💰 VC bonanza: More venture capital dollars were disbursed to U.S. companies in the first half of 2026 than in any full year, according to data released this morning by PitchBook and the NVCA. By a lot.

• U.S. companies raised $412.7 billion between January and June, a 29% increase over what U.S. companies raised in all of 2025 and a 15% increase over the all-time record set in 2021.
• Yes, this was driven by mega-rounds, with over 81% of the H1 2026 dollars going to rounds of $100 million or more. This includes seven $1 billion+ rounds in Q2.
• The only dark cloud is that Q1 significantly outpaced Q2, although Q2 is where most of the exit activity was found.

🎬 What to watch: Several states next week are expected to sue to stop the Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery merger on antitrust grounds, according to CNN (which is owned by WBD).

• California and other states have been telegraphing the move for months.
• As Axios' Sara Fischer wrote earlier this year, states have become the country's top antitrust cops, as the DOJ has been mostly MIA.

☀️ Solyndra redux: I keep finding myself thinking about Solyndra, the VC-backed solar panel maker that failed in 2011 despite receiving more than $500 million in Department of Energy loans during the Obama administration.

• At the time, Solyndra was a partisan cudgel for Republicans, who bashed Democrats for "picking winners and losers" and the very idea of giving that much money to an unproven startup (let alone one in an industry they didn't favor).
• Then-citizen Donald Trump tweeted about Solyndra 19 times, often including allegations of "crony capitalism."
• Democrats would later note that the overall DOE loan guarantee program was profitable, but it didn't really matter. The GOP won the narrative battle, even if its main messenger — Mitt Romney — didn't win the election.

Fast forward to today and the whole thing has flipped on itself.

• President Trump, as we've discussed before, has embraced having taxpayers invest in a slew of private companies. Usually equity, not loans.
• And what he's done so far — in areas like rare earths and semiconductors and quantum computing — may only be warmup acts for the big play with frontier labs like OpenAI and Anthropic.
• He also keeps railing against "socialists," without even a knowing wink of economic irony.

There's no longer a partisan divide when it comes to "picking winners and losers," nor even much oversight, so long as there's at least some strategic rationale.

• It turns out that Solyndra was more of a beginning than an ending.

B Capital and CalPERS agreed to acquire Russell Investments from TA Associates and Reverence Capital Partners.

Why it's the BFD: It's not normal for a venture capital firm to buy a 90-year-old business from private equity, but we could see more of this as legacy industry looks to AI for growth and relevance.

Zoom in: No financial terms were disclosed, but a source familiar pegs the price-tag at around $2.8 billion. TA and Reverence had paid $1.15 billion to buy Russell in 2016 from LSEG.

• Seattle-based Russell has around $416 billion in assets under management.

Catch up quick: This deal comes seven years after TA and Reverence first tried to sell the business, in a Goldman-led process that was unsuccessful, and six months after an Apollo-led debt restructuring.

The bottom line: "The intertwined secular trends of fee compression and outflows from actively managed mutual funds into passive funds and ETFs have created a wave of mergers in the asset management industry." — Ian Wenik, Citywire

• Lovable, a Swedish vibe-coding startup, is in talks to raise $300m led by Menlo Ventures at a $13.2b valuation, per Sifted. axios.link/3TrxYSj

• Kraken Technology, a U.K. maritime defense startup, raised $175m in Series B funding at a $1b valuation. DTCP led, joined by British Business Bank, NATO Innovation Fund, Rheinmetall, Inocea, Hico Ventures, Thesiger Capital, and Boka Capital. axios.link/4viHBjq

• Oxylabs, a Lithuanian data infrastructure platform, raised $130m from Warburg Pincus at a $3.6b valuation. axios.link/4vhtF9t

• Prime Intellect, an SF-based AI agent building platform, raised $130m in Series A funding at a $1b valuation. Radical Ventures led, joined by Nvidia Ventures, Intel Capital, Dell Technologies Capital, and Iconiq. axios.link/4wBSUVi

🚀 Venus Aerospace, a Houston-based developer of rocket engines for hypersonic flight, raised $91m in Series B funding. Mercury Fund led, joined by Lockheed Martin Ventures, Mesh, Peak6, Draper Associates, Starboard Star Venture Capital, and Green Sands Equity. axios.link/4wBBl7K

