Inference chipmaker Cerebras, last valued at $23 billion, filed for an IPO with a reported $35 billion target valuation.

Why it matters: This will be eagerly watched as it's poised (again) to be the first big venture-backed AI IPO of the generative era.

• Cerebras' aim is to eventually hit a $250 billion valuation, per it new prospectus.

Behind the scenes: CEO Andrew Feldman and CTO Sean Lie are set for additional share payouts should the company reach $75 billion, $150 billion, and $250 billion in average valuation on average within nine years.

Zoom out: Investors worried that Cerebras' revenue was heavily concentrated in Abu Dhabi when it previously filed. The new filing appears to address that, lining up contracts with OpenAI and Amazon's AWS.

• The $20 billion OpenAI deal could potentially dwarf the size of current Cerebras annual revenue (nearly $510 million last year).

Between the lines: OpenAI doesn't need to spend the $20 billion in its agreement to receive a good chunk of a potential 10% stake in the company in return.

• OpenAI already has access to about a sixth of that stake, as part of an agreement for it to lend $1 billion to Cerebras.
• Another 17% or so Sam Altman-led company shares in the chipmaker will vest if Cerebras maintains a $40 billion valuation on average for a month. That's not far off from the $35 billion Cerebras is seeking in the IPO — especially without three mega AI IPOs to dry up markets for other AI bets.
• OpenAI will have access to the rest of the stake if it fully buys up the 2GW of AI inference compute capacity.

Flashback: OpenAI inked a similar deal with AMD last year that also gave OpenAI an up to 10% stake in the chipmaker, also dependent on the delivery of certain GPU products and AMD's share price eventually hitting $600.

• That deal was widely seen as a way for OpenAI to finance its chip buying.

Context: The cap table of Coreweave, a cloud data center competitor, was dominated by crossover investors in its IPO last year.

• Cerebras' largest investors include Alpha Wave Ventures, Benchmark, Eclipse Ventures, Fidelity, and Foundation Capital.

The bottom line: The AI world's entanglements aren't going away.

QXO (NYSE: QXO) has agreed to acquire insulation company TopBuild for $17 billion in cash and stock, the companies announced on Monday.

Why it's the BFD: The construction materials space has seen a flurry of M&A, with data center buildouts and energy needs driving the activity.

The big picture: This is QXO's largest deal yet, with the company now over a third of the way to hitting its goal of $50 billion in revenue via M&A and organic growth.

• TopBuild will give the company scale and expand "our exposure to large, complex projects like data centers," QXO CEO Brad Jacobs said in a statement.

• Cursor, an SF-based AI coding company, is in advanced talks to raise $2b at an over $50b pre-money valuation, per Bloomberg. a16z is set to co-lead, with participation from Nvidia and Thrive Capital. axios.link/48dxDY7

• Recursive Superintelligence, a U.K.-based neolab founded by former Google engineers at DeepMind and OpenAI, has raised at least $500m at a $4b pre-money valuation led by GV. Nvidia joined. axios.link/4sI7mIE

• Polymarket, the NYC-based prediction markets site, is in talks to raise $400m at a $15b valuation, per the Information. axios.link/3QOFs0o

• DeepSeek, the Chinese AI foundational model, is in talks to raise at least $300m at a $10b valuation, per The Information. It would be its first round of outside capital. axios.link/4cFn9lU

• Loop, an SF-based platform for logistics and supply chains, raised a $95m Series C led by Valor Equity Partners and the Valor Atreides AI Fund. 8VC, Founders Fund, Index Ventures, JPMorgan Growth Equity Partners, and Tao Capital Partners joined. axios.link/4mCd7Gr

• Artemis, a NYC-based provider of AI-cyber detection and automated response services, raised $70m in seed and Series A funding led by Felicis. axios.link/4836188

🚑 Coral, a NYC-based health care automation platform, raised $12.5m in seed funding from Lightspeed and Z47, per Axios Pro. axios.link/4cxKfdY

• Ideally, a New Zealand-based market research platform, raised $10m in Series A funding valuing it at over $59m. Shearwater Capital led joined by Altered Capital and Icehouse Ventures. goideally.com

🚑 Ethermed, a Philadelphia-based prior authorization and health care workflow automation company, raised $8.5m in Series A funding. Enfield Capital Partners and Blue Marlin Partners led, joined by Jumpstart Ventures, Healthliant Ventures, Woodard Family Office and Gaingels. axios.link/4vDnjCC

