Emptying out the notebook before packing up the suitcase...

💼 Trading places: Jonathan Tower is stepping down as head of U.S. ventures at Prosperity7, the Aramco Ventures affiliate he joined four years ago to launch North American operations.

• "We got things from 0 to 60, building everything from scratch because it was a brand with no mindshare or footprint in the U.S.," Tower tells me. "Now I want to get off the bus and go build again."
• Prosperity7 currently manages around $3 billion, including investments in Groq, Cohere, and Together AI.
• Tower plans to launch a new firm that he describes as "AI-native." Expect that to mean smaller and flatter than legacy shops, with more details to come later this year.

💰 In the game: Sideline Group, led by former Tiger Global partner Greg Mazlin, has quietly raised $155 million for its debut private equity fund.

• Mazlin was on Tiger's short-selling side, focusing on struggling legacy consumer companies. Before that he was with Silver Lake.
• Upon leaving Tiger in 2021, Mazlin began investing his own money on the more upward side of consumer, including a minority stake in the Miami Heat.
• He then decided to institutionalize the effort, building a small team and marketing a fund to back companies at the intersection of consumers, sports, media and entertainment.
• The basic idea is to capitalize on a structural increase in free time — enabled now by remote work and in the future by AI — and the digitally-driven desire for in-person experiences.
• Sideline already has made five investments, including Ari Emanuel's MARI, an events group that owns the Miami Open and Madrid Open, golf training center operator Urban Golf Performance, and running brand Bandit.

🚨 Stranded salve: Alex Shtarkman has left venture firm Revolution after more than seven years, to launch what he tells me is an "early-stage special situations" firm.

• It's called Antithesis Ventures, and is raising $20 million for what is essentially a pilot fund.
• The idea is to target the growing number of startups that get "stranded" — often after a Series A or B round — because they're no longer growing at least 100% year-over-year, but were priced or otherwise structured as if they would.

Kailera Therapeutics, a Waltham, Mass.-based developer of GLP-1 drugs for obesity, raised $625 million in its initial public offering.

Why it's the BFD: This is the largest biotech IPO ever, topping Moderna's $604 million raise in 2018.

Yes, but: Moderna scored a much higher valuation, as Kailera will list with around a $1.89 billion market cap.

Zoom in: Kailera priced 39.1 million shares at $16 per share, versus plans to offer 33.3 million shares at $14-$16.

• The Phase 3 company will list on the Nasdaq (KLRA).
• It had raised around $1 billion from firms like Bain Capital (45.9% pre-IPO stake), RTW Investments (12.1%), CPPIB (5.9%), Atlas Venture (5.5%), Adage Capital Management, Invus, Janus Henderson, Perseverance Capital, QIA, Royalty Pharma, Surveyor Capital, T. Rowe Price, and Sirona Capital.
• China's Jiangsu Hengrui Pharmaceuticals, which licensed out a portfolio of GLP-1 drugs to Kailera, holds a 13.6% pre-IPO position.

Look ahead: Almost every Big Pharma company without an obesity program wants one, so don't be surprised if someone comes knocking on Kailera's door.

• That's what happened to the last obesity issuer to go public — Metsera, which raised $289 million via IPO last January and then got acquired by Pfizer for $10 billion after a bidding war.

• Plata, a Mexican digital bank, raised a $405m Series C round at a $5b valuation. Bicycle Capital led, joined by QIA, BTG Pactual, Valor Capital Group, Kora, Hedosophia, Spice Expeditions, and Audeo Ventures. axios.link/4852zK2

• Upscale AI, a Santa Clara, Calif.-based networking startup, is in talks to raise $180m-$200m in Series B funding at around a $2b valuation, per Bloomberg. axios.link/4vQxC6K

• Factory, an SF-based enterprise AI coding startup, raised $150m at a $1.5b valuation. Khosla Ventures led, joined by Blackstone, Insight Partners, and Sequoia Capital. axios.link/41EN6Ni

• Zūm, a Redwood City, Calif.-based student mobility platform, raised $100m from TPG at a $1.7b valuation. axios.link/4sznVGH

• Expo, an SF-based developer tooling startup, raised $45m in Series B funding. Georgian led, joined by Leadout Capital, A.Capital Ventures, and Red Swan Ventures. axios.link/4sFBYL5

• Ulysses, an SF-based maker of autonomous submarines, raised $38m in Series A funding. A16z led, joined by Booz Allen Ventures and Harpoon Ventures. axios.link/4cvlE9H

• Nas, an NYC-based AI platform for "solopreneurs," raised $27m in Series A funding. Khosla Ventures led, joined by 500 Global. axios.link/4tSFR0c

• Sennos, a Durham, N.C.-based fermentation tech startup, raised $20m. TomEnterprise led, joined by Jan Ståhlberg. axios.link/487fOtT

🚑 Joyful Health, a revenue recovery platform for health-care providers, raised $17m in Series A funding. CRV led, joined by XYZ Venture Capital, Designer Fund, Inflect Capital, and Go Global Ventures. axios.link/41zxKcX

• TextQL, an SF-based AI data analyst, raised $17m led by Blackstone. axios.link/4tcCKjG

• AlixLabs, a Swedish developer of semiconductor manufacturing solutions, raised €15m in Series A funding from firms like Stephen Industries. axios.link/4dPjvYN

• Eigen, developer of a "mutual friend," raised $15m in seed funding led by Benchmark. axios.link/4tcEPvZ

• InsightFinder, a Durham, N.C.-based IT stability and AI reliability startup, raised $15m led by Yu Galaxy. axios.link/4dThZor

