Dan sat down with General Atlantic CEO Bill Ford in Davos Wednesday to discuss the future of TikTok, AI in investing, and China.

Why it matters: Ford heads one of the largest private market investors in world and sits on the board of TikTok.

On TikTok

Ford believes that a deal keeping TikTok available in the U.S. will be done, with productive negotiations starting as early as next week.

• Driving the news: "We're waiting for Secretary [Scott] Bessent to be confirmed," he said, referencing Trump's pick for Treasury secretary. "I think President Trump will deputize Secretary Bessent to be our partner in this, and we'll get on with it as soon as maybe the end of the week in terms of negotiating what might work."
• A deal, he notes, might not necessarily be a divestiture.
• Ford notably believes the Biden administration is partially to blame for the company's current situation, arguing the previous leadership didn't engage.

On AI in investing

General Atlantic has added a non-voting AI to its five-person investing committee. In 10 years, Ford could see the AI (known as Ada) having a vote.

• Driving the news: Fed 45 years of investment history and memos, Ada votes the same way as the committee about 80% to 90% of the time, he says.
• But it still lacks the human perspective: "We might be saying, this entrepreneur is special ... Ada can't take that into account yet. She doesn't have the interaction with the individual."
• Yes, but: More AI won't translate to lower fees for LPs at General Atlantic.

On China

Despite geopolitical tensions, the Meituan and Alibaba investor still sees promise in the region.

• Driving the news: "Now we have to be cognizant of a few things. More areas are off limits for investment from both the Chinese government aspect of and U.S. government," he says. "I think it's a mistake to write off the second biggest economy, the world."

On IPOs

Ford says he believes overregulation from the SEC led to the slowdown of IPO markets over the last three years. Today, General Atlantic has some 26 companies in the pipeline preparing to go public.

• Zoom in: This comes amid expectations that the Trump administration could rollback some listing requirements.
• "There's been a variety of other regulations that have been layered on top of public company CEOs over time," NYSE president Lynn Martin told Dan on Tuesday, pointing to ESG disclosures as an area that will likely be reviewed.

Source: Giphy

Stargate has opened. OpenAI, SoftBank, Oracle, and the UAE's MGX unveiled the company on Tuesday that plans to invest $500 billion in AI infrastructure for OpenAI in the U.S.

Why it matters: SoftBank is doubling down on its OpenAI bet, and it reduces OpenAI's reliance on the infrastructure of Microsoft, its largest investor.

Context: The Stargate project will invest an initial $100 billion, with another $400 billion over the next four years.

Between the lines: A portion of the $100 billion is expected to be funded via third-party debt rather than equity, Axios has learned.

• SoftBank will be responsible for raising the debt.
• SoftBank and OpenAI are the largest equity investors in the first $100 billion in Stargate, with Oracle and MGX also having contributed.
• Similarly, the additional $400 billion is expected to be a mix of current investors, new investors, and debt providers.

OpenAI will be responsible for the day-to-day operations of the business.

The big picture: SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son previously promised President Trump that he would invest $100 billion in U.S. firms over the next four years. This is part of that promise.

Zoom out: Microsoft had been OpenAI's exclusive provider of data infrastructure since 2019. As part of this deal, Microsoft says that exclusivity is now broken, though Microsoft will have the "right of first refusal" should OpenAI seek capacity elsewhere.

Reality check: "Trump will take credit for these spending commitments, but the rush to build AI data centers has been building for two years, and this money would likely have flowed regardless of who occupied the White House," — Sareen Habeshian, Axios

• Anthropic, the SF-based AI business, has raised another $1b from Google. axios.link/3PIuYfx

• Render, an SF-based cloud application company, raised $80m. Georgian led with participation from 01A, avra, Addition, Bessemer Venture Partners, General Catalyst, and the South Park Commons Fund. axios.link/4h3acmO

• Vertice, a London-based procurement spend management company, raised $50m in Series C funding. Lakestar led with participation from Perpetual Growth, CF Private Equity, Bessemer Venture Partners and 83North. vertice.one

• H2Site, a Spain-based hydrogen tech company, raised €36m. Hy24 and SC Net Zero Ventures led with participation form MassMutual Ventures, Enagas Emprende, Exergon, Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Equinor Ventures, Ezten, and FCR. axios.link/4jnUPqC

• Paytrack, a Brazilian corporate expense management startup, raised $37m in growth funding led by Riverwood Capital. paytrack.com.br

