Corporate America will continue to serve two antitrust masters, after Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) yesterday backed off a plan to remove the FTC's antitrust authority and consolidate (most of) those powers in the Justice Department.

Why it matters: This illustrates how antitrust politics have changed in the past 100 days.

• Jordan, who chairs the House Judiciary Committee, is a longtime antitrust enforcement antagonist — but his message resonated more with Republicans when Lina Khan was leading the FTC.
• Current FTC chair Andrew Ferguson called the White House to pressure Jordan to drop his proposal, which he'd introduced as an amendment during reconciliation, Axios Pro's Ashley Gold reports. The move worked.

The big picture: The idea of having only one U.S. antitrust regulator isn't new.

• We discussed it here in 2023, noting the burden on companies that often don't know which agency is examining their proposed transaction until a press leak.
• It's been supported by Trump's former DOJ antitrust boss Makan Delrahim, now a partner with Latham & Watkins, who tells me that it still "makes sense."
• Opponents have argued that there's less actual overlap than it may appear, and that the two agencies serve complementary functions.

Zoom in: Jordan's effort was killed by politics, but also had some substantive issues.

• The FTC has something called Section 5, mandated by Congress, which lets it go after unfair or deceptive trade practices. We've seen this used in cases against pharmacy benefits managers and Amazon.
• But Jordan seemingly would have stripped the FTC of antitrust enforcement responsibilities and funding without transferring Section 5 authority to the DOJ (save for continuing existing actions). As such, Section 5 would have been defanged.

Look ahead: There's been a bill circulating through Congress since 2021 that would merge antitrust enforcement under DOJ, and it does appear to transfer Section 5 authority.

• At the same time, some believe that the legislation would ultimately lessen effective enforcement.

CVC invested in Dream Games, a Turkish publisher of mobile puzzle games like Royal Match and Royal Kingdom.

Why it matters: This is one of venture capital's richest gaming exits, as CVC will buy out existing backers at around a $5 billion valuation.

Zoom in: Dream Games had raised around $460 million, including at a $200 million valuation in early 2021 and at a $2.75 billion valuation just one year later.

• Venture investors included Balderton, Makers Fund, Index Ventures, BlackRock, Sequoia Capital, and QIA.
• CVC isn't new to the gaming space, having paid $1.1 billion last year to buy RuneScape maker Jagex from Carlyle.

The bottom line: "Dream Games ... ranked third globally for the most in-app purchases last year, generating roughly $1.4 billion in revenue, according to data from Sensor Tower. The market intelligence firm estimated that the two apps had 54.3 million monthly active users as of December." — Yazhou Sun & Swetha Gopinath, Bloomberg

🚀 True Anomaly, a Centennial, Colo.-based developer of autonomous spacecraft and software for U.S. national security, raised $260m in Series C funding. Accel led, joined by Meritech Capital and insiders Eclipse, Riot Ventures, Menlo Ventures, 645 Ventures, ACME Capital, Space VC, Champion Hill Ventures, and Narya. axios.link/4iYY4n7

🚑 Plenful, an SF-based provider of health care workflow automation tools, raised $50m in Series B funding. Arena Holdings and Mitchell Rales co-led, joined by Notable Capital, Bessemer Venture Partners, TQ Ventures, and Susa/Kivu Ventures. plenful.com

• Rogo, a generative AI startup focused on financial services, raised $50m in Series B funding. Thrive Capital led, joined by JPMorgan, Tiger Global, and insiders Khosla Venture and BoxGroup. axios.link/42V56D8

• Nuvo, an SF-based B2B network for physical goods, raised $34m in Series A funding from Sequoia Capital and Spark Capital co-led, joined by Founders Fund, Index Ventures, Human Capital, Foundation Capital, and Susa Ventures. axios.link/42V31XQ

🌎 Phoenix Tailings, a Burlington, Mass., developer of rare earths from mining waste, raised $33m in Series B extension funding. Escape Velocity was joined by Builders Vision, Yamaha Motor Ventures, M Power, and Sumitomo Corp. axios.link/44Wi466

