Venture capitalist Keith Rabois is forming a company called OpenStore, which intends to buy a number of small e-commerce businesses, Axios' Kia Kokalitcheva and I report.

Why it matters: The last startup Rabois formed was Opendoor, a home buying and selling platform that was initially ridiculed by some top real estate industry execs. Then companies like Zillow copied the model and Opendoor eventually went public via SPAC, with a current market cap north of $15 billion.

Details: OpenStore will be based in Miami, where Rabois loudly relocated to last year from Silicon Valley, and already has hired around a half dozen employees.

• It's being launched in partnership with venture studio Atomic, whose founder Jack Abraham is another recent Miami transplant.
• Expect initial funding to come from both Atomic and Founders Fund, where Rabois is a general partner.

Shopping spree: OpenStore is part of a broader consolidation trend in e-commerce, as evidenced by a recent spate of Amazon seller rollups.

• A source describe the company as "Opendoor for e-commerce businesses." But that appears to be something of a misnomer, as we hear that OpenStore doesn't plan to flip the companies it buys.
• We are hearing consistently that it won't be just a carbon copy of other e-commerce consolidation plays, which effectively means more info to come.

Atomic and Founders Fund declined comment.

The bottom line: Rabois doesn't lack for ambition or bravado, and just upended the staid residential real estate market. So all eyes should be on what he does with digital retail.

RedBird Capital Partners agreed to invest $750 million for an 11% stake in Fenway Sports Group, the holding company whose assets include the Boston Red Sox and Liverpool F.C., Axios has learned from multiple sources.

In a separate transaction, LeBron James shifted his existing stake in Liverpool and an affiliated marketing group to a 1% position in FSG at the RedBird valuation, without investing new money.

• Why it's the BFD: I'm a Red Sox fan, and this feels like a backdoor takeover by Yankees supporters. RedBird is led by Gerry Cardinale, who made his bones as a Goldman Sachs banker by helping the Yankees create (and profit from) the YES Network. James grew up as a Yankees fan, and regularly sports the club's navy blue cap.
• Backstory: RedBird originally was in talks to buy between 20-25% of FSG via a SPAC, which included the involvement of longtime baseball exec Billy Beane. But that deal didn't come together, due to difficulties in obtaining PIPE financing at a valuation asking price of around $8 billion.
• Caveat: Major League Baseball still must approve the investment from RedBird, which would make it FSG's third-largest shareholder. Current ownership, led by John Henry, paid $700 million to buy the Red Sox in 2001.
• Bottom line: "James has said his goal is 'to own an NBA franchise,' and his expanding relationship with FSG could eventually help him get there." — Kendall Baker, Axios Sports

• PatSnap, a Singapore-based IP analytics platform, raised $300 million in Series E funding. SoftBank Vision Fund II and Tencent co-led, and were joined by CITIC Group, Sequoia Capital China, Shunwei Capital and Vertex Ventures. http://axios.link/99ws

• Squarespace, a New York-based content management platform, raised $300 million at a $10 billion valuation from Dragoneer, Tiger Global, D1 Capital Partners, Fidelity, T. Rowe Price, Spruce House and insiders Accel and General Atlantic. http://axios.link/403z

🌲 Dutchie, a Bend, Ore.-based online marketplace for cannabis dispensaries, raised $200 million in Series C funding at a $1.7 billion valuation. Tiger Global led, and was joined by Dragoneer, DFJ Growth and insiders Casa Verde Capital, Thrive Capital, Gron Ventures and Howard Schultz. http://axios.link/UFSD

• Coalition, a San Francisco-based cyber risk platform, raised $175 million at a $1.75 billion post-money valuation. Index Ventures led, and was joined by General Atlantic and insiders like Ribbit Capital, Valor Equity Partners, Hillhouse Capital, Felicis Ventures, Vy Capital, Greyhound Capital and Greenoaks Capital Partners. www.coalitioninc.com

• Socure, a New York-based provider of digital identity verification predictive analytics, raised $100 million in Series D funding at a $1.3 billion valuation. Accel led and was joined by insiders Commerce Ventures, Scale Venture Partners, Flint Capital, Citi Ventures, Wells Fargo, Synchrony, Sorenson and Two Sigma Ventures. http://axios.link/J2Fm

• Incredibuild, an Israeli software development acceleration platform owned by Fortissimo Capital, raised $140 million in primary and secondary funding from Insight Partners. http://axios.link/RWQ4

🎮 Overwolf, an Israeli platform for in-game user-generated content, raised $52.5 million in Series C funding. Insight Partners and Griffin Gaming Partners co-led, and were joined by Ubisoft, Warner Music Group, Meg Whitman and Kevin Chou. http://axios.link/K1IL