• Mitiga, a NYC-based cyber investigation and response business, raised $30m. SYN Ventures led with participation from ClearSky, Atlantic Bridge, Flint Capital, DNX Ventures and Glilot Capital Partners. axios.link/3C7S9N7

🚑 Percipio Health, a Plano, Texas-based startup using smartphones to assess population health, raised $20m in Series A funding, per Axios Pro. Wave Ventures led with participation from UPMC Enterprises, Labcorp and First Trust Capital Partners. axios.link/4jEv2L5

• Package.ai, a Tel Aviv- and NYC-based customer engagement and last-mile logistics company, raised $14m in Series A funding led by Susquehanna Growth Equity. axios.link/4h3vyjI

• Green Fusion, a German maker of software that improves apartment-building heating efficiency, raised €12m in Series A funding led by HV Capital and XAnge. BitStone Capital, Übermorgen Ventures, Kopa ventures, Vireo Ventures and Brandenburg Kapital also participated. axios.link/4hp51Nw

• Bedrock Energy, an Austin-based geothermal heating and cooling startup, raised $12m in Series A funding, per Axios Pro. Titanium Ventures led with participation from Energy Impact Partners and Sustainable Future. axios.link/3Wsx07h

• Hypori, a Reston, Va.-based privacy and secure access app maker, raised $12m in extended Series B funding from UBS, Carahsoft Technology Group, and AE Industrial Partners. hypori.com

• IntusCare, an Australian geriatric care data analytics provider, raised $11.5m, led by Deerfield Management and joined by Citi Impact Fund and Jumpstart Nova. axios.link/40rbCQR

• Merit Systems, a Brooklyn-based seeking to solve the attribution problem for open-source projects, raised $10m in seed funding. a16z's crypto fund and Blockchain Capital led. axios.link/42iNEKc

• Baton, a New York-based marketplace for small and medium-sized business acquisitions, raised $10m. Obvious Ventures led with participation from Burst Capital, FJ Labs, Fluent Ventures, and Spencer Rascoff via 75 & Sunny. batonmarket.com

• Global Token Exchange, a decentralized crypto exchange, raised $10m across multiple rounds from Maven 11, Wintermute, Flow Traders, Robot Ventures and IMC Trading. axios.link/4hoLjBB

• Craftwork, a Charlotte, N.C.-based home-painting matching startup, raised $7m in Series A funding. Slow Ventures led with participation form Lachy Groom, Four Cities Capital, Forerunner Ventures, Pioneer Fund, and Y Combinator. axios.link/4jidUdE

• Doti AI, a Tel Aviv-based AI search company for enterprises, raised $7m in seed funding. F2 Venture Capital led the round. doti.ai

• Matchory a Munich-based manufacturing procurement platform, raised €6m. Capmont led with participation from Earlybird-X. matchory.com

• Aslan, a London-based employee compensation fintech raised a $5m (£3.9m) seed round led by Notion Capital and joined by Redstone, and angel investors. aslan.io

• GRVT, a Singapore-based crypto exchange, raised $5m led by by Further Ventures. axios.link/3E4Lxj6

• Borderless AI, a Toronto-based HR management platform, raised a $5m extension to its seed round from Cohere co-founders Aidan Gomez and Ivan Zhang. axios.link/42GEac3

• Addis Energy, a Cambridge, Mass.-based clean ammonia production business, raised $4.3m in pre-seed funding from Engine Ventures, Pillar VC and Voyager Venture. axios.link/42iIbDa

• BPR Hub, a SF- and Bangalore-based compliance platform for SMB manufacturers, raised $2.6m co-led by Accel and Kae Capital. axios.link/4h3EiGy

• Qumis, a Chicago-based automation business for insurers, raised $2.2m in pre-seed funding. Armory Square Ventures led with participation from MTech Capital, Grand Ventures, Alumni Ventures and BrokerTech Ventures. axios.link/4g6L4Kz

• Glue, a Seattle-based hardware test planning and automation company, raised $2m in pre-seed funding. Fortive Corp. (NYSE:FTV) led with participation from Pioneer Square Ventures and the AIStudio Fund. axios.link/42oROAm

• Banyu, a Jakarta, Indonesia-based seaweed company, raised $1.3m in seed funding led by Intudo. banyu.farm

• Highnote, an SF-based card issuing startup, raised $90m in Series B funding led by Adams Street Partners with participation from Oak HC/FT, Costanoa, WestCap, and Pinegrove Venture Partners. axios.link/4hh399W

