Former Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin says that we'll never really know how many jobs, or small businesses, were saved by the Paycheck Protection Program.

Why it matters: The SBA claimed last summer that the pandemic-promoted program, which provided forgivable loans to qualifying small businesses, saved 51 million jobs. Some academic studies put the number much lower, including one from MIT that put the figure closer to 3 million.

• "In normal times, economic modeling is a great science," Mnuchin tells me, in a new "Axios Re:Cap" episode about the PPP's creation, controversies and legacy. "In this type of situation, where you literally shut down the economy ... I think these things are very, very hard to model."
• Mnuchin adds that he believes PPP saved "tens of millions of jobs," based on the number of loans, but acknowledges that economists disagree.

Bigger picture: As I wrote Monday, small business owners I spoke with for the podcast series were unanimous with their gushing over PPP.

• You can hear some of them at the beginning of the Mnuchin episode, including Frank Olivieri of Pat's Famous Steaks in Philadelphia and Dayna Frank of Minneapolis music club First Ave.
• We're also seeing lots of PPP recipients get acquired, or even go public (usually via SPAC). Mnuchin, who says he made an early decision on "speed versus perfection," says he "never expected" that more financially comfortable businesses would apply for loans, although admits it was legitimate under the program's language.

State of play: The SBA stopped taking most new PPP applications earlier this month, after exhausting the $284 billion reauthorization from late last year. The only exception are applications from community financial institutions, although that too is set to expire at month's end.

The bottom line: Economists will continue to study PPP, in order to better perfect a playbook for future economic crises (pandemic or otherwise). But it's unlikely that there will ever be consensus on exactly how many jobs this bipartisan bill saved.

Source: Giphy

TerraClear, a Bellevue, Wash.-based developer of robotic rock-pickers, raised $25 million in Series A funding led by Madrona Venture Group.

• Why it's the BFD: This is a combination of all sorts of new tech — robotics, AI, drones — being used to address a problem that's frustrated farmers since the first seed was planted.
• The bottom line: TerraClear says its robots can pick an average of 400 rocks per hour, including ones that weigh up to 300 pounds.

• Perch, a Boston-based Amazon marketplace rollup platform, raised $775 million in Series A funding (yeah, you read that correctly). SoftBank Vision Fund 2 led, and was joined by Spark Capital and Victory Park Capital. http://axios.link/hVOK

🚑 Esco Lifesciences, a Singapore-based developer of cell and gene therapy tools, raised $200 million in Series A funding co-led by Novo Holdings and Vivo Capital. http://axios.link/a0Ku

🚑 NiKang Therapeutics, a Wilmington, Del.-based developer of small molecule oncology medicines, raised $200 million in Series C funding co-led by Cormorant Asset Management, HBM Healthcare and Octagon Capital Advisors. Other backers include EcoR1 Capital, Perceptive Advisors, Wellington Management, Ally Bridge Group, Pavilion Capital, BlackRock, RA Capital Management, Surveyor Capital, Samsara BioCapital, PFM Health Sciences, Invus, Janus Henderson, Logos Capital and insiders CBC Group, RTW Investments, Lilly Asia Ventures, Matrix Partners China and Casdin Capital. http://axios.link/oC5j

• Homeward, an Austin, Texas-based residential home-buying enablement platform, raised $136 million in Series B funding. Norwest Venture Partners led, and was joined by insiders Adams Street, Javelin and LiveOak Venture Partners. http://axios.link/x4j6

• SpotOn, a San Francisco-based provider of point-of-sale payment solutions, raised $125 million in Series D funding at a $1.75 billion valuation. Andreessen Horowitz led, and was joined by Mubadala and insiders DST Global, 01 Advisors, Dragoneer Investment Group and Franklin Templeton. http://axios.link/hTsg

• Agicap, a French cashflow management platform, raised $100 million in Series B funding at a valuation north of $500 million. Greenoaks led, and was joined by insiders BlackFin Capital Partners and Partech. http://axios.link/PWzI

🚑 Ada Health, a Berlin-based provider of health assessment tech, raised $90 million in Series B funding. Leaps by Bayer led, and was joined by Samsung Catalyst Fund, Vitruvian Partners, Inteligo Bank, F4 and Mutschler Ventures. www.ada.com

