Selena Gomez last week was fêted by Bloomberg for becoming a billionaire, based primarily on the $2 billion valuation for her cosmetics company, Rare Beauty.

• But there's a small problem: Rare Beauty isn't yet worth $2 billion, more than six months after hiring bankers to find a buyer at that price. And now the sale process is on hold, according to multiple sources.
• Word is that the sales effort was focused on strategics, rather than on private equity.

Why it matters: This reflects growing acquirer unease with paying big money for both celebrity brands and mono-brands.

• Celeb: A sale could result in less personal involvement and attention from the namesake celeb, at least in the long-term, which would reduce the asset's inherent value.
• Mono-brands: Strategics in the cosmetics and broader consumer sectors have done plenty of these deals, but mostly as small tuck-ins. Paying a couple billion dollars may feel like too concentrated a risk, particularly given the fickle nature of brand consumers.

Zoom in: The (not drunk) elephant in the room might be Kylie Jenner's Kylie Cosmetics, which sold a 51% stake to Coty for $600 million in 2020.

• Bloomberg reported last year that Jenner wanted to buy back her position from Coty, signaling tensions, but that the two sides couldn't agree on price.

The big picture: To be clear, Rare Beauty is a very successful company. More than $350 million in estimated annual revenue, with products so popular that some stores keep them behind the counter (source: shopping trips with my 13-year-old daughter).

• And Gomez herself has lots of other valuable assets, including entertainment earnings and part of a mental health startup she co-founded called Wondermind.

Zoom in: Rare Beauty's cap table is a bit hazy, outside of Gomez being its largest shareholder.

• For example, sources tell us that VMG Partners has a stake. But VMG doesn't list Rare Beauty on its website, nor has it been otherwise publicly disclosed (including by Bloomberg, which cited Nikki Eslami's New Theory Ventures was the only known outside investor).

Look ahead: The sale process could get restarted in 2025, or an unexpected inbound offer now, but an IPO or reverse merger may be easier paths to that $2 billion.

Candid Therapeutics, a San Diego-based biotech focused on T cell engagers, raised $370 million co-led by Venrock, Fairmount, TCGX, and venBio Partners.

Why it's the BFD: This is a big bet that bispecifics are superior to cell therapy when it comes to treating autoimmune disease, by an entrepreneur who sold his last startup for over $4 billion.

• If correct, it could turn a well-funded segment of biotech on its head.

Details: This was a complex deal, which included $206 million in direct funding and $170 million raised by a pair of small biotechs — Vignette Bio and TRC 2004 — that Candid simultaneously acquired.

• Other investors include Foresite Capital, Third Rock Ventures, Fidelity, Samsara BioCapital, Qiming Venture Partners USA, OrbiMed, Boxer Capital, Redmile Group, Vida Ventures, Two River, Franklin Templeton, LifeSci Venture Partners, Mirae Asset Capital Life Science, Polaris Innovation Fund, and Soleus Capital.

The bottom line: "Like cell therapies, T cell engagers can be designed to target B cells. But they're administered more conveniently, don't require chemotherapy conditioning and are easier to manufacture." — Ben Fidler, BioPharmaDive

• Glean, a Palo Alto, Calif.-based AI enterprise search startup, raised over $260m in Series E funding at a $4.6b valuation. Altimeter and DST Global co-led, and were joined by Craft Ventures, Sapphire Ventures, SoftBank and insiders Coatue, General Catalyst, Iconiq Growth, IVP, Kleiner Perkins, Lightspeed Venture Partners, and Sequoia Capital. axios.link/4giCRUK

• Forterra, a Clarksburg, Md., self-driving tech developer, raised $75m in Series B funding co-led by Moore Strategic Ventures, XYZ VC and Hedosophia VC. Other backers include Standard Investments and insiders Crescent Cove Advisors, Enlightenment Capital, and Four More Capital. forterra.com

• Formo, a German developer of vegan cheese, raised $61m in Series B funding from Indiposa Investments, Sazaby League, Seven Ventures, The Nature Conservancy, Woodline Partners and insiders Elevat3 Capital, EQT Ventures, Foodlabs, Grazia Capital, Happiness Capital, Lowercarbon Capital, and M Ventures. axios.link/4edl7s6

🚑 Qualifyze, German provider of supplier risk management solutions to life sciences, raised $54m in Series B funding. Insight Partners led, and was joined by insiders HV Capital, HarbourVest Partners, H14, and Cherry Ventures. qualifyze.com

• Form3, a British payment tech startup, raised $50m in Series C extension funding from British Patient Capital. axios.link/3AYoghe

• Smartcat, a translation automation platform, raised $43m in Series C funding led by Left Lane Capital. axios.link/3zdS7Sa

🚑 Viome, a Bellevue, Wash., maker of home microbiome tests, raised $25m in Series D funding from Khosla Ventures, Bold Capital, WRG Ventures, and Marc Benioff, per Axios Pro.

