Wish.com once was a high-flying ecommerce unicorn, raising billions from VCs before going public in 2020 at a $14.1 billion valuation.

• Now, its corporate carcass is being used to buy producers of dimethyl sulfide and evaporated salt.

It's all the brainchild of BC Partners, whose credit arm is using huge net operating losses (NOL) to indirectly fund acquisitions of profitable businesses.

• BC first got involved 18 months ago, via a $150 million convertible preferred investment in ContextLogic Holdings, which was a Nasdaq-listed shell after having divested the Wish.com assets for only $161 million.
• It was basically a recap, in partnership with Abrams Capital, resulting in a company that had a modest cash reserve and nearly $4 billion of NOLs.

The strategy is about taxes, which ContextLogic won't need to pay until the NOL offsets are all used up.

• In the meantime, BC is helping ContextLogic buy stable, profitable businesses in niche industries. So far from private equity sponsors in search of DPI.
• The first was US Salt, which it bought last year for $907.5 million from Emerald Lake Capital Management. The second came yesterday, when ContextLogic agreed to buy specialty chemicals firm gChem for around $850 million from EagleTree Capital.
• Each deal is structured as a rights offering in which ContextLogic shareholders can participate. If they don't, BC Partners and Abrams take the positions — in addition to using their pro rata shares.

"The stock market usually gives no value to NOLs until you start using them," explains Ted Goldthorpe, head of BC Partners Credit. "This is always something I wanted to do, but there aren't too many companies with big NOLs that don't also have environmental or litigation liabilities."

• He believes there's a large universe of potential targets, possibly as alternatives to SPAC mergers.
• "When we first started this, I got a lot of calls from peers asking how it works," Goldthorpe adds. "It's early days still but I wouldn't be surprised to see others do something similar."

Discovery Loop, a new startup founded by four of Google's top AI researchers, has raised what a source calls "hundreds of millions" of dollars in first-round funding.

Why it's the BFD: This is part of a massive leadership shakeup at Alphabet, which has reverted to also-ran status in the AI race.

• Demis Hassabis is transitioning from CEO of Google DeepMind to chairman.
• Chief scientist Jeff Dean, a 27-year Google veteran, is leaving to launch Discovery Loop. He's being joined by Google senior fellow Sanjay Ghemawat, DeepMind vice president Oriol Vinyals, and Google Brain co-founder Quoc Le.

Deal details: Radical Ventures and Khosla Ventures led the Discovery Loop round, joined by Lightspeed, Kleiner Perkins, and Doerr Capital.

• Also participating was Alphabet, which signed a long-term cloud and compute partnership with Discovery Loop.
• Financial terms weren't disclosed.

Market reax: Alphabet shares fell 4% yesterday on the news, but remain up 45% in 2026 and 163% over the past 12 months.

The bottom line: Discovery Loop says its goal is to "automate the experimental loops of science and engineering." Vinod Khosla tweeted that the impact "could be larger than the impact that Google had when we backed them in 1998 at Kleiner."

• Hadrian, a Torrance, Calif.-based defense manufacturer, raised $1.37b at a post-money valuation just shy of $8b from JPMorgan, WCM Investment Management, Washington Harbour Partners, Valor Equity Partners, 137 Ventures, and Baillie Gifford. axios.link/4gfIBRb

• Iceye, a Finnish satellite observation provider, raised €1b in Series F funding led by Scaleup Europe Fund at a valuation north of €10b. axios.link/45HWa5S

🚑 Pathos AI, a Chicago-based AI drug developer, is raising up to $300m in Series E funding at an approximately $3b valuation, per Endpoints News. axios.link/4gfuz1S

🚑 LifeMine Therapeutics, a Cambridge, Mass.-based immunosuppressant developer, raised $263m in combined Series D and E funding from backers like RA Capital Management, GV, GSK, Bill Gates, and Jeff Bezos. axios.link/3RLJZlj

• P-1 AI, an SF-based developer of AI engineering software, raised $50m in Series A financing led by NEA. axios.link/3RMRPew