• Dub, a New York-based copy trading app, raised $30m in Series A funding. Notable Capital and Neo co-led, joined by Sandberg Bernthal Venture Partners, Peak6 Strategic Capital, and Correlation Ventures. dubapp.com

• Gruve.ai, a Redwood City, Calif.-based AI deployment and measurement platform, raised $20m in Series A funding led by Mayfield, with participation from Cisco Investments. gruve.ai

🚑 HealthPlan Data Solutions, a Columbus, Ohio-based pharmacy analytics startup, raised $15m. MK Capital led, joined by Tamarind Hill, JobsOhio, and Rev1 Ventures. axios.link/4lUG4gd

• EdgeRunner AI, a Seattle-based developer of air-gapped, on-device AI agents for military and enterprise, raised $12m in Series A funding. Madrona led, joined by Four Rivers Ventures, HP Tech Ventures, and Alumni Ventures. edgerunnerai.com

🚑 Trek Health, a San Mateo, Calif.-based health-care payments accuracy startup, raised $11m in Series A funding led by Madrona, per Axios Pro. axios.link/3Yr4bcm

• Arondite, a London-based AI startup for defense orgs, raised $10m in seed funding led by Index Ventures. arondite.com

• Terminal 3, a Hong Kong-based data privacy blockchain company, raised $8m in seed funding led by Illuminate Financial and CMCC Titan Fund. axios.link/4cZTbZt

🌎 Arda Biomaterials, a U.K. startup turning spent barley into alt leather and plastics, raised $5.3m in seed funding led by Oyster Bay VC, joined by Clean Growth Fund, Kadmos Capital, and Green Angel Ventures. axios.link/44cAgs1

• Solda.AI, a German telesales automation startup, raised $4m in seed funding. Accel led, joined by AltaIR Capital. axios.link/42CQZ6K

☕ Flash Coffee, an Indonesian coffee chain, raised $3m led by TA Ventures, with insider White Star Capital participating. flash-coffee.com

• Materials Market, a U.K.-based digital marketplace for building materials, raised £2m. Fuel Ventures led, joined by Active Partners. axios.link/3YYUamK

• LlamaIndex, a Mountain View, Calif., provider of data infrastructure for LLM applications, raised funding from KPMG and Databricks. llamaindex.ai

⚡ Brookfield Asset Management is weighing a bid for a stake in Sizewell C, a U.K. nuclear power plant under development, per Bloomberg. axios.link/4jxENtM

• Gainsight, a customer success company owned by Vista Equity, acquired both Erica Kuhl Consulting and ModerateKit. axios.link/4jOU5tO

🚑 Clearlake Capital completed its acquisition of a majority stake in ModMed, a Boca Raton, Fla., provider of medical practice SaaS, from Warburg Pincus at a $5.3b valuation. axios.link/43glHDn

🚑 Eurazeo acquired the 29.4% stake it didn't already hold in Kurma Partners, a French biotech investment firm with nearly €600m in AUM. axios.link/3RJms0Q

• ICG and KKR have expressed takeover interest for GlobalData (LSE: DATA), a British data analytics company that could fetch over $2b, per Bloomberg. axios.link/4jWr9Ak

• Evergreen acquired The Vested Group, a NetSuite solutions provider. evergreensg.com

• Pythian Services, a portfolio company of Mill Point Capital, agreed to acquire Rittman Mead Consulting, an Oracle data and analytics consultancy. pythian.com

🍪 TSG Consumer Partners reportedly is in talks for a minority stake in Crumbl, a Lindon, Utah-based cookie chain that could be valued at around $2b. axios.link/3GBPzAU

• YFM Equity Partners sponsored a management buyout of The Networking People, a British cybersecurity company. axios.link/3RM6ral

• Circle, the stablecoin firm that recently filed for an IPO, rejected a $4b-$5b takeover offer from Ripple, per Bloomberg. No word on if a sweetened bid is coming.