• Mayflyer, an Irish revenue-based financing platform for e-commerce merchants, raised $76 million in Series A funding. Left Lane Capital led, and was joined by partners of DST Global, QED Investors, Speedinvest and Zinal Growth. http://axios.link/Je6a

🚑 Engine Biosciences, a Singapore-based digital drug discovery platform, raised $43 million led by Polaris Partners. http://axios.link/K7Fi

• Prismic, a Paris-based headless content management system, raised $20 million in Series A funding co-led by Aglaé Ventures and Eurazeo. http://axios.link/t5OT

• Parametrix, an Israeli provider of cloud downtime insurance, raised $17.5 million co-led by FirstMark Capital and F2 Venture Capital. http://axios.link/cT99

• Commerce Layer, an Italian provider of e-commerce APIs, raised $16 million. Coatue led, and was joined by insiders Benchmark and Mango Capital. http://axios.link/cDmm

• Cosuno, a Berlin-based provider of construction project management software, raised $15 million in Series A funding. Spark Capital led, and was joined by Cherry Ventures. www.cosuno.de

• Orbit, a startup and community experience platform based in San Francisco and Paris, raised $15 million in Series A funding. Coatue led, and was joined by insiders Andreessen Horowitz and Harrison Metal. www.orbit.love

• Oliver Space, a subscription services for furniture and home décor, raised $13 million in Series A funding. USVP led, and was joined by Mayfield, Abstract Ventures, Expa Capital and Burst Capital. http://axios.link/3nES

• Tilled, a Boulder, Colo.-based payment facilitation startup, raised $11 million in Series A funding. Canvas Ventures led, and was joined by Abstract Ventures, Peterson Ventures and Clocktower Technology Group. http://axios.link/Q0ke

• Treet, a San Francisco-based P2P retail resale market, raised $2.8 million in seed funding from Bling Capital, Matchstick Ventures, Techstars, BAM Ventures, BBG Ventures, Green Meadow, Interlace Ventures, V1.VC and Alante Capital. http://axios.link/366J

• Paired, a London-based “relationship care” app for couples, raised $3.6 million in seed funding led by Eka Ventures. http://axios.link/lOVP

• Datacy, a Wilmington, Del.-based user data self-collection and monetization service, raised $2.4 million from Trend Forward Capital, Truesight Ventures, Redhawk VC and the Female Founders Alliance. http://axios.link/nxsJ

• OPay, an Africa-focused payments company founded by Norway’s Opera,, is in talks to raise around $400 million at a $1.5 billion valuation, per The Information. It previously raised $170 million from firms like SoftBank, Sequoia Capital China, IDG Capital, GSR Ventures and Source Code Capital. http://axios.link/AdPL

• Afendis Capital, Davidson Kempner and the European Bank for Reconstruction & Development have teamed up on a takeover offer for Turkish ice cream maker Natura Gida Sanayi ve Ticaret, which is being sold by Unilever, per Bloomberg. http://axios.link/pR1A

• Arizona Natural Resources, a Phoenix-based portfolio company of Core Industrial Partners, acquired Marianna Beauty, an Omaha-based maker of hair, skin and beauty products. www.mariannabeauty.com

• KKR offered to buy Australian online real estate conveyance firm PEXA for more than A$3 billion. http://axios.link/Jea1

• Morgan Stanley Infrastructure Partners is circling British waste management services firm Augean (AIM: AUG), which has a market cap of around £260 million, per Bloomberg. http://axios.link/1wYt

• Siris Capital Group agreed to buy Equiniti Group (LSE: EQN), a British outsourcer of financial and administration services, for £673 million. http://axios.link/sHrk

• SK Capital Partners acquired Valentus Specialty Chemicals, a North Brunswick, N.J.-based wood coatings company, from Huron Capital. SK also bought Canadian wood coatings company Canlak. www.valentuschem.com

🚑 Thoma Bravo agreed to buy Greenphire, a King of Prussia, Pa.-based provider of financial lifecycle management software for clinical trials, from The Riverside Co. http://axios.link/sWAc

