Members of the White House held conversations in recent weeks with Ancora, the activist investor pushing to keep U.S. Steel independent, Ancora Alternatives CEO Jim Chadwick tells Axios.

Why it matters: The administration is, at the very least, weighing the possibility of allowing U.S. Steel to go it alone.

The big picture: Nippon Steel's $14.9 billion attempt to buy U.S. Steel turned political last year, with the Biden administration blocking the deal citing national security concerns.

• The Trump administration has carried that torch onward, saying he wants U.S. Steel to remain domestically owned. President Trump more recently said he also wouldn't mind if Nippon Steel took a minority stake in the business.

Driving the news: Ancora's Chadwick says the firm spoke with Trump officials earlier this month in what he describes as a "fact finding exercise."

• The conversation, which occurred shortly before Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba's visit to the White House, circled around the viability of U.S. Steel going it alone.
• Ancora has vehemently opposed the Nippon Steel merger, and has sought to nominate nine new board members to U.S. Steel. The activist investor has also identified Alan Kestenbaum, former CEO of Stelco, as their preferred CEO.

Yes, but: Nippon Steel had previously promised to inject new capital into the business, something Ancora currently isn't putting on the table (though it isn't ruling out the possibility in the future).

• There's also Cleveland-Cliffs, which has reportedly shown interest in a bid for U.S. Steel.
• In his final days as president, Joe Biden delayed an order for Nippon Steel to abandon the deal to June — leaving the door open for a comeback. Chadwick wants to see Trump shorten it to 30 days.

The White House has not replied to a request for comment.

The San Francisco 49ers owners are considering selling 10% of the team at a $9 billion valuation, according to Bloomberg.

Why it's the BFD: If the 49ers get that price, it would likely be the highest valuation yet for a sports team.

Context: The NFL changed its rules last year to allow private equity onto its cap tables, and private equity buyers already have bought into the Buffalo Bills and Miami Dolphins.

• The Philadelphia Eagles also sold a stake to non-private equity buyers at an $8.3 billion valuation.
• Last week, the New York Giants announced they had retained Moelis & Company to sell as much as 10% of the team.

What we're watching: When and if the league approves more potential private equity buyers.

• Four PE groups have been approved to buy ownership stakes to date, and they each can buy stakes in up to six teams — creating an effective cap on supply.

Stunning stat: In 1977, Edward DeBartolo bought a 90% stake in the 49ers for $17 million.

• Lambda, a San Jose, Calif.-based GPU cloud company, raised $480m in Series D funding co-led by Andra Capital and SGW, with participation from Andrej Karpathy, ARK Invest, Fincadia Advisors, G Squared, and In-Q-Tel. lambdalabs.com

• Codeium, an SF-based coding startup using AI, is raising funding at a $2.9b valuation led Kleiner Perkins, per TechCrunch. axios.link/431ePJJ

🚑 OpenEvidence, a Cambridge, Mass.-based AI search platform for doctors, raised $75m in Series A funding led by Sequoia Capital, valuing it at $1b valuation. openevidence.com

• Baseten, an SF-based startup running AI models on its cloud infrastructure, raised $75m in Series C funding co-led by IVP and Spark, with participation from Greylock, Conviction, South Park Commons, 01 Advisors and Lachy Groom. Baseten.co

• Sanas, a Palo Alto, Calif.-based company that uses AI to change a person's accent, raised $65m in Series B funding. Quadrille Capital led the round with strong participation from Insight Partners, Quiet Capital, and DN Capital. axios.link/432faMg

• Dorsia, a Miami-based restaurant reservations startup with a membership, raised $50.4m in funding across its Seed and Series A, valuing it at $146m. Index Ventures led with participation from Invus and RedSea. dorsia.com

• Lumotive, a Redmond, Wash.-based optical semiconductor products maker, raised $45m in Series B funding. Investors included Swisscom Ventures, East Bridge, EDOM, Grazia, Hokuyo Inc. and TSVC. lumotive.com

• Guidde, a Belmont, Calif.-based video documentation business, raised $15m in extended Series A funding. Qualcomm Ventures led with participation from Norwest Venture Partners, Entrée Capital, Honeystone Ventures, Tiferes Ventures, and Inkberry Ventures. guidde.com

• Relish, a Cleveland-based procurement software maker, raised $25m in Series B funding from Base10 Partners with participation from Volition Capital. relishiq.com

• Spore.Bio, a Paris-based microbiology testing startup, raised $23m in Series A funding led by Singular. Point 72 Ventures, 1st Kind Ventures (Peugeot Family Office), and Station F participated. Spore.Bio

• Karman+, a Denver-based asteroid mining startup, raised $20m in seed funding led by Plural and Hummingbird. karmanplus.com

🌎 Valar Atomics, an El Segundo, Calif.-based nuclear energy startup, raised $19m in seed funding led by Riot Ventures, with participation fromAlleyCorp, Initialized Capital, Day One Ventures, and Steel Atlas, per Axios Pro Climate Deals.

