Elon Musk revels in being politically incorrect, but yesterday crossed a line into outright racism. In response, his top investors shrugged.

• Musk agreed with a tweet that said, in part: "If White men become a minority, we will be slaughtered ... White solidarity is the only way to survive."
• The original tweet's author soon added another tweet promoting his own book that "explains why racism is moral and why White men were sentenced to emasculation after WW2."
• Musk's tweet remains up and has 42 million views.

Some X users sought to excuse Musk by arguing that the original tweet wasn't racist, or that racism no longer matters in 2026. Sorry, I don't have time for such mush-minded drivel.

I did, however, reach out via phone or email to each of the investors named by Musk's xAI in this week's $20 billion fundraising announcement:

• Valor Equity Partners, Stepstone Group, Fidelity, Qatar Investment Authority, MGX, Baron Capital Group, Sequoia Capital, Nvidia, and Cisco Investments.

My question was if they had any comment on Musk's tweet or plans to speak with him about it.

• Fidelity and Sequoia declined comment. The rest didn't even bother to respond.

Investors obviously aren't responsible for the words of their portfolio company CEOs — that lies with the CEOs themselves — but there is a loud statement to founders in the silence: If you consistently return capital, as Musk does, then nothing else matters.

• Message received.

⛏️ Mining for mergers: Stop me if you've heard this one before: Rio Tinto is in preliminary talks to buy Glencore, in what could create the world's largest mining company.

• The companies flirted in both 2014 and 2024 without marrying, so it's unclear if this time will be different.
• Rio Tinto has until Feb. 5 to make a formal bid.

💰 Narrative violation: Business leaders and investors love to extol the benefits of "certainty," but JPMorgan's global head of M&A argues that uncertainty is driving the current deal boom. And she expects it to continue in 2026.

• Anu Aiyengar tells Reuters that companies are seeking scale as a bulwark against geopolitical and tech disruption, often using acquisitions as the most efficient lever.

📺 Cable cut: On Tuesday we wrote about how Warner Bros. Discovery shareholders will pay close attention to the stock price of Comcast spinoff Versant Media, when deciding whether or not to tender their shares to Paramount by the Jan. 21 deadline.

• Since then, Versant shares have fallen another 16.5%. That puts them down nearly 28% for the week.

Andreessen Horowitz has raised over $15 billion for a group of new funds, including $6.75 billion for its fifth growth equity fund.

Why it's the BFD: This is a major boost to the U.S. venture capital market, which just experienced its weakest year for fundraising since 2017.

• Domestic VC firms secured just $66.1 billion for new funds in 2025, down from $101.3 billion in 2024 and well below the 2022 peak of nearly $223 billion, per preliminary data from PitchBook and the NVCA.

Shots fired: A16z co-founder Ben Horowitz referred to his firm as "the American leader in Venture Capital," in a blog post announcing the funds.

The bottom line: The VC market's fundraising slump was driven by a prolonged lack of distributions, via either IPO or strategic sales, with investors wanting old money back before putting new money in.

• That dynamic began to course correct in Q4, particularly for AI investments, which could mean that a16z's success is the tip of the spear.

🚑 AirNexis Therapeutics, developer of a COPD drug, raised $200m in Series A funding. Frazier Life Sciences led, joined by OrbiMed, SR One, Goldman Sachs Alternatives, Longitude Capital, and Enavate Sciences. axios.link/49h2zYA

🚑 EpiBiologics, a San Mateo, Calif.-based developer of protein degraders for cancer and immune diseases, raised $107m in Series B funding. GV and JJDC led, joined by Novartis Venture Fund, Samsara BioCapital, and Polaris Partners. axios.link/3YZWHNc

🚑 Beacon Therapeutics, a vision biotech with offices in London and Massachusetts, raised $75m in Series C funding. Goldman Sachs Alternatives led, joined by the Retinal Degeneration Fund, Syncona, Forbion, Oxford Science Enterprises, and Advent Life Sciences. axios.link/4qK5P4q

🚑 Bit.bio, a British synthetic biology platform, raised $50m in Series C funding. led by M&G Investments. axios.link/4qhzVMS

🚑 Vizgen, a spatial biology and multiomics biotech, raised $48m in Series E funding from Arch Venture Partners, Northpond Ventures and M Ventures. axios.link/4srhoz3

🚑 Boltz, a developer of biotech models, raised $28m in seed funding from Zetta, Amplify, a16z, Hugging Face CEO Clement Delangue, Factorial Capital, and Obvious Ventures. axios.link/3Lu21Fn

🚑 Engitix, a London-based cancer and fibrosis biotech, raised $25m in a Series A extension from Netherton Investments. axios.link/451uFV9

🚑 Enodia Therapeutics, a French protein degrader biotech, raised €20.7m in seed funding. Elaia, Pfizer Ventures and Bpifrance led, joined by Wallonie Entreprendre, Argobio Studio, MACSF, The Institut Pasteur, InvestSud, Sambrinvest, and Mission BioCapital. axios.link/3Li3Wgl

🚑 Aurora Therapeutics, a personalized genetic medicines startup founded by Jennifer Doudna, raised $16m in seed funding from Menlo Ventures. axios.link/4qF8496

• Spangle, a Seattle-based e-commerce personalization startup, raised $15m at a $100m post-money valuation. NewRoad Capital Partners led, joined by Madrona, DNX Ventures, and Streamlined Ventures. axios.link/4bkg6zO

