As Los Angeles continues to burn, I wanted to share some thoughts from Bill Clerico, a former fintech CEO who in 2022 launched Convective Capital to invest in wildfire tech startups:

Q. Are you surprised by what's happened in LA?

"Unfortunately not that surprised. I'm obviously biased, working on wildfire tech, but as a society we haven't taken the steps we need to when living in fire-exposed places."

What needs to be done to prevent a repeat?

"California forests are three times denser than they were 100 years ago, basically from putting out too many wildfires, so we need to do more thinning and prescribed burning.

• Second is rapid detection and suppression. If you can catch them small, it's a way to intervene, although it's hard to say if that would have mattered here. The winds were so strong.
• Third is home and community hardening. California did change its building codes to add wildfire reslience, but many homes were built before then. Plus, one big difference between wildfires and something like hurricanes is how vegetation around homes becomes a major risk factor. You need to enforce ordinances around defensible space and landscape maintenance."

How big is the wildfire tech startup space?

"We've identified around 600 startups [globally]."

What's an area receiving a lot of focus?

"Utilities, because they cause 11% of fire ignitions but 50% of the damage. The high winds that create equipment failures are the same ones that help fires spread.

• For example, we have a portfolio company that helps utilities trim trees around powerlines, one that puts sensors on poles, and one that does risk analysis for utilities."

What types of startups do you want to see more of?

"Drone-based suppression. We still mostly use manned aircraft, which are slower and have more restrictions."

A wildfire camera network in California recently made the first AI-generated detection of a wildfire. Meaningful?

"Yeah, it's a really big success story for the state that should be replicated elsewhere. There are over 1,000 cameras in the network, and we have a portfolio company that helps with this. These cameras can let firefighters know how a fire is actually behaving, as opposed to a 911 call from someone who says they see smoke behind their house."

Final thoughts?

"These are deep-seated systemic and cultural issues that we need to collectively grapple with. So using it to score political points seems counterproductive.

• A lot of the solutions are deeply unpopular: no one wants to pay more for their electric bill or rip out all the landscaping around their house or have a prescribed burn, but those are the things we need to do to solve the problem."

I also reached out to Chris Sacca, co-founder of Lowercarbon Capital, who's invested in several wildfire startups (sometimes alongside Convective Capital):

• "Someday, when the f**king activists get out of the way, and regulators and utilities are incentivized to permit and fund preventative work, then solutions that already exist today will save government and the private sector hundreds of billions of dollars while sparing millions of people, their families, their animals, their communities, and nature itself from the worst consequences of these inevitable fires."

The Supreme Court today will hear oral arguments over the TikTok ban, which is set to go into effect on Jan. 19.

Why it's the BFD: TikTok parent company ByteDance is the world's second-most valuable startup, and counts several big-name U.S. venture capital firms as investors.

• A ruling against TikTok also could devastate creators, some of whom rely on the app for their livelihood, while becoming a boon for rivals Meta and X (my 14-year-old tells me she'd just switch to Reels).

State of play: SCOTUS has three options: Let the ban stand (agree with U.S. government), invalidate the ban on 1st Amendment grounds (agree with TikTok), or pause the ban so that the incoming White House can try to work out a compromise (agree with Trump).

• The bill in question is really a divestiture requirement with a ban as last resort, but there's been no known movement on divestiture.
• You can listen along at this link, with the hearing set to begin at 10am ET.

The bottom line: "The conservative Supreme Court usually (but not always) sides with people making First Amendment claims. And it usually (but not always) sides with the federal government when the government says there's a national-security issue. In this case, it won't be able to do both." — Sam Baker, Axios

🚑 Innovaccer, a health-care data platform, raised $275m in Series F funding from B Capital Group, Banner Health, Danaher Ventures, Generation IM, Kaiser Permanente, and M12. axios.link/3Wcl4X6

🚑 Ouro Medicines, a T-cell engager biotech, raised $115m in Series A funding from TPG, NEA, Norwest Venture Partners, and Monograph Capital (which co-founded the company with GSK). axios.link/42dYUrn

🚑 Light Horse Therapeutics, a San Diego-based cancer biotech, raised $62m in Series A funding from Versant Ventures, Mubadala Capital, Bristol Myers Squibb, Taiho Ventures, and AbbVie. It also struck a partnership with Novartis that could be worth up to $1b. axios.link/40CVUnf

🚑 Numab Therapeutics, a Swiss developer of antibody-based immunotherapies, raised $55m in Series C funding from Cormorant, Forbion, HBM Healthcare Investment, Novo Holdings, BVF Partners, Octagon Capital Advisors LP, RTW Investments, and BlackRock. axios.link/4jlUbdg

• Air, a provider of creative workflow automation solutions for brands and marketers, raised $35m in Series B funding, per Axios Pro. Avenir Growth led, and was joined by insides Tiger Global, Headline Ventures, Lerer Hippeau, WndrCo, Slack Ventures, Designer Fund, and Good Friends. axios.link/425Ynre

🚑 Gridware, an SF-based provider of grid monitoring software, raised $26.4m in Series A funding led by Sequoia Capital. axios.link/428GWq3

• Endowus, an Asia-focused digital wealth advisory, raised $17.5m from Prosus Ventures, UBS, and MUFG, Osk Ventures, The Wells Investment, and Jlin. axios.link/4hapoOq

🚑 Oxford Cancer Analytics, a British developer of blood tests for early cancer detection, raised $11m in Series A funding. We Venture Capital and Cross-Border Impact Ventures co-led, and were joined by Eka Ventures, Civilization Ventures, DigitalDx Ventures, Macmillan Cancer Support, Aurelium Ventures, and OKG Capital. oxcan.org

