Turning this section over to my Axios colleague Emily Peck:

After United Healthcare's CEO was gunned down in December, companies scrambled to beef up executive security. Now, in the wake of Monday's fatal shooting in midtown Manhattan, broader office security questions are being asked.

Where it stands: Security inside New York's office buildings is already fairly locked down — it's not clear how much more can be done without alienating clients, employees, and other visitors.

• In most midtown skyscrapers like 345 Park Ave., where Monday's shooting took place, visitors must show IDs before gaining access to tightly controlled turnstiles and elevator banks.
• But the assailant on Monday shot his way in with an AR-15 assault rifle.
• It's difficult to prepare for an ambush like that, says Kelly Johnstone, formerly a chief security officer at Coca-Cola. "He wanted to do something."

Threat level: Workplace violence has been increasing, particularly since the pandemic.

• But it's still very rare. Neither the United CEO shooting nor the midtown incident is a typical workplace violence scenario. Instead, these involve a disgruntled employee or domestic violence issue, says Dan Leporati, director of risk management for Engage PEO.

By the numbers: Workplace fatalities due to violent acts totaled 740 in 2023, per the most recently available government data. The year before, 435 workplace fatalities were the result of a gunshot. (There are about 160 million workers in the U.S.)

• The health care sector sees the highest incidence of workplace violence.

Flashback: New York City offices first started locking down seriously more than two decades ago, after the Sept. 11 attacks.

• Before then, you could walk into some buildings' lobbies and be ushered in with little fuss.

The bottom line: Monday night's fatal shooting was tragic, but it might not significantly change office security practices inside urban office buildings.

Palo Alto Networks (Nasdaq: PANW) has agreed to buy Israeli cybersecurity firm CyberArk (Nasdaq: CYBR) for around $25 billion in cash and stock.

Why it's the BFD: This is a reminder that the AI gold rush is as much about supporting services as it is about foundational models, with CyberArk building tools that secure AI agents' identities.

By the numbers: CyberArk stockholders will receive $45 in cash and just over 2.2 Palo Alto shares per CyberArk share.

• That works out to around an 8.5% premium to yesterday's closing stock prices, even though a deal leak to the WSJ sent Palo Alto stock down 5.2% and CyberArk shares up 13.5%.
• Both companies are down in pre-market trading today, which would impact the headline price.

Zoom out: This is the year's second cybersecurity megadeal, following Google's $32 billion agreement with Wiz.

The bottom line: "This feels like the biggest move yet in Nikesh Arora's big 'platformization' push at Palo Alto Networks. If it works, it could set his company up to be a leader in securing identities in the AI age." — Sam Sabin, Axios

• Ramp, a financial ops platform, raised $500m in Series E-2 funding at a $22.5b valuation. Iconiq led, joined by Sutter Hill Ventures, Lightspeed, T. Rowe Price, GV, Emerson Collective, Operator Collective, and Pinegrove Capital Partners.

• Return backers include Founders Fund, D1 Capital Partners, GIC, Coatue, Avenir Growth, Thrive Capital, Khosla Ventures, Sands Capital, 8VC, Lux Capital, Altimeter, Definition Capital, 137 Ventures, General Catalyst, and Stripes.

🚑 Ambience Healthcare, an SF-based AI scribe startup, raised $243m at a $1.25b valuation. A16z and Oak HC/FT led, joined by insiders OpenAI Startup Fund, Kleiner Perkins, and Optum Ventures. axios.link/3GR6Mqu

• Quince, a DTC online fashion retailer, is raising about $200m at a $4.5b valuation, per Bloomberg. axios.link/4lKzDMa

• Observe, a San Mateo, Calif.-based observability startup, raised $156m in Series C funding. Sutter Hill Ventures led, joined by Madrona Ventures, Alumni Ventures, Snowflake Ventures and Capital One Ventures. axios.link/4mjAlji

• Teramount, an Israeli optical connectivity company, raised $50m. Koch Disruptive Technologies led, joined by Grove Ventures, AMD Ventures, Hitachi Ventures, Samsung Catalyst Fund, and Wistron. axios.link/3IVZDFP