🚑 Brightflow, a French developer of medical devices to treat heart failure, raised €16.5m in Series A funding from VIVES Partners, Majycc Innovation Santé, BNP Paribas Development, GO Capital, and Karista. axios.link/3To0C3Q

• P0 Security, an SF enterprise cloud security startup, raised $15m in Series A funding. SYN Ventures led, and was joined by Zscaler and insider Lightspeed. p0.dev

🌎 Retraced, a German provider of sustainability SaaS for fashion brands, raised €15m in Series A funding. Partech led, and was joined by insiders Alante Capital, Alstin Capital, Samaipata, and F-Log Ventures. axios.link/3zoZd6m

• StackGen (fka AppCD), a "generative infrastructure from code" company, raised $12.3m in seed funding. Thomvest Ventures led, and was joined by WestWave Capital, FireBolt, and Secure Octane. axios.link/3zp7abI

• Odigos, an Israeli distributed tracing startup, raised $13m led by Venture Guides. axios.link/4e0ZzPN

• Protégé, an AI training data platform, raised $10m in seed funding. CRV led, and was joined by SV Angel, Liquid 2 Ventures, Bloomberg Beta, and Flex Capital. withprotege.ai

• Sigo Seguros, an Austin, Texas-based auto insurer for Hispanic and Latino communities, raised $10.5m in Series A funding, per Axios Pro. Varco Capital and Listen co-led, and were joined by Angeles Ventures, Flintlock Capital, Zeal Capital, Rise of the Rest, and Fiat Ventures.

• Pin AI, an SF-based AI infrastructure startup, raised $10m in pre-seed funding co-led by Hack VC and a16z. pinai.io

• Illuma Labs, a Plano, Texas, developer of authentication tech for banking contact centers, raised $9m in Series A funding. LiveOak Ventures led, and was joined by Forefront Ventures, Curql Fund, UsNet, Capital Factory, Connexus, and TDECU. illuma.cx

🚑 CardiaTec, a British cardio drug discovery platform, raised $6.5m in seed funding. Montage Ventures led, and was joined by Continuum Health Ventures, Laidlaw Scholars Ventures, and Apex Ventures. axios.link/4glRfeU

• Lil Bucks, an Illinois maker of sprouted buckwheat snacks, raised $3m in Series A funding led by Proterra Investment Partners, per Axios Pro.

• Ammalgam, a Singaporean decentralized lending exchange, raised $2.5m in seed funding. Lightspeed Faction and Framework Ventures co-led, and were joined by Robot Ventures, Bodhi Ventures, NGC Ventures, DeWhales, and Blockchain Founders Fund. ammalgam.xyz

• Warehow, a British e-commerce fulfillment company, raised £2.1m in Series A funding led by Midlands Engine Investment Fund. axios.link/3XggZRn

• Theater, an Indian fashion brand, raised $1.5m in led by Prath Ventures. axios.link/3Tn9mr9

• AMCS, an Irish sustainability software provider owned by EQT, acquired Qv21 Technologies, an Austin, Texas-based provider of fleet management software developer. axios.link/3TlO7G4

• Argentum invested in L2 Aviation, a Dripping Springs, Texas-based provider of avionics services. l2aviation.com

• Avalara, a portfolio company of Vista Equity Partners, acquired Hopscotch, a B2B payments startup that had raised over $10m from firms like Noemis Ventures, Stellation Capital, and Shine Capital. gohopscotch.com

🚑 Eir Partners acquired a majority stake in PharmaForceIQ, an omnichannel orchestration and measurement solution to pharma and life science companies. pharmaforceiq.com

🚑 Heritage Group invested in Equiti, a GTCR portfolio company that provides language interpretation services for health care. equitihealth.com

• K1 Investment Management completed its take-private buyout of cloud database software firm MariaDB. axios.link/47nsIC5

• L Catterton bought a control stake in Latvian bath and body care company Stenders. axios.link/3z3PNNM

🎵 Litmus Music, backed by Carlyle, acquired Opus Music Group, which owns rights to music catalogs from artists like Juice WRLD and Maluma. axios.link/3Xl1TKb

• OceanSound Partners acquired PAR, a Cincinnati provider of supply chain integrity and cost management solutions to the healthcare industry, from Northlane Capital Partners. parexcellence.com