• Berto Acquisition, a SPAC led by blank-check vet Harry Yu, raised $250m in its IPO. axios.link/4hxErBK

• ProCap Acquisition, a SPAC led by Anthony Pompliano, filed for a $200m IPO. One of its advisers is Brent Saunders, CEO of Bausch + Lomb. axios.link/44jCPZs

• MSM Frontier Capital Acquisition, a SPAC targeting African energy and cement companies, filed for a $225m IPO. axios.link/44hZcyr

• Instacart (Nasdaq: CART) agreed to buy Wynshop, a Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based provider of e-commerce solutions for grocers and retailers. Sellers include Respida Capital. axios.link/44Wuc78

• LendingClub (NYSE: LC) acquired the talent and IP of Cushion, a defunct spend intelligence platform that raised $21m from investors like BTV and Flourish. axios.link/3GsG8Ui

🚑 RoundTable Healthcare Partners is seeking to sell vitamins maker SCN BestCo, which generates around $150m in EBITDA, per Reuters. axios.link/4iLEJ8P

🚑 Novartis (NYSE: NVS) agreed to buy Regulus Therapeutics (Nasdaq: RGLS), a San Diego-based biotech focused on kidney disease, for upwards of $1.7b ($800m upfront in cash). axios.link/4iCVa7a

⚾ Aramark (NYSE: ARMK) held talks to invest in the MLB team formerly known as the Oakland Athletics, per Bloomberg. axios.link/42WxqoT

• Lineage (Nasdaq: LINE) agreed to buy several U.S. cold storage warehouses from Tyson Foods (NYSE: TSN). axios.link/3Sg07ba

• Siemens agreed to acquire Wevolver, a London-based online engineering community, to explain its Supplyframe portfolio. axios.link/4jBJxPh

• Olo (NYSE: OLO), a New York-based restaurant ordering and delivery platform, is weighing a sale, per Bloomberg. Its market cap is around $1b, down significantly from when it went public in 2021. axios.link/4lTh6O3

• Apollo raised $5.4b for its first PE secondaries fund. axios.link/4jLwVF2

• Arbor Investments, a PE firm focused on food and beverages, raised over $1.2b for its sixth flagship fund and a parallel fund. arborpic.com

• Array Ventures, led by Shruti Gandhi, is raising $75m for its fourth fund, per an SEC filing.

• DCVC is raising $750m for its seventh flagship fund, per an SEC filing.

• TPG announced the launch of a sports investment business, in partnership with pro golfer Rory McIlroy. Axios first reported on the plan last fall.

• Uncork Capital raised $225m for its eighth seed fund and $75m for its fourth growth fund. uncorkcapital.com

• Builders Vision, the family office of Walmart heir Lukas Walton, promoted Noelle Laing to CIO. axios.link/4jVu3Fl

• Marcelo Claure (ex-Sprint CEO, SoftBank) joined PE firm Brightstar Capital Partners as a partner and co-chair. He also increased his personal investment in the firm. axios.link/3YTPKxu

• Rob Knake, former U.S. Deputy National Cyber Director for Strategy and Budget, joined Paladin Capital Group as a strategic adviser. axios.link/4cQFXxW

• JPMorgan named Andrew Kresse as co-head of innovation economy and Brian Lamb as head of specialized industries. jpmorgan.com

• Lynne Laube and Rachel Hamilton joined TTV Capital as venture partners. Laube is co-founder and ex-CEO of Cardlytics (Nasdaq: CDLX), while Hamilton was CMO of fintech Greenlight. ttvcapital.com

• Robert Lighthizer, the U.S. Trade Representative during Trump 1.0, joined Citigroup as a senior adviser, per the WSJ. axios.link/4m1Tlno

• Playground Global promoted Kendra Perlitz to COO. axios.link/4lRbynv

• Tyler Prince is joining Smith Point Capital, the VC firm led by ex-Salesforce co-CEO Keith Block, as a managing director and head of value creation, Axios has learned. He previously was Snowflake's global lead for alliances and channels. axios.link/4cZu1Ks

• Leo van den Thillart (ex-CBRE) joined Eldridge Capital Management as global head of capital formation, while Bob White (Brookfield Asset Managenment) joined as head of capital formation. eldridge.com

• John Woerner joined Partners Group as a senior adviser for Americas insurance. He previously was chief strategy officer at Ameriprise Financial. partnersgroup.com

🌎 Janet Yellen joined the advisory board of climate-focused VC firm Angeleno Group. Read the Axios Pro Q&A.