Bolt on Wednesday confirmed that it had cleared up the bevy of legal cases against the company, but it didn't say if it completed its controversial 2024 fundraising attempt.

Why it matters: That deal, which carried a $14 billion valuation and would have crammed down existing shareholders, was never completed, four sources familiar with the situation say.

• When the attempted deal first came to light, existing investors balked, with BlackRock and Hedosophia suing to block it last year. Investors that have remained with the business include Invus and Streamlined Ventures.
• The deal also called for Ryan Breslow to return as CEO. But even without that, Breslow was reinstated earlier this month.
• Since his reinstatement, Breslow has had discussions to raise new capital, but has also said that the company has two to three years of runway.

Zoom in: This all comes as Breslow is seeking to reinvigorate his super-app ambitions, something that could be costly and had previously been pared back by his 2022 CEO successor, Maju Kuruvilla.

• During the Fintech Meetup conference, Breslow compared his plans to that of fintech giant Revolut, and spoke of launching peer-to-peer payments, crypto, cards, and other financial products all in one app.

The intrigue: Why would investors stay in? Newcomer previously reported that Bolt's annualized run-rate was at $28 million in revenue at the end of March 2024. Bolt also bought back shares from several investors last year (including Tribe Capital).

• When asked about why they still believed in the business, one investor described the industry as lumpy. Yes, revenue looked bleak. But all it takes for such a payments business to rise is a successful partnership with the right commerce giant — and Bolt has been stellar at inking high-profile partnerships, just less so at maintaining them.
• On the flipside, governance remains a concern to investors, with the recent attempted cramdown being cited. This was a major argument in Activant's lawsuit, which alleged that Bolt had replaced board members repeatedly (five in nine months), and ended up with yes-men.

Blackrock, Hedosophia, Streamlined and Invus did not respond to a request for comment.

Hightouch, a platform for customized marketing, has launched an employee tender offer that will value the business at $1.3 billion, it tells Axios exclusively.

Why it's the BFD: It's not just slow IPO markets driving the recent tender offer frenzy — the AI boom is also playing a big part.

Driving the news: Stepstone and PeakXV will buy up to $30 million in common stock in the tender offer, at a step up in valuation from the $1.2 billion Hightouch netted last month from investors including Sapphire Ventures.

• Employees who have been with the business at least two years will be able to sell — lower than the typical four year requirement. Hightouch has also given employees a massive 10-year post-departure exercise window.

The big picture: This decision to offer liquidity earlier on is partly a response to the mass outcry from startup employees that — unable to cash out — had their huge paper gains in 2021 gutted.

• The other part is the heavy competition for AI talent: "We're competing against offers from OpenAI and Anthropic — and those companies have tender offers that make them look liquid," says Hightouch co-CEO Kashish Gupta.

The bottom line: Every company nowadays needs AI talent.

• Cybereason, a La Jolla, Calif.-based cybersecurity business, raised $120m led by SoftBank Corp., SoftBank Vision Fund 2, and Liberty Strategic Capital. axios.link/3XM462n

• Dexterity, a robotics company aiming for human-like dexterity, raised $95m at a $1.7b valuation. Lightspeed Venture Partners and Sumitomo Corp. participated. axios.link/4htyaa2

• Ditto, a company focused on connectivity for edge devices, raised $82m in Series B funding at a $462m valuation. Top Tier Capital Partners and Acrew Capital led with participation from Advance Venture Partners. axios.link/3R1GKSD

• Mesh, an SF-based crypto payments network, raised $82m in Series B funding. Paradigm led with participation from Consensys, QuantumLight Capital and Yolo Investments. meshconnect.com

• Pentera, a Boston-based maker network attack simulations, raised $60m in Series D fuding valuing it over $1b. Evolution Equity Partners led with participation from Farallon Capital. axios.link/3FyZDK8

🚑 Vori Health, a NYC-based musculoskeletal care business, raised $53m in Series B funding. NEA led with participation from AlleyCorp, Intermountain Health's Intermountain Ventures, Echo Health Ventures, and Max Ventures. axios.link/4iC7C7w

• Scimplify, a Houston-based platform for specialty chemicals, raised $40 million Series B funding co-led by Accel and Bertelsmann. UMI, Omnivore and 3one4 Capital participated. scimplify.com

🚑 Motivity, a Honolulu, Hawaii-based provider of SaaS tools for autism therapy providers, raised $27m from Five Elms, per Axios Pro. axios.link/4iJFQpE

• OpusClip, an SF-based video editing platform using Gen AI, raised $20m in funding from SoftBank Vision Fund 2. opus.pro

• Worth, an Orlando, Fla.-based startup for onboarding and underwriting SMBs seeking credit products, raised $20m. TTV Capital led with participation from Ingeborg, Florida Funders, Deep Work Capital and Florida Opportunity Fund. axios.link/4hoYkL5

• Synctera, a Palo Alto, Calif.-based Banking-as-a-Service startup, raised $15m in Series A funding led by Fin Capital and Diagram. axios.link/4kGC7eo

• Pickle, peer-to-peer rental marketplace for wardrobes, raised $12m led by FirstMark and Craft Ventures. shoponpickle.com

