Luckin Coffee's fortunes have perked up, four years after an accounting scandal cost the Chinese company its top executives, its Nasdaq listing, and $180 million in fines.

Why it matters: Many of us had left Luckin for dead, assuming its remains would get steamrolled by rival Starbucks.

Catch up quick: Luckin launched in 2017 as a low-cost, no-frills coffee chain in a country still dominated by tea-drinkers.

• It soon secured big money from private market investors — including BlackRock, which was and is Starbucks' second-largest shareholder — and went public in 2019 at a $4.3 billion valuation.
• Trouble began in early 2020 when short-sellers suspected that the company had inflated its sales figures, including numbers that investors had relied on for both a secondary share sale and convertible debt offering.
• Luckin soon admitted the fabrication and canned its CEO and COO. Next came the Nasdaq relisting, SEC settlement, and $260 million bailout investment from insiders.
• It continued to trade over-the-counter, and in 2022 sold a control stake to a private equity group that included early backer Centurium Capital, IDG Capital, and Ares Management.

Fast forward: Luckin took the private equity money and embarked on a massive expansion drive, doubling its number of stores in 2023 and increasing its revenue by 87%. It also expanded its menu to include more sweet drinks.

• Luckin now had more China stores and revenue than does Starbucks, which continues to invest in the country.
• That's helped drive shares over $18, up from its $1.39 per share depths in May 2020. The market cap has surpassed the IPO mark, and there's even chatter about it relisting on the Nasdaq.

Caveats: Luckin still isn't profitable, owing both to its new store spend and a pricing strategy that has inherently low margins.

• It also still faces stiff competition from both Starbucks and Cotti Coffee, which was founded by the fired Luckin execs.

The bottom line: It's hard to keep a cheap coffee chain down.

Source: Giphy

Nelson Peltz has sold his entire stake in Walt Disney Co. (NYSE: DIS), just weeks after losing a proxy fight, according to CNBC.

Why it's the BFD: Bob Iger has now won both the battle and the war.

The bottom line: Activism can pay off, even if the specific action falters. CNBC reports that Peltz netted $1 billion, selling at around $120 per share.

🚑 Allez Health, a Carlsbad, Calif., biosensor developer, raised $60m in Series A extension funding led by Osang Healthcare. axios.link/4aDiT32

• FintechOS, a Romanian low-code platform for banks and insurers, raised $60m in new Series B funding co-led by BlackRock, Cipio Partners and Molten Ventures. axios.link/4chjIjx

🚑 Expressable, an Austin, Texas-based virtual speech therapy provider, raised $26m in Series B funding. HarbourVest Partners led, and was joined by Digitalis Ventures and insiders F-Prime Capital, and Lerer Hippeau. axios.link/4aEatbP

• LiveKit, a platform for building and scaling voice and video apps, raised $22m in Series A funding. Altimeter Capital led, and was joined by Redpoint Capital. livekit.io

• Maven AGI, a Boston startup that helps enterprises to incorporate AI into their customer support, raised $20m in Series A funding. M13 led, and was joined by Lux Capital and MIT's E14 Fund. mavenagi.com

🌎 Iyris (fka RedSea), a UAE-based ag-tech focused on increasing crop yields, raised $16m in Series A funding. EIF led, and was joined by Global Ventures, Dubai Future District Fund, Kanoo Ventures, Globivest, and Bonaventure Capital. axios.link/3Kqf1YF

🚑 Amino Health, an SF health care provider navigation startup, raised $10m led by Transformation Capital. axios.link/3URLTyg

• Swiipr, a British travel payouts startup, raised £6m in Series A funding. Octopus Ventures led, and was joined by TX Ventures and Solano Partners. axios.link/3R325eZ

🚑 Posterity Health, a Centennial, Colo., male reproductive health provider, raised $6m. FCA Venture Partners led, and was joined by Distributed Ventures and WVV. axios.link/3XjnAwb

• StructureFlow, a London-based data visualization platform, raised $6m in Series A funding. Fintop Capital led, and was joined by Venrex. axios.link/3R7G2Uu

🚑 StrokeDx, a Pasadena, Calif., developer of portable stroke diagnostics, raised $5m in seed funding. DigiTx Partners led, and was joined by Freeflow Ventures. stroke-dx.com

• Exactly.ai, a London platform for artists to reproduce and legally protect their work, raised $4.3m in seed funding. Speedinvest led, and was joined by InReach Ventures, Cornerstone VC, and GuruDev Capital. axios.link/3KmtJjf

• Juicy Button Games, a studio formed by the creators of games like Total Battle and Pixel Gun 3D, raised $3m in seed funding led by The Games Fund. axios.link/4dYKf6J

• Pro League Network, a niche-sports gambling company, raised $2.2m from backers like Roger Ehrenberg, Chris Grove, and Kevin Garnett. axios.link/4bBBQ7G

• ACA Group, a portfolio company of Genstar Capital, acquired UMB Fund Services, a third-party funds distributor, from UMB Financial (Nasdaq: UMBF). acaglobal.com

• Angeles Equity Partners acquired O'Hara's Son Roofing, a Chicago-based commercial and industrial roofer. oharasson.com

⚡ Brookfield, in partnership with Brookfield Renewable and Temasek, is in exclusive talks to buy a 53% stake in Neoen, a listed French renewable energy developer, with plans to then launch a tender for the entire company at around a $10b valuation. axios.link/3wLeIod

