Today's column didn't quite come together in time, exacerbated by getting E off to her first day of high school. In other words, let's dig into the notebook:

When Bain Capital founder Mitt Romney ran for president, critics would sometimes snipe about how you can't run the U.S. government like a private equity fund.

• Fast forward 13 years and the U.S. government is being run like a private equity fund.

National security is no longer paramount, or reason alone to spend taxpayer money. There also must be the potential for financial gain.

• We sort of saw it with U.S. Steel. We definitely saw it with Intel, and with the kickbacks from Nvidia and AMD.

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick this week made several comments about how this is a new fiduciary feature, not a bug.

• First, he floated the idea of the government taking stakes in U.S. defense contractors. Then in the Oval Office he said: "If we are going to buy two billion COVID vaccines, maybe we should have some warrants and some equity in these companies and have that grow for the health of the American people."
• In other words, profit is as much a piece of "health" as is preventing illness.

The private equity analogy isn't perfect, but it is apt.

🏀 Call your own fouls: Two minority owners in the Phoenix Suns and Mercury have sued Mat Ishbia, who bought control of the basketball franchises in 2023.

• The pair, who voted against Ishbia's takeover, are asking for more access to internal books and records — to which they believe they've been improperly denied.
• One major issue appears to be a capital call in June by Ishbia, allegedly at a below-market rate that the plaintiffs argue was done to dilute their stakes. They also claim possible "side deals" by Ishbia, which may violate minority holder rights.
• The Suns haven't commented.

💊 Drug deal: Novo Nordisk today announced a $550 million collaboration with Replicate Bioscience, to focus on RNA therapeutics for cardiometabolic diseases like obesity and Type 2 diabetes.

• If Replicate sounds familiar, that's because it's one of Apple Tree Partners portfolio companies caught up in the legal dispute between the VC firm and its primary funder, Russian oligarch Dmitry Rybolovlev.

Sycamore Partners completed its $23.7 billion takeover of Walgeens Boots Alliance, whose shares no longer will trade on the Nasdaq.

Why it's the BFD: One of the nation's largest pharmacy chains is now owned by a private equity firm with no health care experience, as Sycamore has focused exclusively on retail.

• The company will be led by new CEO Mike Motz, who previously led U.S. retail for Sycamore portfolio company Staples. Before that, he was president of Canada's Shoppers Drug Mart.
• Former CEO Tim Wentworth will remain on the board.

The intrigue: Might Sycamore consider selling off Shields? It's a Walgreens crown jewel, but also a complex specialty pharmacy business whose disposal could help reduce debt.

• Sycamore already disclosed its intention to sell VillageMD, which includes Village Medical, Summit Health, and CityMD.

The bottom line: This is the largest retail LBO of all-time, and Walgreens appears to have more annual revenue than any other company ever acquired by private equity.

🚑 Wugen, a St. Louis-based developer of off-the-shelf CAR-T cell therapies, raised $115m. Fidelity led, joined by RiverVest Venture Partners, Lightchain Capital, Abingworth, ICG, LYZZ Capital, Tybourne Capital Management, and Aisling Capital Management. axios.link/3HwckHh

• M0, a Swiss platform for creating application-specific stablecoins, raised $40m in Series B funding from Polychain Capital, Ribbit Capital, Endeavor Catalyst, Road Capital, Pantera, and Bain Capital Crypto. axios.link/4mz7bx9

• InstaLILY, a New York-based AI assistant for industrials, raised $25m. Insight Partners led, joined by Perceptive Ventures and Marvin Ventures. axios.link/4lQuZeT

• Maisa AI, a developer of enterprise AI agents, raised $25m in seed funding led by Creandum and Forgepoint Capital. axios.link/45VjSv4

• aPriori, an SF-based execution layer for on-chain markets, raised $20m from HashKey Capital, Pantera Capital, Primitive Ventures, IMC Trading, GEM, Gate Labs, Ambush Capital, and Big Brain Collective. apriori.com

🌎 Reframe Systems, a Boston-based home construction automation startup, raised $20m in Series A funding. Eclipse and VoLo Earth Ventures led, joined by MassMutual Catalyst Funds, Cubit Capital, RA Capital Management, Saga Ventures, and Nor'easter Ventures. axios.link/47ixLG7

