For venture capital, AI is expected to be the next great source of opulent investment returns.

• For many venture capitalists, however, AI could be an extinction event.

The big picture: Most of today's top VCs are, almost by definition, legacy investors. They made their bones on the last major tech platform shifts, mobile and cloud.

• That means they're at risk of being disrupted, just like legacy companies.
• Some will prove smart enough, or lucky enough, to navigate the new normal, but not everyone's skills will prove transferable. Some may just give up once they realize how much new learning is involved.

Backstory: We saw a lot of this during the dotcom boom, when a new generation of VCs took the reigns from their analog peers.

What they're saying: "I'm always freaked out that I'm a dinosaur," Khosla Ventures partner Keith Rabois said during this week's Axios BFD event in Miami. "Age is not your friend as a VC. ... You kind of have to be like Madonna or something and reinvent yourself every decade."

The bottom line: Venture capital has never been great at innovating on its model, but it does have a history of cleaving off past champions. Expect that to continue, perhaps at an accelerated pace.

Gabon's state-owned oil company has agreed to acquire Assala Energy, a Gabon-focused oil and gas firm, from Carlyle Group.

Why it's the BFD: This may be the first time a military coup d'état has led directly to a nine-figure private equity sale.

Background: Carlyle last August agreed to sell Assala to France's Maurel & Prom for $730 million (plus around $600 million in assumed debt).

• Just weeks later came a general election and subsequent coup, pushing the Bongo family out of power after more than five decades.
• The new government chose to exercise its preemption right on Assala, rather than accept Maurel & Prom's offer of a slight ownership stake increase.

The bottom line: Carlyle says the new deal terms are "materially the same."

🚑 Firefly Bio, a Burlingame, Calif.-based biotech focused on protein degraders, raised $94m. Versant Ventures and MPM BioImpact co-led, and were joined by Decheng Capital and Eli Lilly. https://axios.link/3T1zaJq

🚀 Orienspace, a Chinese rocket launch startup, raised around $83.5m in Series B funding from Liangxi Science and Technology, Hongtai Fund, Xin Ding Capital, CMBC International Holdings, Shanhang Capital, and Shenyin & Wanguo Investment. https://axios.link/3V0OK9Z

• Higharc, a Durham, N.C.-based cloud platform for homebuilding operations, raised $53m in Series B funding. Spark Capital and Pillar VC co-led, and were joined by Schneider Electric, Fifth Wall, Starwood Capital, Standard Investments, Home Depot, Ferguson, Simpson Strong-Tie, Mulhern+Kulp Engineering, Suffolk Technologies, RXR Realty, PSP Growth, Metaprop, SC Masterfund, and Carl Bass. www.higharc.com

• Kairos Aerospace, a Sunnyvale, Calif.-based methane leak detection startup, raised $52m. BlackRock led, and was joined by Hartree Partners and insiders DCVC, Climate Investment, and Energy Innovation Capital. https://axios.link/48onJjA

• Monumental, an Amsterdam-based developer of bricklaying robots, raised $25m. Plural and Hummingbird co-led, and were joined by Northzone, Fundamental, and NP-Hard Ventures. https://axios.link/49C2QCv

• Scribe, an SF-based platform for documenting and sharing business processes, raised $25m in Series B funding. Redpoint Ventures led, and was joined by New York Life Ventures and insiders Amplify Partners, Tiger Global, and XYZ Ventures. https://axios.link/49iCPsj

⚡ Sage Geosystems, developer of a geothermal system that stores and dispatches energy with pressurized water, raised $17m in a first close of its Series A round, per Axios Pro. Chesapeake Energy led, and was joined by Arch Meredith, Helium-3 Ventures and existing investors Virya, Nabors Industries, and Ignis Energy. https://axios.link/49y2TPN

• Clarity, a developer of tech to identify deepfakes and synthetic media, raised $16m in seed funding co-led by Walden Catalyst Ventures and Bessemer Venture Partners. www.getclarity.ai

⚡ Solar Square, a Mumbai-based rooftop solar startup that's raised around $16m in VC funding, acquired utility-scale solar consultancy PV Diagnostics. https://axios.link/3T0xFvo

🎵 Duetti, a New York-based music financing platform led by former Tidal and Apple Music execs, raised $15m in equity led by Nyca Partners and a $75m credit facility. https://axios.link/3I1ZJrR

• Alembic, an SF-based marketing attribution platform for enterprises, raised $14m in Series A funding. WndrCo led, and was joined by MXV Capital and Liquid 2 Ventures. www.getalembic.com

• Go Autonomous, a Danish B2B e-commerce platform, raised $10.3m in Series A funding. Octopus Ventures and Ridge Ventures co-led, and were joined by EIFO and 42Cap. https://axios.link/49kMJtl

• Guardrails AI, an SF-based AI assurance startup, raised $7.5m in seed funding. Zetta Venture Partners led, and was joined by Bloomberg Beta, Pear VC, Factory, and GitHub Fund. https://axios.link/3UDq2w5

• Rogo, a New York-based generative AI startup for financial services, raised $7m. AlleyCorp led, and was joined by Company Ventures, BoxGroup, and ScOp Ventures. www.rogodata.com

• Arch, an SF-based provider of software for HVAC installers, raised $6.2m in seed funding from Coatue, Floodgate, Gigascale Capital, MCJ Collective, and ReGen Ventures. https://axios.link/42DB7PH

⚡ Celadyne, a Chicago-based fuel cell tech developer, raised $4.5. Maniv and Dynamo Ventures co-led, and were joined by EPS Ventures. https://axios.link/3SEpfIz

