Trump 2.0 is taking it easy on Big Tech, despite some forecasts that he would wield an antitrust anvil, Axios' Ashley Gold and I write.

Why it matters: The slackness is sparking a wave of large U.S. tech mergers, with dollar volume up 52% from this time last year.

• Not only by incumbents, but also by deep-pocketed AI unicorns.

By the numbers: The current Trump administration has brought only one antitrust case against a tech merger, when just days after the inauguration it sued to block Hewlett Packard Enterprise from buying Juniper Networks for $14 billion.

• The case was later settled, in part to satisfy national security concerns, which has raised some questions of its own.
• Trump antitrust officials also have required divestitures to approve a handful of other tech deals.

The big picture: There's almost always a partisan split when it comes to antitrust enforcement: Republicans have a lighter touch than Democrats.

• But Trump has a historical animus toward Big Tech, and Vice President Vance regularly lauded Lina Khan — Biden's FTC chair and a giant thorn in Silicon Valley's side.
• Trump 1.0 also brought several major antitrust actions against Big Tech, including one against Google.

Zoom in: The Google situation seems instructive.

• DOJ won the case, which crossed over the Biden and Trump administrations, although a judge last week didn't accept the government's recommendation that the search giant divest its Chrome browser.
• At a White House dinner last week, Trump said to Google CEO Sundar Pichai: "Biden was the one who prosecuted that lawsuit, you know that right?"
• Both Trump 1.0 and Trump 2.0 prosecuted the case, as did Biden. But Pichai didn't correct Trump. No need to anger someone who wants to be considered a friend.

Zoom out: This is where I note that Ashley was very skeptical that the left/right coalition on Big Tech antitrust would hold.

Caveat: It can take new White Houses time to get their footing, so there's still a chance of Big Tech antitrust cases to come. Consider this an early indication rather than a summation.

The bottom line: Trump's full-throated embrace of domestic AI development, and desire to best China, is making it a lot less convenient to demonize Big Tech.

• That said, expect House Republicans and regulators to still needle Silicon Valley on speech and content complaints.

SpaceX has agreed to pay around $17 billion to buy wireless spectrum from EchoStar (Nasdaq: SATS).

Why it's the BFD: SpaceX now will be able to offer direct-to-device Starlink services on its own frequencies rather than on those leased from others.

• It also should fully resolve an FCC inquiry into EchoStar, which was kicked off by a complaint from SpaceX, and comes shortly after EchoStar sold off another spectrum license package to AT&T for $23 billion.

Zoom in: The $17 billion is evenly split between cash and stock, and covers AWS-4 and H-block spectrum licenses.

• SpaceX also agreed to cover around $2 billion in interest payments on EchoStar debt through November 2027, and signed a long-term commercial agreement for EchoStar's Boost Mobile users.

The bottom line: "Elon Musk-led SpaceX is already a growing home broadband provider through its Starlink business and has dipped into the mobile-phone sector through a U.S. partnership with T-Mobile. But the new spectrum rights would significantly improve Starlink's ability to connect with cellphones in remote areas out of cellphone towers' reach." — Drew FitzGerald, WSJ

• Mistral, a French foundational AI startup, secured €1.3b from listed Dutch chipmaker ASML, as part of a €2b round, per Reuters. axios.link/46byqa2

• Databricks raised $1b in Series K funding led by a16z, Insight Partners, MGX, Thrive Capital, and WCM Investment Management. axios.link/46jl4Jc

• X Square Robot, a Chinese developer of robot "brains," raised $140m in Series A+ funding. Alibaba unit CAS Investment Management led, joined by HSG, Meituan, and Legend Star. axios.link/46rNC4b

• Kin Insurance, a DTC home insurer, raised $50m in Series E funding at a $2b valuation, per Axios Pro. QED Investors and Activate Capital led, joined by August Capital, Proof, Commerce Ventures, Sompo, Savano, Gaingels, and Better Tomorrow Ventures. axios.link/3V5SvJW

🚑 Octave Bioscience, a Menlo Park, Calif.-based biotech focused on Multiple Sclerosis, raised $35.6m in Series C funding from Byers Capital, Blue Venture Fund, Northpond Ventures, S32, Casdin Capital, and Merck Global Health Innovation Fund. axios.link/4nl2irG

• Rainforest, an Atlanta-based embedded payment provider, raised $29m in Series B funding led by Matrix Partners and Infinity Ventures. axios.link/4paMgCe

• Isotopes.AI, a Palo Alto, Calif.-based AI agent for analytics, raised $20 million in seed funding from NTTVC. axios.link/46aqLc2

• Pave Finance, a New York-based provider of wealth management software for investment advisors, raised $14m in seed funding from individuals like George Pereira (ex-Charles Schwab) and Keith Hughes (ex-Citi). axios.link/4mYsAQO

🚑 IntegraTherapeutics, a Spanish developer of gene writing tools, raised €10.7m from EIC Fund, CDTI Innvierte, AdBio Partners, Columbus Venture Partners, Invivo Partners, and Takeda Ventures. axios.link/4gnIbGX

• Dazl, an AI app creation platform cofounded by Wix cofounder Nadav Abrahami and former TikTok gaming head Assaf Sagy, raised $10m in seed funding. 40RTY Fund led, joined by Wix. dazl.dev

• Koah, an ad integration platform for AI apps, raised $5m in seed funding. Forerunner led, joined by South Park Commons. axios.link/46qe12l

• Orbii, a Dubai-based embedded credit infrastructure platform, raised $3.6m in seed funding. Prosus Ventures led, joined by VentureSouq, DASH Ventures, Taz Investments, and Sanabil 500. axios.link/3Ib2ydO

