We're gonna skip our regularly-scheduled programming, since it's a get-away day. Just a quick note to say how very thankful I am to you for joining me here each morning and for your feedback (even when you think I'm frightfully wrong).

Some people say that writing a daily newsletter is a grind, but that must be because they don't have the smartest, most engaged, best-looking readers waiting on the other side. It's truly a privilege.

• Eat well, drink better and we'll chat again on Monday.
• (Don't worry, there's still tons of deal news below...)

3D Investment Partners, the second-largest Toshiba (Tokyo: 6502) shareholder with a 7% stake, is objecting to the Japanese conglomerate's plan to split into three companies, per a letter obtained by Reuters.

• Why it's the BFD: This could set up a takeover battle for all of Toshiba, which was the target of a failed $20 billion bid earlier this year from CVC Capital Partners.

• The bottom line: "[T]he breakup may struggle to win approval at a shareholder meeting early next year. ... Some other hedge fund shareholders have also told Reuters, on condition of anonymity, that they were disappointed Toshiba had turned down the idea of going private." — Makiko Yamazaki, Reuters

• Simpro, an Australian provider of field service management software, raised over US$350 million. K1 Investment Management led, and was joined by insider Level Equity. It also acquired two companies: AroFlo, an Australian provider of job management software, and ClockShark, a Chico, Calif.-based timesheet and scheduling platform. http://axios.link/I4gZ

• Spinny, an Indian used car marketplace, raised $280 million in Series E funding at a $1.75 billion post-money valuation co-led by Tiger Global and Abu Dhabi Growth Fund, per TechCrunch. http://axios.link/4aLj

• Verbit, a New York-based transcription and captioning platform, raised $250 million at a $2 billion valuation. Third Point Ventures led, and was joined by insiders Sapphire Ventures, More Capital, Disruptive AI, Vertex Growth, 40North, Samsung Next and TCP. http://axios.link/mJ0s

• Vercel, an S.F.-based front-end development company, raised $150 million in Series D funding at a $2.5 billion valuation. GGV Capital led, and was joined by SV Angel and insiders Accel, Bedrock Capital, CRV, Geodesic Capital, Greenoaks Capital, GV, 8VC, Flex Capital, Latacora, Salesforce Ventures and Tiger Global. http://axios.link/xLOM

• Podimo, a Copenhagen-based audio platform, raised $78 million in Series B funding. 83North and Highland Europe co-led, and were joined by insiders Chr. Augustinus, Heartcore, Saban Ventures, Headline and Possible Ventures. http://axios.link/3cxx

🎮 Plug In Digital, a French game publisher whose titles include "The Forgotten City," raised $75 million led by Bridgepoint. http://axios.link/f4bl

• Bitrise, an S.F.-based mobile DevOps startup, raised $60 million in Series C funding. Insight Partners led, and was joined by insiders Partech, Open Ocean, Zobito, Fiedler Capital, Y Combinator and H14. http://axios.link/6mUC

• Rescale, an S.F.-based developer of compute infrastructure for scientific research simulations, raised $55 million in new Series C funding (round total now $105m) from Sam Altman, Jeff Bezos, Richard Branson, Paul Graham, Peter Thiel, Fort Ross Ventures, Gaingels, Gopher, Hitachi Ventures, Initialized Capital, Keen Venture Partners, M12, Nautilus Venture Partners, NVIDIA, Prometheus Capital, Republic Labs, Samsung Catalyst Fund, Solasta Ventures and Yield Capital Partners. http://axios.link/XbK5

🚑 Ieso, a British digital therapy startup, raised $53 million in Series B funding. Morningside led, and was joined by Sony Innovation Fund and insiders IP Group, Molten Ventures and Ananda Impact Ventures. http://axios.link/KQGI

• TruePay, a Brazilian BNPL startup, raised $32 million in Series A funding led by Addition. http://axios.link/KOGN

• Arc, an S.F.-based electric boat maker, raised $30 million in Series A funding. Eclipse Ventures led, and was joined by insiders Andreessen Horowitz, Lowercarbon Capital and Abstract Ventures. http://axios.link/gy8q

• CoreStack, a Bellevue, Wash.-based provider of multi-cloud governance SaaS, raised $30 million in Series B funding. Avatar Growth Capital led, and was joined by insiders Dallas VC and Iron Pillar. www.corestack.io

• Whatslly, an Israeli no-code conversational sales solutions provider, raised $11 million led by Zeev Ventures. http://axios.link/Msez

• Vollebak, a London-based men’s apparel brand, raised $10 million in Series A funding led by Venrex. http://axios.link/TLcr

• Attio, a London-based CRM startup, raised $7.7 million in seed funding. Point Nine Capital led, and was joined by Balderton Capital, Headline and insider Passion Capital. www.attio.com

• Column Tax, a maker of mobile income tax software, raised $5.1 million in seed funding. Bain Capital Ventures led, and was joined by South Park Commons, Core Innovation Capital and Operator Partners. http://axios.link/NkRZ

• Zenity, an Israeli security startup focused on low-code/no-code apps, raised $5 million in seed funding co-led by Vertex Ventures and UpWest. http://axios.link/bF2S

• Juicy Marbles, a Slovenian plant-based steak company, raised $4.5 million led by Ecosia. http://axios.link/0K0Q