🚑 Topos Bio, an SF-based AI drug discovery startup, raised $10.5m in seed funding, per Axios Pro. Backers include Boldstart, Threshold, Neo, Dara Khosrowshahi, and Naveen Rao. axios.link/44YAIKa

• Onsetto, a Minneapolis-based business banking platform, raised $2.2m in seed funding led by EJF Ventures. axios.link/45K6Ilj

• 11:11 System, a Fairfield, N.J.-based portfolio company of Tiger Infrastructure Partners, acquired Ntirety, an Austin, Texas-based managed and professional IT services firm. axios.link/3Z4Es9i

• Brightwood Capital Advisors acquired museum chain Museum of Illusions from Invera Capital Partners (which retains a minority stake). axios.link/3Yv44fu

• Cleanova, a U.K. industrial filtration firm owned by PX3 Partners, acquired both Airflotek (Suwanee, Ga.) and TES-Clean Air Systems (Tracy, Calif.). axios.link/3YvDjHF

• Currier Platics, a Sheridan Capital Partners portfolio company, acquired two medical contract manufacturing businesses: Springboard Manufacturing (Rancho Cordova, Calif.) and MOS Plastics (San Jose, Calif.). axios.link/3NARE3d

• Fenceworks, a portfolio company of Gemspring Capital, acquired Accurate Fence, a provider of permanent fencing installation in the Atlanta area. axios.link/3N9NDCQ

• Gryphon Investors acquired Safety Management Group, an Indianapolis provider of outsourced safety services, from NMS Capital. axios.link/3Lqp2Ji

⚡ H&MV Engineering, an Exponent portfolio company, acquired Cooke Power Services, an Amarillo, Texas-based power infrastructure company. axios.link/3NbFv4K

• Interprose, a portfolio company of Wingman Growth Partners, acquired Beam Software, a Sarasota, Fla.-based provider of software for debt buyers, debt servicers, and third party collection agencies. axios.link/4bmU7Iq

• Radial Equity Partners acquired Cortina, a Franklin Park, Ill.-based manufacturer of traffic and work zone safety products. axios.link/4qFL0XH

• Vanda, a U.K. portfolio company of FPE Capital, acquired Exante Data, an NYC-based data analytics and global macro strategy provider, axios.link/49mhzo5

🚑 Aktis Oncology, a Cambridge, Mass.-based biotech focused on solid tumors, raised $318m in its IPO. It priced 17.7m shares at $18, versus initial plans to offer 11.76m shares at $16-$18, for a $1b fully diluted value. It will list on the Nasdaq (AKTS) and had raised over $330m in VC funding from MPM (26.2% pre-IPO stake), Vida Ventures (14.3%), EcoR1 Capital (10.5%), Blue Owl (7%), Merck, Cowen Healthcare Investments, ArrowMark Partners, Mirae Asset Venture Investment, Timefolio Capital, Pappas Capital, Bristol Myers Squibb, and Novartis. axios.link/4qjlmZa

• Bleichroeder Acquisition II, a SPAC led by Andrew Gundlach, raised $250m in its IPO. axios.link/4qbIQzJ

• Cantor Equity Partners VI, the 15th SPAC formed by Cantor Fitzgerald, filed for a $100m IPO. axios.link/4qeWrWM

• Snowflake (NYSE: SNOW) agreed to acquire Observe, a San Mateo, Calif., observability platform that's raised nearly $500m from firms like Snowflake Ventures, Sutter Hill Ventures, Madrona, Alumni Ventures, and Capital One Ventures. axios.link/4sxvf78

• Anta Sports (HK: 2020) offered to buy a 29% stake in listed German sportswear group Puma from France's Pinault family, per Reuters. axios.link/3YxV0X9

• Coincheck Group (Nasdaq: CNCK) agreed to acquire Canadian digital asset manager 3iQ for around $112m in stock. axios.link/4q9ACHT

🚑 IntelyCare, a Quincy, Mass.-based nursing platform that's raised $170m in VC funding, acquired CareRev, an LA-based workforce platform focused on acute care. CareRev raised over $100m from firms like SC UpShot Ventures, Four Cities Capital, Stonewater Ventures, Realm Capital Ventures, Acacia Venture Capital Partners, SNR, and Hands On Angel. axios.link/4pvuM2v

• MCR Hotels said it can't fully fund the $200m equity commitment tied to its $2.7b take-private of Soho House (NYSE: SHCO), sending Soho shares down sharply. BFD flashback

🚑 Merck (NYSE: MRK) is in talks to buy oncology biotech Revolution Medicines (Nasdaq: RVMD) for upwards of $32b, per the FT. axios.link/4qONsvi

• OpenAI is acqui-hiring the team behind Convogo, a leadership coaching software startup that had been seeded by South Park Commons. axios.link/4sMVo1Y

• Paul Allen's estate sold its holdings in wealth management firm Cercano Management to firm employees, per Bloomberg. axios.link/4jwFogd

🚑 Argosy Healthcare Partners promoted Ryan Noon to partner. axios.link/44WGXOA

• Encore Consumer Capital promoted Jen Quindlen to VP. axios.link/49flC5m

🚑 Martis Capital Management promoted Phillip Campbell and David Zhang to principals and Jack Stoney to VP. axios.link/4jx3FCU

• NewView Capital promoted Nick Bunick to partner. axios.link/49rAVGP

• Adam Pollak joined Portage Point Partners as head of advisory. He previously was wth KPMG. axios.link/3LBL1Ny