President Trump yesterday reduced most tariffs to 10% and turned the uncertainty up to 11.

The big picture: Trump's backtrack may not yet unstick the deals market, which in the past week has seen a slew of IPOs and mergers get put on ice.

• Most of these are long-term investments where returns will be realized long after 90 days from now.
• It's just impossible to know what the rules of the road will be, or even find much directional signal. We do now know that Trump will cave if the heat begins to scorch, but there's still a ton of ROI variance in those middle temperatures.

Zoom in: It's much easier to pause a process than to restart one, and few bankers will have interest in stalling out a second time. Reengagement will take some time.

• We know of at least eight large U.S. IPOs that were delayed, plus a handful of mergers and buyout financings.
• And a reminder that Trump's announcement also included an escalation of trade tensions with China, increasing tariffs there to 125%. No one has any idea yet how that situation will be resolved, although it does suggest that there won't be a TikTok deal any time soon.

Behind the scenes: Trump's move also raises major questions about the giant tax package being negotiated, since the White House had promised GOP congresspeople that revenue from high tariffs would offset tax cuts.

• Could make it much harder to keep the carried interest loophole open.

The bottom line: It's safer to look at your stock portfolios again. But not to assume that the bumpy ride is over.

Base Power, a provider of residential backup batteries in Texas, raised $200 million in Series B funding.

Why it's the BFD: Distributed home power — a key building block to creating virtual power plants — has been tough to scale, outside of rooftop solar.

• This is despite a record number of residential battery installations last year, driven by falling prices, government incentives and blackout fears.

Investors include a16z, Addition, Lightspeed, Valor Equity Partners and insiders Thrive Capital, Altimeter, Terraine, and Trust Ventures.

The bottom line: "Most home battery systems are installed by mom-and-pop businesses that can get rocked by market swings. A well-funded player could be better insulated, and maybe provide a rare win for VCs in the space." — Alan Neuhauser, Axios Pro

• Nuro, a Mountain View, Calif.,-based developer of autonomous driving tech, raised $106m in Series E funding at a $6b valuation from T. Rowe Price, Fidelity, Tiger Global, Greylock, and XN. axios.link/42a01Ic

• Tessell, developer of multi-cloud database-as-a-service, raised $60m in Series B funding. WestBridge Capital led, joined by B37 Ventures, Rocketship.vc, and insider Lightspeed Venture Partners. axios.link/4j5wpBE

🚑 Solu Therapeutics, a Boston-based developer of blood cancer immunotherapies , raised $41m in Series A funding from Eli Lilly, Biovision Ventures, Pappas Capital, and Hengdian Group Capital. axios.link/3RbBhZG

• Groundcover, an Israeli eBPF-driven observability platform, raised $35m in Series B funding. Zeev Ventures led, joined by Angular Ventures, Heavybit, and Jibe Ventures. axios.link/3XRUpQ9

• Easebuzz, an Indian payments infrastructure startup, raised $30m in Series A funding. Bessemer Venture Partners led, joined by 8i Ventures and Varanium Capital. axios.link/3FXfHFN

• Artisan, an AI sales agent startup, raised $25m in Series A funding. Glade Brook Capital led, joined by YC, Day One Ventures, HubSpot Ventures, Oliver Jung, and Fellows Fund. axios.link/4ln1iD6

🚑 Bliss Aesthetics, a Florida-based cosmetic surgery startup, raised $17.5m in seed funding. Shine Capital led the financing, followed by Synchrony Ventures, Sheva Ventures, Point72 Ventures, and Cerca Partners. bliss.me

• Outtake, an automation platform for cybersecurity, raised $16.5m in Series A funding. CRV led, joined by Nikesh Aurora and Bill Ackman. outtake.ai

🌎 Simplifyber, a Raleigh, N.C.-based maker of bio-based materials for clothing, raised $12m in Series A funding. Suzano Ventures led, joined by At One Ventures, Techstars, Plug & Play Sustainability Fund, One Small Planet, Staddle Holdings, Collateral Good, M.I.H. Capital, Overlay Capital, and Meliorate Partners. simplifyber.com

• Solve Intelligence, an in-browser document editor, raised $12m in Series A funding led by 20VC. axios.link/3EqSD1I

• Alinea Invest, a Gen Z-focused investing platform, raised $10.4m in Series A funding. Play Ventures led, joined by GFR Fund, YC, Gaingels, FoundersX, F7, and Visible Ventures. axios.link/3G1iAWh

• Neuranics, a Scottish semiconductor startup, raised $8m in seed funding. Blackfinch Ventures led, joined by Archangels, Par Equity, University of Glasgow, and Old College Capital. axios.link/4jjN97Q

• SecondWave Systems, a St. Paul, Minn.-based maker of ultrasonic medical devices, raised $7m in Series A funding led by Treo Ventures. secondwaveus.com

• Ryft, a British decentralized payments provider, raised £5.7m in Series A funding. EdenBase led, joined by GPOS Investments, British Business Bank, Pembroke VCT, Sidebyside and Ingenii VC. axios.link/3EqM1jX

• DIAMO, a NYC-based provider of revenue management software for small hotels, raised $4m in seed funding. Thayer Ventures and Inovia Capital co-led, joined by Avalon Capital Group. axios.link/3E2xVFz

• Conduit, a provider of short-term rental management software, raised $3.1m led by Pi Labs, with participation by YC. axios.link/3G2gRA2

• Dosen, an Irish HR tech platform focused on "quiet quitting," raised $2.3m in pre-seed funding. Affinity Ventures led, joined by Unshackled Ventures and Fuel Ventures. axios.link/427kqgY