• Beams, a British provider of home renovation market software, raised $9m in Series A funding. ETF Partners led, and was joined by insiders Giant Ventures, firstminute capital, and Borusan Ventures. axios.link/4fPzSSl

⚡ Starpower, a DePIN protocol for a decentralized energy network, raised $2.5m led by Framework Ventures. axios.link/4jle9F0

🚑 Avel eCare, a Sioux Falls, S.D. telehealth company owned by Aquiline Capital Partners, bought the psychiatric care business of Amwell (NYSE: AMWL). amwell.com

🚑 Bluesight, a drug diversion detection company backed by Thoma Bravo, acquired data privacy and security startup Protenus, per Axios Pro. axios.link/4h6p1Vh

🚑 Branford Castle Partners acquired Eastern Dental Management, a New Jersey-based dental services organization, from Staple Street Capital. easterndental.com

🚑 Court Square Capital Partners and WindRose Health agreed to buy Frisco, Texas-based infusion company Soleo Health from H.I.G. Capital for $1.1b, per Axios Pro. axios.link/429nCZW

• Disruptive Capital and Pension SuperFund Capital again approached British banknote printer De La Rue (LSE: DLAR) about a takeover, contingent on De La Rue completing the £300m sale of its authentication arm to Crane NXT (NYSE: CXT). axios.link/4jbx5WI

• Lockmasters, a Nicholasville, Ky., portfolio company of Dominus Capital, acquired Orchard Lock, a Hamden, Conn., wholesale distributor of door locks and related products. lockmasters.com

• Fundamental Advisors acquired HeloAir, a Richmond, Va., operator of utility and fire suppression helicopters. heloair.com

⚡ Howard Energy Partners, owned by Alberta Investment Management, acquired a 120-mile bidirectional ethylene pipeline from Epic Midstream, a portfolio company of Ares Management. axios.link/40ryilc

⚡ KKR and PSP Investments agreed to buy a 19.9% stake in American Electric Power's (Nasdaq: AEP) transmission companies in Ohio, Indiana, and Michigan. axios.link/4j7Zmxf

• Novvia Group, a portfolio company of Kelso & Co., agreed to buy Saxco, a provider of rigid packaging for beverages and food. saxco.com

• Palm Beach Capital invested in MBI Cos., a Knoxville, Tenn.-based architecture and engineering design firm. mbicompanies.com

• Tencarva Machinery, a Greensboro, N.C., portfolio company of Bessemer Investors, acquired Detroit Pump, a Warren, Mich., provider of process pumping and fluid handling equipment to manufacturers and municipalities. tencarva.com

🚑 Vivo Infusion, backed by InTandem Capital, acquired Vista Infusions and the Neurology Institute of San Antonio, per Axios Pro. axios.link/4j2zLpz

• Saudi Tabreed, a Saudi cooling firm backed by PIF, picked Citi and SNB Capital to lead a Riyadh IPO, per Bloomberg. axios.link/3WbUkG0

• Wiz, a New York cloud security firm valued by VCs at $12b, hired Fazal Merchant as CFO ahead of an anticipated IPO. He previously was co-CEO of Tanium and CFO of DreamWorks Animation SKG. axios.link/4h582CE

• BlackRock is in talks to sell its stake in Authentic Brands Group for around $3b to existing backers CVC Capital Partners, General Atlantic, HPS Investment Partners, and Leonard Green & Partners, per Bloomberg and confirmed by Axios Pro. axios.link/3PwV1G8

⚡ Constellation Energy (Nasdaq: CEG) this morning announced a $26.6 billion deal to buy Houston-based power producer Calpine from Energy Capital Partners, Access Industries, and CPP Investments. BFD flashback

• Anduril acquired Numerica's radar and command and control business. axios.link/4abzwnQ

• DBAY Advisors agreed to buy British health-care company Alliance Pharma (LSE: APH) for £349.7m, or 62.5 pence per share (41% premium). axios.link/4039U7W

• Prada is weighing a possible bid for fellow luxury brand Versace, per Il Sole 24 Ore. axios.link/4gNTIyK

🚑 Quanterix (Nasdaq: QTRX) is in talks to buy Akoya Biosciences (Nasdaq: AKYA) in an all-stock deal, per Bloomberg. axios.link/4gF8YxP

• Ubisoft (Paris: UBI), the French gaming company whose titles include Assassin's Creed, hired advisers to explore strategic options. axios.link/3PrKsEz

⚡ Virginia Transformer, a Roanoke, Va.-based transformer manufacturer, is exploring a sale that could fetch more than $6b, per Bloomberg. axios.link/3C1ZQEm

• Caroline Duffy joined Cowboy Ventures as a partner. She previously was with Construct Capital. axios.link/4hrCR4T

• Goldman Sachs named Marco Paesotto and Edoardo Rava as co-heads of Italian investment banking. axios.link/40suvEn

🚑 Jason Helgerson (CEO of Helgerson Solutions Group) and Alistair Erskine (chief information and digital officer for Emory Healthcare) joined Windham Capital Partners as operating partners. windhamcap.com

🚑 Saisei Ventures named longtime adviser Sven Kili as a partner. axios.link/4adtEdP

The U.S. economy added 256k jobs in December, beating expectations, while the unemployment rate ticked down to 4.1%, according to the Labor Department.

• That puts the 2024 total at around 2.23 million new jobs, including revisions.
• Go deeper