President-elect Trump yesterday said that he'll nominate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to lead the Department of Health & Human Services, sending shockwaves through the biotech sector.

Why it matters: Investing in vaccine and other drug development is inherently risky and expensive, and soon may have the added variable of a medical conspiracy theorist leading a department that oversees the FDA.

• "As Republicans used to always say, regulatory uncertainty is death for companies," one biotech VC messaged me as the news broke.

Zoom in: Kennedy often talked a reasonable game during the campaign, both his own and after joining forces with Trump, but has a long history of either misreading or ignoring scientific evidence. Sometimes with horrifying results.

• He's been particularly skeptical or outright hostile to vaccines. Not just the COVID ones originally championed by Trump, but also ones targeting measles and polio.
• That could pose a challenge to venture capitalists with vaccine-focused portfolio companies in advanced clinical trials, and freeze early-stage investment for vaccine startups.
• And possibly for those working on other medicines, including GLP-1s, given Kennedy's reflexive distrust of pharma.

By the numbers: Biotech and pharma is the second-most active sector for U.S. venture capital, with over $20 billion invested in 2024 (16.5% of total funding), according to the NVCA and PitchBook.

The bull case: RFK Jr. spends most of his time focused on underlying health issues, like obesity, and leaves drug decisions to whoever Trump nominates to lead the FDA.

• This could become a boon for wellness companies, including startups in the sustainable agriculture and better-for-you food spaces.

The bear case: HHS hemorrhages knowledgeable staffers and America loses its lead on developing new drugs that both save and improve lives.

• Venture capital stops funding new biotechs, because the uncertainty is overwhelming.

The bottom line: Trump picking RFK Jr. is being portrayed as a shot across the bow of Big Pharma, but Little Pharma may have even more to lose.

Pony AI, a Chinese robotaxi operator, set its IPO terms to 15 million shares being offered at between $11 and $13.

• It would raise $180 million and have a fully diluted market value of $4.6 billion, were it to price in the middle, and plans to list on the Nasdaq.

Why it's the BFD: This is the first ZIRP unicorn in quite some time to prep a float at below its last private market prices, apparently deciding it's better to take its medicine now than to eventually die of thirst.

By the numbers: Pony AI previously raised around $1.2 billion in venture funding, including in 2022 and 2023 at an $8.5 billion valuation.

• Backers include Toyota (13.4% pre-IPO stake), HongShan (10.2%), Ontario Teachers' (6.8%), IDG (5.8%), and 5Y Capital (5.7%), Fidelity, and Saudi Arabia's NEOM Investment Fund.
• The company reports a $209 million net loss on $100 million in revenue for the first half of 2024, with $335 million of cash on hand as of June 30.

The bottom line: "Pony operates a fleet of 190 'robotrucks' in Beijing and Guangzhou and more than 250 robotaxis in Beijing, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, and Shanghai. The company told TechCrunch it can charge for robotaxi fares in all four cities and is fully driverless in Beijing, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen." —Rebecca Bellan, TechCrunch

⚡ Radiant, an El Segundo, Calif., maker of portable nuclear generators, raised $100m in Series C funding, per Axios Pro. DCVC led, and was joined by a16z, USV, Felicis, Washington Harbour Partners, Chevron, Founders Fund, Decisive Point, McKinley Alaska, Boost VC, and Also Capital. axios.link/3Cq12kF

🌎 Elicit Plant, a French developer of drought-resistant crops, raised €45m. Carbyne Equity Partners led, and was joined by insiders Sofinnova Partners, European Circular Bioeconomy Fund, and Bpifrance. axios.link/48SUEyQ

🌎 OpenAirlines, a French provider of sustainability software for aviation, raised €45m. Eiffel Investment Group led, and was joined by Mirova. axios.link/3Cq1hw5

🚑 Homethrive, a Northbrook, Ill., caregiving startup, raised $20m co-led by TELUS Global Ventures and 7Wire Ventures, with participation from Pitango HealthTech, Human Capital, Outcomes Collective Growth Capital, Allianz, and The K Fund. homethrive.com

• ePlane, an Indian eVTOL developer, raised $14m in Series B funding. Speciale Invest and Antares Ventures co-led, and were joined by Micelio Mobility, Naval Ravikant, Java Capital, Samarthya Investment Advisors, Redstart, and Anicut. axios.link/3URakge

🚑 Mediaire, a German radiology AI startup, raised €12m LBO France, with participation from IBB Ventures and Wille Finance. axios.link/3YMOyLI

🌎 Ecolectro, an Ithaca, N.Y., green hydrogen startup, raised $10.5m in Series A funding. Toyota Ventures led, and was joined by Starshot Capital, DNX Ventures, Energy Revolution Ventures, New Climate Ventures, Banco Popular Impact Fund, and Techstars. electero.com

• Just, a French retail checkout solution, raised €8m in seed funding. Backed led, and was joined by Daphni, Otium, and FJ Labs. axios.link/4evWV3W

🌎 Naturbeads, a U.K., developer of microplastics pollution solutions, raised £7.8m in Series A funding. Eos Advisory led, and was joined by Progress Tech Transfer, CDP VC, PI-NB, and Paragon Capital Management. axios.link/4hHXr1A