🚑 TJM, a pharmacy automation platform, raised $75m in Series B funding. Elephant led, joined by Arthur Ventures and Updata Partners. axios.link/3T8qnYJ

• Ollama, a Palo Alto, Calif.-based developer platform for open models, raised $65m in Series B funding. Theory Ventures led, joined by Benchmark, YC, 8VC, Pace Capital, 49Palsm, and GTMFund. axios.link/4wx0ekT

🚑 Leo Cancer Care, a British maker of radiation therapy devices for cancer patients, raised $65m in Series D funding. Yu Galaxy led, joined by Eventide Asset Management. axios.link/4f3TMuF

• Kaon AI, an SF-based developer of "personalized story worlds," raised $60m from B Capital, Redpoint Ace, Goodwater Capital, and DCM. axios.link/3RtvEtv

• Vendelux, an NYC-based B2B events marketing platform, raised $50m in Series B funding. Tribeca Venture Partners led, joined by S3, Pelion Ventures, HubSpot Ventures, FirstMark, and Cervin Ventures. axios.link/4yavTdl

⚡️Axle Energy, a British virtual power plant operator, raised €21m in Series A funding. Energize Capital led, joined by insiders Accel, Picus Capital, and Eka Ventures. axios.link/4ycTUjY

⚡️Hephae Energy Technology, a Spring, Texas-based geothermal drilling startup, raised $17.8m in Series A funding, per Axios Pro. Susquehanna Sustainable Investments and Underground Ventures led, joined by alfa8, Baruch Future Ventures, Centaurus Capital, Elemental Impact, Exa Ventures, Future Ventures, Grantham Foundation, New System Ventures, and True North Institute. axios.link/4vWn1qv

• QIZ Security, a post-quantum cryptography startup, raised $17m in seed funding, per Axios Pro. Bessemer Venture Partners and Merlin Ventures led, joined by Evolution Equity Partners, Qbeat Ventures, Singtel Innov8, and Qino Cyber Capital. axios.link/4vOItxq

• QuantumDiamonds, a Munich-based semiconductor equipment company, raised €15m in equity funding led by World Fund. It also secured €76m in state funding. axios.link/4vlxCKw

• EdVisorly, an LA-based provider of educational admissions and enrollment software, raised $13.3m in Series A funding. Breachway Capital led, joined by U.S. News & World Report, Lumina Foundation, Strada Education Foundation, Motley Fool Ventures, Juvo Ventures, and Zeal Capital Partners. axios.link/4eQkMii

⚡️Bohr Energie, a French distributed energy management provider, raised €10m in Series A funding. Suma Capital led, joined by Irdi Capital Investissement, GSO Capital, Crédit Agricole, and insiders Varsity, Founders Future, and AFI Ventures. axios.link/4gyrM4N

⚡️Fuchs & Eule, a German startup guiding commercial landlords through energy retrofits, raised €10m. GET Fund led, joined by PI Impact, Wave-X, and insiders SET Ventures, Picus Capital, and Realyze Ventures. axios.link/4fdXvGa

• Pixel-Flo, a U.K. developer of micro-LED manufacturing tech, raised £5.25m in seed funding. Northern Gritstone led, joined by SCVC, Parkwalk Northern Universities Venture Fund, and HTGF. axios.link/4vTsvCd

🌎 Aardaia, a Dutch startup domesticating protein-rich tubers, raised €5m in seed funding. Point Nine led, joined by Astanor, Grey Silo Ventures, and FoodLabs. axios.link/3Tokjvi

🚑 Wonderdog, a Hermosa Beach, Calif.-based canine preventive health startup, raised $5m in pre-seed funding led by WndrCo and Maveron. axios.link/44PXovp

⚡️Forge Industries, a Las Vegas-based waste-to-fuel tech developer, raised $3.9m. Next Phase Capital and 8090 Industries led, joined by Golden Seeds. axios.link/4ygtIFu

• Lissi, a German digital identity startup, raised €3.5m led by Ventech. axios.link/4aF9JWS

• Sherpa, a German external workforce management startup, raised $2.2m in pre-seed funding from DN Capital, Seedcamp, Activant Capital and Brighteye Ventures. sherpahq.ai

• Ardian invested in Paris-based software firm HR Path at nearly a $1b valuation. axios.link/4ygtL48

