Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) on Friday sent letters to four large infrastructure investors, requesting more information on their data center deals, Axios has learned.

• She's specifically interested in possible overlaps between ownership of data centers and utilities (i.e., the demand and supply), but does not allege any wrongdoing.

Why it matters: There is growing political anxiety over data centers that underly the AI revolution, particularly as energy prices rise, and private equity's involvement pours populist fuel on the fire.

Driving the news: Warren, ranking member on the Senate Banking Committee, sent letters to BlackRock, Blackstone Group, Brookfield Infrastructure Partners and KKR.

• They request information on investments in data center companies, including any changes to financial structure and operations, plus of other companies in the data center supply chain.
• They also ask for "documentation to show your efforts to mitigate regulatory risks that accompany owning data centers" and "an explanation of how you are ensuring that your significant footprint in both energy supply and demand will not allow you to increase energy costs and exploit American people."
• The firms either declined comment or haven't yet responded to requests for comment by Axios.

Zoom in: Sen. Warren sends lots of letters to Corporate America, including to investment firms, but this one is tapping at the bipartisan zeitgiest.

• Consumer electricity prices are soaring. There's disagreement over the level of data center culpability, but that doesn't diminish the finger-pointing.

Reality check: Warren also seems to have latent fears of an AI bubble, and how the dominos could fall.

• For example, if a PE firm were to own both a data center and a utility in the same market, and the data center goes bust due to decreased AI demand, then the utility might raise consumer prices to offset the losses.
• This just doesn't track with how private equity firms manage their portfolios, at least historically.

The bottom line: Expect data center debates to grow louder as the money grows larger.

Fox Corp. (Nasdaq: FOXA) agreed to acquire Roku (Nasdaq: ROKU) for around $22 billion in cash and stock.

Why it's the BFD: It's a major merger of content with delivery, giving Fox more access to consumers who don't otherwise seek it out.

Zoom in: Fox will pay $160 per Roku share, which represents an 11.37% premium over Friday's closing price.

• Roku says it has more than 100 million global subscribers, while Fox says it received $12 billion in committed bridge financing from Morgan Stanley Senior Funding.

The bottom line: "The Murdochs could control the first thing nearly half of American homes see when they turn on their TVs." — Ben Berkowitz, Axios

🚑 Radical Numerics, a Menlo Park-based AI research lab for biological data, raised $50m in seed funding, per Axios Pro. Emergence Capital led, joined by Obvious Ventures, Triatomic Capital, Factory, and First Spark Ventures. axios.link/4vaM3lb

• NewCore, an AI agent security startup, raised $66m at a post-money valuation north of $300m. Cyberstarts led, joined by Index Ventures and Evolution Equity Partners. axios.link/4oqPWQi

• Rhoback, an activewear brand, raised nearly $50m from Champ, a fund formed by L Catterton and Patricof & Co., and backed by hundreds of pro athletes. axios.link/4vMp7Zg

• Maritime Robotics, a Norwegian developer of autonomous surface vessels and autonomous navigation systems, raised €28m. MS+Partners led, joined by EnvisionTech, Nysnø Climate Investments, and Umoe AS. axios.link/3SH9i7Z

• Orbio, a Spanish workforce management platform, raised $21m in Series A funding. Dawn Capital led, joined by insider Visionaries. axios.link/4gfQM0k

• Podium Automation, an NYC-based maker of control panels, raised $18m in Series A funding, per Axios Pro. Construct Capital led, joined by a16z, Transition Ventures, Sunflower Capital, and Banter Capital. axios.link/3S88VmQ

• ChatSee.ai, an SF-based AI agent failure intelligence platform, raised $6.5m in seed funding. True Ventures led, joined by First Rays Venture Partners and Seven Hill Ventures. axios.link/4eJjFRe

• Qorelo, a German ERP transformations startup, raised $3.5m in seed funding. HPI Ventures and Caesar Ventures led, joined by 10x Founders, Antler, Adesso Ventures, and Angel Invest. axios.link/3S8vaZP

• Sirius Game, an Italian gamified ed-tech, raised €1.3m led by Cassa Depositi e Prestiti. axios.link/4vd0PYQ

• Inflexion acquired a majority stake in London-based Ranger Fire and Security from Hyperion Equity Partners (which retains a minority position). axios.link/4eqxrHk

• L Catterton is in exclusive talks to buy fitness competition Hyrox from Infront Sports & Media, per Sky News. axios.link/4458gVU

• Nuvei, backed by Advent International, agreed to acquire cross-border payments firm Payoneer (Nasdaq: PAYO) for around $2.75b in cash, or $7.40 per share. axios.link/4atHE4w

🚑 Spectrum Vascular, an SK Capital Partners portfolio company, acquired Piccolo Medical, an SF-based catheter guidance company that raised VC funding from Event Capital Strategies. axios.link/4vP2CDe

🚑 THL Partners completed its $1.8b purchase of Celerion, a clinical pharmacology and bioanalytical sciences company, from H.I.G. Capital. axios.link/3QVywi3

🚑 Thoreau Group, led by former New Mountain Capital president Matt Holt, has agreed to acquire Ensemble Health Partners for around $12b from Warburg Pincus, Berkshire Partners and Bon Secours Mercy Health, per Axios Pro. It's expected to close in early Q3. axios.link/3ScsBpA

Two companies — biotech Kardigan and bank First Carolina — plan to price U.S. IPOs this week.