• OctoML, a Seattle-based machine learning acceleration platform, raised $28 million in Series B funding. Addition Capital led, and was joined by insiders Madrona Venture Group and Amplify Partners. www.octoml.ai

• Docker, a Palo Alto-based cloud native container company that sold its enterprise unit in 2019, raised $23 million in Series B funding. Tribe Capital led, and was joined by insiders Benchmark and Insight Partners. http://axios.link/Jap7

• Vulcan Cyber, an Israeli vulnerability remediation orchestration platform, raised $21 million in Series B funding. Dawn Capital led, and was joined by Wipro Ventures and insiders YL Ventures and Ten Eleven Ventures. www.vulcan.io

• Leap, a financing platform for Indian students studying abroad, raised $17 million in Series B funding. Jungle Ventures led, and was joined by Sequoia Capital India and Owl Ventures. http://axios.link/l305

• Whereby, a Norwegian virtual meeting platform, raised $12 million from Point Nine, SaaStr and individual angels like Josh Buckley. http://axios.link/FFrH

• Unagi, a developer of portable electric scooters, raised $10.5 million in Series A funding. Ecosystem Integrity Fund led, and was joined by Menlo Ventures, Broadway Angels and Gaingels. http://axios.link/zG4T

• 3DLook, a San Mateo, Calif.-based provider of mobile body measuring and fit solutions, raised $6.5 million in Series A funding. Almaz Capital led, and was joined by TMT Investments and Zubr Capital. www.3dlook.me

• Capdesk, a U.K.-based equity management platform, raised £5 million in new Series A funding co-led by Fidelity and MiddleGame Ventures. http://axios.link/nnTz

• Rising Team, a Palo Alto-based provider of management tools, raised $3 million in seed funding led by Female Founders Fund. http://axios.link/QIzP

• Jiffy, a London-based cloud grocery startup, raised £2.6 million in seed funding led by LVL1 Group. http://axios.link/UvxM

• Aerovel, a White Salmon, Wash.-based developer of autonomous VTOLs, raised $2.5 million in Series B funding from unidentified angels. www.aerovel.com

🚑 Mediar Therapeutics, a Cambridge, Mass.-based developer of treatments for fibrosis, raised seed funding from Pfizer Ventures and Ono Venture Investment. www.mediartx.com

• Arsenal Capital Partners acquired Applied Products, a Minnetonka, Minn.-based distributor of adhesive products and thermal products, from Goldner Hawn. www.appliedadhesives.com

⚡ Aurelius Group agreed to buy Panasonic’s (Tokyo: 6752) European consumer battery unit, which generated €230 million in 2019 sales.

• BC Partners agreed to buy a majority stake in Davies, a London-based insurance services firm. Bloomberg previously reported talks at around a £1.2 billion valuation. www.davies-group.com

• Bernhard Capital invested in The Gray Insurance Co., a Metairie, La.-based surety carrier. www.grayinsco.com

• DartPoints, a Dallas-based portfolio company of Astra Capital Management, agreed to buy Immedion, a Greenville, S.C.-based managed hosting and data center operator. www.dartpoints.com

• Lovell Minnick Partners acquired a majority stake in UniversalCIS, a Philadelphia-based provider of mortgage industry credit data and related origination solutions. www.UniversalCIS.com

• Oaktree Capital Management agreed to lead a $350 million investment in Azorra Aviation, a Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.-based commercial aircraft lessor. www.azorra.com

• Recorded Future, a Boston-based portfolio company of Insight Partners, acquired Gemini Advisory, a Miami-based fraud analytics provider, for $52 million in cash. http://axios.link/Byh9

• Coinbase disclosed in an SEC filing that it will float up to 115 million shares in its upcoming direct listing, and also that some 2021 secondary sales priced as high as $375.01 per share. Were Coinbase to open trading at that mark, it would be valued at around $100.5 billion.

• Baidu (Nasdaq: BIDU) plans to raise $3.08 billion via its Hong Kong secondary listing, pricing at HK$252 per share, per Reuters. http://axios.link/iHdf

• Cricut, a South Jordan, Utah-based maker of electric crafting machines, set IPO terms to 15.3 million shares at $20–$22. It would have a full diluted value of $4.7 billion, were it to price in the middle, and plans to trade on the Nasdaq (CRCT). Cricut reports $93 million on $588 million in revenue for the first nine months of 2020. http://axios.link/oNcT

• Diversey, a Fort Mill, S.C.-based food hygiene and cleaning company owned by Bain Capital, set IPO terms to 46.2 million shares at $18–$21. It would have a fully diluted market value of $5.9 billion, were it to price in the middle. Diversey plans to list on the Nasdaq (DSEY), and reports a $38.5 million net loss on $2.63 billion in revenue for 2020. http://axios.link/FcB2