• OnePipe, a Nigerian embedded finance startup, raised $3.5 million in seed funding from Atlantica Ventures, Tribe Capital and V&R Associates. http://axios.link/NUpD

• Streetlogic, an S.F.-based provider of e-bike rider safety solutions, raised $2.1 million from LDV Capital and Trucks VC. http://axios.link/KfVo

• Suborbital, a WebAssembly platform, raised $1.6 million in seed funding led by Amplify Partners. http://axios.link/RLN0

• Accurate Group, an Independence, Ohio-based portfolio company of NovaCap, acquired eMerge Property Solutions, a Canadian provider of broker price opinions. www.accurategroup.com

• Blackstone and KKR are among suitors for London-based data center operator Global Switch, which could fetch around £8 billion, per Bloomberg. Strategics also have interest in the company, which is being sold by Chinese steelmaker Jiangsu Shagang Group and Avic Trust. http://axios.link/qV6F

• Godspeed Capital acquired Ascent Engineering Group, a Roanoke, Va.-based engineering consultant. www.ascentengineering.com

• KKR may raise its takeover bid for Telecom Italia, to win over top shareholder Vivendi, per Bloomberg. http://axios.link/fIOm

• Marlin Equity Partners invested in ImagineSoftware, a Charlotte-based provider of medical billing automation and revenue cycle management software. www.imagineteam.com

• MarkLogic, a San Carlos, Calif.-based portfolio company of Vector Capital, acquired Smartlogic, a San Jose, Calif.-based semantic AI and metadata management company. www.marklogic.com

⚡ Photosol, a French solar farm developer, has received takeover offers from Antin Infrastructure Partners, Crédit Agricole, EQT and Macquarie Group, per Bloomberg. A deal could be worth more than €400 million. http://axios.link/z3Gv

• Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection, a luxury cruise venture backed by Oaktree Capital Management, is seeking new funding, per the WSJ. http://axios.link/gzYY

• TA Associates invested in Nactarome, an Italian maker of food flavorings and colors. www.ta.com

• Tempo Software, an Icelandic portfolio company of Diversis Capital, acquired Roadmunk, a Canadian visual platform for product roadmap collaboration. Roadmunk backers included Golden Ventures, Felicis Ventures and GarageCapital. www.tempo.io

🚑 Nuvo Group, an Israeli pregnancy care management platform, filed for a $50 million IPO. The pre-revenue company plans to list on the NYSE (NUVO), while backers include Gal Ventures. http://axios.link/pzDo

🚑 Forbion European Acquisition, a life sciences SPAC formed by VC firm Forbion, filed for a $100 million IPO. http://axios.link/T9bO

• Investcorp Europe Acquisition I, a SPAC formed by Investcorp, filed for a $250 million IPO. http://axios.link/eZ7L

• Booking Holdings (Nasdaq: BKNG) agreed to buy Sweden-based flight booking site Etraveli Group for €1.63 billion from CVC Capital Partners. http://axios.link/IVbm

• ByteDance plans to spin off real estate listing unit Xingfuli. http://axios.link/EINh

• Coda Payments, a Singapore-based online payment processing company, hired Goldman Sachs to find a buyer, per Bloomberg. The company could fetch at least $4 billion, while backers include Apis Partners. http://axios.link/6Ede

• Kelso & Co. agreed to sell Eacom Timber, a Canadian wood and lumber distributor, for C$490 million to Interfor (TSX: IFP). www.eacom.ca

Source: Giphy

• The U.S. Justice Department sued to block U.S. Sugar from buying rival Imperial Sugar from Louis Dreyfus Co. http://axios.link/PGM1

• Getir, a Turkish grocery delivery company valued at $7.5 billion by VCs, acquired British hyper-speed grocery delivery startup Weezy. http://axios.link/USzb

• The Italian government blocked Applied Materials (Nasdaq: AMAT) from selling its Italian screen-printing business to China’s Zhejiang Jingsheng Mechanical. http://axios.link/KYUB

• Bain Capital is targeting $1.5 billion for its second tech opportunities fund, per the WSJ. http://axios.link/vlMM

• Blume Ventures of India held a $105 million first close on its fourth fund, which is targeting a total of $200 million. http://axios.link/yNIM

• Cathay Innovation (France) and Seeya Ventures (Spain) formed a $125 million fund focused on Latin American startups. http://axios.link/4GDh

• Green Circle Capital Partners of New York is raising $25 million for a food-tech VC fund, per an SEC filing. www.greencirclecap.com

• Lool Ventures of Israel is raising its third fund, per an SEC filing. www.lool.vc

• Providence Equity Partners is targeting $6 billion for its ninth flagship buyout fund, per the WSJ. http://axios.link/D7Ul

• Starship Ventures of San Francisco is raising $50 million for its second fund, per an SEC filing. www.starship.vc

• Vertex Ventures is raising its fifth China fund, per an SEC filing. www.vertexventures.cn

• Nicole Lai (Atomico) and Dinika Mahtani (ex-Uber) joined Germany’s Cherry Ventures. www.cherry.vc

Alden Global Capital, a hedge fund manager that's best known for laying off journalists in the pursuit of profit, this week offered to buy local newspaper publisher Lee Enterprises for around $141 million.

• Why it matters, per Axios' Sara Fischer: Roughly half of America’s daily newspapers are already controlled by investment groups. Alden's takeover would make it a clear majority. Go deeper.