Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) today unveiled his plan for the U.S. government to take 50% equity stakes in large AI companies.

Why it matters: This is a supercharged version of what members of President Trump's administration already are discussing — all of which would be unprecedented — and a tacit acknowledgment that AI may eventually cause major labor disruptions.

Zoom in: The one-time "tax" would apply to any company with annual AI revenue of at least $200 million.

• The stakes would go into a new U.S. sovereign wealth fund, overseen by seven commissioners nominated by the president and confirmed by the senate. It then would pay out a 5% annual dividend directly to Americans.
• If a company were to increase its share count, including as part of employee compensation, it would be required to cede 50% of that additional equity to the government.
• The bill also would require such companies to separate their "AI and non-AI businesses," with the government only taking equity in the former.

Yes, but: Even if this could pass legislative and constitutional muster, there are many practical problems:

1. The universe of "AI companies" is massive.

• Sanders' bill doesn't only apply to AI token sales, which would scoop up companies like Anthropic and OpenAI. It also applies to data centers, AI compute infrastructure, AI services, and advanced robotics.
• That would mean the U.S. government gets 50% of everything from Amazon to Nvidia to Microsoft to SpaceX. Oh, and that would be voting stock.
• Do these companies dilute existing investors, such as 401(k) managers and public pension funds? And, if so, isn't that taking from the same average Americans this bill is designed to help?

3. Practical constraints

• How does a large, integrated tech company distinguish between its "AI business" and "non-AI business?" It reads a bit like online vs. offline in 1998, which soon became inextricably blurred.

4. SWF strangeness

• The bill does not detail how the SWF would provide the annual 5% distribution, given that it's prohibited from selling any of its underlying equities.
• It's also worth noting that SWF's usually are developed by countries seeking to invest their surplusses — not indebted nations like the U.S.

The bottom line: You could easily dismiss this as Sanders' latest and greatest effort at mobilizing the grassroots so that someday there could be meaningful wealth redistribution.

• But don't. Because the White House is thinking along similar lines, just on a smaller scale. Strange bedfellows can make profound policy.

Noam Shazeer is leaving Google for OpenAI, just two years after Google paid $2.7 billion to poach Shazeer and part of his team at CharacterAI.

Why it's the BFD: This shows the limits of acqui-hires, in which the most valuable assets can walk out the door once retention periods end.

• Shazeer also is viewed as one of AI's top researchers, particularly in the area of pretraining, and was co-lead of Google's Gemini.

The bottom line: "Shazeer's hiring is a major win for OpenAI in the AI talent wars, as OpenAI competes to catch up with archrival Anthropic's most advanced models ahead of the two companies' hotly anticipated IPOs." — Erin Woo & Amir Efrati, The Information

• Dream, an Israeli sovereign AI and cyber defense company for governments and critical infrastructure, raised $260m at a $3b valuation. Bicycle Capital and Group 11 led , joined by Antler, Bain Capital Ventures, and Tru Arrow Partners. axios.link/4xDaOrN

• Rylo (fka Nagish), a communication platform for the deaf and hard-of-hearing community, raised $85m at a $500m valuation led by General Catalyst and Canaan. axios.link/4grNN51

• XDOF, a robot training data company, raised $70m from Thrive Capital, a16z, WndrCo, Spark Capital, Lux Capital, Scribble VC, Samsung Next, Abstract Ventures, and Emerson Collective. axios.link/4uAEIdv

• Gradial, a Seattle-based agentic marketing startup, raised $65m in Series C funding. Insight Partners led, joined by VMG Partners, Madrona, and Pruven joined. axios.link/43IPrI4

⚡ Verse, a grid connections company for data centers, raised $54m in Series B funding. Bessemer Venture Partners led, joined by GV, NVIDIA, and Norrsken VC. verse.inc

• Convey, an SF-based developer of enterprise AI agents, raised $38m in Series A funding. A16z led, joined by Khosla Ventures and Pear VC. axios.link/4uJdMsb

• Pramaana Labs, an AI verification startup, raised $27m in seed funding. Khosla Ventures led, joined by Accel, Boldcap, Nexus Venture Partners, Premji Invest, and Unbound. axios.link/44bhIqO

⚡ Critical Energy, a developer of modular turbines for geothermal, raised $19m in seed funding. Susa Ventures and Upfront Ventures led, joined by MaC Venture Capital, Susquehanna Sustainable Investments, Humba Ventures, Scribble Ventures, and Underground Ventures. axios.link/4ovm0m9

