It's finally here. The most important election of our lifetimes (until the next one).

• What's striking is how much dealmakers won't know, even once winners are declared.
• That's always true to some extent — presidencies often are forged by surprises — but particularly so this time around.

Kamala Harris has been been what my colleague Alex Thompson calls the "no comment candidate," refusing to share her positions on a variety of policies.

• We know some broad strokes, such as higher taxes on corporations and wealthy individuals, adding to housing stock, and continued support for the IRA and CHIPS Act.
• But Harris hasn't shared an economic prioritization list, while being vague or silent on issues like crypto, the TikTok ban, or FTC chair Lina Khan's future.

Donald Trump has been in pander mode for months, including his crypto and TikTok reversals, which makes it impossible to know his depth of commitment to any economic promises.

• He's said that he'll eliminate taxes on tips and overtime and Social Security benefits, while cutting them further for corporations. If you wanted a tax cut during this campaign, Trump was ready to tell you what you wanted to hear.
• This obviously would create a giant revenue hole, which he plans to fill with tariffs that most economists believe would be passed onto consumers (i.e., price inflation). Still unclear how much leeway he'd get on this from even a Republican-controlled Congress.
• Oh, and Trump also hasn't weighed in on the Lina Khan issue that dominates M&A discourse.

I've asked dealmakers over the past couple months about the election, and how they expect it to impact their business.

• The vast majority have shrugged, and said they're supporting (or opposing) candidates for other reasons. That's probably the wisest choice.

Bowery, a vertical farming startup focused on producing lettuce and other leafy greens, is shutting down.

Why it's the BFD: The company burned through more than $700 million in venture capital, including a $320 million Series C round led by Fidelity in mid-2021 at a $2 billion pre-money valuation.

• It's also just the latest vertical farming company to crater, following bankruptcies of AeroFarms and AppHarvest, as consumers proved unwilling to pay high premiums for "cleaner" produce.

Zoom in: Bowery decided in early 2022 to take on $150 million in debt from KKR, even though it was still the ZIRP era of easy equity.

• Word is that the debt weighed heavily on Bowery, which shouldn't have needed to forge a relationship with KKR, given that Henry Kravis was one of its Series B investors.

Details: Other Bowery investors included First Round Capital, General Catalyst, Google Ventures, GGV Capital, and Temasek.

• Bowery hasn't had VC firm reps on its board for at least the last couple months, while Fidelity recently wrote down its investment value by more than 99%.
• The company has entered into an ABC process managed by Sherwood Partners.

What to watch: What happens with Plenty, a vertical farming company that also was valued at around $2 billion. Expect that call to ultimately be made by lead backer SoftBank.

• Melio, a New York-based B2B payments platform for SMBs, raised $150m Series E funding at a $2b valuation. Fiserv led, and was joined by Shopify Ventures, Capital One Ventures, Accel, Bessemer, Coatue, Frontline Ventures, General Catalyst, Latitude, and Thrive Capital. axios.link/4ffaztE

• Tebrio, a Spanish producer of insects for animal feed and bioplastics, raised €30m from Banco de Santander, Sodical Instituto Financiero de Castilla y León, GCP, and CDTI Innvierte Economía Sostenible. axios.link/4f6HmRo

⚡ Ampd Energy, a Hong Kong-based developer of clean battery energy storage systems for heavy industries, raised $27.3m in Series B funding. Kibo Invest and Openspace co-led, and were joined by MTR Lab, Taronga Ventures, and 2150. ampd.energy

• Ellipsis Labs, a Solana-based decentralized exchange developer, raised $21m led by Haun Ventures. axios.link/3OeqaxL

• Dash0, a German developer of an "OpenTelemetry-native" observability tool, raised $9.5m in seed funding. Accel led, and was joined by Dig Ventures. axios.link/3CfJsQm

• Delos Insurance Solutions, an SF-based wildfire insurance MGA, raised $9m in Series A funding. HSBC Asset Management led, and was joined by IA Capital Group, Blue Bear Capital, and Generation Space. axios.link/4ejWvh3