🌎 4AG Robotics, a Canadian maker of mushroom harvesting robots, raised $40m in Series B funding. Astanor and Cibus Capital led, joined by Voyager Capital, InBC, Emmertech, BDC Industrial Innovation Fund, Jim Richardson Family Office, Stray Dog Capital, and Seraph Group. axios.link/3U46KP2

• Legion, an AI security operations center startup, raised $38m in seed and Series A funding. Coatue led, joined by Accel and Picture Capital. axios.link/41kW5mO

🚑 Small Door Veterinary, a membership-based veterinary care company, raised $35m in equity funding. Valspring Capital led, joined by Primary Venture Partners, C&S Family Capital, Lerer Hippeau, and Toba Capital. It also secured $20m in debt from Bridge Bank. axios.link/4mnoH7f

• Sparrow, an SF-based employee leave management startup, raised $35m in Series B funding led by Silver Lake Waterman. axios.link/3J7Dy7e

🚑 Arbital Health, an SF-based provider of health care payments solutions, raised $31m in Series B funding. Valtruis led, joined by Transformation Capital, Shaper Capital, and Healthy Ventures. axios.link/450RdnS

• Multibeam, a Santa Clara, Calif.-based process control startup for semiconductors, raised $31m in Series B funding. Onto Innovation and Lam Capital led, joined by UMC Capital and MediaTek Capital. multibeamcorp.com

• LakeFS, a version control system for enterprise data, raised $20m led by Maor Investments, with participation from Dell Technologies Capital, Norwest, and Zeev Ventures. axios.link/4fdVl8Z

• Tako, a Brazilian payroll and workforce management platform, raised $18m from Ribbit Capital and a16z, per Axios Pro. axios.link/3UzXL8a

• Hightouch, an SF-based data and AI agent platform for marketers, raised $12m in Series C funding from Snowflake and Capital One. hightouch.com

• Tzafon, an SF-based AI infrastructure startup, raised $9.7m in pre-seed funding. HV Capital led, joined by Streamlined VC and Kakao VC. axios.link/4lVRIHl

• Cyata, an Israeli control plane for agentic identities, raised $8.5m led by TLV Partners. axios.link/4obhmJy

• Caspian, an SF-based customs compliance startup, raised $5.4m in seed funding. Primary Venture Partners led, joined by Blank Ventures. axios.link/4m0eZbe

• Due, a London-based developer of a stablecoin API, raised $4m in seed extension funding led by Speedinvest. axios.link/4mnjyMv

• Retab, an SF-based document AI platform, raised $3.5m in pre-seed funding from VentureFriends, Kima Ventures, and K5 Global. retab.com

• Evitado Technologies, a developer of automation systems for airport ground ops, raised $3m. Morado Ventures and Elev8.vc co-led, joined by Assembly Ventures and IAGi Ventures. evitado.io

• EQT agreed to buy Japanese elevator maker Fujitec (Tokyo: 6406) for around $2.7b, per Nikkei. axios.link/4mi5T9m

• FountainVest agreed to buy a 35.7% stake in EuroGroup Laminations (Milan: EGLA), an Italian maker of electric motor parts. axios.link/3IPiX7B

🚑 Integrated Diagnostic Services, an HCAP Partners portfolio company, acquired mobile imaging services provider Community of Nevada Diagnostics. integrateddxservices.com

🚑 IVI RMA Global, an infertility treatments firm owned by KKR, acquired Gulf Capital's stake in the Middle Eastern operations of ART Fertility Clinics. axios.link/4fkeAxO

🏍 KKR and PIMCO agreed to buy a stake in Harley-Davidson's (NYSE: HOG) financing unit for up to $5b. axios.link/40EjAXR

⛳ L Catterton acquired a majority stake in golf putter maker L.A.B. Golf at a valuation north of $200m, per the WSJ. axios.link/4l3J7Ba

• SES, a Palladium Equity portfolio company, acquired Hydroblasters, a Wisconsin-based provider of industrial services. sesinc.com