• OMERS agreed to buy increase its position in Indian toll-road operator Interise Trust to 34.8% from 21.3%, via a stake purchase from Allianz Capital Partners. axios.link/4dVoCnr

⚡ Post Oak Energy Capital sponsored the formation of Quantent Energy Partners, an Oklahoma City platform that made its initial acquisitions of natural gas assets in the Haynesville Shale. quantentenergy.com

• RoadSafe, a portfolio company of Trilantic North America, acquired All Star Striping, an Ogden, Utah-based pavement-marking business. roadsafetraffic.com

• Sound Growth Partners acquired ATEK Access Technologies, an Eden Prairie, Minn.-based maker of memory keys for access control and data storage. datakey.com

• THL Partners agreed to buy AMI, a Duluth, Ga., firmware company, from HGGC. axios.link/4ecLizd

• Wind Point Partners acquired Clean Solutions Group, a Dutch maker of nonwoven products for air filtration and sanitation. cleansolutionsgroup.eu

• FrontView REIT, a Dallas-based commercial REIT for outparcel properties, filed for a $100m IPO. It plans to list on the NYSE (FVR). axios.link/3AZCdvp

🚑 MBX Biosciences, a Carmel, Ind.-based biotech focused on endocrine disorders, set IPO terms to 8.5m shares at $14-$16. It would have a $478m fully diluted valuation, were it to price in the middle, and plans to list on the Nasdaq (MBX). It raised nearly $240m from Frazier Life Sciences (21.9% pre-IPO stake), NEA (14.4%), OrbiMed (14.2%), Deep Track (9.3%), Wellington (8.3%), Norwest Venture Partners (6.4%), and RA Capital (6.4%). axios.link/4ezdHjl

• Confluent (Nasdaq: CFLT) acquired WarpStream, a Chicago-based streaming data startup that recently raised $20m in Series A funding co-led by Greylock and Amplify Partners. axios.link/3XiWeVc

• Mercury, an SF fintech valued by VCs at $1.6b, acquired Teal, an accounting products startup seeded by Torch Capital and Citi Ventures. mercury.com

• Pockit, a British prepaid credit card startup that's raised over $50m in VC funding, is in talks to acquire the consumer arm of U.K. challenger bank Monese, which has raised nearly $300m from firms like Kinnevik and Augmentum Fintech, per Reuters. axios.link/47hKK8Z

• Paul Marshall, founding partner of Marshall Wace, agreed to buy British magazine The Spectator for £100m. axios.link/3ZiC7sN

• NBT Bancorp (Nasdaq NBTB) agreed to buy Williamsville, N.Y.-based lender Evans Bancorp (NYSE A: EVBN) for US$236m. axios.link/47lOQgk

• Ubisoft (Nasdaq: UBI) say its shares fall after small hedge fund AJ Investments called for the video game maker to go private. axios.link/3TlTlla

🚑 UPS (NYSE: UPS) agreed to buy Frigo-Trans, a German provider of cold-chain logistics for health care. axios.link/4guv46C

⚽ Wasserman, a sports and entertainment talent agency, acquired Swiss soccer agency International Football Management. axios.link/4gfbR8F

• Alpha Partners, which helps other VC firms preserve pro rata positions, raised $153m for its third fund. axios.link/3XBJXww

🚑 Bain Capital Life Sciences raised around $3b for its fourth fund. axios.link/4e2g7ak

• Harlan Capital, a Florida-based PE firm, is committing up to $200m for college athletes' NIL rights, per Axios Pro.

• Outward VC of London held a £51m first close on its second impact VC fund. outwardvc.com

• Sienna Private Equity, a European firm co-led by Oaktree Capital vets Vincent Catherine and Hugo d'Avout, raised more than €400m for its debut fund, per Bloomberg. axios.link/3XFnwFB

• Charles Andrez and Andrea Bozzi both left Lazard to join Evercore as Paris-based senior managing directors. evercore.com

🚑 Bob DeBenedetto joined Abingworth as a managing director of clinical co-development. He previously was with Abingworth portfolio company SFJ Pharma. axios.link/4cUKVs4

• Carey Doyle joined Pennybacker Capital as a managing director of capital formation. She previously was with Lazard. axios.link/3MELRWQ

• Josh Empson joined Sixth Street as co-lead of the firm's sports, media, and entertainment investing group. He previously was with Providence Equity Partners. axios.link/3Tk7f7i

• Jack Hally joined SeventySix Capital as digital marketing manager. He previously was with Bet365. axios.link/47mwpYI