🌎 Kanpla, a Danish cafeteria-management software firm focused on reducing food waste, raised €8m in Series A funding led by HenQ. axios.link/3YryRJC

• Endeavor, an SF-based enterprise AI platform for manufacturing companies, raised $7m in seed funding. Craft Ventures led, and was joined by Heartland Ventures, Contrary Capital, and BoxGroup. axios.link/3NV9WcG

• Miros, an Estonian provider of image analysis for personalized product discovery, raised €6m co-led by EBRD VC and Tera Ventures. axios.link/3YS0GvZ

• Qanscient, a Finnish developer of quantum algorithms software, raised €5.2m. Crowberry Capital an Speen Holding co-led, and were joined by Maki VC, and First Fellow. axios.link/4fzSRR4

🌎 Earthodic, an Australian sustainable packaging developer, raised US$4m in seed funding led by FTW Ventures. axios.link/48I4qn9

• Radical Forge, a U.K. gaming startup, raised £2.6m from Mercia Ventures. axios.link/3YDrA9y

• Kalshi, a New York-based betting and derivatives exchange, is in talks to raise $50m, per TechCrunch. axios.link/4hrCxE1

• Zodia Custody, the digital assets storage arm of Standard Chartered, is raising $50m, per Bloomberg. axios.link/4hx5pdY

• 1440 Foods, owned by Bain Capital and 4X4 Capital, acquired protein bar brand FitCrunch for $700m from Union Capital. axios.link/3UErxJv

• 9fin, a British financial data firm, is in talks to raise funding at around a $500m valuation from Mubadala and KKR to raise funding that would value it around $500m, per the FT. axios.link/40yWQJw

• Aero Accessories & Repair, a Miramar, Fla., portfolio company of ATL Partners, acquired Aero Instruments, a Buffalo, N.Y.-based aerospace MRO. aeroaccessories.us

🚑 Coker, an Alpharetta, Ga., health care advisory backed by Trinity Hunt Partners, acquired Chandler, Ariz.-based TTG Healthcare Advisors. cokergroup.com

🚑 Comvest Private Equity acquired a majority stake in Riccobene Associates Family Dentistry, a Cary, N.C.-based dental services organization that has a note-perfect URL. brushandfloss.com

• EQT offered to buy Swedish industrial components maker OEM International (S: OEM) for around $1.4b. axios.link/3Ag2WUA

🚑 FutureLife, a Czech fertility services firm backed by CVC Capital Partners and Hartenberg Holding, acquired U.K.-based Bristol Centre for Reproductive Medicine. futurelifegroup.com

• Hidden Harbor Capital Partners acquired Norplex Micarta, a Postville Iowa-based maker of thermoset composite materials, from Industrial Dielectrics. norplex-micarta.com

• J.C. Flowers agreed to buy Pepper Advantage, a credit management firm focused on Europe and Asia, from Singapore's Pepper Global. pepper-advantage.com

• Long Ridge Equity Partners acquired a majority stake in Ripjar, a U.K. provider of risk and threat intelligence solutions in which Long Ridge had previously invested. ripjar.com

• Renovus Capital Partners acquired a majority stake in Performive, a Marietta, Ga., provider of managed IT services for midmarket enterprises. performive.com

• SingleOps, an Atlanta-based portfolio company of Five Elms Capital and FTV Capital, acquired Landscape Management Network, a Canadian provider of business management software for the landscape industry, from Serent Capital. singleops.com

• CoreWeave, a Roseland, N.J.-based cloud computing platform valued by VCs at $23b, hired Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, and JPMorgan to lead its IPO, per Bloomberg. axios.link/4fcqY1S

• Groupe Dynamite, a Canadian fast-fashion retailer, is prepping an IPO that could value the company at C$1b, per Bloomberg. axios.link/3CnO0UK

Correction: Yesterday's item on Cantor Fitzgerald and Howard Lutnick incorrectly said that one of CF's sponsored SPACs had merged with AudioEye, which closed Friday at $21.42 per share.