• Abry Partners and CAPZA invested in European Dynamics, a Greek provider of e-governance software and digital transformation services. eurodyn.com

• ADIA and CPPIB acquired a €3b stake in IFS, a Swedish enterprise software company, from EQT at a €15b valuation. axios.link/43M2R7p

• Ari Emanuel won the auction for assets including the Miami Open and Madrid Open tennis tournaments from Endeavor Group, per Bloomberg. Apollo and RedBird Capital Partners also participated. axios.link/3XTEMYr

• Bain Capital agreed to buy Utah-based restaurant chain Sizzling Platter for more than $1b (including debt) from CapitalSpring. axios.link/4lnY9Tp

• Bain also is buying a 9.9% stake in Lincoln Financial (NYSE: LNC) for $825m, as part of a strategic partnership. axios.link/42roFD2

• Baker Tilly, an accounting firm backed by Hellman & Friedman and Valeas Capital Partners, is in talks to merge with peer Moss Adams, per the WSJ. axios.link/42pINFm

• Duetto, backed by GrowthCurve Capital, acquired HotStats, a British financial benchmarking tool for hotels. duettocloud.com

• Ethos Capital led an acquisition of a stake in insurance broker BroadStreet Partners, alongside BCI and White Mountains Insurance Group. Existing backer Ontario Teachers maintains a position. axios.link/3G1ONNb

• Frontline Road Safety, a Denver-based portfolio company of Bain Capital, acquired InfraStripe, a Charlotte-based contractor focused on roadway safety solutions, from Soundcore Capital Partners. infrastripe.com

• I Squared Capital may have trouble completing its takeover of Hong Kong broadband provider HKBN (HK: 1310), after China Mobile agreed to acquire a 15.5% stake from TPG at the sale share price (HK$5.23) that I Squared plans to pay. axios.link/4i7rWND

• Kassel, a Columbus, Ohio-based installer of MEPF systems, raised $40m from Paceline Equity Partners. kasselmechanical.com

• LongueVue Capital invested in Daedalus Industrial, a Bradenton, Fla.-based maker of management and control systems for data centers and industrials. daedalusindustrial.com

⚡ MidOcean Partners agreed to help finance development of the Energy Transfer's (NYSE: ET) Lake Charles LNG export facility in Louisiana, including 30% of the construction costs in exchange for 30% of the LNG production. axios.link/427JTGY

⚡ Mubadala agreed to buy a 24% stake in SoTex, which operates a U.S. shale gas field and is prepping an LNG export terminal, from Kimmeridge for "hundreds of millions" of dollars. axios.link/4idGiM9

• AIRO Group, a Washington, D.C.-based air mobility company, set IPO terms to 5m shares at $14-$16. It plans to list on the Nasdaq (AIRO), and reports nearly a $39m net loss for 2024 on around $86m in revenue. axios.link/4joAOiC

• Pelican Acquisition, a tech SPAC led by Robert Labbe (MCAP Realty Advisors), filed for a $75m IPO. axios.link/4283SFE

• Titan Acquisition Corp., a SPAC targeting finance and tech-enabled services, raised $240m in its IPO. axios.link/4ikY5kY

• Keppel of Singapore is weighing a $450m sale of waste management firm 800 Super, per Bloomberg. axios.link/4j6sg0m

• Prada (HK: 1913) announced that it will pay $1.38b in cash to acquire Versace from Capri (NYSE: CPRI), or more than $100m less than the original agreement. axios.link/3G4RmOs

• ThyssenKrupp is weighing a sale of its materials trading unit, which could fetch up to €2b, per Bloomberg. axios.link/3G22wDG

• Topgolf Callaway Brands (NYSE: MODG) agreed to sell its Jack Wolfskin apparel business to China's ANTA Sports for $290m in cash. axios.link/42oQ20d

• DIG Ventures of London raised $100m for irs first institutional fund, backed by LPs like Hillman Co., Granite Capital, Sofina, and Grove Street. axios.link/4ctQGOH

• KSL Capital Partners of Denver raised $1.44b for its second tactical opportunities fund. kslcapital.com

• Precursor Ventures raised $66m for its fifth fund. axios.link/3Ym1EQw

• Revent, a German VC firm, raised €100 million for its second fund focused on "planetary and societal health" startups. axios.link/3G4FRXp

• Symphonic raised $13.5m for its debut fund focused on digital health and fintech startups. axios.link/4jkQHXu

• Paul Atkins was confirmed as Securities & Exchange Commission chair by the U.S. Senate. axios.link/4idOZWW

• Pierre-Emmanuel Brard joined Blackstone, focused on raising capital from insurers. He previously was with Fidelity in Singapore. axios.link/3XPbtq4

• Mikael Dolsten, Pfizer's former chief scientist, joined Blackstone Life Sciences as a senior adviser. axios.link/42p4Ig6

• Matt Kraning, co-founder and former CTO of Expanse (acquired by Palo Alto Networks), joined Menlo Ventures as a partner. axios.link/4j6XFQh

• Jeff McNelley joined Starr Private Equity Partners as a managing director. He previously was with Allstate Investments as head of North American private equity. axios.link/43NZCfB

• Andrew Rosato joined placement agent FIRSTavenue as a partner. He previously was a partner with Triago. axios.link/4jpsaR8

• Upfront Ventures promoted Jacques Sisteron, Kesar Varma, and Peter Zakin to partners. upfront.com

Inflation was cooler than expected in March, as energy prices fell.

• CPI rose 2.4% year-over-year, compared to 2.6% expectations and February's 2.8% mark.
• Core CPI rose 2.8% year-over-year, and just 0.1% in March, compared to 3.1% in the prior report.