• DoubleVerify, a a New York-based digital media engagement analytics company, filed for an IPO that Renaissance Capital estimates could raise up to $500 million. It plans to list on the NYSE and reports $20 million of net income on $244 million in revenue for 2020. The company is controlled by Providence Equity Partners, and recently raised $350 million from Tiger Global, Fidelity, BlackRock and Neuberger Berman. http://axios.link/W2cm

• Olo, a New York-based restaurant ordering and delivery platform, raised $450 million in its IPO. The company priced at $25 per share (above an upwardly revised $20–$22 range), for a fully diluted value of $4.6 billion. It will list on the NYSE (OLO), reports $3 million of net income on $98 million in revenue for 2020, and raised over $80 million in VC funding from Raine Group, RRE Ventures, Tiger Global, Battery Ventures, Staley Capital and Wellington Management. http://axios.link/WJuJ

• Sun Country Airlines, a Minneapolis-based low-cost air carrier owned by Apollo Global Management, raised $218 million in its IPO. It priced at $24 per share (above $21–$23 range), will list on the Nasdaq (SNCY) and reports $4 million of net income on $294 million in revenue for the first nine months of 2020. http://axios.link/2XRI

• Vizio, an Irvine, Calif.-based maker of smart TVs, set IPO terms to 15.1 million shares at $21–$23. It would have a fully diluted value of $4.5 billion, were it to price in the middle, and plans to list on the NYSE (VZIO). Vizio reports $102 million of net income on $2.04 billion in revenue for 2020. http://axios.link/BHys

• EIP Acquisition I, an energy transition SPAC formed by Energy Impact Partners, filed for a $300 million IPO. http://axios.link/AKpm

• Newcourt Acquisition, a fintech SPAC, filed for a $200 million IPO. http://axios.link/yqQU

• Skydeck Acquisition, a SPAC led by Paul Salem (ex-Providence Equity) and Marty Mannion (ex-Summit Partners), filed for a $250 million IPO. http://axios.link/jEyv

• Instaclustr, a Redwood City, Calif.-based database infrastructure management platform, acquired Credativ, a consultancy focused on open source software in business applications. Instaclustr raised around $24 million from firms like Level Equity. www.instaclustr.com

• Lumentum (Nasdaq: LITE) increased its takeover offer for Coherent, a Santa Clara, Calif.-based maker of lasers and related products, to $6.9 billion. Lumentum previously agreed to buy Coherent for $5.7 billion, but then had its bid topped by MKS Instruments ($6b) and II-VI ($6.4b). http://axios.link/DOPX

• Ares Management raised $3.7 billion for a new alt credit fund focused on "owners of large, diversified portfolios of assets" that produce predictable and contractual cashflows. http://axios.link/fHOu

• Accelmed Partners raised $400 million for its second fund focused on U.S. healthcare buyouts. http://axios.link/vNjf

• Avance Investment Management, a lower midmarket buyout firm formed by ex-Palladium Equity pros David Perez and Luis Zaldivar, is raising its debut fund with a $500 million target and $850 million hard cap, per Buyouts. http://axios.link/WvnH

• Norrsken Foundation of Sweden raised €125 million for an impact VC fund, per TechCrunch. http://axios.link/gUt3

🚑 Revelation Partners, a San Francisco-based healthcare firm that invests in both primary and secondary deals, raised $350 million for its third fund. www.revelation-partners.com

• Union Park Capital, a Boston-based private equity firm, is raising $250 million for its third fund, per an SEC filing. www.union-park.com

• Isabel Guzman was confirmed by the U.S. Senate by a 81-17 vote to lead the U.S. Small Business Administration. She previously directed California's Office of the Small Business Advocate. http://axios.link/7sig

• 500 Startups promoted Clayton Bryan to partner. www.500.co

• Irad Dor joined M12, Microsoft's VC firm, as a Tel Aviv-based partner. He previously was a venture partner with Eight Roads Ventures. www.m12.vc

🚑 General Catalyst added three executives-in-residence focused on healthcare portfolio companies: Margo Georgiadis (ex-CEO of Ancestry.com), Jennifer Schneider (ex-president of Livongo Health) and Robin Washington (ex-CFO of Gilead Sciences). www.generalcatalyst.com

🚑 Andy Harrison joined VC firm Section 32 as managing partner. He previously led biz and corp dev at Verily. Section 32 also hired Sue Hagar (ex- EQRx, Foundation Medicine) as head of IR and communications. www.section32.com

• Andrew Lowry joined TA Associates as a VC and member of the firm’s strategic resource group. He previously was with Boston Consulting Group. www.ta.com

Fund managers view inflation as the economy's top tail-risk threat, the first time since February 2020 that they didn't pick COVID-19, per a Bank of America survey.

• The virus and vaccine rollout did still place third, cited more often than concerns about a stock bubble or Biden tax/regulatory policies.
• Go deeper.