OpenAI is raising money at a $300 billion valuation, in a SoftBank-led round that the company announced in late March but which isn't slated to close until year-end.

• It's also working on a secondary share sale at a $500 billion valuation, as recently reported by Bloomberg and confirmed by Axios.

The big question: Why would investors buy shares at the much higher price?

The big answer: Allocation issues.

By the numbers: The primary round was for a total of $40 billion, of which $30 billion was to come from SoftBank and $10 billion was to come from other investors.

• A $10 billion first close occurred in June, including $7.5 billion from SoftBank and $2.5 billion from the syndicate.
• That left the syndicate with $7.5 billion of allocation, which late last month got upsized to $8.3 billion (thus increasing the overall round size to nearly $41 billion).

Zoom in: Syndicate investors wanted more than the $8.3 billion they got, according to multiple sources. But the rest has been allocated to SoftBank.

• That's what's driving demand at the $500 billion mark.
• Yes, it's at a 40% premium. But if you believe OpenAI is eventually going to join the Mag 7 (or whatever that cohort gets renamed), then it's a bargain.
• On the sell-side, OpenAI is continuing to offer employee tenders — as it's done fairly consistently.

The intrigue: SoftBank can get out of its remaining commitment if OpenAI doesn't complete certain corporate restructuring moves. It's a very unlikely scenario, but there's at least a possibility that there could be new shares available at the $300 billion mark.

The bottom line: Public market value concentration is beginning to get mirrored in the private market.

Vulcan Elements, a Durham, N.C.-based maker of rare-earth magnets, raised $65 million in Series A funding at a $250 million valuation. Altimeter led the round, joined by One Investment Management.

Why it's the BFD: The U.S. is pushing to onshore production of materials critical to its national defense, plus commercial needs, rather than relying on China.

• Rare-earth magnets also have been a bone of contention in U.S.-China trade talks.

Zoom in: Vulcan says it plans to supply magnets for every branch of the U.S. military, and that its current products meet requirements for everything from "drones and semiconductor fabrication equipment to hard disk drives, robotics, and automotive applications."

The bottom line: "China's recent restrictions/crackdowns have spooked defense players and pushed supply chain discussions to the fore, much like how COVID did for the average Joe." — Colin Demarest, Axios Future of Defense

• EliseAI, a New York developer of chatbots for the housing industry, raised around $200m led by a16Z at a valuation north of $2b, per The Information. axios.link/3UT3ia9

🚑 Truemeds, an Indian e-pharmacy focused on generics, raised $85m (including $20m in secondaries). Accel led, joined by Peak XV Partners and insiders WestBridge Capital and InfoEdge Ventures. axios.link/45bUXnZ

• BinSentry, an ag-feed supply chain startup, raised US$50m led by Lead Edge Capital. axios.link/4ouSywj

🚑 Tahoe Therapeutics, an SF-based developer of a foundational dataset for training "virtual cell models," raised $30m. Amplify Partners led, joined by Databricks Ventures, Wing Venture Capital, General Catalyst, Civilization Ventures, Conviction, Mubadala Capital Ventures, and AIX Ventures. axios.link/4fsP758

• Novig, a a sweepstakes-based sports prediction market, raised $18m in Series A funding, per Axios Pro. Forerunner Ventures led, joined by YC, NFX, Perceptive Ventures, and Gaingels. axios.link/4lonKuy

• Chowdeck, a Nigerian food delivery startup, raised $9m in Series A funding. Novastar Ventures led, joined by YC, AAIC Investment, Rebel Fund, GFR Fund, Kaleo, and HoaQ. axios.link/3UV0edC

• Edumentors, a U.K. online tutoring startup, raised $2m in seed funding led by Magna Investment. axios.link/4mIuVPj

• Centerbridge Partners agreed to buy banking software provider MedidianLink (NYSE: MLNK) for $2b, or $20 per share (26% premium to Friday's closing price). axios.link/4oK5zlU

• EQT agreed to buy a majority stake in Remember, a South Korean rival to LinkedIn, from Ark & Partners at a US$400m valuation. axios.link/45ICNdE