• Arrow Global acquired Fusion Specialty Group, a U.K. managing general agent. axios.link/3TqejSJ

• Assent, a Canadian supply chain sustainability management firm backed by Blackstone and Vista Equity Partners, acquired German auto compliance tech provider iPoint, per Axios Pro. axios.link/3SS1Zuq

🚑 Bregal Sagemont invested in Pandion, a Fairpoint, N.Y.-based group purchasing organization. axios.link/4vSAeRb

• Capitol Meridian Partners acquired Westway Enterprises, a Herndon, Va.-based developer of facilities for companies serving the national security industry. axios.link/4pbykZ2

🎵 CVC Capital Partners acquired DistroKid, an NYC-based music distributor. axios.link/4aLgZjY

• DecisionHR, a Coalesce Capital portfolio company, acquired Paymasters, Detroit Lakes, Minn.-based PEO. axios.link/4h1Xtn0

• Enterprise Risk Associates, a Macquarie Group portfolio company, acquired Insurance Solutions of America, an Oviedo, Fla.-based commercial insurer. axios.link/3R0cnQi

🌍 Juniper Landscaping, a Bregal Partners portfolio company, acquired Compass Environmental and Aquatic Weeds, two Central Florida-based providers of aquatic maintenance and shoreline restoration services. axios.link/4vpHZwS

• Long Ridge Equity Partners invested $38m into MountainSeed, an Atlanta-based provider of appraisal management and other tech solutions to community banks and credit unions. axios.link/44QU4jF

• Paine Schwartz Partners acquired minority stakes in Amfresh, a fresh produce company, and its Bloom Fresh multi-fruit breeding and IP licensing subsidiary. axios.link/4yrfgdQ

• PSG Equity acquired a majority stake in BrightAnalytics, a Belgian provider of corporate performance management software for CFOs. axios.link/4p8Aety

• Shore Capital Partners acquired Denver-based ThrivePass, a platform that streamlines employee benefits administration for employers. axios.link/4eS5rOd

• Tricor Pacific Capital acquired Arctec Alloys, a Canadian maintenance welding platform. axios.link/4baLP5C

• Columbus Circle Capital III, a SPAC formed by Cohen & Co., raised $200m in its IPO. axios.link/4fIvtnQ

• Infit Acquisition 2, a fintech SPAC led by Alexander Edgarov (Sapta Group), withdrew registration for a $100m IPO. axios.link/4aDZhPm

🚑 Hologic, owned by TPG and Blackstone, is seeking to sell its surgical unit for more than $4b, per the FT. axios.link/4h40B1K

🚀 York Space Systems (NYSE: YSS) acquired All Space, a British satellite communications company that had raised nearly $130m from firms like AE Ventures, Seraphim Space, In-Q-Tel, and Boka Group. axios.link/4f6CSLI

• Hugo Boss (ETR: BOSS) is urging shareholders to oppose a €2.7b takeover offer from Frasers Group (LSE: FRAS). axios.link/4fc1dQv

• Tesco (LSE: TSCO) is in talks to sell its Central and Eastern European operations, per the FT. axios.link/4wCUpTb

⚡️ TotalEnergies (Paris: TTE) sold its European distributed solar projects to Amarenco Solar and Ampyr Distributed Energy. axios.link/4gtmh7p

• EQT is raising $2.5b for a new pan-Asia midmarket buyout fund, per Reuters. axios.link/3TqeKMR

• Expeditions, a VC firm focused on European defense-tech, raised €197m for its second fund. axios.link/4yaZDqx

• Paradigm, a crypto-focused VC firm, raised $1.2b for its fourth fund. axios.link/4y9ZQKP

• American Pacific Group promoted Luchi Mmegwa to managing director. axios.link/4wyQPt3

• Charlesbank Capital Partners made five promotions to managing directors: Catherine Farrow, Jesse Ge, Michael McGuire, Jared Pomerance, and William Reilly. axios.link/4p7Zct4

• Greycroft promoted Carley Phillips to partner. axios.link/4yehLji

• Laura McGinnis joined VC firm Singular as a London-based partner. She previously was with Balderton Capital. axios.link/4fnqsAu

• Shawn Devilla and Leslie Ford joined Norwest's growth equity team as a principal and head of operations, respectively. Devilla previously was with Carlyle, while Ford was at Alpine Investors. norwest.com