Gail Slater yesterday resigned as the Justice Department's top antitrust cop, after less than a year on the beat.

• She'll be succeeded on an interim basis by Omeed Assefi, who served in the same interim role between Slater's nomination and confirmation.

Why it matters: This suggests a rift within the White House on how to regulate companies, and that the laissez-faire faction is winning.

• The upshot could be a surge in U.S. dealmaking — a bat signal to Big Tech that it can consolidate.

Behind the scenes: Slater appears to have quit to avoid being fired, and didn't mention President Trump in her initial announcement via X. So why would she have been pushed?

• The beginning of the end appears to have been when she and other antitrust officials opposed the settlement allowing Hewlett-Packard Enterprise to buy Juniper Networks — a case that DOJ had sued to block. Slater's top deputy and merger enforcement chief both were ousted in the aftermath.
• She may also oppose a similar sort of settlement in a pending antitrust case against Ticketmaster parent company Live Nation, which has added notable Trump allies to its board and advisory rolls.
• One of those reported advisors, Mike Davis, tweeted "good riddance" in response to Slater's resignation.
• It's also notable that this all happened one day after AG Pam Bondi testified in front of Congress, so Bondi wasn't able to be questioned on it.

Look ahead: The Live Nation trial is set to begin March 2, and the judge still must rule on Live Nation's motion to dismiss.

• If he allows all or part of the case to proceed, that's when we could learn if Slater was canned to pave the way for a settlement.

The bottom line: Slater was an ally of MAGA anti-tech populists who viewed her as a more palatable version of Lina Khan.

• But now she's gone, and big business as usual might be back.

Anthropic raised $30 billion in Series G funding led by GIC and Coatue at a $380 billion post-money valuation.

• Co-lead investors were D.E. Shaw, Dragoneer, Founders Fund, Iconiq, and MGX.

Why it's the BFD: This makes Anthropic the world's fourth-most valuable private tech company, around double its valuation from just last September, and shows that venture capitalists remain unfazed by AI bubble talk.

By the numbers: The round includes 32 other investors. If you wanted your logo listed here, you should have led the deal.

• Anthropic also disclosed $14 billion in ARR, compered to just over $1 billion at this time last year.

Look ahead: The $30 billion is all primary capital, although an employee tender is expected to come soon.

The bottom line: There seems to be no upper limit. Mr. Altman, the ball is back in your court.

• Simile, developer of an AI model for predicting human behavior, raised $100m. Index Ventures led, joined by Bain Capital Ventures, A*, Hanabi Capital, Fei-Fei Li, and Andrej Karpathy. axios.link/4kyzewB

⚡️ Alva Energy, a Cambridge, Mass.-based nuclear energy company, raised $33m in Series A funding Playground Global led, joined by Segra Capital, NGP, Mercator Partners, Alumni Ventures, 8VC, Logos, Simon Holmes à Court, and Isabelle Boemeke. axios.link/4kvOMB8

• Didero, an NYC-based builder of procurement agents, raised $30m in Series A funding. Chemistry and Headline led, joined by M12. axios.link/4aSqwVJ

• Opaque, an SF-based AI platform for sensitive data, raised $24m in Series B funding. Walden Catalyst led, joined by Intel Capital, Race Capital, Storm Ventures, Thomvest, and Advanced Technology Research Council. axios.link/4kIMezN

• Inference Research, a Hong Kong-based quantitative trading firm, raised $20m in seed funding led by Avenir Group. axios.link/3ZzdOG0

• Integrate, a Seattle-based project management platform for multi-entity execution, raised $17m in Series A funding. FPV Ventures led, joined by Fuse VC, Rsquared VC, New Vista, Hyperplane, and Riot Ventures. axios.link/3M7FUFl

• Electric Twin, a London-based developer of synthetic audiences, raised a $10m seed round from Atomico, LocalGlobe, Mercuri, and Samos Investments. axios.link/4bY6smZ

• Stanhope AI, a London-based developer of "brain-inspired AI," raised an $8m seed funding round. Frontline Ventures led, joined by Paladin Capital Group and Auxxo Female Catalyst Fund. axios.link/4rLNTXB

• Iceberg Quantum, an Australian developer of fault-tolerant quantum computing architecture, raised US$6m in seed funding. LocalGlobe led, joined by Blackbird and DCVC. axios.link/3OGa6If

• Ando, a staffing demand platform for hourly work, raised $4m in seed funding. Slow Ventures led, joined by Blitzscaling Ventures, Zero Capital, Monochrome, Gaingels, Mana Ventures, and Fireroad. axios.link/4rcTS7P

• Bearing, a Scottsdale, Ariz.-based provider of security operations software, raised $4.5m in seed funding. AZ-VC led, joined by High Alpha, PHX Ventures and Lightbank. axios.link/4aJCWQF

🌎 PolyGone Systems, a Kearney Point, N.J.-based microplastic monitoring and removal startup, raised $4m in seed funding. Fyrfly Venture Partners led, joined by Tech Council Ventures, Golden Seeds, and Interstate Fusion Ventures. axios.link/3ZxxZ7l