• Trace Finance, a cross-border stablecoin infra startup, raised $32m in Series A funding. CoinFund led, joined by Coinbase Ventures, Haun Ventures, Jump Capital, Valor Capital, Paxos, and HOF Capital. axios.link/4vjliex

⚡ Kvasir Technologies, a Danish biofuel startup, raised €10m in Series A funding from European Energy and insiders EIFO, Mærsk Growth, and Footprint Fund. axios.link/3Sv6FWQ

🚀 Katalyst Space Technologies, a Flagstaff, Ariz.-based satellite servicing startup, raised $12m. Geodesic Capital led, joined by Fortitude Ventures. axios.link/4vPDYlS

• Warren, a Belgian workplace pension platform and financial coach, raised €10m in seed funding. Motive Ventures led, joined by F Capital, Entourage, Syndicate One, and 100IN. axios.link/3QrS3ac

🚑 Frontier Health, a developer of AI agents for the NHS, raised £9.7m led by Atomico, with XYZ Venture Capital and Firstminute Capital participating. axios.link/4fNC7t7

• BoolSi, a Boston-based platform for push-button hardware acceleration, raised $6m in seed funding. Fine Structure Ventures led, joined by Pillar VC, Fifth Quarter Ventures, and Coalition Ventures. axios.link/4eQRYGg

• Cargofy, a Ukrainian freight tech developer, raised $6m in Series A funding (plus $5m in secondaries) at a $50m valuation from u.ventures, Tolok, and Movens Capital. axios.link/3QOLAWU

• Clario, a Menlo Park, Calif.-based platform that eliminates unnecessary enterprise data, raised $6m in seed funding. Preface Ventures led, joined by Foster Ventures, Golden Sparrow, High Sage Ventures, Moment Ventures, Mentors Fund, Page One Ventures, Rain Capital, Ridge Ventures, and Transform VC. axios.link/4uAXYrj

• Klipy, an expression API layer for memes and other short-form content, raised $3.8m from Google's AI Futures Fund, I2BF, Silvercircle VC, Sturgeon Capital, Red Swan Ventures, and Intuition Ventures. axios.link/4uA4Ipn

• Turbo Law, a litigation platform for defense lawyers and insurers, raised $3.8m in seed funding. Revo Capital led, joined by Treeo VC, BridgeX Ventures, and Alchemist Accelerator. axios.link/4viLbv3

• Soource, an Italian multi-agent platform developer for procurement, raised a €3m seed. Vertis led, joined by 360 Capital, Tenity and Club degli Investitori. axios.link/4vVHHhY

Thoma Bravo surrendered customer feedback software company Medallia to its lenders, which will inject $150 million of new capital into the software company. It represents a $5.1b loss for TB. BFD flashback.

• Arketi Group, an Atlanta-based portfolio company of Go Capital and Station Partners, acquired Sperling, a Salem, Mass.-based digital marketing agency. axios.link/4xz6olH

• Arcline Investment Management agreed to acquire AstroNova (Nasdaq: ALOT), a provider of identification and marking solutions for the aerospace/ defense and labeling/packaging industries, for around $272m or $29 per share. axios.link/4oD1VKQ

🚑 Belmont Medical Technologies, an Audax portfolio company, acquired Arcos, a Missouri City, Texas-based provider of blood transfusion and severe burn care software. axios.link/44hbXYA

• EQT agreed to acquire Intertek (LSE: ITRK), a British product testing ​and certifications group, for £9.3b. axios.link/4xzOTll

🚀 EQT agreed to acquire Exolaunch, a Germany-based launch mission management firm that partners with SpaceX. axios.link/4xHdyES

• Flexstone Partners, an affiliate of Natixis Investment Managers, agreed to acquire Glouston Capital Partners, a Boston-based PE secondaries manager with over $3.4b in AUM. axios.link/4a25yE7

🚑 KKR is in talks to buy a majority stake in the Indian hospital unit of Stockholm-listed Medicover for at least $1b, per Reuters. axios.link/4esKYy2

🚀 Lyntris, a Trive Capital portfolio company, acquired Novium, a Houston-based maker of motion systems for space and defense. axios.link/4eObbbF

🚑 Model N, a Vista Equity Partners portfolio company, acquired Kalderos, a Chicago-based drug discount analytics platform that had raised over $100m from firms like Bain Capital Ventures, Mercato Partners, Valspring Capital, Savano Capital Partners, TriplePoint Capital, Alumni Ventures and New Leaf Venture Partners. axios.link/4uIFjdh

Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley will lead IPOs for OpenAI and Anthropic, but are forming bespoke banker teams to ensure sensitive info isn't shared, per the WSJ.