🚑 Day One Biopharma, a South SF-based pediatric cancer biotech, raised $160 million in its IPO. It priced 10 million shares at $16, versus plans to offer 8.4 million shares at $14–$16, for a $965 million market cap. The pre-revenue company will list on the Nasdaq (DAWN) and raised $190 million from firms like Canaan Partners (21.2% pre-IPO stake), Access Industries (16.9%), Atlas Venture (16.9%), Millennium Pharma (12%) and RA Capital (5.9%). http://axios.link/aCER

• FIGS, a Santa Monica, Calif.-based medical scrubs and healthcare apparel brand, raised $580 million in its IPO. The company priced 26.4 million shares at $22, versus plans to offer 22.5 million shares at $16–$19, for a fully diluted value of $4.3 billion. It will list on the NYSE (FIGS) and reports $58 million of profit on $263 million in revenue for 2020. Shareholders include Viking Global, PSERS, Breyer Capital, Thermal and Reform Ventures. http://axios.link/PlNb

🚑 HCW Biologics, a Miramar, Fla.-based developer of immunotherapies for cancer, filed for a $50 million IPO. The pre-revenue company plans to list on the Nasdaq (HCWB) and raised $27 million from firms like Medmira Capital, DeepWork Capital and Axone Capital. http://axios.link/IpRH

🚑 Singular Genomics Systems, a La Jolla, Calif.-based developer of sequencing and multiomics tech, raised $224 million in its IPO. It priced 10.2 million shares at $22, verus plans to offer 8.5 million shares at $20-$22 for a fully diluted value of $1.7 billion. The pre-revenue company will to list on the Nasdaq (OMIC) and raised $70 million from firms like Deerfield Management (11.8% pre-IPO stake), Domain Associates (8.4%), Legend Capital (8.2%) and Arch Venture Partners (7.4%). http://axios.link/GUKC

• Paytm, an Indian digital payments provider, will seek to raise around $3 billion in an IPO later this year, which could be the country’s largest-ever debut, per Bloomberg. http://axios.link/bQGg

Source: Giphy

• Acorns, an Irvine, Calif.-based savings and investing app, agreed to go public at an implied $2.2 billion valuation via Pioneer Merger Corp. (Nasdaq: PACX). Acorns raised over $330 million from firms like Greycroft, e.ventures, NBC Universal and Rakuten Ventures. www.acorns.com

• Fortune Rise Acquisition, a SPAC led by Lei Huang (US Tiger Securities), filed for an $85 million IPO. http://axios.link/RCmL

• Sagaliam Acquisition, a TMT SPAC formed by GLD Partners, filed for a $100 million IPO. http://axios.link/5GPo

🚑 Sparta Healthcare Acquisition, a biotech SPAC led by Michael Handley (Cytocom), filed for a $100 million IPO. http://axios.link/yFnK

• TradeUP 88, the firm SPAC co-led by Jianwei Li (Zhencheng Capital), filed for an $88 million IPO. http://axios.link/lVdB

• H.I.G. Capital hired Guggenheim Partners to find a buyer for Trace3, an Irvine, Calif.-based digital transformation and IT solutions provider, per PE Hub. http://axios.link/1Sbd

• Sun Capital Partners agreed to sell British bed retailer Dreams to Tempur-Sealy (NYSE: TPX) for around $475 million. www.dreams.co.uk

• Foxxconn (TAI: 2317) is in talks to buy a minority stake in listed Malaysian chipmaker DNeX, per Bloomberg. http://axios.link/6Vh4

• Collab Capital, a VC firm focused on Black founders, raised $50 million for its debut fund. http://axios.link/Jztu

• Moxxie Ventures, the early stage VC firm founded by Katie Stanton, is raising $75 million for its second fund, per an SEC filing. It also promoted Alex Roetter to general partner. www.moxxie.vc

• OpenAI is launching a $100 million early stage VC fund. http://axios.link/uG6J

• Yossi Cohen, the retiring head of Israel’s spy agency, is in talks to join Steven Mnuchin's new investment firm, according to Axios' Barak Ravid and Jonathan Swan. http://axios.link/N5M4

• Ryan Flanders joined Blue Owl Capital as a principal focused on marketing and IR. He previously was with Monroe Capital. www.blueowl.com