• It actually merged with AEye (Nasdaq: LIDR), which is trading at just above $1 per share.

• Ametek (NYSE:AME) bought Virtek Vision International, a Canadian maker of laser-based electronic instruments, from American Industrial Partners. ametek.com

• One Equity Partners sold Dragonfly Financial Technologies, a provider of digital business banking and cash management solutions, to FIS (NYSE: FIS). axios.link/40zBlZg

• Ryan Specialty (NYSE: RYAN) acquired Innovisk, a London-based portfolio of MGA programs, from Abry Partners and BHMS Investments. innovisk.com

⚡ Alten (Paris: ATE) agreed to buy Worldgrid, a French provider of consulting and engineering services to energy and utility companies, from Atos (Paris: ATO) for €270. axios.link/4hycXx2

⚡ Chevron (NYSE: CVX) is seeking to sell its Hong Kong gas stations, which could fetch around $400m, per Bloomberg. axios.link/3UCQ4yI

• Emerson Electric (NYSE: EMR) offered to buy the 45% stake it doesn't already hold in AspenTech (Nasdaq: AZPN) for $240 per share in cash. axios.link/3O17GjP

• GP Guenter Papenburg and TSR Recycling are weighing a takeover offer for listed German steelmaker Salzgitter, which has a market cap just north of €1b. axios.link/3YyOsXO

• M&G (LSE: MNG) bought a majority stake in London-based real estate investor BauMont. axios.link/3YTtPal

• A committee of unsecured creditors is objecting to the sale of bankrupt Blink Fitness to PE-backed PureGym for $121 million. axios.link/3AozBat

• Hearthside Food Solutions, an Illinois snack-maker owned by Charlesbank Capital Partners and Partners Group, is expected to file for bankruptcy protection and hand company control to creditors, per Bloomberg. axios.link/40yXlTU 

• Lilium, a listed German maker of air-taxis, hired KPMG to explore M&A options ahead of an expected insolvency filing. axios.link/3UECLxw

🌎 Avenue Capital, led by Marc Lasry, is seeking a buyer for its impact fund, after New York State Common Retirement Fund declined to support a second fund, per Bloomberg. axios.link/4edHRrB

• Hazem Ben-Gacem, the former co-CEO of Investcorp, is forming a $1b permanent capital fund called BlueFive Capital to buy stakes in financial services firms in the Gulf and Southeast Asia, per Bloomberg. axios.link/48ymwrw

• Shamrock Capital, an LA-based PE firm focused on media, entertainment and sports, raised $1.25b for its sixth flagship fund and $320m for its first small-cap fund. shamrockcap.com

• Rabeeh Ajjour joined CC Capital as head of capital formation and fundraising. He previously was with Lone View Capital. axios.link/3Aiql7R

• Michael Brofft joined Nautic Partners as a senior VP. He previously was with Fort Point Partners. axios.link/3UBeCIi

• Jonathan Dhanawade joined Mayer Brown as a partner in the law firm's PE and M&A practices. He previously was with Paul Hastings. axios.link/3AuqODU

• Nana Kyei joined Houlihan Lokey as a managing director focused on ed-tech. He spent the past decade with Jefferies. axios.link/3UCIvI2

• Andrew Lynn joined Baird as a managing director of debt advisory. He previously was with Alantra. axios.link/40Rvgrh

• Brian Roberts and Andy McCall both joined a16z as general partners focused on its American Dynamism and Apps funds. Roberts previously was CFO of Splunk, while McCall was Samsara's chief revenue officer. a16z.com

🚑 Joshua Schultz, the former CEO of Cytel, joined Arsenal Capital Partners as an operating partner. axios.link/48Dv68M

Prediction markets like Polymarket, which has raised over $100 million in VC funding, have a lot on the line tonight.

• Their mission is to set wagering prices at moments in time, not forecast results. But it's the latter misinterpretation that's garnered so much attention from both traditional and social media.
• If Harris wins, a lot of the prediction market buzz could dissipate.