BC Partners yesterday picked up its clubs and walked away from a $300 million investment in LIV Golf, which has been on life support since Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund pulled its financial support.

• Don't be surprised if PIF today tells a bankruptcy court that liquidation is the only viable path forward.

Behind the scenes: A source familiar with the situation tells me that BC had lined up the required co-investment — around half the total — and that more than 30 players had signed onto the restructuring support agreement to participate in what was dubbed LIV 2.0.

• The problem, I'm told, is that there were too many unsigned players that BC wanted as part of the deal.
• A sticking point was that players were being offered equity in the new league, whereas some of these unsigned players (or their agents) wanted cash.

State of play: The deadline arrived last week and was briefly extended, but PIF didn't want it to extend indefinitely.

• It's unclear whether BC's co-investors would have moved forward with the existing roster, but now it's a moot point.

Neither BC Partners nor LIV Golf is commenting publicly.

Quick updates to some past stories...

🇨🇳 IP-uh-oh: Chinese financial regulators were behind OPay's decision to abandon its $304 million IPO after it priced, as first reported by Bloomberg and confirmed by Axios.

• OPay is an Africa-focused payments company founded by Norway's Opera that's headquartered in Singapore. That's likely why neither the company's lawyers nor lead underwriter Citibank sought approval from the China Securities Regulatory Commission.
• The problem is that OPay has an R&D team based in China, and someone complained just before the IPO priced last Thursday night. CSRC is said to have called Citi on Friday morning, before shares began trading, thus prompting OPay to put the entire offering on ice.
• Word is that the CSRC is expected to give OPay its blessing to list in the U.S., but it's unclear if that's days, weeks, or months away. Thus the decision to pause indefinitely.

❓ Answer key: We recently asked you to name the family office manager who just spun out and raised an independent fund. Your hint was that the family in question has more than one family office.

• The answer was Elon Boms, who led Pritzker Vlock Capital Management.
• He's now formed V29 Capital Management as a private equity firm focused on founder-led, tech-enabled businesses.
• V29 has raised $166 million for its debut fund from LPs like BlackRock, Sagard, Pomona Capital — and bought three assets from PVCM. It plans to raise a second fund shortly.

🍟 Wonder-ful: In May we reported that Wonder, the labor-light restaurant concept led by former Walmart ecommerce boss Marc Lore, was planning to go public in 2027.

• Bloomberg today reports that it's filed confidential IPO papers. In related news, Amazon dumped a delivery agreement with Wonder-owned GrubHub in favor of a deal with Uber.

✨ Data disruption: Yesterday we discussed how the midterms could curb AI growth by restricting the building of new data centers, with a particular focus on governors.

• It's also worth noting that 44 ballot measures in 10 states sought to restrict data centers, and all but one of them passed. Moreover, an average of 75% of voters favored the limits.

Zipline, a South San Francisco-based drone delivery service, raised $1.5 billion at a $21.5 billion post-money valuation led by Paradigm, WCM Investment Management, and Layer Global.

• It also expanded its Walmart partnership, including plans to launch 300 additional sites.

Why it's the BFD: Drone delivery may eventually supplant data centers as the target of local community ire against Big Tech, as evidenced by a recent battle between my hometown and Amazon.

Other investors include Valor Equity Partners, Fidelity, Uber, Tiger Global, JPMorgan, ARK Invest, and Salesforce Ventures.

The bottom line: Zipline launched with long-range drones that could deliver medical supplies in Africa, including blood to Rwandan hospitals, and since has broadened to include short-range drones that can deliver food and other consumer goods.

• Nooks, an SF-based revenue agent platform, raised $500m from General Catalyst's Customer Value Fund. axios.link/4sOPXA0

• Sentra, an Israeli AI security startup, raised $150m led by Capital One Ventures. axios.link/4sEAD8K

🚑 T-Therapeutics, a U.K. developer of T-cell therapies for cancer and autoimmune diseases, raised $133m in Series B funding. Advent Life Sciences and British Business Bank led, joined by JJDC, Samsara BioCapital, M Ventures, Eli Lilly and insiders Sofinnova Partners, F-Prime, Digitalis Ventures, Cambridge Innovation Capital, Sanofi Ventures, Tencent, and BGF. axios.link/4khJrzB

