Truth Social's parent company has spent most of 2024 trading sky-high, despite generating less revenue than some individual Substacks.

• But lately it's slid toward the soured SPAC pack.

Why it matters: Former President Trump holds nearly 115 million shares, and is allowed to begin selling in a month from yesterday.

• Were he to do so, it could be a financial gamechanger for his campaign. Depending on the price.

The latest: Trump Media & Technology Group yesterday traded below $20 for the first time since merging with a SPAC on March 26.

• That's down around 75% from its 2024 high, which means Trump has lost billions of dollars in paper value.
• This is despite receiving 36 million extra shares in late April, thanks to a generous earnout provision.
• It also means lots of shareholders, including retail investors, are deep in the red. Particularly if they bought three years ago when the SPAC merger was first announced, and the intraday share price hit $175.

By the numbers: Trump's position was valued at around $2.3 billion as of yesterday's close.

• Still a pretty heady figure going into the lockup expiration, although it was $3.46 billion just one month ago. At that pace, he'd be down to $1.5 billion by the time he can sell.

Zoom out: It's remarkable that there's even a few million dollars of market value in a little-used social media copycat like Truth Social, let alone billions of dollars.

• Chalk it up to Trump's rabid fandom and meme stock culture.

The bottom line: Trump hasn't disclosed his stock plans.

• He's in something of a chicken-and-egg situation, in that any disposals could spark a sell-off that tanks the value of his remaining shares.
• Plus, it's unclear if there would be buyers for millions of shares, let alone at market prices.
• Particularly as Trump recently returned to Twitter/X, albeit with much less posting volume than on Truth Social, where he continues to honor a social media "exclusivity" agreement that has carveouts for political messaging.

OpenAI is in talks to raise new funding at a valuation north of $100 billion, led by a $1 billion investment from existing backer Thrive Capital, as first reported by the WSJ. Microsoft also would return.

Why it's the BFD: This comes as OpenAI prepares to launch a search product that could challenge Google.

Details: Still hazy. No word yet on the primary vs. secondary share breakdown, if any, and if Microsoft's commitment would be in cash or cloud credits.

The bottom line: This round would keep OpenAI in third place among the world's most valuable startups — below ByteDance and SpaceX, but above Shein and Stripe.

• Miris, a Culver City, Calif., provider of spatial content streaming solutions, raised $26m led by IAG Capital Partners. miris.com

• Swiss-Mile, a Swiss maker of wheeled-legged robots, raised around $20m at a valuation north of $100m from Amazon Industrial Innovation Fund, Bezos Expeditions, HongShan, Armada Investment, and Linear Capital. axios.link/3X7CO5B

• Pylon, a B2B customer service platform, raised $17m in Series A funding. A16z led, and was joined by YC and General Catalyst. axios.link/4dTx6Ly

• Bland AI, a conversational AI platform for enterprise phone calls, raised $16m in Series A funding led by Scale Venture Partners. axios.link/4cP6Ssm

• Uniqkey, a Danish cybersecurity startup, raised €5.35m led by BackingMinds. axios.link/4779n8j

• Inventive AI, a Mountain View, Calif., tool for streamlining RFP and sales questionnaire workflows, raised $4m. Sierra Ventures led, and was joined by YC, Soma Capital, and General Catalyst. inventive.ai

• Peregrine Exploration, developer of the Level stablecoin protocol, raised $3.6m co-led by Polychain Capital and Dragonfly. level.money

• Agency, an SF-based AI agent observability and testing platform , raised $2.6m in pre-seed funding co-led by 645 Ventures and Afore Capital. agen.cy

• Pryzm, a Boston platform for accelerating government contract capture, raised $2m in seed funding. XYZ VC led, and was joined by Amplify LA and First In. axios.link/3T7yQsh

🚑 Archimed acquired Irrimax, a Lawrenceville, Ga., maker of antimicrobial wound management products. irrisept.com

• BenefitHub, a portfolio company of Inverness Graham, acquired Abenity, a Franklin, Tenn., provider of private perks programs. benefithub.com

• Falfurrias Management Partners invested in Moxfive, a Tysons, Va., cybersecurity company. moxfive.com

Hillhouse agreed to buy Asia schools from Dulwich College International for around $600m, per Reuters. axios.link/4cIXYwr

• Progress Equity Partners recapitalized Salisbury Moore, a Raleigh, N.C., hotel renovation business. salisburymoore.com

🚑 VION Biosciences, a life sciences rollup platform sponsored by Iron Path Capital, acquired Ansh Labs, a Houston provider of immunoassay kits and reagents. vionbiosciences.com

• Wayve, a British developer of self-driving software, secured a strategic investment from Uber. https://axios.link/47do6i8

• Delivery Hero (ETR: DHER) is prepping a Dubai IPO in Q4 for Middle Eastern unit Talabat. axios.link/3Xmeez2

• Tata Group of India no longer is planning an IPO for its Tata Play content distribution platform, after buying out minority backers like Temasek, per Bloomberg. axios.link/3XmX6tb

• Australian Food & Agriculture, one of Australia's largest farming companies, agreed to go public via Agriculture & Natural Solutions Acquisition Corp. (Nasdaq: ANSC), a SPAC sponsored by Riverstone and Impact Ag, at an implied $510m valuation. axios.link/4cGopmt

• BlackRock launched an auction for SellerX, a Berlin-based Amazon merchant rollup platform that had raised over $1b from firms like L Catterton, Sofina, 83North, Felix Capital, and Cherry Ventures. axios.link/4cKLK6J

• DraftKings (Nasdaq: DKNG) agreed to buy Simplebet, a New York-based provider of in-game wagering that had raised funding from such backers as DraftKings, Gaingels, and Anti Fund. axios.link/4g7aQ2G

⚡ Global Infrastructure Partners agreed to sell its 43% stake in EnLink Midstream (BYSE: ENLC) and its position in Medallion Midstream to ONEOK (NYSE: OKE) or a combined $5.9b. axios.link/3z9JDLM

• A.P. Moller Holding, the family office that controls shipping giant Maersk, agreed to buy Swedish engine products maker Concentric for around $840m. axios.link/3AJ6Vsy

• Samsung Electronics is among those circling Nokia's mobile network assets, which could be worth a total of $10b, per Bloomberg. axios.link/4e4GiwG

• Wilshire Advisors acquired business consultancy XTP Implementation Services. xtp-group.com

• Abry Partners and Coller Capital formed a $1.6b, GP-led credit continuation fund, the largest ever of its kind. axios.link/4cK0OkU

• Blue Cloud Ventures, a New York firm focused on cloud software startups, is raising up to $300m for its fifth fund, per an SEC filing.

• Pemberton Asset Management of London is targeting €3.75b for its fourth opportunistic European credit fund, per the WSJ. axios.link/3XoEdWw

• Veritas Capital is targeting $13b for its ninth flagship tech buyout fund, per PE International. axios.link/3z5Gdtu

• Enrico Chiapparoli is in talks to leave Barclays to join Societe Generale as a Milan-based dealmaker, per Bloomberg. axios.link/4dGBEVB

• Quentin Mulet-Marquis and Jeremie Benhaim are leaving Barclays to join Alvarez & Marsal, per Bloomberg. axios.link/4dy2wal