• Eleos, a maker of software for behavioral health appointments, raised $60m in Series C funding led by Greenfield Partners, with participation from F-Prime Capital, Eight Roads, Menlo Ventures and ION. Eleos.health

• American Pacific Group invested in ServerLift, a Phoenix-based manufacturer of handling and lifting equipment for IT infrastructure. serverlift.com

Astorg plans to acquire Fujifilm Irvine Scientific's Medical Media Business Unit. MBU's products are used in vitro fertilization, infertility research, and cytogenetic analysis. axios.link/3E2Nb4V

• Burnout Brands, a portfolio company of Hidden Harbor Capital Partners, acquired D&J Precision Machine, a provider of precision machining services. axios.link/3EhokKo

• Cre8tive Technology and Design, backed by Petra Capital Partners, acquired EpiCenter ERP, a San Diego-based manufacturing tech business. axios.link/4g2SYEM

• The Exigent Group, backed by Huron Capital, acquired Premier Mechanical, a Lima, Ohio-based HVAC and mechanical services company. exigentmechanical.com

🚑 Knack RCM, a LKCM Headwater Investments and Weave Growth Partners- backed revenue cycle management company, acquired HealthyBOS, a U.S.- and Philippines-based RCM provider for durable medical equipment. axios.link/4h5qA6c

• Namsa, a U.S.-based clinical and regulatory consulting firm backed by Archimed, will acquire the U.S. medical device testing operations of Chinese company WuXi AppTec in Minnesota and Georgia. axios.link/40rDFQ1

• Wafra invested in Niobrara Capital, a private equity firm founded by Chip Schorr, Todd Bradley and Mike Pompeo. niobraracap.com

• Infinity Natural Resources, a Morgantown, W.Va.-based oil and natural gas producer, plans to raise between $239m to $279m in an IPO that could value it at $1.1b. axios.link/4gaecjU

• Karman, a Huntington Beach, Calif.-based space and defense business, filed for an IPO. It posted revenue of $280.7m and net income of $4.4m in 2023. Trive Capital backs the firm. axios.link/4h4ign4

• Voyager Technologies, a space and defense company, filed confidentially for an IPO in the U.S. axios.link/3WtEVRv

• ABB is acquiring Sensorfact, a Netherlands-based maker of software to manage energy usage, from investors including SET Ventures. axios.link/42oKQLM

🚑 Bridges Consumer Healthcare, a portfolio company of Charlesbank Capital Partners, acquired kinesiology tape brand KT from Palladin Consumer. axios.link/4hl9DEz

• Brookfield Asset Management is nearing a $950m acquisition Divvy Homes, a rent-to-own startup that previously was valued by $2b by Tiger Global Management and Caffeinated Capital, per Bloomberg. axios.link/3WoQdqn

• Circle acquired Hashnote, a Miami-based tokenized treasury and money market fund backed by Cumberland Labs. axios.link/3E76uKk

• LightBay Capital invested in Achieve Partners-backed Ro Health, a Seattle-based healthcare staffing company. rohealth.com

• 23andMe, a Sunnyvale, Calif., consumer genomics company, is weighing a sale of its SF telehealth unit Lemonaid Health, which it bought for $400m in 2021. axios.link/40Lroq7

• Elm Company agreed to acquire Thiqah, a business services firm, from Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund for $906m. axios.link/4hs3nuW

• Zencity acquired Commonplace, a U.K.-based zoning and planning software company. axios.link/4jtQL8q

• Chipotle Mexican Grill doubled the size of its Cultivate Next early-stage venture fund to $100m. axios.link/3WuGQpb

• Novacap raised $1b for its first digital infrastructure fund. axios.link/40utHgO

• Astorg promoted Chris Cozzone and Olivier Lieven to partner. It also promoted Nathan Geerinck, Bastien Hermans, Daniel Müller, Chuck Sandilya, Alexandre Falewee, Camille Lebargy, and Nathalie Medawar to managing directors. astorg.com

• Congruent Ventures added Kevin Kopczynski as partner, and promoted Eliza Cushman to partner. congruentvc.com

• Erin Schaefer, SVP at Niantic, will join General Catalyst as COO. generalcatalyst.com

• Rackhouse Venture Capital appointed Brendan Baker to partner. rackhouse.vc

• Valia Venture promoted Riley Rodgers to partner. axios.link/4h8kSRe

Venture Global on Wednesday dramatically slashed its IPO range by 40%, saying it now expects to list shares at $23 to $27 apiece.

• While the company's previous range had it valued at about $115 billion, per Renaissance Capital, the new range would value the business at $67 billion at mid-point.