It's been two weeks since private equity firm Staple Street Capital sold Dominion Voting Systems to a St. Louis-based company run by a former GOP election official.

No one involved is answering questions about how the deal came to be or how it was financed.

But we do know a few things.

• Dominion shared around one-third of its $787.5 million Fox News settlement with limited partners in Staple Street's second fund, per calculations derived from a securities filing in Australia. No word on how the rest was split up between lawyers, employees and Staple Street's general partners.
• Dominion didn't tell some clients about the pending sale. Instead, they learned about it from media reports. "The new owner got an earful about this," Colorado County Clerks Association chief Matt Crane told Denver's 9News. "The way they rolled this out was fairly sloppy to say the least."
• The new company, called Liberty Vote, appears to have registered two months ago for incorporation in Delaware. It's also filed a trademark application. No word on any structural affiliation with KnowInk, a 14-year-old election tech company also led by Liberty Vote's Scott Leiendecker, which was a subcontractor to Dominion. PitchBook shows that KnowInk has received past investments from family offices in Chicago and Missouri, plus a PPP loan, but no further details are available.

Staple Street and Dominion founder and former CEO John Poulos both declined comment. The new owner, Scott Leiendecker, didn't respond to my email.

The bottom line: This was a private transaction, so no one is legally obligated to talk. There is, however, a patriotic argument to do so.

• Dominion was the subject of a baseless conspiracy theory — promoted by major media figures and President Trump — that caused many Americans to distrust electoral integrity. A theory that contributed to both Jan. 6 and death threats against Dominion employees.
• The company set the record straight in court, generating far more money for itself and its private equity investors than Dominion did via its core business.
• But now there is a new owner, which could set the stage for future conspiracies, from either the left or the right. Transparency is the best preventive medicine.

Japan's Kirin Holdings (Tokyo: 2503) is seeking to sell Kentucky-based bourbon brand Four Roses for around $1 billion, per the FT.

Why it's the BFD: Younger consumers are staying off the sauce, leading big conglomerates like Kirin to favor other parts of their business.

By the numbers: Bourbon sales grew at 7% during the so-called "bourbon boom" years of 2011-2020, but slowed to 2% from 2021-2024.

• Producers also have been hit hard by the trade war with Canada, which used to be a major bourbon importer — a situation which devolved even further last night.

The bottom line: "Four Roses [is] likely to draw interest from strategic buyers, but some large drinks conglomerates might remain on the sidelines as they grapple with problems with their own product portfolio." — The Financial Times

• Crusoe Energy, a Denver-based modular data center company, held a first close on what it says will be nearly a $1.4b Series E round at a valuation north of $10b. Valor Equity Partners and Mubadala Capital are leading, with participation from Altimeter Capital, BAM Elevate, Fidelity, Founders Fund, and Blue Owl Capital. axios.link/47h6UZj

• Chainguard, a Kirkland, Wash.-based open source security startup,, raised $280m from General Catalyst's Customer Value Fund. axios.link/4qqiE4y

• Valthos, a biodefense startup, raised $30m in seed funding from OpenAI Startup Fund, Lux Capital, and Founders Fund. valthos.com

• Ava, a consumer credit-building app, has raised $15.5m in seed funding from Greylock, Transform VC, Firebolt, Twine Ventures, Sure Ventures, Defy.vc and Burst Capital, per Axios Pro. axios.link/3WoiZab

• Darwin AI, a AI adoption startup for government agencies, raised $15m in Series A funding. Insight Partners led, joined by UpWest and Resolute Ventures. axios.link/3Wl1Tde

• GammaTime, a LA-based micro-drama streaming platform, raised $14m in seed funding. Vgames and Pitango led, joined by Alexis Ohanian, Kris Jenner, Kim Kardashian, and Traverse Ventures. axios.link/3WWON64

• Mondra, a London-based insights platform for supply chains, raised £10m in Series A funding from AlbionVC, Planet A, Swisscom, PeakBridge, Ponderosa Ventures, and Green Circle Foodtech Ventures. axios.link/478EHVO

• Moonshot AI, a New York-based website optimization company, raised $10m in seed funding. Mighty Capital led, joined by Oceans Ventures, Uncorrelated, Garuda Ventures and Almaz Capital. axios.link/476LGyD

• OneAM, an early-pay solution for small and midsize suppliers, raised $4.7mm in seed funding. TTV Capital led, joined by Correlation Ventures and ThirdStream Partners. axios.link/4hpKh9C