🚑 GTCR agreed to buy Surmodics (Nasdaq: SRDX), an Eden Prairie, Minn., maker of chemical coatings for medical devices and tests, for $627m, or $43 per share. axios.link/3V1GKnl

⚡ InfraRed Capital Partners acquired a 202mw onshore wind farm in south Texas from Duke Energy (NYSE: DUK). duke-energy.com

🚑 JPA Health, a portfolio company of Great Point Partners, acquired Collingswood, N.J.-based life sciences communications firm BioCentric. jpa.com

• HC Companies, owned by Platinum Equity, acquired Classic Home & Garden, a Shelton, Conn., provider of decorative and functional products for the lawn and garden markets. hc-companies.com

• Hudson Glade acquired Quality First, a Sacramento provider of roofing, window installation, and other home services. hudsonglade.com

• Portside, a provider of software to the aviation market, secured minority equity funding from Vista Equity Partners and insider Insight Partners. portside.aero

• Suja Life, a better-for-you juice maker owned by Paine Schwartz Partners, acquired the IP and trademark of soda brand Slice. axios.link/3UUQI9S

• Tencarva Machinery, a portfolio company of Bessemer Investors, acquired Tri-State Coating & Machine, a Salt Rock, W.Va., provider of thermal coating services for industrials. tencarva.com

• Uhuru Investment Partners acquired Cresta Paints, a Ghanian provider of paints and coatings, from Adenia Partners. crestapaints.com

• Flix, the German bus operator that owns the Greyhound brand in North America, postponed its planned Frankfurt IPO over valuation disagreements, per Bloomberg. Backers include TCV, General Atlantic, Permira, Silver Lake, BlackRock and Baillie Gifford. axios.link/44ZEMbN

• Gauzy, an Israeli maker of smart glass films, set IPO terms to 4.2m shares at $17-$19. It would have a $357m fully diluted market value, were it to price in them middle, and plans to list on the Nasdaq (GAUZ). The company raised around $117m in VC funding from firms like Ibex Partners (23.7% pre-IPO stake), Olive Tree (9.1%), Infinity Ventures (9.3%), Avery Dennison (6%), and BlueRed Partners (6.3%). axios.link/4aBmpLq

• Golden Goose, an Italian luxury sneaker brand owned by Permira, launched its Milan IPO. axios.link/3R5IE5l

• RF Acquisition Corp. II, a deep-tech Asia SPAC led by Tse Ng (Ruifeng Wealth Management), raised $100m in its IPO. axios.link/4c09mnK

⚡ Double Eagle, a Permian Basin-focused energy producer backed by EnCap Investments, is launching a sale process, with hopes of fetching more than $6.5b, per Reuters. axios.link/4bWROsS

• Harness, a software delivery platform valued by VCs at $3.7b, agreed to buy Split Software, a Redwood City, Calif., feature delivery company that raised from firms like Comcast Ventures, Owl Rock Capital Group, M12, Atlassian, ServiceNow, and 01 Advisors. axios.link/3R75Sbf

• N-Able (NYSE: NABL), a Burlington, Mass.-based provider of IT solutions for MSPs, is seeking a buyer, per Reuters. Major shareholders include Silver Lake and Thoma Bravo, while suitors include Barracuda Networks (a onetime Thoma Bravo portfolio company). axios.link/3VnSjqt

• Salesforce (NYSE: CRM) disclosed that it paid $419m earlier this year to buy Spiff, a Sandy, Utah-based sales commission management automation platform that had raised over $115m in VC funding. That was buried inside o a disappointing Salesforce earnings report that has shares down a whopping 19.5% as of this writing.

• BHP Group (ASX: BHP) said it will end efforts to buy mining giant Anglo American (LSE: AAL), after it rejected its $49.2b offer. axios.link/4bCPWWq

⚽ Chelsea FC hired BDT & MSD Partners to sell a minority stake in its women's soccer club. axios.link/3R0IwUn

• Nippon Steel (Tokyo: 5401) said it's received all non-U.S. regulatory approval for its $14.9b takeover of U.S. Steel (NYSE: X). Which is a bit like saying you have a full football roster, except that you still need a quarterback.

🚑 Nordson (Nasdaq: NDSN) agreed to buy Atrion (Nasdaq: ATRI), an Allen, Texas-based provider of medical infusion fluid delivery and niche cardiovascular solutions. The deal is valued at around $800m in cash, or $460 per share. axios.link/4bFkIxL

⚽ Red Bull of Austria agreed to take in minority stake in Leeds United FC, as part of a sponsorship deal. axios.link/3V056xP

• Silk Road Fund, a China state-backed investor, said it will sell its 9% stake in Italian tiremaker Pirelli (Milan: PIRC) due to national security rules, which is valued at around €512m. axios.link/3XkeoYr

• Cordillera, a Menlo Park, Calif., PE firm that invests in niche, non-correlated assets, is raising its fourth flagship fund, per an SEC filing.

• Eevolve, a Swiss small-cap buyout firm, raised €372m for its debut fund. eevolve.partners

• TCV raised $3b for its 12th flagship growth equity fund. axios.link/3R770LI

• Beth Hammack, former co-head of global financing at Goldman Sachs, will be the Cleveland Fed's next president. She succeeds the retiring Loretta Mester. axios.link/45aPVXd

• Bessemer Venture Partners promoted Lindsey Li to vice president. axios.link/4aF94Sq

• Solomon Eskinazi joined Kain Capital as general counsel. He previously was general counsel for Excelsior Medical, which merged with a Kain Capital portfolio company. kaincap.com