🚑 Inspirit Equity invested in Nomi Health, an Orem, Utah-based health-care payment platform. nomihealth.com

• Jennmar, a FalconPoint Partners portfolio company, acquired France's Weber Mining & Tunnelling. jennmar.com

• Limestone Capital acquired over a 30% stake in Nokken, a British maker of modular cabins. nokken.com

• Pacific Equity Partners is in talks to buy a majority stake in Spark New Zealand's (NZ: SPK) data center unit for more than NZ$600m, per AFR. axios.link/3UmG0t6

• Schneider Geospatial, an Align Capital Partners portfolio company, acquired Full Circle Technologies, a Boston-based provider of permitting and licensing software for municipalities. schneidergis.com

• Smart Communications, a London-based enterprise customer communications company owned by Cinven, acquired Pendula, a provider of orchestration and digital delivery technology. smartcommunications.com

Two companies plan to go public in the U.S. this week: Crypto exchange Bullish and options exchange MIAX.

• Bullish, a crypto exchange and owner of media outlet CoinDesk, increased its IPO terms to 30m shares at $32-$33 per share. It previously planned to sell 20.3m shares at $28-$31, and plans to list on the NYSE (BLSH). axios.link/4lpVxTP

• The Trump administration is preparing to sell stock in mortgage-finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, with the offerings possible by year-end. axios.link/41y27AF

🚑 10x Genomics (Nasdaq: TXG) agreed to acquire Scale Biosciences, a San Diego-based provider of single cell analysis that had raised around $32m from firms like Tao Capital Partners and Arch Venture Partners. The deal is for $30m in upfront cash plus undisclosed earnouts. axios.link/4loVqrM

• Bain Capital is weighing a sale of IPO for Ahlstrom, a French specialty materials firm that could fetch up to €8b, per Bloomberg. axios.link/4102oMz

• S4 Capital (LSE: SFOR), the U.K. ad agency founded by Martin Sorrel, is in talks to acquire MSQ Partners, owned by LDC and One Equity Partners. axios.link/4liLJeB

📺 Nexstar (Nasdaq: NXST) is in talks to acquire rival broadcaster Tegna (NYSE: TGNA), per the WSJ. axios.link/3HiD7qk

📺 Paramount, which last week was acquired by Skydance, will pay a total of $7.7b for U.S. media rights to TKO Group's (NYSE: TKO) UFC for seven years. axios.link/45byUhf

• Rumble (Nasdaq: RUM) is weighing a $1.2b all-stock takeover offer for Munich-listed cloud computing group Northern Data, per the WSJ. axios.link/45BwbNg

• Western Union (NYSE: WU) agreed to buy payment transfers firm Intermix (Nasdaq: IMXI) for around $500m in cash, or $16 per share (72% premium to Friday's closing price). axios.link/4lkYt48

🌍 Activate Capital is raising $500m for its third climate fund, with around half of that already closed, per Axios Pro. axios.link/4oAsyQm

• General Atlantic is considering raising a secondaries fund, per Axios Pro. axios.link/3J6U6wh

• LGT Capital Partners is targeting $1.2b for its sixth APAC fund-of-funds, per PE International. axios.link/3UpPjIN

• Sound Point Capital held a $1.1b first close for its third private credit fund, which is targeting a total of $1.5b. soundpointcap.com

• Arctos promoted Alastair Seaman and Brian Lafemina to partners. arctospartners.com

• Sonali Basak, a former Bloomberg journalist, joined iCapital as chief investment strategist. axios.link/3Unetry

• Erich Bluhm is retiring as Goldman Sachs' head of Americas financial institutions coverage, per Bloomberg. axios.link/3HiD9OY

🚑 Frazier Healthcare Partners promoted Andrew Wu to VP and Carol Eckert to SVP of investor relations. It also hired Mike Gawlik (ex-New Mountain Capital) as a VP. frazierhealthcare.com

• Summit Partners promoted Ross Murphy to partner of investor relations. axios.link/4mx80WN

U.S. dealmaking has topped the $1 trillion mark for 2025.

• That easily bests the past few years, but still is around middle-of-the-pack for the past decade.