• Ocient, a Chicago-based data warehouse and unified AI analytics platform, raised $100m in Series C funding, per Axios Pro. Boka Capital and OCA Ventures led, joined by insiders Greycroft, In-Q-Tel, Blue Bear Capital, Buoyant Ventures, PSP Growth, Pritzker Group Venture Capital, and Eron Wolf. axios.link/4AhnJAs

🚑 Alethio Therapeutics, a U.K. developer of therapies for myeloproliferative neoplasms, raised $90m in Series A financing. Sofinnova Partners and RA Capital led, joined by Oxford Science Enterprises, Cancer Research Horizons, and the University of Oxford. axios.link/4z69LAq

• Pliant, a Berlin-based provider of modular B2B payment solutions, raised $80m in Series C funding. Seaya Nova and Speedinvest led, joined by Illuminate Financial, Motive Partners, and Molten Ventures. axios.link/3WNR2Mh

• Lazarus AI, a Boston-based enterprise AI startup, raised $43m from QBE, Mucker Capital, Motivate Ventures, State Farm Ventures, Wave Function Ventures, Indelible Solutions, Joyance Partners, AllegisNL Capital, One Way Ventures, AngelList, Techstars, and Plug and Play. axios.link/4iChujt

• Vaeridion, a German maker of electric planes, raised €30m. SHIFT Invest and Invest-NL led, joined by insiders World Fund, Project A and Vsquared Ventures. axios.link/4BIRJqf

• Numica, an AI accounting platform seeking to buy small U.S. accounting firms from retiring owners, raised $21.4m led by Roosh X and Flashpoint Capital. axios.link/4A8QLBX

🚑 Biograil, a Copenhagen-based developer of oral drug delivery devices, raised €20m from Verve Ventures and Megatrend Invest. axios.link/4AcGoxg

• Firmly, which helps retailers sell through AI shopping assistants, raised $15m in Series A funding, per Axios Pro. Squarepoint Capital led, joined by Samsung Next, JPMorgan Payments, and Mastercard. axios.link/4iqgGzb

• Snaplii, a prepaid wallet for AI agents, raised $15m from backers like Hat-Trick Capital, per Axios Pro. axios.link/4z8dE7P

• Journify, an SF-based ad signal infrastructure startup, raised $12m in Series A funding. Al Mada Ventures led, joined by Silicon Badia, Shorooq, Bunat Ventures, Du Ventures, and Oraseya Capital. axios.link/4AfMJIj

• Finpilot, a Seattle-based maker of AI agents for institutional investors, raised $10m in Series A funding. Lobby Capital led, joined by Madrona. axios.link/4zrHx3Q

• Kabilio, a Spanish AI accounting platform, raised €10m. Picus Capital and Visionaries led, joined by CDTI. axios.link/4BOX8fG

• Cephable, a Wilmington, Mass.-based developer of an on-device AI assistant, raised $7m in seed funding from MassMutual Ventures, Triple Impact Capital, Hyperplane, Founder Collective, and Difference Partners. axios.link/48imODX

⚡ Circularity Fuels, a Redwood City, Calif.-based startup turning biogas into jet fuel, raised $7m in seed funding, per Axios Pro. DCVC and Trucks VC led, joined by Automotive Ventures and Sum Ventures. axios.link/4sFHz5w

• Shackleton AI, a NYC-based OS for construction, raised $5m in seed funding. Battery Ventures led, joined by Brick & Mortar Ventures, Trust Ventures, Correlation Ventures, Motivate Partners, Thayer Investment Partners, Act One Ventures, Brainstorm Ventures, and Silence VC. axios.link/4sELEqI

• Mindmax, a U.K. developer of AI-powered learning tools, raised £2.5m. Concept Ventures led, joined by Redrice Ventures, Daybreak Ventures, and Lerer Hippeau. axios.link/4BZIjaa

• Andavi Solutions, backed by Endeavour Capital, acquired Indian consumer goods and beverage tech company Infilect. axios.link/4iuXJu0

• NativeSeed Group, backed by Heartwood Partners, acquired the assets of Sharp Brothers Seed Co., a Healy, Kan.-based seed cleaning business. axios.link/47YTfqQ

• Paradigm Equity Partners acquired STI Fabrics, a Kings Mountain, N.C.-based maker of upholstery and performance fabrics. axios.link/3UvEV5Z