🚑 BoobyBiome, a British breast milk startup, raised £2.5m in seed funding led by Empirical Ventures. axios.link/3JRuNyz

⚡ Tobe Energy, an Oklahoma City, Okla.-based hydrogen startup, raised $1.8m in seed round. Cortado Ventures led, joined by 46 VC, Techstars, and Wavefunction VC. tobe.energy

🏀 Unrivaled, a 3-on-3 women's basketball league, raised an undisclosed amount of Series B funding at a $340m valuation led by Bessemer Venture Partners. axios.link/469m7eB

• Decks & Docks, a CCMP Growth portfolio company, acquired Service Wholesale, a Downington, Pa.-based distributor of building and remodeling materials. decks-docks.com

• Hg invested in Payworks, a Canadian provider of workforce management solutions. payworks.ca

• Nodor, an Inflexion portfolio company, acquired Autodarts, an automated scoring system for darts. axios.link/45WBdW0

🚑 Patient Square Capital is weighing a takeover bid for Premier (Nasdaq: PINC), a Charlotte, N.C.-based health-care performance improvement firm with a $2.1b market cap, per Bloomberg. axios.link/4ncLtPs

Six companies plan to price U.S. IPOs this week: Klarna, Figure, Via Transportation, Legence, and Black Rock Coffee.

⚡ Fermi, an energy infrastructure REIT cofounded by former U.S. Energy Sec. Rick Perry, filed for an IPO. axios.link/46qwyLX

• Netskope, a Santa Clara, Calif.-based cloud security provider, set IPO terms to 47.8m shares at $15-$17. It would have a $6.1b market cap, were it to price in the middle, plans to list on the Nasdaq (NTSK), and reports a $169.5 million net loss on $328.5 million in revenue for the first half of 2025. Major shareholders include Lightspeed Venture Partners, Iconiq, and Accel. axios.link/4przVtM

• StubHub, a ticket resale marketplace, set IPO terms to 34m shares at $22-$25. It would have around an $8.5b market cap, were it to price in the middle, and plans to list on the NYSE (STUB). It reports a $2.8 million loss on $1.77 billion in revenue for 2024, while shareholders include Madrone Partners, WestCap, Bessemer Venture Partners, PointState Capital, and Declaration Partners. axios.link/424krlt

• CoinShares, a European digital asset manager, agreed to go public at a $1.2b pre-money valuation via Vine Hill Capital Investment Corp. (Nasdaq: VCIC), a SPAC led by Nicholas Petruska. axios.link/3Ic3e2v

• Infleqtion, a Boulder, Colo.-based quantum computing company, agreed to go public at a $1.8b pre-money valuation via Churchill Capital Corp. X (Nasdaq: CCCX), a SPAC led by Michael Klein. Infleqtion had raised over $300m from backers like Glynn Capital, Counterpoint Global, Maverick, S32, and SAIC. axios.link/3HYHs2j

• FutureCrest Acquisition, a SPAC led by Fundstrat's Tom Lee, filed for a $250m IPO. axios.link/3VA2NCb

• LaFayette Acquisition, a SPAC led by Christophe Charlier, filed for a $100m IPO. axios.link/41JHl17

• Copper Street Capital is seeking to sell its stake in London-based wealth manager One Four Nine, per Financial News. axios.link/4pasIxW

• PAI Partners agreed to sell Italian eyewear maker Marcolin to VSP Vision. axios.link/4mRectt

🚑 Permira is seeking to sell Cambrex, an East Rutherford, N.J.-based contract drugmaker that could fetch up to $4b, per the FT. axios.link/4lZP9TH

🚑 Servier, a French pharma company, agreed to buy a potential treatment for Fragile X syndrome for up to $450m from Kaerus Bioscience, a U.K.-based biotech backed by Medicxi. axios.link/3VJIsKF

• Thoma Bravo hired JPMorgan to find a buyer for Raptor Technologies, a Houston-based school safety software provider that could fetch more than $2b, per Reuters. axios.link/3I8Hu7D

⚡ Blue Water Acquisition Corp (Nasdaq: BLUW) offered to buy Citgo for $10b, as part of a U.S. court process for the Venezuela-owned refiner. axios.link/42cmAva

• PNC Financial (NYSE: PNC) agreed to buy Lakewood, Colo.-based FirstBank for around $4.1b. axios.link/4gechwn

⚡ Strathcona Resources (TSX: SCR) upped its offer for Canadian oil sands firm MEG Energy (TSX: MEG) to C$7.85b (not including debt), topping a rival bid from Cenovus Energy (NYSE: CVE). Strathcona backers include Waterous Energy Fund. axios.link/3VHUWm0

• JVP, an Israeli VC firm, raised a $290m single-asset continuation fund led by TPG for Earnix, a provider of insurance industry AI. axios.link/46bI10A

• One Equity Partners raised $3.25b for its ninth flagship fund. oneequity.com

• Platinum Equity raised $2.28b for its second small-cap PE fund. platinumequity.com

• Rockbridge Growth Equity Management of Detroit raised $360m for its third midmarket PE fund. rbequity.com

• TDR Capital raised a single-asset continuation fund for David Lloyd Leisure, a U.K.-based gym chain. axios.link/4norpdd

• Bluestone Equity Partners promoted Jake Harris to principal. axios.link/45TuQmj

• Christopher Hogbin, former global investments head at AllianceBernstein, was named the the next CEO of Lazard Asset Management. axios.link/42mfCDU