• SURJ, a Saudi-backed sports fund, and Michael Moritz invested in the Professional Triathletes Organization. axios.link/47c88GK

• TriWest Capital Partners acquired Canadian retailer Spence Diamonds from Lion Capital. axios.link/45slVrq

• GSR IV Acquisition, a SPAC led by Gus Garcia (ex-BofA) and Lewis Silberman (ex-Oppenheimer), filed for a $200m IPO. axios.link/45d4KJq

• WhiteFiber, a Bit Digital (Nasdaq: BTBT) carveout that provides cloud services to data centers, set IPO terms to 7.8m shares at $15-$17. It would have a $558m fully diluted value, were it to price in the middle. axios.link/4lLgyte

• Intercontinental Exchange (NYSE: ICE) is in talks to buy energy data platform Enverus from Hellman & Friedman for at least $6b, per Bloomberg. axios.link/44RBYPu

• Permira and Warburg Pincus are weighing a sale of British wealth manager Evelyn Partners, which could fetch more than £2.5b, per Reuters. axios.link/4l1jUac

⚡️ Uplight, a Boulder, Colo.-based distributed energy resource management provider, hired Evercore to find a buyer for around $1b, per Latitude Media. Backers include AES, Schneider Electric, Huck Capital, Coatue, and Inclusive Capital Partners. axios.link/45csJbA

• John Hess plans to buy back the Hess toy truck business from Chevron (NYSE: CVX), which recently completed its $53b acquisition of Hess Corp.

• BasePoint Capital, a New York-based direct lender, is in talks to buy U.K. personal finance firm International Personal Finance (LSE: IPF) for around £490m. axios.link/4ov53Ir

• CSP Associates, an M&A advisory focused on aerospace and defense, acquired a majority stake in Tamarack Defense, an Idaho-based provider of military equipment forecasts. axios.link/3H09KZM

• Evercore (NYSE: EVR) agreed to buy U.K. boutique investment bank Robey Warshaw for $196m. axios.link/40KEViq

• iFood, owned by Prosus, acquired a 20% stake in Brazilian CRM provider CRMBonus, with an option to buy the remainder. axios.link/3H9ufTF

• Iveco Group (Milan: IVG) confirmed plans to sell its defense and commercial truck-making units to separate buyers. axios.link/475rFbR

⚡️ Schneider Electric (Paris: SU) agreed to buy the remaining 35% stake in its India JV from Temasek for €5.5b. axios.link/46zCToX

⚡️ Spire (NYSE: SPIR), a St. Louis-based gas utility, will pay $2.48b to acquire the Tennessee local distribution business of Duke Energy (NYSE: DUK) subsidiary Piedmont Natural Gas. axios.link/3J9SfGT

• Worldline (Paris: WLN), a French payments firm, is in talks to sell its digital services unit for €410m. axios.link/4o3ggiW

⚖️ The U.S. Justice Department moved to dismiss its antitrust suit that seeks to block American Express GBT, operated by Global Business Travel Group (NYSE: GBT), from buying CWT, a business travel and meetings solutions provider, for $570m. axios.link/40JZdZk

• Advent International is discussing the launch of its first dedicated secondaries fund, per Axios Pro. axios.link/4l3mvka

• Deciens Capital, an early-stage fintech investor, raised $93m for its third fund, per Axios Pro. axios.link/4559eBG

• 645 Ventures promoted Vardan Gattani to investment partner. axios.link/3Ja9VCc

• Timothy Haugh, former NSA director and commander of U.S. Cyber Command, joined Ballistic Ventures as a strategic adviser. axios.link/4mmakjB

• Jeff Levin and Kunal Soni, former private credit execs with Morgan Stanley, have joined Thoma Bravo, per Bloomberg. axios.link/4l0quhv

• Adriana Martinez joined Kindred Ventures as its first CFO. She previously was with Iconiq. axios.link/46xGvIb

• York IE promoted Marshall Everson to partner. axios.link/4lSn5CH