What the pandemic giveth, the pandemic also taketh away. In this case, it's the fantastic returns that institutional investors raked in from private equity and venture portfolios.

Driving the news: With the market downturn impacting private company valuations, formerly stellar Ivy League endowments are likely to post lackluster returns for the fiscal year that ended on June 30, Bloomberg notes.

Flashback: Back in October, these same institutions were patting themselves on the back for betting big on alternative investments like private equity and venture capital.

• Harvard University said its endowment grew 27% in fiscal 2021, with investment returning 34%, and private equity (including VC) posting 77% in returns.
• Yale posted an overall 40.2% return. The school doesn't break out individual asset performance, but it has 23.5% exposure to VC, 17.5% to PE and just 2.25% to public equity.
• MIT disclosed a 55.5% return on investment. Penn hit 41%.
• University endowments posted their best returns since the mid-1980s, Pro Rata's Dan Primack noted at the time.

Between the lines: The culmination of PE and VC booming returns in the last couple of years also encouraged — or even pressured — endowments to ramp up their allocations in the asset class even more.

• For example, Notre Dame had 45% of its assets in private equity, the University of Michigan and Princeton were at 42% — the latter being 12 points above its target, an increase it attributed to "spectacular performance."

Yes, but: Even with the delays in private investors updating portfolio valuations, we're sure to see some endowments adjust their allocations going forward, at least for as long as the current bear market persists.

It raises questions about how smaller college endowments will be impacted — and more importantly, how this will affect their ability to fund school operations and scholarships.

• Notably, there's been an effort over the last couple of years to get more Historically Black Colleges and Universities invested in venture capital so that they, too, can rake in those fat returns.

The bottom line: As Dan cautioned at the time, fiscal 2021 was indeed the endowment model winning a battle, but not the war.

Amazon has agreed to acquire One Medical, the primary care chain, for $18 per share in an all-cash transaction. It values the latter at about $3.9 billion, including its net debt.

Why it's the BFD: This is Amazon's latest move into health care after some efforts panned out better than others. Meanwhile, One Medical was reportedly considering its options after attracting takeover interest.

Flashback: Founded in 2007 by Tom Lee, One Medical went public in January 2020, raising $245 million and a valuation of $1.7 billion. It had a market cap of $1.98 billion, as of Wednesday's market close.

Thought bubble: "Amazon's perceived interest in brick-and-mortar health care has wavered over the years, but in buying One Medical the retail giant is making a clear and sizable commitment to the category. The acquisition also gives it access to One Medical's employer relationships, which it could leverage in new ways potentially."— Sarah Pringle, Axios Pro.

• Contentsquare, a French-based online customer behavior monitoring startup, raised $400m in Series F funding led by Sixth Street Growth, and $200m in debt. http://axios.link/CXiY

• Meati Foods, a Boulder, Colo.-based alternative meats company, raised $150m in Series C funding led by Revolution Growth, with CPP Investments, Grosvenor, Wellington Management and Chipotle's Cultivate Next also participating. http://axios.link/ySTt

• Fonoa, an Irish corporate tax compliance startup, raised $60m in Series B funding from Coatue, Index Ventures and Dawn Capital. http://axios.link/YOnV

• 15Five, a San Francisco-based performance management company, raised $52m in Series C funding led by Quad Partners, with Next47, Origin Ventures, Matrix Partners, Point Nine Capital and New Ground Ventures also participating.www.15five.com

🚑 Auron Therapeutics, a Wellesley, Mass.-based biotech company developing cancer therapies, raised $48m in Series A funding led by DCVC, with Eli Lilly, Creyon Bio, Totus Medicines and GenEdit also participating. http://axios.link/QvIx

• TextExpander, a San Francisco-based maker of text shortcut software, raised $41.4m in new funding led by Summit Partners.

