large tech companies.
• Also: It's opened an inquiry into Pfizer's proposed $43 billion takeover of Seagen. Approval by the EU is a condition to the deal closing, which is also being reviewed by the FTC in the U.S.

Thoma Bravo has bought and merged two drug diversion tech companies, Bluesight and Medacist.

Why it matters: Drug diversion — the illegal distribution or abuse of prescription drugs — costs the health care industry more than $70 billion per year.

Details: Thoma Bravo acquired Bluesight and bought Medacist as an add-on that closed simultaneously. The combined company is approaching $50 million of top-line revenue and is profitable, sources tell Axios.

• Both companies will be recapitalized and branded as Bluesight, serving more than 2,000 hospitals across North America.

The bottom line: "As many as 10% of all medical professionals will divert drugs from their workplace at some point in their career, per a study in Legal Matters. Abuse of controlled substances is a growing issue among health care workers, particularly in the wake of a vicious opioid addiction epidemic." — Aaron Weitzman, Axios Pro

🚑 Herself Health, a New York-based women's health care company, raised a $26m in Series A funding led by Michael Cline, with Juxtapose also participating. https://axios.link/3OjbeiH

• Thunes, a Singapore and London-based business payments company, raised $12m in additional Series C funding at a reported valuation of more than $900m from Visa, EDBI, and Endeavor Catalyst. https://axios.link/3pQVUjQ

• Figure, a Sunnyvale-based robotics company, raised $9m from Intel Capital. https://axios.link/44sWGCE

• Flash, an Egyptian fintech startup, raised $6m in seed funding led by Addition, with Flourish Ventures and others also participating. https://axios.link/3pKW7oK

• Ethena, a stablecoin developer, raised $6m in seed funding led by Dragonfly, with Deribit, Bybit, OKX, Gemini, Huobi, and Arthur Hayes' family office. https://axios.link/3Di6yTO

• SpeedyBrand, a San Francisco-based generative AI startup, raised $2.5m in seed funding led by Y Combinator and GV. www.speedybrand.io

• Goldman Sachs, General Atlantic, LEGO Group's KIRKBI Invest, and Glitrafjord are taking Kahoot, a Norwegian educational games marketplace, private in an all-cash deal at 35 NOK per share, valuing Kahoot at $1.7b (17.2b Norwegian kroner). https://axios.link/3XWJ1kJ

• BBB Industries, backed by Clearlake Capital Group, has acquired Hydraulex, a Chesterfield, Mich.-based provider of hydraulic solutions for the industrial aftermarket. www.hydraulex.com

• Capsa, backed by Levine Leichtman Capital Partners, acquired MASS Medical Storage, Kansas City, Mo.-based designer, manufacturer and assembler of medical storage cabinets and carts. www.massmedicalstorage.com

• LightRidge Solutions, backed by ATL Partners, acquired Trident Systems, a Fairfax, Va.-based provider of high-performance space electronics and C4ISR solutions. www.tridsys.com

• ODDITY Tech, an Israel-based direct-to-consumer cosmetics and personal care products company, now plans to raise $347m by offering 10.5m shares (83% secondary) at a price range of $32 to $34. It plans to list on the Nasdaq under the symbol ODD. Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Allen & Company, BofA Securities, Barclays, Truist Securities, JMP Securities, and KeyBanc Capital Markets are the joint bookrunners on the deal. https://axios.link/3DfkI8f

• Commercial Metals Company (NYSE: CMC) acquired EDSCO Fasteners, a Denton, Texas-based supplier of anchoring parts, from MiddleGround Capital. www.edsco.com

• Proximus Group has agreed to buy a 58% stake in Route Mobile, an Indian cloud communication service provider, for 59.22b rupees ($721m) and will will make a tender offer for an additional 26% stake at the same price to comply with Indian rules. https://axios.link/3K3eXhD

🚑 Westlake Village BioPartners, a Los Angeles-based biotech venture firm, raised $450m for its third fund. It will be managed by Beth Seidenberg, Mira Chaurushiya, and David Allison (but not managing partner Sean Harper). www.westlakebio.com

• TLV Partners, an Israeli venture firm, raised $250m for its fifth fund. www.tlv.partners

• Partners Group hired Sanjay Ravi and Will Chen as managing directors based in Denver. Previously, they worked at Microsoft and Goldman Sachs, respectively. www.partnersgroup.com

• Littlejohn & Co., a Greenwich, Conn.-based private investment firm, hired Philip Lo as a managing director of capital formation in its private equity division. He was previously at GPI Capital. www.littlejohnllc.com

• Nomura Private Capital, a Japanese financial services firm, appointed Steve Kavulich as head of opportunistic private credit. www.nomura.com