• Ares Acquisition III, a SPAC formed by Ares Management, filed for a $300m IPO. axios.link/4owFsPB

• Doncasters, a British metal engineering group founded 250 years ago, set IPO terms to 23.3m shares at $28-$32. It would have a $4.15b market cap, were it to price in the middle, and plans to list on the NYSE (DPC). Doncasters reports a $173m net loss on $837m in revenue for 2025. axios.link/4otXfa8

• PatSnap, a Singapore-based IP analytics platform, filed confidential IPO papers in both Hong Kong and Singapore, per Bloomberg. It's raised over $300m from firms like SoftBank, Tencent, CITIC Group, HSG, Shunwei Capital and Vertex Ventures. axios.link/3SnKyS8

• Razorpay, a Bangalore-based payments firm, filed confidential IPO papers in India with plans to raise up to $500m, per Bloomberg. It's raised over $800m from firms like TCV, Lone Pine Capital, Alkeon Capital Management, Tiger Global, Peak XV Partners, TeleSoft Partners, Matrix Partners India, Sherpalo Ventures, YC, Edgewood Ventures, and GIC. axios.link/4oDD6hR

⚡ Samos Energy Acquisition, an energy SPAC, filed for a $200m IPO. axios.link/4eaKQV7

• Thunder Bridge Capital Partners V, a fintech SPAC, filed for a $261m IPO. axios.link/4otlDIJ

• Blockworks acquired rival crypto data provider Messari for a reported $10m. Messari had raised $60m, fetching a $300m valuation in 2022, from Point 72 Ventures, Brevan Howard, Coinbase Ventures, Kraken Ventures, FTX Ventures, Samsung NEXT Ventures, Galaxy Ventures, RAA Ventures, Morgan Creek Digital Assets, Underscore VC, Galaxy Digital, Uncork Capital, Page One Ventures, Quain Investments, Intersection Growth Partners, Primitive Ventures, Calm Ventures, Hard Yaka, and Gaingels. axios.link/49XTTGl

• Salesforce (NYSE: CRM) agreed to acquire customer agent company Fin (fka Intercom) for around $3.6b. Fin had raised around $240m from firms like Kleiner Perkins, GV, Bessemer Venture Partners, Cercano Management, Founders Circle Capital, 137 Ventures, Weekend Fund, SaaStr, FinSight Ventures, Index Ventures, Scale Venture Partners, Craft Ventures and 500 Global. Plus individuals like Jack Dorsey and Mark Zuckerberg. axios.link/4v4Quho

• Sigma Healthcare (ASX: SIG) ended talks to buy U.K. pharmacy chain Boots from Sycamore Partners. axios.link/4xMvyxF

The U.S. Justice Department approved Paramount Skydance's planned acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, which still needs European regulatory approval and could face lawsuits from some states.

• American Express (NYSE: AXP) agreed to buy restaurant booking platform TheFork from Tripadvisor (Nasdaq: TRIP) for $700m in cash. axios.link/4embJEf

⚡ Exxon Mobil (NYSE: XOM) is exploring an acquisition of Australia's Woodside Energy (NYSE: WDS), per Bloomberg, although Woodside says there are no discussions. axios.link/4e5Ccak

• Frasers Group (LSE: FRAS) offered to buy Australian footwear and sportswear retailer ​Accent Group (ASX: AXI), in which it's the largest shareholder, for A$391m. axios.link/4aN86Gk

• Kesko, a listed Finnish retailer, agreed to buy the Dahl distribution business in Sweden, Norway and Denmark from Saint-Gobain (Paris: SGO) for €1.52b (including debt). axios.link/4eaUKWD

⚡ Shell (NYSE: SHEL) hired Rothschild and PJT Partners to manage a sale of its offshore wind farms, which could fetch over $1b, per Bloomberg. axios.link/4xLOexx

🚑 Abry Partners raised a $780m single-asset CV for Centauri Health Solutions, led by Neuberger Private Markets and Apollo S3. axios.link/4eaPEKb

• Advent International is nearing a $26b final close for its latest flagship fund, per Bloomberg. axios.link/4xuMV5M

• Anterra Capital of Amsterdam held a $100m first close on its third food and ag VC fund, which is targeting a total of $200m. anterracapital.com

🚑 Kos Biotechnology Partners, a Greek VC firm focused on "bridging the U.S. biopharma ecosystem with Europe," raised $123m for its debut fund. axios.link/3SH5FyQ

⚡ Tim Hornman joined Quinbrook as regional leader for Australia. He previously was with APLNG and Origin Energy. axios.link/4fQxlv3

Nothing was normal about the SpaceX IPO except for its first-day pop, which was just under 20%.

• Shares opened this morning at $171.80, giving SpaceX around a $2.3 trillion market cap.