🚑 Sapphiros, a diagnostics platform backed by KKR, combined with Binx Health, a point-of-care diagnostics provider backed by Hildred, to form Onvaro. axios.link/4iZwU2k

• Soho Square Capital made a growth investment in Skiddle, a U.K. ticketing platform. axios.link/3V1Rqq5

• Southern Home Services, a Gryphon Investors portfolio company, acquired League City, Texas-based Vanderford Air and Plumbing. axios.link/4sJkEqa

🚑 VisiQuate, a revenue cycle management firm backed by Accel-KKR, acquired Finvi's Artiva HCx business, including its revenue cycle workflow platform. axios.link/4kx1DFg

🚑 Vernacare International, backed by H.I.G. Capital, acquired both Bailey Instruments, a British maker of podiatry instruments, and ASep Healthcare, a British maker of single-use tourniquets. axios.link/4imThPb

⛳ Weatherford Capital and David Blitzer's Bolt Ventures invested in the Arnold Palmer Junior Golf Tour. axios.link/3WaOpEh

• Churchill Capital XIV, a SPAC led by Michael Klein, filed for a $300m IPO. axios.link/4irm2dG

• Rohlik Group, a Czech online grocer, is prepping a Prague IPO, per Bloomberg. Backers include Index Ventures, Kaya VC, All Star Holdings, and ERDB. axios.link/4BIfE9b

⚡ Adani Ports of India agreed to buy Evos, Europe's second-largest independent liquid storage operator, from Igneo Infrastructure Partners for €2.56b in enterprise value. axios.link/48w8CHk

🚑 Agilent Technologies (NYSE: A) completed its purchase of Philadelphia pathology software company Proscia for $240m in cash and up to $30m in earnouts. Proscia had raised around $130m from firms like Razor's Edge Ventures, Highline Capital, Flybridge, and Scale Venture Partners. axios.link/4euXiOW

🚑 AstraZeneca (NYSE: AZN) last month offered to buy Rhythm Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: RYTM) for around $10b, or $124 per share, per multiple reports. axios.link/4AcIdKr

• Copado, a VC-backed business applications operator, acquired Valo.ai, an intelligence and governance platform for Salesforce environments that was seeded by Spintop Ventures and Inventure. axios.link/4iptLc9

⚡ EnCap is seeking to sell Enduring Resources IV, an oil producer operating in Colorado and New Mexico, for more than $4b (including debt), per Reuters. axios.link/4kzssIP

• IonQ (NYSE: IONQ) completed its $1.15b buyout of Elisity, a San Jose, Calif.-based provider of identity-based network microsegmentation that had raised $78m from Insight Partners, Chevron Technology Ventures, TCV, Atlantic Bridge Capital, Rain Capital, Two Bear Capital, AllegisCyber, Hyperlink Ventures, and SaaS Ventures. axios.link/4zCnS1h

• Meta (Nasdaq: META) acquired Conductor, an AI coding startup that had raised over $24m from Batch Ventures, Spark Capital, Matrix, and (now Meta AI exec) Alexandr Wang. axios.link/4kFoezo

• Chinese regulators have blocked SoftBank's agreement to buy the robotics unit of Swiss engineering firm ABB for nearly $5.4b in cash. BFD flashback.

• Holcim (Swiss: HOLN) acquired Burdett Group, an Australian provider of aggregates, sand, and recycled construction demolition materials. axios.link/4sKldA6

🍔 Wendy's (Nasdaq: WEN) rejected a $1.4b take-private offer from Nelson Peltz's Trian Fund Management. axios.link/3V25nnX

• Yellow Card, a VC-backed stablecoin payments infrastructure provider, acquired GoMoney, a Brazilian provider of virtual asset services. axios.link/4eiJAPm

SpaceX and Tesla shares both fell more than 3% yesterday, and are in the red again this morning, as investors gauge the impact of midterm elections on Elon Musk's empire.

• Particular focus is on Texas, where Musk spent hundreds of millions of dollars in a failed effort to keep his adopted state red.

SpaceX also struck a deal with Qualcomm to provide terrestrial network infrastructure for Starlink Mobile, as Musk seeks to challenge telecom giants like AT&T and Verizon.

• Go deeper: Big questions for Elon's wireless dreams