• Charles, a German conversational commerce startup, raised $20m in Series A funding led by Salesforce Ventures, with Accel and HV Capital also participating. http://axios.link/5o3C

• Intelligent City, a Canadian prop-tech company, raised $17m in Series A funding led by BDC Capital, with Greensoil PropTech Ventures, UIT Growth Equity, Fulmer & Company and others also participating. http://axios.link/l46x

• Koffie Insurance, a New York-based trucking and transportation insurance company, raised $11m in Series A funding led by Anthemis Group, with Lerer Hippeau Ventures, Plug and Play Ventures, CP Overture, Breakout Capital, Two Lanterns Venture Partners and others also participating. http://axios.link/bbfv

• Optic, a San Francisco NFT authentication startup, raised $11m in seed funding led by Kleiner Perkins and Pantera Capital, with Lattice Capital, OpenSea, Circle, Polygon, CoinDCX, Neon DAO and Flamingo DAO also participating. http://axios.link/e6sQ

• Proteus Motion, a New York-based fitness tech company, raised $8.5m in Series A funding led by Acies Investment and HBSE Ventures, with Harrison & Co., Monozukuri Ventures, and 412 Ventures also participating. www.proteusmotion.com

• Veremark, a U.K.-based pre-employment screening and career credentials startup, raised $8.5m million in funding from Stage 2 Capital, Samaipata, Triple Point Ventures, ACF Investors, Vulpes and SOV. http://axios.link/wah0

⛽️ Natron Energy, a Santa Clara-based manufacturer of sodium-ion batteries, raised $7m in funding from Nabors Industries. www.natron.energy

• HiddenLayer, an Austin-based security startup, raised $6m in seed funding led by Ten Eleven Ventures. http://axios.link/Tvxa

• Nevermined, a Swiss digital asset startup, raised €3m ($3.04m) led by Signature Ventures and Polymorphic Capital. http://axios.link/vvqA

• Atlantic Money, a U.K.-based money transfer startup, raised $3m in seed funding led by Amplo, with Nordstar and Martell Hardenberg also participating. www.atlantic.money/gb

• Umami, a San Francisco-based open-source web analytics startup, raised $1.5m in pre-seed funding led by Race Capital. www.umami.is

• DRAUP, a U.K.-based digital fashion startup, raised $1.5m in seed funding led by Variant Fund. http://axios.link/RoUe

• Basis Vectors acquired CommerceV3, a Minneola, Fla.-based cloud platform for high volume digital commerce. www.commercev3.com

• Barrier Companies, backed by Lincolnshire Management, acquired Fire Door Solutions and United Fire Door, while True Temper Sports has acquired 44 Pro Gloves. www.lincolnshiremgmt.com

• New Mountain Capital invested in Radancy, a New York-based enterprise software company backed by Gemspring Capital. https://www.radancy.com/

• Ryan, backed by Onex, acquired Fundingportal, a Canadian grants discovery and digital operating platform. www.ryan.com

• Smartcare, backed by Wind Point, acquired Espresso Partners, a Fridley, Minn.-based specialty coffee equipment service company. www.espressopartners.com

🚑 Virax Biolabs Group, a U.K.-based provider of diagnostic tests and PPE, raised $7m by offering 1.35 million shares at $5. It plans to list on the Nasdaq under the symbol VRAX. Boustead Securities acted as sole bookrunner on the deal.

• Mobile Global Esports, a San Clemente, Calif.-based esports company, revised the terms for its upcoming IPO, now planning to raise $17m by offering 3.8m shares (61% secondary) at a price range of $4 to $5. It plans to list on the Nasdaq under the symbol MGAM. WestPark Capital is the sole bookrunner on the deal. http://axios.link/Famd

• Whale Point Acquisition, a blank check company targeting the fintech sector, filed to raise up to $150m in an IPO. It plans to list on the Nasdaq under the symbol WPAU. BTIG is the sole bookrunner on the deal. http://axios.link/iAsF

🚑 Innovatus Life Sciences Acquisition, a blank check company formed by Innovatus Capital targeting the life sciences sector, withdrew its plans for an initial public offering on Wednesday. http://axios.link/H7py

• FirstMark Capital raised $1.1bn for its sixth flagship fund and fourth opportunity fund. www.firstmarkcap.com

• EP Golf Ventures, a new joint venture between Elysian Park Ventures and the PGA of America, will invest in golf-related companies. http://axios.link/hoEj

• FrontEnd Ventures, a Kenyan venture firm, raised $1m of a $5m target for first fund. http://axios.link/K7hk

• Fifth Wall raised $500m for its first climate-related venture fund. www.fifthwall.com

🚑 General Catalyst raised $670m for its second Health Assurance Fund. http://axios.link/Gx7E

🚑 General Catalyst hired Daryl Tol as head of Health Assurance Ecosystem. He was previously president and CEO of Advent Health Florida. http://axios.link/Gx7E