• Explurger, an India-based social media platform focused on travel, raised $4.5m in Series A funding led by Affle (India). https://axios.link/49BkkPC

• Getmobil, a Turkish refurbished electronics marketplace, raised $4m in seed funding. Dutch Founder Fund led, and was joined by 212, İşbank, TechOne, and Logo Ventures. https://axios.link/3SX3Hs2

• Pacifico Biolabs, a German developer of a fermentation process for alt seafood, raised $3.3m in pre-seed funding. Simon Capital and FoodLabs co-led, and were joined by Exceptional Ventures and Sprout & About Ventures. https://axios.link/42JAlAP

• Ribbon, a SaaS startup that helps banks automate inheritance claims, raised $2.7 million in pre-seed funding co-led by One Way Ventures and Haymaker Ventures, per Axios Pro. https://axios.link/3HZ5ExZ

• Simplyblock, a Berlin-based cloud-storage developer for data centers, raised €2.5m in seed funding. 42CAP led, and was joined by Antler and Begin Capital. https://axios.link/3I1SJeA

🚑 Merit Medicine, an Austin, Texas-based provider of software that predicts increases in employer medical costs and health insurance claims, raised $2m in seed funding from LiveOak Ventures. www.meritmedicine.com

• SocialCrowd, an Irvine, Calif.-based provider of performance management software, raised $1.6m in pre-seed funding led by Bread and Butter Ventures. https://axios.link/49hu5CL

• Parlay, an Alexandria, Va.-based small-business loan platform, raised $1.3m in pre-seed funding. Fenway Summer led, and was joined by Hivers and Strivers Capital, Service Provider Capital, Capacity Capital and Alumni Ventures. www.parlay.finance

• Revel, a Brooklyn-based rideshare company known for its rentable, bright blue electric mopeds, is raising $200m in equity funding, per Bloomberg. https://axios.link/48lSwxF

• General Atlantic and Stone Point Capital agreed to buy HireRight (NYSE: HRT), a Nashville, Tenn.-based provider of background screening services for employers, at around a $1.65b enterprise value. The private equity firms already have around a combined 75% ownership stake in HireRight, which they took public in late 2021. https://axios.link/3I1Ki2N

🚑 Petauri, a Nashville, Tenn.-based drug services platform backed by Oak Hill Capital Partners, acquired Force Communications, a Carmel, Ind.-based medical marketing, communications, and education company. www.petuari.com

• RedBird IMI, the RedBird Capital Partners affiliate led by former CNN boss Jeff Zucker, agreed to buy London-based film and TV producer All3Media for £1.15b. https://axios.link/3ONkxHr

• Rubicon Technology Partners acquired Nulogy, a Toronto-based provider of supply chain collaboration solutions whose backers include Export Development Canada. www.nulogy.com

• Walter Capital Partners invested in Charcoal Group, a Canadian operator of restaurant concepts like Beertown Public House. www.charcoalgroup.ca

• Naver of South Korea hired Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley to prepare a U.S. IPO for Webtoon, an online comics business that could raise upwards of $500m at a $3b-$4b valuation, per Bloomberg. https://axios.link/3ImwK2h

• Tata Group of India is considering a spinoff of its battery business, which could be valued at more than $5b, per Bloomberg. https://axios.link/3uBsXKW

• DraftKings (Nasdaq: DKNG) agreed to buy lottery ticket app Jackpocket for around $750m in cash. Jackpocket had raised nearly $200m from Conductive Ventures, Left Lane Capital, BlueRun Ventures, Telstra Ventures, Raine Group, Greenspring Associates, Circle K Ventures, Tegna Ventures, Gaingels, David Blitzer, Jon Ledecky and actor Sean Hayes. https://axios.link/3OLJVNQ

• Seidler Equity Partners hired Goldman Sachs and William Blair to find a buyer for a minority stake in Quick Quack Car Wash, a Roseville, Calif.-based car wash chain that could be valued at more than $3b (including debt), per Reuters. https://axios.link/3UK0f5s

🎵 Rod Stewart sold his song catalog rights to Irvin Azoff's Iconic Artists Group for nearly $100 million. https://axios.link/49EbyA3

• Wipro of India invested $66m for a 60% stake in Aggne, a Tampa, Fla.-based insuretech and Duck Creek partner. www.aggne.com

• RW3 Ventures, a Boston-based VC firm focused on blockchain startups, raised $60m for its debut fund. LPs include The Raptor Group and Mubadala Capital. www.rw3ventures.com

• Matthew Bellows joined Grit Capital Partners as a general partner. He's the founder and former CEO of Yesware who most recently was VP of biz dev at American Express. https://axios.link/3ULcBKr

• Andrew Lawlor left OMERS, where he was an associate director of growth equity. No word yet on future plans. https://axios.link/3SC76eq

🚑 Michael Ludwig (former partner at MTS Health Investors) and Joseph Mayer (founder, former CEO of Cureatr) joined HLM Venture Partners as partners. https://axios.link/4bDlM5M

🚑 Anthony Philippakis joined GV as a general partner. He's a cardiologist, genomicist, and co-founded GV portfolio company Verve Therapeutics. https://axios.link/3T1JNfq

Digital World Acquisition Corp. shares jumped over 16% yesterday, on news that the SEC approved its beleaguered merger with the parent company of Donald Trump's social network, Truth Social.

• Investors apparently didn't care that DWAC just days earlier disclosed a compensation dispute with former CEO and current director Patrick Orlando that "we believe presents a risk to our ability to consummate the business combination on a timely basis (or at all)."
• Orlando owns 14.8% of DWAC's outstanding shares and holds a controlling interest in its founder shares. Were he to oppose the merger, or even just object to amendments, he could possibly scuttle the deal.