🚑 Mithrl, a provider of drug development SaaS, raised $4m in seed funding led by Bonfire Ventures, per Axios Pro. axios.link/48Oc9Ac

🌎 Tangible, a London provider of financing software for climate-focused hardware developers, raised £4m from Future Positive Capital, Hardware Club VC, MMC, Blackwood, and Systemiq. axios.link/4i2tNVd

• Folks Finance, a cross-chain DeFi platform, raised $3.2m in Series A funding at a $75m valuation. Borderless Capital led, and was joined by Algorand Ventures, Mapleblock Capital, and Sovo Ventures. axios.link/3YRTJK2

• Zeplyn, an AI assistant for financial advisors, raised $3m in seed funding led by Leo Capital, with participation from Converge. axios.link/4fDSy8c

• Arphie, a provider of AI agents to help sales teams respond to RFPs, raised $2.9m in seed funding, per Axios Pro. General Catalyst led, and was joined by Definition, and Recall Capital. axios.link/4exYSNc

🚑 1315 Capital acquired SciSafe, a Cranbury, N.J., provider of biological and drug storage services, from Biolife Solutions (NAS: BLFS) from $73m. scisafe.com

• Apax Partners completed its $1.75b take-private buyout of Thoughtworks (Nasdaq: TWKS), a Chicago tech consultancy. thoughtworks.com

• Apax also is the frontrunner for Italian IT firm Quid Informatica, which is being sold by Equinox, per Reuters.

• Cloudera, a portfolio company of KKR and CD&R, agreed to buy the data lineage and catalog platform of Octopai, an Israeli data lineage platform that's raised around $18m from firms like Maverick Ventures Israel. axios.link/48OvNfc

• ECI Partners invested in Insurance Insider, a London-based insurance industry content provider. insuranceinsider.com

🚑 SAI MedPartners, a portfolio company of Northlane Capital Partners, acquired IDEA Pharma, a London provider of pharma path-to-market strategy solutions. sai-med.com

• STG Partners invested in TaxCalc, a U.K. provider of tax and accounts compliance and practice management software. taxcalc.com

• Triton agreed to the MacGregor cargo handling business of Finland's Cargotec for €480m. axios.link/48Optof

• Whetstone Distribution, a portfolio company of Shore Capital Partners, acquired Anmar Foods, a Chicago-based meat purveyor. whetstonedistribution.com

🚑 USOSM, an Oak Hill Capital-owned management company for oral and maxillofacial surgeons, acquired Brockton, Mass.-based oral surgery practice Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery. usosm.com

• BitSight, a Boston-based cybersecurity startup valued by VCs at $2.4b, acquired Cybersixgill, an Israeli threat intelligence startup, for $115m. Cybersixgill had raised over $55m from REV Venture Partners, MORE Investment House, CrowdStrike Falcon Fund, Elron Ventures, SonaeIM, and OurCrowd. axios.link/40MqGu9

• Diligent, a Washington, D.C.-based maker of corporate governance software, could hit the block with a $7b price tag, per Reuters. The company is owned by Insight Partners, Blackstone, and Clearlake. axios.link/40USxIu

• Flex (Nasdaq: FLEX) acquired JetCool, a provider of liquid-cooling solutions for data centers that last year raised $17m in Series A funding from backers like Bosch Ventures and In-Q-Tel. axios.link/48RZP1O

🚑 Halozyme Therapeutics (Nasdaq: HALO) offered to buy German drug discovery company Evotec (Nasdaq: EVO) for  €2b, or €11 per share in cash. This comes after private equity firm Triton built nearly a 10% stake in Evotec and reportedly was weighing a takeover bid. axios.link/3Cr9LmX

• TT Electronics (LSE: TTG), a British electronic components maker, rejected two takeover offers from Volex (LSE: VLX). axios.link/40URng6

• Portal Ventures, a pre-seed crypto firm, raised $75m for its second fund. axios.link/4fuYvVg

• President-elect Trump said he will nominate Jay Clayton to be U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, a role sometimes referred to as the Sheriff of Wall Street.

• Clayton led the SEC during Trump's first term, during which time he sued Elon Musk for misleading Tesla shareholders ("funding secured"). He later rejoined law firm Sullivan & Cromwell and joined the board of Apollo Global Management as an independent director.
• Trump sought to put Clayton in the Southern District of New York role in 2020, but the move ran into opposition.

• Bryce Keane left European VC firm Atomico, where he was a partner overseeing comms. axios.link/4fQaZXf

• Deval Patrick, former Massachusetts governor and the founding partner of Bain Capital Double Impact, was named a senior partner with midmarket PE firm Vistria Group. Vistria also hired Pritpal Aujla, most recently CFO of Roark Capital Group, as chief administrative officer. vistria.com

🚑 Jason Truman (ex-Guggenheim Securities) and Grant Curry (Gordon Dyal & Co.) joined Leerink Partners as senior managing directors. axios.link/4hQyoJE

• U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, a onetime venture capitalist who's been spearheading the CHIPS Act, is considering a run for her old job as Rhode Island governor, per a local media report.