• Rivage, a French payroll software startup, raised a €2.6m pre-seed round led by Partech. axios.link/4tzC74g

• Birch Hill Holdings, an NYC-based institutional onchain credit infrastructure company, raised a $2.5m pre-seed round co-led by ParaFi Capital and Castle Island Ventures. axios.link/408Qzmi

🌎 CryoBio, an Ithaca, N.Y.-based developer of frost-protection for crops, raised $1.3m in pre-seed funding from Marble, AgVenture Alliance, New York Ventures, Launch NY, FuzeHub, Klessig Trust, and Jade Cove Partners. axios.link/4057wht

• Maestro AI, a Parkland, Fla.-based mortgage origination platform, raised a $1.2m pre-seed round. New Stack Ventures led, joined by Family VC, ZFO and Roark's Drift. axios.link/4rbHEfL

• OKX Ventures invested in STBL, a stablecoin and yield infrastructure provider that also formed a partnership with Hamilton Lane. axios.link/3M8Cja5

• BCTS, a Kansas-based portfolio company of Investcorp, acquired Canadian HVAC services firm Modern Niagara Building Services. axios.link/4qDH0qu

• FirstLine Road Solutions, a Phoenix-based portfolio company of Seaside Equity Partners, acquired Buda, Texas-based Commercial Towing Services. axios.link/4tAeg4x

• Left Lane Auto, a Bertram Capital portfolio company, acquired Portland, Maine-based auto repair and maintenance chain Don Foshay's. axios.link/4agSL1b

• Morrison acquired SuperFreeze Singapore, a Singapore-based cold chain logistics provider for food, beverage, and pharma. axios.link/4bSyEHQ

🚑 Patient Square Capital agreed to acquire Paradigm, a Walnut Creek, Calif.-based specialty care management organization, from OMERS. axios.link/4auyqEb

• Proofpoint, owned by Thoma Bravo, acquired Acuvity, a Sunnyvale, Calif., provider of AI enterprise security and governance solutions that had been seeded by firms like Foundation Capital. axios.link/4tyJyZr

🚑 The Riverside Co. acquired Western Botanicals, a Spanish Fork, Utah-based nutraceutical CDMO. axios.link/3OfM1rG

• Savvy Games, owned by Saudi PIF, is in talks to buy Chinese game studio Moonton from VC-backed ByteDance for more than $6b, per Reuters. axios.link/4qB5Gjh

• Spotlight AR, a Stone-Goff portfolio company, acquired Captivate Collective, a Canadian customer marketing and advocacy consultancy. axios.link/4aumjad

⚡️ TA Associates invested in Volue, a Norwegian electrification company owned by Advent International. axios.link/4tBbj3H

• Clear Street Group postponed what had been expected to be the week's largest IPO, one day after slashing both the number of shares offered and the price range. Backers include Prysm Capital. axios.link/4qB6cOf

• Just 10 days ago we noted: The IPO window is wide open, but it can slam shut quickly.

• PayPay, a Japanese payments app controlled by SoftBank, filed for a U.S. IPO that Renaissance Capital estimates could raise $2b. axios.link/4rN4Oce

🚑 Arsenal Capital Partners is in talks to sell primary care clinic operator MaxHealth to Humana (NYSE: HUM) for around $1b, per Bloomberg. axios.link/3OoTnZT

• ServiceNow (NYSE: NOW) agreed to acquire Pyramid Analytics, a business intelligence company that raised around $200m from BlackRock, H.I.G., Viola Growth, Viola Partners, Sequoia Capital, LIP Ventures Boutique, Jerusalem Venture Partners, Maor Investments, Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings, General Oriental Investments, Kingfisher Capital, and Kreos Capital. axios.link/4tOBu7g

• Seismic, a San Diego-based sales enablement platform valued by VCs at $3b in 2021, agreed to merge with Seattle-based rival Highspot, which was valued by VCs at $3.65b in 2022. Seismic investors include Lightspeed, Jackson Square Ventures, JMI Equity, and Permira. Highspot backers include OpenView Venture Partners, Iconiq, Shasta Ventures, and Madrona. axios.link/4ryR5q5

• 9Yards Capital of NYC is raising up to $300m for its fourth flagship growth equity fund, per an SEC filing.

⚡️ Breakthrough Energy doesn't plan to raise a second project finance fund, per Axios Pro. axios.link/4s8S8Nl

• Brigade Capital Management raised $1b for a private credit fund. axios.link/4rLrXM6

• DFJ Growth promoted Kevin Tu to partner. axios.link/462WVHn

• MiddleGround Capital promoted Dinesh Vasandani to managing director. axios.link/4avBQqz

• Kristalee Overdahl (ex-Virescent Group) and Bryan Bourne (American Equipment Holdings) joined Rotunda Capital Partners as operating VPs. axios.link/4asIUnF