• Caruso, a Dallas-based fund administration platform for private markets, raised a $6.5m Series A at a $55m valuation led by Icehouse Ventures and GD1, with participation from Balmain. axios.link/4vCrtuA

🚑 Apollo will acquire a 13% interest in McKesson's Medical-Surgical Solutions, for $1.3b as McKesson (NYSE: MCK) preps it for an IPO. axios.link/4tmMpEB

• Aptia, backed by Bain Capital, has acquired retirement advice service Pension Decision Service from Mercer. axios.link/3QyjMFI

🚑 D2 Solutions, backed by Viewside Capital Partners, acquired ProModRx, a Florida-based cloud-based patient and prescription medications platform. d2rx.com

🚑 Grovecourt Capital invested Guide Architecture, a Dallas-based health care-focused architecture and planning firm. guidearch.com

• IK Partners will acquire Selatek, a Stockholm-based building installation company, from Amplio. axios.link/4mFQZv2

🚑 TA Associates is in talks to acquire Advanced Medical Solutions, a U.K.-based medical device company, for £600m, per Sky News. axios.link/4cFEJWJ

⚡️ Fervo Energy, a Houston-based geothermal company, filed for an IPO and plans to list on the Nasdaq under "FRVO." It posted a loss of $70.5m on revenue of $138m in 2025. Investors include Devon Energy, Capricorn Investment Group, Breakthrough Energy, and Centaurus Capital. axios.link/4tSrAjX

🚑 GMR Solutions, a Lewisville, Texas-based emergency medical services company, filed to list on the NYSE as "GMRS." It posted revenue of $5.7b and income of $206.2m in 2025. KKR, Koch, Ares, and HPS back the firm. axios.link/4sIa0hy

• Jersey Mike's Subs, the sandwich chain backed by Blackstone, has filed confidentially for an IPO that could value it at $12b. axios.link/4co7Lv6

• Liftoff Mobile, a Redwood City, Calif.-based mobile company, filed for an IPO and plans to list on the Nasdaq under "LFTO." It posted a loss of $23.1m on revenue of $685.7m in 2025. Investors including Blackstone and General Atlantic back the firm. axios.link/4dTBc9y

🚑 Mobia Medical, an Austin, Texas-based medical devices company, filed for an IPO. It posted revenue of $5.7m and a loss of $10.7m in 2025. Investors include U.S. Venture Partners and Charles & Potomac. axios.link/3QjMbiN

🚑 Odyssey Therapeutics, a Boston-based biopharmaceutical targeting autoimmune and inflammatory diseases, filed for an IPO. It posted a loss of $148.7m in 2025. Investors include SR One, OrbiMed, Adage Capital Advisors, and Fidelity. axios.link/4cU3Whp

• Pernod Ricard, the French maker of Absolut Vodka, is reportedly seeking to IPO its India unit, per Bloomberg. axios.link/4vFYeqM

• Savox Communications, a Finland-based provider of tactical communication systems, and Varjo Technologies Oy, a Norway-based supplier of virtual military training equipment backed by Nvidia, are weighing public listings in the country, per Bloomberg. axios.link/4u3pL41

🚑 Eli Lilly (NYSE: LLY) agreed to acquire Kelonia Therapeutics, a Boston-based cancer biotech, for up to $7b. Kelonia's backed by Crown Ventures and Venrock. axios.link/4dY6YCq

• Brady agreed to acquire Honeywell's (Nasdaq: HON) Productivity Solutions and Services business for $1.4b in cash. axios.link/3OS6zXQ

• Bally's Intralot, the Greek-listed lottery company, is nearing a deal to acquire Evoke (LON: EVOK), the owner of William Hill, for £225m. axios.link/4vXC9o3

• Orient Securities plans to acquire Shanghai Securities, a fellow government-backed brokerage, in cash and stock. axios.link/490khib

🚑 UCB will pay up to $1.2b for Neurona, a California-based epilepsy company backed by Comorant and UCB. axios.link/4sG4BHR

• USA Rare Earth will acquire Serra Verde, a Brazilian rare earths miner, for $2.8b. axios.link/3ON0gou

• Partners Group closed its eighth private equity secondaries program with $9b. partnersgroup.com

• Lumira Ventures held the first close of its fifth fund focused on biotech and medical tech, with a goal of $200m. axios.link/3Qm3xLZ