• Aurelius Systems, an SF-based developer of counter-drone tech, raised $40m in Series A funding. Draper Associates and KAS Venture Partners led, joined by General Catalyst, Hanwha Defense USA, Outlander, Alumni Ventures, Bravo Victor Venture Capital, Detroit Venture Partners, and Decisive Point. axios.link/4xkLeXJ

🌎 WindBorne Systems, a Palo Alto, Calif.-based maker of smart weather balloons, raised $37m in Series B funding led by Khosla Ventures and Galvanize. axios.link/3SbrBm1

• Sapiom, an SF-based startup that helps agents buy their own tech tools, raised $35m in Series A funding. Dragonfly led, joined by Accel, Gradient, Coinbase Ventures, Operator Collective, Formus Capital, and VanEck Ventures. axios.link/4fVBCf0

• Maximum, a developer of core banking software, raised $30m in seed funding. CRV led, joined by Pear VC, Restive, Plug and Play Ventures, and Anthemis. axios.link/4xeebV2

• InRisk Labs, a risk and reinsurance platform, raised $27m in Series A funding led by Bessemer Venture Partners and Northpoint Capital. axios.link/4fUjdiD

• Ordway, a Washington, D.C.-based monetization and billing platform, raised $20m in equity and debt funding. Harbert Growth Partners led the equity and Western Alliance Bank provided the debt. axios.link/4fGUz6m

🚑 Assured, an NYC-based platform for health-care provider ops, raised $19m in Series A funding. Insight Partners led, joined by First Round Capital and Kindred Ventures. axios.link/4gdCKMf

• Pinegap, an equity research platform, raised $8m in Series A funding. Stellaris Venture Partners led, joined by insiders Inventus, Silicon Valley Quad, and DeVC. axios.link/4xmSHWe

• Avatar Robotics, a maker of industrial labor robots, raised $6.5m in seed funding. AlleyCorp led, joined by Defy VC, and Headline. axios.link/4hgEd5E

🚑 SkinBit, developer of a full-body scanner for skin cancer, raised $6m in pre-seed funding from Boost VC, Cleo Capital, Manna Ventures, Profluent Capital, Logan Green, and Adam Draper. axios.link/4z0M6T2

• Proxy Foods AI, a food and beverage R&D platform, raised $6m in seed funding. Ted Leonsis led, joined by Robert Hisaoka and Swan & Legend Venture Partners. axios.link/4zeTytY

• Shelfmark, a Pittsburgh-based manufacturing monitoring startup, raised $3.5m in seed funding. Armory Square Ventures led, joined by Grand Ventures, Hyde Park Angels, Argon Ventures, and Cultivation Capital. axios.link/4ySrSL4

• RevealDx, a Seattle-based startup focused on AI characterization of lung nodules, raised $3.4m from 4DMedical (ASX: 4DX). axios.link/3UdNguk

• Hulp, an Indian personal assistance and concierge platform, raised $2.6m in seed funding. Sparrow Capital and Bitkraft Ventures led, joined by DeVC. axios.link/3TDWBeQ

⛳ LIV Golf, which recently lost the financial support of Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund, yesterday said that "a lead investor has signed a term sheet approved by our board, which will carry and fund LIV going forward."

• Sources tells me that BC Partners is that lead investor, even though neither the firm nor LIV will confirm. Also no word on deal terms, including if it's equity or debt, or on when the actual investment contract might be signed.
• Axios reported in May that LIV Golf was seeking to raise up to $250 million, plus plans to sell equity stakes in its teams.

