One of President Trump's first actions upon retaking office was to postpone enforcement of a law that required TikTok to be banned in the U.S. if still controlled by China's ByteDance.

• That decision, and several that sprang from it, are the crux of a lawsuit that theoretically could cost TikTok U.S. — now under new ownership — hundreds of billions of dollars. And possibly lead to renegotiation of the sale itself.

Catch up quick: Trump's original executive order was contrary to both the letter and spirit of the TikTok ban law, as we wrote at the time, because the President only was allowed to offer an extension if there was a qualified divestiture deal on the table — which there wasn't.

• But it was politically expedient, allowing Trump to portray himself as the savior of a very popular social media app.
• He then would repeat the process several more times, before eventually blessing a deal whereby Oracle (led by Trump pal Larry Ellison), private equity firm Silver Lake and Abu Dhabi investment firm MGX would jointly control 45% of TikTok U.S.
• That transaction closed this past January, with existing ByteDance investors holding around one-third of TikTok U.S. and ByteDance retaining nearly 20% (which was the legal limit).
• TikTok U.S. licensed the app's algorithm from ByteDance, but is responsible for U.S. data protection and content moderation.

Driving the news: The new lawsuit argues that Trump's executive orders were illegal and that the algorithm arrangement violates the law's requirement that ByteDance not maintain an "operational relationship" with TikTok U.S.

• It's spearheaded by Brendan Ballou, a Justice Department antitrust prosecutor under former President Biden, who recently launched a new law firm focused on what he refers to as political corruption.
• But the actual plaintiffs are a pair of individual shareholders in Meta and Google parent Alphabet, respectively, who argue they suffered financial harm by TikTok not being banned. For the record, neither Meta nor Alphabet ever sued over Trump's TikTok actions.
• The defendants are Trump and Attorney General Pam Bondi, both in their official capacities.

Zoom in: Ballou tells me that the request will be for a declaratory judgment from the court, which could lead to up to $850 billion in penalties — calculated by the fines that TikTok could have been required to pay for operating past the initial divestiture deadline.

• "If that happens, I suspect a new deal comes out of it," Ballou says.

State of play: The White House is likely to file a motion to dismiss the suit, although it didn't respond to a request for comment from Axios.

The bottom line: Yes, this lawsuit reads like a longshot. And ignores that Alphabet, by continuing to host TikTok in the Google Play Store, also could have been subject to large civil penalties (thus indirectly harming one of the plaintiffs).

• But it's presenting a reasonable dispute over how TikTok U.S. came to be, which means this long-running saga may not actually be over.

Science Corp., a brain implant startup led by Neuralink co-founder Max Hodak, raised $230 million in Series C funding at a $1.5b valuation.

Why it's the BFD: Science appears likely to bring the world's first computer-brain interface to market, initially in Europe, ahead of Neuralink or other rivals.

• The tiny retinal implant called PRIMA would be aimed at patients with advanced macular degeneration, which Hodak has referred to as the vision equivalent of what Cochlear implants have done for hearing.

Investors include Lightspeed, Khosla Ventures, Y Combinator, Quiet Capital, and IQT.

The bottom line: "[Science] bought PRIMA's assets in 2024 from French outfit Pixium Vision, refined it, and completed trials that Pixium had started. But the clinical results Science has since generated are its own. In trials spanning 47 patients ... 80% demonstrated meaningful improvement in visual acuity and were able to read letters, numbers, and words." — Connie Loizos, TechCrunch

• Nominal, an Austin, Texas-based industrial software startup, raised $80m in Series B extension funding at a $1b valuation. Founders Fund led, joined by Sequoia Capital, Lux Capital, and General Catalyst. axios.link/4laiA6J

• Silverflow, an Amsterdam-based card payments processing startup, raised $40m in Series B funding. Picus Capital led, joined by Rabo Investments, Inkef, Global PayTech Ventures, Crane Venture Partners, and Coatue. axios.link/4d3pMzu

🚑 Minnesota Medical Technologies, a Stewartville, Minn.-based continence care company, raised $20.6m in Series A funding led by HM Venture Partners and Southeast Minnesota Capital Partners. axios.link/3Nij8Lm

• Levitate, a Raleigh, N.C.-based relationship marketing platform, raised $16m led by Harbert Growth Partners, with participation from Bull City Venture Partners and Northwestern Mutual Future Ventures. axios.link/4roOs9q

• Utexo, a provider of infrastructure to settle USDT on Bitcoin, raised $7.5m in seed funding from Tether, Portal Ventures, Big Brain Holdings, Franklin Templeton, Maven 11, Ethereal Ventures, Alchemy, and Auros, per Axios Pro. axios.link/40havUh