• Unit Network, a New York-based tokenization company, raised $18m led by Blockchain Founders Fund and Outlier Ventures. unit.network

• CredCore, a New York-based business for analyzing private debt transactions, raised $16m in Series A funding, per Axios Pro. Avataar Ventures led the round, with participation from Inspired Capital, Fitch Group, and BellTower Partners. axios.link/3QrojXq

• Metycle, a Cologne, Germany-based platform for international secondary metal trade, raised €14.1m in Series A funding led by 2150, with participation from DFF Ventures, Market One Capital, Partech, and Project A. metycle.com

• Gomboc AI, a New York-based cloud security remediation business, raised $8m in seed funding led by Ballistic Ventures, with participation from Glilot Capital Partners and Hetz Ventures. gomboc.ai

• Hyperlume, a Canadian power interconnector for AI data centers, raised $12.5m in seed funding led by BDC's Deep Tech Venture Fund and ArcTern Ventures with participation from MUUS Climate Partners, SOSV and Intel Capital. axios.link/4hL4ndX

🌎 ElectronX, a Chicago-based energy exchange, raised $10m in strategic funding led by Systemiq Capital, with participation by Equinor Ventures, Shell Ventures and Innovation Endeavors. electronx.com

• Fluent Labs, a Dover, Del.-based blockchain computation company, raised $8m in funding led by Polychain Capital, with participation from Primitive, dao5, Symbolic Capital, Builder Capital, Nomad Capital, and Public Works. axios.link/4b6g6kM

• Mavvrik, an Austin, Texas-based business for managing spending on cloud and IT infrastructure, raised $6.2m in seed funding, per Axios Pro. S3 Ventures and Flyover Capital led the funding per Axios Pro Fintech Deals.

• Validco, an SF-based paid media marketing agency, raised $5.5m led by Canaan Partners. Neo and JVentures participated. axios.link/4gQJtbY

🚑 CircNova, a Detroit-based AI drug discovery company, raised $3.3m led by South Loop Ventures, with participation from Dug Song, Union Heritage, Michigan Rise. circnova.com

• Onetab.ai, a a New York-based AI agent focused on the software development lifecyce, raised $3.3m from investors including SOSV, Orbit, LIT FUND, and Sunil Kumar Singhvi. onetab.ai

• Mansa, a Dubai-based cross-border payments company, raised $3m from investors including Tether, Polymorphic Capital, Octerra Capital, Faculty Group, and Trive Digital. mansafinance.co

• Serverpod, a Sweden-based open-source app server for Flutter developers, raised $2.8m in seed funding. Node.vc led with participation from Greens Ventures and PreSeed Ventures. serverpod.dev

• Diligent, backed by Ares Management and Insight Partners, acquired Spark Compliance, a U.K.-based consultancy specializing in ethics and compliance program design. sparkcompliance.com

• Goldman Sachs Alternatives invested in Econic Partners, an economic consulting firm focused on antitrust matters. Goldman Sachs Alternatives. axios.link/3CMEYBD

• KKR acquired a 57.9% stake in FujiSoft, the Japanese software company, for $4.4b. axios.link/4i0SZLn

• KKR offered £4b for a majority stake in Thames Water, the U.K.-based water utility business. axios.link/41aqYtc

• Rise Growth Partners, a Charlesbank Capital Partners portfolio company, invested in Grimes & Company, a Westborough, Mass.-based wealth management firm with around $5.7b in AUM. grimesco.com

• Soccer Post management, backed by York Capital Management, acquired a majority stake in Soccer Post, an Eatontown, N.J.-based soccer goods chain, from TZP Group. soccerpost.com

• Tritium Partners invested in $115m in Loxo, an Austin, Texas-based recruiting software company. loxo.co

• Bridgepoint Group is weighing a sale of Evac, the Finnish clean technology firm, in a deal that could value it around €500m. axios.link/4k3E04x

• CoStar (NASDAQ: CSGP) is preparing to bid $1.7b for Domain Holdings, an Australian property classifieds business. axios.link/3QsrwpB

• GBL has held discussions with buyout groups on a potential team-up to take Imerys, a French specialty materials company, private. GBL owns a 55% stake in Imerys, which is valued at about €2.4b on the Paris bourse. axios.link/3D0UPfQ

🚑 Hims & Hers (NYSE: HIMS) acquired Trybe Labs, a New Jersey-based at-home blood testing facility. axios.link/413vJVv

• Prada is weighing a potential bid for Versace, the Italian high-end fashion brand owned by Capri Holdings. axios.link/4gNkp5R

• Dr Scholl's footwear owner Caleres (NYSE: CAL) will acquire Stuart Weitzman, the shoe brand, for $105m from Tapestry (NYSE: TPR). axios.link/3EVvGnb

• Roper Technologies is exploring a sale of Neptune Technology Group, its meter reading unit. The division could be worth $4b. axios.link/42YAxOH

• Bonfire Ventures raised $245m for its fourth fund. axios.link/3XcP7OW

• Cherryrock, a venture from former TaskRabbit CEO Stacy Brown-Philpot and former True Ventures Partner Saydeah Howard, launched with $172m. Investors include JPMorgan, Mass Mutual, Pivotal, and Goldman Sachs. cherryrockcapital.com

• GTCR raised $3.6b for its second strategic growth fund. axios.link/4gRheKv

• BCI Private Equity added Sai Devabhaktuni as a senior managing director leading the technology, media, and telecommunications. bci.ca

• Comvest Private Equity promoted Matt Kunz to partner; Alex Ray to managing director, business development; and Stephanie Tack to senior associate, business development. comvest.com

• PSP Growth promoted Caroline Greenberg to vice president. psppartners.com

Venture capital giant Andreessen Horowitz's name reached whole new levels in the national consciousness after hiring Daniel Penny as a deal partner earlier this month.

Context: Penny, a former Marine, was acquitted last year after choking a homeless man to death in New York City.

• The hiring raised eyebrows as Penny had no known investing experience.

The big picture: Search interest in the term "Andreessen Horowitz" hit an all time high that week.