• Accell Group, a Dutch bikemaker taken private by KKR for €1.6b in 2022, is entering an insolvency process. axios.link/4wHfCLP

• Arcwood Environmental, a portfolio company of EQT and Ardian, acquired Environmental Management Services, a Rockland, Md.-based waste management company. axios.link/4pXxwYr

• Bain Capital agreed to buy bubble tea chain Gong Cha from TA Associates. axios.link/4wfzi8O

• CVC Capital Partners and Veritas Capital each bid around £1.6b to buy British heat treatment firm Bodycote (LSE: BOY). axios.link/45J8xyy

⚡ Facility Grid, a Nexa Equity portfolio company, acquired PingCx, an NYC-based autonomous commissioning platform for building automation systems. facilitygrid.com

• Gorgeous Collective, a portfolio company of MPK Equity Partners, acquired Clean Your Dirty Face, a Chicago-based skin care and spa franchise. axios.link/3TvJxrZ

• I Squared Capital agreed to acquire Cella, an Indonesian industrial logistics and cold storage platform, from NWP Property and CRE. axios.link/4fExL7c

🚑 KKR agreed to buy the India hospital unit of Sweden's Medicover (ST: MCOV) for €1.2b. axios.link/4fL51Iw

⚡ LS Power agreed to acquire the Brazos Valley Energy Center, a 606-MW natural gas-fired facility in Texas, from Constellation Energy (Nasdaq: CEG). axios.link/45HV8Xv

• Mortgage Automator, a BVP Forge portfolio company, acquired Lendr, a Chicago-based provider of working-capital and invoice-factoring programs for small businesses. axios.link/4xsNoVr

• Partners Group said it's in exclusive talks to buy French beauty and wellness brand Aroma-Zone from Eurazeo, with WSJ reporting the price would be around $2.3b. axios.link/4c0rHna

⚡ Partners Group agreed to invest around $1b for a majority stake in AVK Power Solutions, a U.K. provider of backup power solutions for data centers and AI infrastructure. axios.link/4fS90mL

🚑 Tortuga Growth Partners invested in Advanced eClinical Training, a Boston-based clinical certification and training company. axios.link/4wSqp5W

⚡ Veritas Capital acquired a majority stake in Saber Power Services, a Houston-based power infrastructure services platform, from Greenbelt Capital Management. axios.link/4fYw7fC

🚑 Braveheart Bio, an SF-based developer of therapeutics for hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, raised $382.5m in its IPO. It sold 21.3m shares at $18, versus plans to sell 18.8m at $15-$17, and will list on the Nasdaq (BRVE). Braveheart had raised $185m in VC funding from a16z, Forbion, OrbiMed, Enavate Sciences, and Frazier Life Sciences. axios.link/4whSHGh

• Gravity Acquisition, a SPAC led by Iris Zhao (Future Fintech Group), filed for a $250m IPO. axios.link/4z6Ua4S

⚡ Energy Capital Partners raised $8.1b for its sixth flagship fund. axios.link/4wcZhh7

• Sequoia Capital raised $10b for new growth equity funds, per Businessweek. axios.link/4wIsPUZ

• South Park Commons raised $575m for its fourth flagship VC fund. axios.link/4fGoPhx

• White Star Capital, a London-based VC firm, raised $250m for its fourth flagship fund. axios.link/3Sjjl3n

🚑 Allison Toman joined Norwest as a principal focused on health care deals. She previously was with Medtronic. axios.link/4xmQHgG

⚡ Michael O'Dwyer is stepping down as Morgan ‌Stanley's global co-head of energy to join ADNOC as chief investment officer, per Reuters. axios.link/4wNy4Te

Peter Crisp, founding partner of Venrock, passed away on Tuesday at the age of 93.

• In 1959, Crisp read a Time Magazine article about Laurance Rockefeller's VC investing philosophy. He wrote Rockefeller a letter, which led to a job and eventually the formation of Venrock — a venture firm that for decades helped fund the Rockefeller's philanthropic ventures.
• Among its best early deals was for Apple, where Crisp would sit on the board for 16 years.

Venrock statement: "We are truly standing on the shoulders of giants. Peter's legacy lives on through the companies he helped build, the Venrock partners he mentored, and everyone else here at Venrock. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family and friends."

Worthy of your time: The Computer History Museum's oral history with Peter Crisp.

Big Tech is dominating venture capital investment in U.S. AI startups, as the circular economy keeps spinning.

• Axios' Mady Mills writes that the most active player by deal value is Nvidia, even if some of those checks could help future competitors. Go deeper.