• Tensormesh, a GPU inference optimization startup, raised $4.5m in seed funding led by Laude Ventures. axios.link/47Bwuto

Every Health, a German virtual clinic focused on LGBTQ+ patients, raised €1.1m in seed funding. Czech Founders VC led, joined by Atlantic Labs, Nation 1 VC, Ultra Ventures, ZAS Ventures, and Taimi. axios.link/48KADMO

• Barnes Group, backed by Apollo, completed its separation into Barnes Aerospace and The Industrial Solutions Group. axios.link/47gefd7

• Cinven is among the likely bidders for Pure Cremation, a British funeral services firm whose backers include Epiris, per Sky News. A deal could fetch over £500m. axios.link/4ooPTE9

• FieldFlo, a Denver-based provider of project and safety management software for subcontractors, raised $35m from Mainsail Partners. axios.link/47EZWib

🚑 FIM Medical, an Archimed portfolio company, acquired Vistec, a German provider of vision-screening devices for occupational health. axios.link/4nmQCEe

🚑 Forefront Dermatology, a Partners Group portfolio company, acquired SkinCare MT, a Bozeman, Mont.-based dermatology group. axios.link/4htS3Q2

• Goldman Sachs is in talks to invest $1b for a majority stake in talent agency Excel Sports from Shamrock Capital, per the FT. axios.link/4929rJF

• H.I.G. Capital acquired a majority stake in A.L.A (Milan: ALA), an Italian provider of logistics and distribution services to the aerospace and defense industry. axios.link/4quGyMo

• Learning Pool, a Marlin Equity Partners portfolio company, acquired Elucidat, a U.K.-based cloud authoring platform. axios.link/3WX2W3a

• SkyKnight Capital invested in Force Electrical Services, an SF-based electrical distribution and transmission infrastructure services firm. axios.link/4o5vfIN

• Yangtze Memory, a Chinese chipmaker that's raised over $3b, is weighing a 2026 China IPO at over a $40b valuation, per Bloomberg. axios.link/4nvfDgQ

• Conservice, a Utah-based utility management and billing company backed by Advent International and TA Associates, is exploring a sale that could fetch upwards of $5b, per Reuters. axios.link/4hqbrgD

• Blackstone invested around $706m for a 10% stake in listed Indian lender Federal Bank. axios.link/4qpY5Ff

• Fireblocks, an Israeli blockchain infrastructure company, acquired Dynamic, an embedded wallet infrastructure platform for enterprises, for $90m. Dynamic raised $22m from a16z, Castle Island Ventures, First Round, and Circle. axios.link/4nlX7Y3

⚡ One Nuclear Energy, a U.S. developer of "large-scale energy solutions," is going public via a reverse merger with Hennessy Capital Investment Corp. VII (NASDAQ: HVII), a SPAC led by Daniel Hennessy. axios.link/3L7WaoI

• OpenAI acquired Software Applications, maker of AI user interfaces for Mac desktops that had raised $6.5m from backers like Dylan Field and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. axios.link/4qqQeav

• Dawson Ventures of Toronto raised $7b for its sixth PE portfolio finance fund, plus another $700m for related co-investments. axios.link/4htulDF

• Iris Ventures, a Spanish VC firm focused on consumer brands, held a €100m first close for its €200m-targeted second fund. axios.link/47orGpY

⚡ Qualitas Energy, a Spanish PE firm focused on renewables, is targeting €3.25b for its sixth fund, per Bloomberg. axios.link/47t6Zt9

• Acacia Partners promoted Evan Kearns to vice president. axios.link/4hyMoZ6

• Ron Singh joined Denver-based VC firm Stout Street Capital as a partner. He previously was a managing director of innovation banking at CIBC. axios.link/3JogIsF

• Mike Wax, founder and ex-CEO of Forto, joined BlueYard Capital as a general partner. axios.link/4ouP9wx

Inflation rose 0.3% in September and 3% year-over-year in the U.S., according to Consumer Price Index data released this morning.

• Core CPI, which strips out food and energy, rose 0.2% for the month and 3% year-over-year.

Zoom in: All of the top-line data came in slightly cooler than expected, although the year-over-year numbers remain well above the Fed's target rates.

The bottom line: CPI is the only economic data we're getting this month, due to the government shutdown, and these numbers are unlikely to cause the Fed to change course on rate cuts.