• Denki, a SF-based audit automation startup, raised $4.1m co-led by Base10 Partners and Shine Capital, with participation from YC and 20VC. axios.link/4smEqWX

• Cheer Games, a Barcelona-based mobile puzzle game studio, raised $4.5m in pre-seed funding. Makers Fund led, joined by Play Ventures. axios.link/4b9kYWS

• TaxDown, a Madrid-based digital taxation fintech, raised €4m from BBVA Spark. axios.link/4rZhhu0

🌍 Vor Systems, an SF-based provider of clean energy dealmaking software, raised $3m in pre-seed funding. Gigascale Capital led, joined by Virta Ventures. axios.link/4uhh4UE

• Ardurra, a Miami-based engineering and consulting firm backed by LittleJohn & Co., acquired Remington & Vernick, a Cherry Hill, N.J.-based engineering consultancy. axios.link/4ucPmIs

• Axel Springer, backed by KKR, agreed to acquire Telegraph Media Group for £575m in cash. axios.link/4udyCkr

• Goldman Sachs Alternatives carved out Mace Consult, a program and project management services provider, from London's Mace Group. axios.link/4b6sW2K

• Sundance Growth invested in Guardhouse, an Australian security workforce management platform. axios.link/47e9UGE

• Tributary Group of Chicago invested in Softworks, a Canadian provider of regulatory and workforce management software. axios.link/4bq65Rd

• Victor Capital Partners acquired Specialty Fenestration Group, a Houston-based specialty fenestration platform whose brands include Quikserv and United States Bullet Proofing, from River Associates Investments. axios.link/47fMS29

🎲 Visualize acquired BMM Testlabs, a Las Vegas-based provider of testing, inspection, compliance, and certification services to the gaming market. axios.link/46HM85R

🚑 MiniMed Group, a diabetes management device and tech business being carved out of Medtronic (NYSE: MDT), raised $560m in its IPO. It priced a $20 per share, well below its $25-$28 range, for an initial market cap of $5.6b. It will list on the Nasdaq (MMED). axios.link/40i7ItZ

• KPET Ultra Paceline, a SPAC led by ex-TPG Pace Group execs, filed for a $200m IPO. axios.link/4csaK6c

🍩 Inspire Brands, the Roark Capital-based owner of fast-food brands like Dunkin' and Arby's, is in early talks about an IPO that could raise $2b, per Bloomberg. And, yes, it would be the most important IPO ever ... or at least since the last time Dunkin' went public.

• Seal Shield acquired Vioguard, a maker of sanitization products for keyboards and devices. Sellers include Imagen Capital Partners. axios.link/4lh3WuI

• TA Associates hired JPMorgan to find a buyer for bubble-tea brand Gong cha, which could fetch around $2b, per Bloomberg. axios.link/4srQF4H

• Denso (Tokyo: 6902), an auto-parts supplier affiliated with Toyota, offered to acquire Japanese chipmaker Rohm (T: 6963). axios.link/4ucXAQN

• Informa (LSE: INF) is weighing a sale of its Monaco-based luxury events, including the Monaco Yacht Show, per Reuters. axios.link/4bc0U69

• Netflix (Nasdaq: NFLX) acquired InterPositive, a film making tech startup founded by Ben Affleck. axios.link/4cvOY1p

🎢 Six Flags (NYSE: FUN) agreed to sell seven of its amusement parks to EPR Properties (NYSE: EPR) for $331m in cash. axios.link/4b8UmFi

• Leonardo Maria del Vecchio is in talks to buy two of his siblings out from Delfin, the family holding company that controls eyeglass giant EssilorLuxottica (Paris: ESLX), per the FT. The deal could be worth billions of dollars. axios.link/4bdXSyn

• a16z targeting around $2b for its fifth crypto fund, per Fortune. axios.link/3OOJt4a

• Axiom Partners, an early-stage firm founded by Sandhya Venkatachalam (ex-Khosla Ventures), raised $52m for its debut fund. axios.link/3OMqjfj

• Synergy Sports Capital, a PE firm focused on emerging sports league, raised $150m for its debut fund. Its founders are ex-NFL players Reggie Bush and Terrence Murphy Sr. axios.link/40hcIz1

• Avra van der Zee joined SOSV as a Newark, N.J.-based general partner. She previously was COO of Elemental Impact. axios.link/40LWAFT

Bank stocks kept falling yesterday, after BlackRock reportedly slashed the value of a private loan to zero.

• Axios' Emily Peck writes: "This is a tiny write-off for a financial behemoth with more than $14 trillion in assets under management. Still, it's unnerving for investors to see valuations suddenly melt to nothing. ... When you see a cockroach, you freak out and you stomp."