• Zenskar, a billing and revenue automation platform, raised $15m in Series A funding from Susquehanna, Bessemer Venture Partners, Shine Capital, Rho, J Ventures, Future Back Ventures, Rocketship, and Converge. axios.link/4vBsgfo

• Lua, a London-based startup for building and managing agent workforces, raised $5.8m. Norrsken22 led, joined by Flourish Ventures, 20VC, P1 Ventures, Phosphor Capital, and YC. axios.link/4sNZTYY

• GetWhys, a Boise, Idaho-based B2B marketing company, raised $5.2m. Epic Ventures led, joined by CEAS Investments, the Portland Seed Fund, Next Frontier Capital, Tuesday Capital, and Capital Eleven. axios.link/48Uzstd

⚡️ NOC Energy, a Houston-based provider of electric heat for cement plants, raised $2.7m in seed funding. 360 Capital led, joined by SOSV and Desai VC. axios.link/4vAQyWW

• BTX Precision, owned by L Squared Capital Partners, acquired Maitland Engineering, a South Bend, Ind.-based maker of high-precision small components. axios.link/3OLcC0i

• Engage2learn, a Leeds Equity Partners portfolio company, acquired Education Elements, a San Carlos, Calif.-based K-12 education consultancy. axios.link/4tR3O7V

🚑 Stellus Rx, a portfolio company of WindRose Health Investors, acquired Tria Health, a provider of pharmacist-led chronic condition support for self-insured employers. axios.link/4sGErFc

🚑 Alamar Biosciences, a Fremont, Calif.-based protein biomarker detection platform, raised $191m in its IPO. It priced 11.3m shares at $17, versus plans to offer 9.4m at $15-$17, and will list on the Nasdaq (ALMR). Alamar had raised over $300m in VC funding from firms like Qiming Venture Partners, Illumina Ventures, Sands Capital, and Sherpa Healthcare Partners. axios.link/3O3bVPQ

• Disciplined Growth Acquisition, a SPAC led by Robert Wotczak (ex-CEO of Prime Executions), filed for a $150m IPO. axios.link/4tTsMUm

⚡ EagleRock Land, a Houston-based oil and gas royalties firm focused on the Permian Basin filed for an IPO that Renaissance Capital estimates could raise $200m. axios.link/4cmBD9O

🚑 EQT is restarting the auction for the mainland China unit of contact lens maker Ginko International, which could fetch at least $1b, per Reuters. axios.link/4824ejG

• International Paper (NYSE: IP) agreed to acquire Longview, Wash.-based North Pacific Paper Co. for $360m from One Rock Capital Partners. axios.link/4chS74x

• Orion Resource Partners and Ontario Teachers agreed to sell metals and minerals royalties firm Sweetwater Royalties at a $1.9b enterprise value (including debt) to Uranium Royalty Corp. (Nasdaq: UROY). axios.link/4cvjiaK

• Nippon Express of Japan agreed to acquire Canadian logistics firm Metro Supply Chain Group for up to C$2.2b. Sellers include Investissement Québec and La Caisse. axios.link/4dO87MJ

• Vox Media is planning to sell several assets via separate sales, including its podcast network, New York magazine and The Verge, per Puck. axios.link/4tSbiYo

• Bouygues (Paris: BOUY), Iliad-Free and Orange (Paris: ORAN) sweetened their bid for French telco SFR to €20.35b, controlled by Patrick Drahi. axios.link/3OODaOh

• Horizon Technology Finance (Nasdaq: HRZN) completed its acquisition of Monroe Capital (Nasdaq: MRCC). axios.link/4coQm4g

⚽ Kingdom Holding agreed to acquire a majority stake in Al Hilal Football Club from Saudi PIF, at a $373.2m valuation. PIF also holds a stake in Kingdom. axios.link/4tjYNVR

⚽ Lionel Messi acquired Spanish soccer club Unió Esportiva Cornellà. axios.link/4vvcKS9

⚡ Macquarie agreed to sell the Romanian power distribution network of Evryo Group to Budapest-listed Premier Energy for around €700m. axios.link/4sDvsEo

• NorthStar Earth & Space, a Montreal-based provider of "space situational awareness" solutions, agreed to go public via a reverse merger with Viking Acquisition Corp. (NYSE: VACI), a SPAC sponsored by KingsRock Advisors. axios.link/3QKUFiZ

• Uber (NYSE: UBER) agreed to acquire another 4.5% stake in Germany-listed Delivery Hero for around €270m from Naspers subsidiary Prosus, to satisfy an antitrust remedy agreement tied to last year's Just Eat acquisition. axios.link/4cgtNzU

• Lone Star Funds is raising its eighth flagship vehicle, per an SEC filing.

• StepStone Group is raising its seventh VC secondaries fund, per an SEC filing.

• Nathan Dey, former CEO of Navegate, joined Concentric Equity Partners as an operating partner. axios.link/4thhM3m

• President Trump is considering naming Michael Murray as DOJ's next antitrust enforcement chief, per Bloomberg. Murray currently is a partner with Paul Hastings, and was deputy assistant attorney general for antitrust during Trump's first term. axios.link/4sD1Erw

The S&P 500 hit another all-time high yesterday, as investors gain more confidence that the Iran war is heading toward resolution.

• Another new high could come today, after Iran announced that the Strait of Hormuz is open to commercial traffic during the Israel-Lebanon ceasefire.

Axios' Emily Peck writes: "All-time highs aren't as rare as you might think, but but they were far less common in the stagflation 1970s and the post-dotcom bubble 2000s."