• BIGC, a South Korean entertainment-tech company, raised $14m in Series A funding. Stonebridge Ventures and BonAngels Venture Partners led, joined by Nextrans, NAU IB, Hana Ventures, Industrial Bank of Korea (IBK), and Alois Ventures. bicg.im

🌍 Terraton, an SF-based biochar platform, raised $11.5m in seed funding led by Lowercarbon Capital and Gigascale Capital. axios.link/4lL84l2

• Heave, a platform connecting construction companies with heavy-equipment mechanics, raised $7m in Series A funding. Outsiders Fund led, joined by FJ Labs, Long Journey Ventures, and Slow Ventures. heaveapp.com

🚑 Sarborg, an AI drug development platform, raised $10m in seed funding led by Corvus Capital. saborg.com

• Credit Coop, a startup focused on turning business cash flows into programmable collateral, raised $4.5m in seed funding. Maven 11 and Lightspeed led, joined by Coinbase Ventures, Signature Ventures, Veris Ventures, TRGC, and dlab. creditcoop.xyz

🚑 EnsiliTech, a British medicine formulation startup, raised £4.5m in seed funding led by Eos Advisory. axios.link/41s5GIR

• Mantic, a London-based startup that claims to forecast world events, raised $4m in pre-seed funding led by Episode 1. axios.link/45CCVvl

⚡ Vulcan Elements, a Durham, N.C.-based maker of rare-earth magnets, reportedly raised funding from 1789 Capital. BFD flashback.

• GTCR acquired Innovative Systems, a Mitchell, S.D.-based provider of software for regional broadband providers, from Alpine Investors. innovsys.com

• Liberty Service Partners, backed by NorthCurrent Partners, acquired Rhode Island-based HVAC services provider Restivo's Heating & Air. axios.link/47nrSrn

🚑 mPulse, a patient engagement company owned by PSG, acquired Clarity, a Madison, Conn.-based provider of health communications software. mpulse.com

🍔 Salt Creek Capital acquired the sole franchisee of Red Robin restaurants in Canada. axios.link/4mtTPSS

• Bitcoin Infrastructure Acquisition, a digital asset SPAC, filed for a $200m IPO. axios.link/4lNQcpO

• M3-Brigade Acquisition VI, a crypto and blockchain SPAC led by Mohsin Meghji, raised $300m in its IPO. axios.link/4os6GGO

• CrowdStrike (Nasdaq: CRWD) agreed to acquire Onum, a Spanish provider of telemetry pipeline management, for around $290m. Onum had raised around $40m from firms like Dawn Capital, Insight Partners, and Kibo Ventures. axios.link/41XyXes

• Gusto, a cloud HR services company valued by VCs at $9.3b, acquired Guideline, a provider of 401(k) plans for SMBs. Guideline had raised $340m in VC funding, most recently at a $1.15b valuation, from firms like General Atlantic, Generation Investment Management, Greyhound Capital, Felicis, and Propel Ventures. axios.link/4n3LiG4

• Sompo (Tokyo: 8603) agreed to buy Aspen Insurance (NYSE: AHI) for $3.5b, or $37.50 per share (35.6% premium). Aspen is majority owned by Apollo Global Management. axios.link/3UQPTzt

• HD Hyundai Heavy Industries of South Korea agreed to buy affiliate HD Hyundai Mipo for around $5.5b. axios.link/4p0XDgc

• Mauritius will seek to sell a minority stake in its national airline, per Bloomberg. axios.link/4lQXTLX

• Envoy Equity Partners has been launched by Chirag Chotalia, a former partner with Threshold Ventures, per an SEC filing. No word yet on fund target or strategy.

• Lakestar, a Swiss VC firm, raised a $265m continuation fund. axios.link/4fXMwAx

• Thad Sheely joined Arctos Partners as an operating partner. He will continue advising the Washington Commanders on their new stadium process, and previously was COO and head of real estate for the Atlanta Hawks and State Farm Arena. axios.link/45Dnrr9