Tech entrepreneur Ethan Agarwal tells me that he's joining the crowded race for California governor, as a Democrat "who believes in capitalism."

Why it matters: Silicon Valley has entered the chat.

• Agarwal has lined up fundraising events held by such local luminaries as Y Combinator CEO Garry Tan, DoorDash co-founder Stanley Tang, and Tribe Capital co-founder Arjun Sethi.
• He also has local bona fides, having founded and sold two startups that had raised over $100 million from VC firms like Andreessen Horowitz.

State of play: Gavin Newsom is term-limited, and there are at least a dozen candidates announced for next June's open primary.

The big picture: Listen to Agarwal talk, and you might think he co-authored "Abundance."

• His pet issue is ending CEQA, a state environmental regulation that Agarwal believes has strayed far from its original intent, instead becoming a silver bullet in the path of new construction.
• "We're losing people to other states because our housing and energy are too expensive — those are infrastructure problems that have been allowed to get out of control because CEQA gets used maliciously."
• He also bemoans other rules and fees that have cost California everything from film productions to autonomous vehicle testing.

Zoom in: Agarwal draws a bright line between his politics and those of fellow Democrats like Elizabeth Warren and Zohran Mamdani.

• "We have some things in common, like being pro-choice and believing in gun control and LGBTQ rights and immigration.
• But I fiercely support capitalism and meritocracy, and believe California could use some business and tech acumen to fix things in a way that other candidates in the race won't."

The bottom line: Agarwal has a steep uphill climb, with virtually no statewide name recognition.

• Expect the 40-year-old to target young voters, Indian American voters, and tech workers.
• The outsider message is summed up by a campaign ad dropping soon, in which the narrator warns fellow Californians that "we're all f****d" if the state doesn't make some major changes.

Keurig Dr Pepper (Nasdaq: KDP) has agreed to acquire Peet's Coffee parent JDE Peet's (Amsterdam: JDEP) for around $18 billion in cash.

Why it's the BFD: This reads like a megamerger, but really is prelude to a mega-split that reshapes the nonalcoholic beverage market.

• KDP plans to split into a pair of independent, publicly traded companies.
• One would be focused on coffee, including Peet's, Green Mountain and Keurig. The other would be focused on soft drinks and energy drinks like Dr Pepper, 7Up, Snapple and Ghost.

By the numbers: KDP will pay €31.85 per share, a 20% premium to Friday's closing price.

• KDP shares are down more than 8% in Monday's premarket trading.

Elsewhere: Coca-Cola reportedly hired Lazard to explore a sale of U.K. coffee chain Costa.

The bottom line: "Keurig Dr Pepper and JDE Peet's already share common ownership. JAB Holding, the European-based investment firm, holds nearly 70% of the voting power at JDE Peet's. It also owns about 4% of Keurig Dr Pepper and was the driver behind the original Keurig-Dr Pepper tie-up." — Laura Cooper & Ben Dummett, WSJ

🚑 ProVerum, an Irish developer of a treatment for benign prostatic hyperplasia, raised $80m in Series B funding. MVM Partners led, joined by OrbiMed, Ireland Strategic Investment Fund, and insiders Gilde Healthcare Partners, Lightstone Ventures, Atlantic Bridge and Enterprise Ireland. axios.link/41mxrCw

• Paragraf, a British maker of graphene-based electronics, raised $55m in Series C funding led by Mubadala. axios.link/3JNYO2c

• Pintarnya, an Indonesian employment platform, raised $16.7m in Series A funding. Square Peg led, joined by insiders Vertex Venture Southeast Asia & India and East Ventures. axios.link/4fOVMqs

🚑 Barti, an SF-based maker of eye-care software, raised $12m in Series A funding, per Axios Pro. Five Elms Capital led, joined by Vertical Venture Partners, Zag Capital, and Bienville Capital. axios.link/45IXGFX

• Iceye, a Finnish maker of Earth-observation satellites, raised $11m from Polish state fund Vinci. axios.link/3VeNtL8

• Oway, an SF-based provider of on-demand freight logistics, raised $4m in seed funding from backers like YC. axios.link/4oW1Xxe

• Interhuman AI, a Danish social intelligence layer for AI, raised €2m in pre-seed funding led by PSV Tech. axios.link/4fYuZby

• Centerfield, a Platinum Equity portfolio company, acquired digital commerce platform ConsumerVoice. centerfield.com

• Providence Equity Partners acquired a majority stake in Modern Campus, a Toronto-based provider of student lifecycle management software for higher ed. moderncampus.com

• Rochester Midland, a Peak Rock Capital portfolio company, acquired Decon Water Technologies, a Phoenix-based water treatment services provider. rochestermidland.com

• Starian, a Brazilian software provider recently carved out from Softplan, raised $115m from General Atlantic. axios.link/4p6rgga

• Tapco, a Milwaukee-based portfolio company of Peak Rock Capital, acquired Logix ITS, a Canadian provider of connected traffic solutions. tapconet.com

• Thoma Bravo is in advanced talks to buy call-center software maker Verint Systems (Nasdaq: VRNT) for around $2b, per Bloomberg. axios.link/466ymcP

• Trivest Partners acquired a majority stake in Andover, Mass.-based management consultant Applied Value Group. axios.link/4lN0G8O

🎵 The Weeknd is in talks to raise around $1b backed by his music rights, with Lyric Capital Group among possible investors, per Bloomberg. axios.link/4lTj0NO

No companies plan to go public this week on U.S. exchanges.