⚡ Deep Fission, a Berkeley, Calif.-based developer of underground nuclear reactors, raised $40m in its downsized IPO and will list on the Nasdaq (FISN). Shareholders include 8VC, with an 8% pre-IPO stake. axios.link/4vJQCD5

⚡ Form Energy, a Somerville, Mass.-based developer of multi-day grid batteries, picked JPMorgan and Jefferies to lead its IPO, per Axios Pro. It's raised nearly $2b in VC funding. axios.link/4ePDYwr

🚑 Kardigan, a South SF-based cardiovascular drug developer, raised $400m in its IPO. It sold 25m shares at $16, versus plans to offer 23.3m shares at $14-$16, and will list on the Nasdaq (KARD). Kardigan had raised $550m from firms like Arch Venture Partners (22.5% pre-IPO stake), HRTG (22.5%), Perceptive Advisors (12.7%), Fidelity (6.9%), T. Rowe Price, and Sequoia Heritage. axios.link/4xm6TiT

• Accenture (NYSE: ACN) agreed to acquire a majority stake in cybersecurity firm Dragos, plus fully acquire runZero and ⁠NetRise, for a total value of $4.18b. Dragos had raised over $450m from firms like Allegis Capital, Canaan Partners, Koch Disruptive Technologies, and Energy Impact Partners. axios.link/4vXGaYB

• Platinum Equity agreed to sell Heat Controller, a Jackson, Mich.-based HVAC equipment supplier, to Lennox (NYSE: LII). axios.link/4vin9jA

• Carro, a Singapore-based online auto marketplace, acquired Australian used car marketplace CarPlace. Carro has raised over $1b from firms like SoftBank, B Capital Group, Koru Partners, Insignia Ventures, and Golden Gate Ventures. axios.link/4vO26VS

• Deluxe (NYSE: DLX) agreed to acquire Brentwood, Tenn.-based payment processor Celero Commerce for $625m in cash, per the WSJ. axios.link/3QRdm54

• EigenQ, a Columbia, Md.-based quantum tech company, agreed to go public at an implied $3b valuation via Silicon Valley Acquisition Corp. (Nasdaq: SVAQ), a SPAC led by Dan Nash (ex-Cohen & Co.). axios.link/4goytpJ

• Obayashi (Tokyo: 1802) agreed to buy Multiplex, a construction firm that built London's Wembley Stadium, for up to $650m from Brookfield Business (TSX: BBUC). axios.link/4xTGlWT

• Anti Fund, a VC firm led by Jake Paul and Geoffrey Woo, raised $100m for a growth capital fund.

• Earlybird and AVP launched E2D, a €500 million growth equity fund focused on defense and dual-use tech. axios.link/4ehKNGZ

• Hoxton Ventures of London has secured $60m for its fourth fund, which is targeting $125m, per an SEC filing.

• Roelof Botha of Sequoia Capital is joining the SpaceX (Nasdaq: SPCX) board of directors.

• Botha told me during Axios BFD last fall that SpaceX could become more valuable than OpenAI, in which Sequoia also invested. And it's happened. Video flashback.

• Caroline Chen joined VC firm Base10 Partners as a principal. She previously was with L Catterton. axios.link/4ePdifi

• Kevin O'Mara joined DLA Piper as a partner in the law firm's PE practice. He previously was with Willkie Farr & Gallagher. axios.link/3QoA70a

• Parul Singh joined 645 Ventures as an SF-based investment partner. She previously was with Initialized Capital. axios.link/43DUpG1

Joshua Baer, a major driver of Austin's startup scene as founder of venture firm Capital Factory, died Tuesday night in a private plane crash.

• Capital Factory president Bryan Chambers says: "Joshua was a fearless leader, a brilliant partner, and a dear friend to so many of us. While we are devastated by this unimaginable loss, Josh built an incredibly resilient organization and team. Capital Factory remains fully operational, and we are completely committed to continuing his mission of backing unstoppable founders."
• Venture capitalist Bill Gurley writes on X: "When I came back to Austin after almost 30 years, one of the first people to reach out and welcome me back was Josh. No one tilted harder as an enthusiastic supporter of Austin entrepreneurism. Will be greatly missed."

Josh is survived by wife Amy and their three children.

The Fed left interest rates unchanged at Kevin Warsh's first meeting as chair, and released projections showing that many Fed governors expect rates to rise later this year, Axios' Neil Irwin reports.