• QuamCore, an Israel-based quantum computing scalability startup, raised $9m in seed funding. Viola Ventures and Earth &amp led with participation from Beyond Ventures. quamcore.com

• Elea AI, a Hamburg, Germany-based pathology lab automation startup, raised €4m in seed funding led by Fly Ventures and Giant Ventures. axios.link/3Fo5XnX

• SaySo, a clearance solution and price optimization platform, raised $4m in seed funding led by UP.Partners. axios.link/43D7Bfj

• HIG Capital completed its acquisition of Quisitive Technology Solutions, an Irving, Texas-based Microsoft solutions provider. axios.link/3FnnsVg

• Gravyty, backed by K1 Investment Management, merged with K1-backed Ivy.ai and Ocelot, two student enrollment and engagement software companies. gravyty.com

• Lovell Minnick Partners and new investor Audax Private Equity invested in Fortis, a Plano, Texas-based payments company for software provider. fortispay.com

🚑 NB Renaissance is in exclusive talks to buy Genetic SpA, an Italian pharmaceuticals company backed by CVC Capital Partners, for about €700m ($764m), per Bloomberg. https://axios.link/4ikWhZL

🚑 PerkinElmer, backed by New Mountain Capital, acquired Project Farma, a Bethesda, Md.-based life sciences consultancy, from Blackstone and Berkshire Partners-backed Precision for Medicine. projectfarma.com.

• Pestco, backed by Thompson Street Capital Partners acquired the assets of Garella Pest Services, a Staunton, Ill.-based pest control services business. axios.link/4iDK5Dc

• TMA Systems, backed by Silversmith Capital Partners, acquired EQ2, a Charlotte, N.C.-based provider of maintenance management systems for for healthcare organizations. tmasystems.com

• Ares Acquisition Corp. II, a SPAC, is in talks to merge with Kodiak Robotics, an autonomous trucking business, that could value it at $2b, per Bloomberg. SIP Global Partners, Lightspeed Venture Partners, StepStone Group, Aliya Capital Partners and Walleye Capital back Kodiak. axios.link/3DzCpTC

• Alphabet's Google is in talks to acquire AdHawk Microsystems, a Canadian eye-tracking company, for up to $115m, per Bloomberg. AdHawk is backed by the venture arms of Samsung Electronics, Intel, HP, and Sony Group. axios.link/43GetZj

• Chartbeat, backed by Cuadrilla Capital, acquired Fattail, a Calabasas, Calif.-based sales optimization platform backed by Fuse Capital. axios.link/3R2l34S

• Events.com acquired Citifyd, a Portland, Ore.-based parking space finder backed by Ziba Labs. axios.link/3R7xxrT

🚑 HealthEdge, backed by Blackstone, is seeking a potential sale that could value it between $2b to $3b. per Axios Pro. axios.link/4bKWOlb

🚑 PharmaCord, backed by Permira, agreed to merge with Mercalis, a Morrisville, N.C.-based life sciences commercialization partner from Odyssey Investment Partners. axios.link/43GcDYp

• zSpace (NASDAQ: ZSPC) acquired cloud -based 3D modeling tool BlocksCAD, a Burlington, Mass.-based 3D modeling tool backed by Mass Challenge and PlayLabs. axios.link/3DzV1mw

Source: Giphy

• Scopely has agreed to acquire Niantic's games business for $3.5b. That will include game titles including "Pokémon GO," "Pikmin Bloom," and "Monster Hunter Now." scopely.com

• Our thought bubble, via Axios' Ina Fried: "Niantic has what it wants, a map of the physical world and tons of data. And it hasn't really been able to replicate Pokemon Go's success despite many efforts."

• Accenture agreed to acquire Soben, a Scottish construction consultancy services provider accenture.com

• Dubai Aerospace Enterprises, backed by the country's sovereign wealth fund, is weighing the sale of its 80% stake in aircraft maintenance business, Jordan-based Joramco. axios.link/4iD09Fa

• Uber (NYSE: UBER) terminated its deal to acquire Delivery Hero's Foodpanda business in Taiwan. Uber will pay an estimated $250m breakup fee for the deal valued at $950m. axios.link/43KFqLo

• Northvolt, the Swedish EV battery business, says it filed for bankruptcy in Sweden. It previously filed for Chapter 11 in the U.S. in November. axios.link/4io2DaR

• Bessemer Venture Partners announced their second dedicated India Fund with $350m. axios.link/4bImW04

• Capitala Group raised $1b for its strategy of investing both debt and equity capital into small businesses. axios.link/4bK6gp0

• Garnett Station Partners closed its fifth fund with $1.2b. axios.link/41GQkiL

• Avalt added James Scola as a partner and member of the Investment Committee in its professional and tech services vertical. axios.link/3R45wBy

• Headline promoted Taylor Brandt to partner. She will lead vertical software investments for the firm. headline.com

• Portfolia's Rising America Fund III added Sheila Collins as a partner. portfolia.co

Top corporate leaders' boost of economic exuberance that followed the November elections has receded, according to a new survey of major-company CEOs obtained exclusively by Axios.