• AA Mission Acquisition II, a food and beverage SPAC, filed for a $100m IPO. axios.link/3HK5LRo

🚑 LB Pharmaceuticals, a New York-based biotech focused on neuropsychiatric diseases, filed for an IPO. The Phase 3 company plans to list on the Nasdaq (LBRX), and has raised over $135m from firms like Deep Track Capital, Vida Ventures, Pontifax and TCG. axios.link/47InGSW

• Netskope, a Santa Clara, Calif.-based cloud security provider, filed for an IPO that Renaissance Capital estimates could raise $500m. It reports a $169.5 million net loss on $328.5 million in revenue for the first half of 2025, compared to a $207 million net loss on $251 million in revenue for the first half of 2024. Major shareholders include Lightspeed Venture Partners, Iconiq and Accel. axios.link/3VfeSMT

• Pattern Group, a Lehi, Utah-based online reseller for consumer brands, filed for an IPO that Renaissance Capital estimates could raise $500m. It reports a $46.5m of net income on $1.14b of revenue for the first half of 2025, compared to $35.5m of net income on $841m in revenue for the first half of 2024. Pattern plans to list on the Nasdaq (PTRN) and raised over $270m from firms like KSV and Knox Lane. axios.link/45LGf6e

• SilverBox V, a SPAC formed by SilverBox Capital, filed for a $200m IPO. axios.link/4fRdKbX

⚡ WaterBridge Infrastructure, a Houston-based provider of water services and infrastructure for E&Ps, filed for an IPO. It reports a $30m net loss on $123m in revenue for the first half of 2025, and plans to list on the NYSE (WBI). Backers include Five Point Energy. axios.link/41ZqjvY

• Databricks, which is raising new funding at a $100b valuation, acquired Tecton, an SF-based machine learning ops startup that had raised $160m from Databricks, Kleiner Perkins, Snowflake, a16z, Sequoia Capital, Bain Capital Ventures, and Tiger Global. Flashback: Databricks CEO talks M&A

🎂 Kohlberg & Co. is seeking to sell Anoka, Minn.-based cake supplier DecoPac, per Axios Pro. axios.link/4mx799h

🚑 Tempus AI (Nasdaq: TEM) acquired digital pathology developer Paige for $81m. Paige previously raised around $240m from firms like KKR, Goldman Sachs, J&J, Catalio Capital, HealthCare Venture Partners, Casdin Capital, and Breyer Capital. axios.link/3HPtP5m

🚑 Terumo (Tokyo: 4543) agreed to buy OrganOx, a British developer of technologies to maintain organs for transplant, for around $1.5b. OranOx had raised over $250m from firms like HealthQuest Capital.BGF, Lauxera Capital Partners, Sofina, Soleus Capital, and Avidity Partners. BFD flashback

• TPG is seeking to sell XCL Education, a Singapore-based school operator that could fetch up to $1.5b, per Bloomberg. axios.link/41Ul40B

⚡ Crescent Energy (NYSE: CRGY) agreed to buy Permian Basin-focused Vital Energy (NYSE: VTLE) for $733m in stock, or a total of $3.1b value (including debt). axios.link/3JNhoHI

⚡ Taqa of Abu Dhabi agreed to buy GS Inima, a Spanish provider of desalination and other water services, for about $1.2b. axios.link/45zY49D

• Matt Bennett joined Invidia Capital Management as a partner. He previously was with New Mountain Capital. axios.link/4mRHQy8

• Citigroup named Erik Savola as head of European corporate banking. axios.link/4mvyTLc

President Trump and Intel made their marriage official on Friday, announcing that the U.S. government will acquire a 9.9% stake in the chipmaker.

Zoom in: America invested a total of $11.1 billion into Intel, inclusive of $5.7 billion of CHIPS Act grants that had been awarded but not yet paid to the company.

• When asked if the CHIPS Act allows for such a conversation, a spokesperson for Senate Intel Vice Chair Mark Warner (D-Va.) emailed back: "It did not explicitly forbid it."
• Fair point, but the CHIPS Act also didn't explicitly forbid the U.S. government from converting the grants into magic beans.
• The U.S. government won't have board representation with Intel nor other governance and information rights. It also agreed to vote with the company's board on most matters requiring shareholder approval.

By the numbers: The conversation was done at $20.47 per share, and there are warrants exercisable if Intel sells control of its foundry business.

The intrigue: There's still a lot we don't know about this deal, including if Intel was threatened with losing the uncalled grants if it didn't accept.

• It's possible we'll learn more in future securities filings, as there was no background info in an 8-K filed this morning.