Cleaning out the notebook...

🇦🇺 Australian pension fund managers were in Washington, D.C., late last month, telling officials that they plan to invest more than US$1 trillion into the U.S. by 2035 (up from US$400 billion currently).

• Part of their unofficial goal was to butter up the Trump administration, which hasn't hesitated to pick economic fights with allies, while also reminding U.S. private equity fund managers that Australia is open for LP business.
• Paul Schroder, CEO of AustralianSuper, tells me that his US$186 billion system already has filled all the senior U.S. PE roles it opened in early 2024, and that he's "pretty optimistic" about increased activity in that space this year.
• Australia is currently the fourth largest pool of public pension capital, and Schroder says he expects it soon to leapfrog the U.K. and Canada for second place.

💰 Fund scoop: Bilal Zuberi, who left Lux Capital late last year, is said to be targeting $150 million for an early-stage fund that will be named after his trademark red eyeglasses.

🤝 Deal scoop: PitchBook, the alt assets data provider owned by Morningstar, has acquired Lumonic, a portfolio monitoring tool for private credit asset managers.

• Lumonic, which was seeded by First Round Capital, will be run independently by PitchBook as a wholly-owned subsidiary.
• Its founding team met while working at Carta, and CEO Kevin Hsu tells me that the idea for Lumonic came from conversations in January 2023 with the venture lending team at Silicon Valley Bank .
• "By February we'd pivoted away from selling to banks," Hsu explains. "When SVB goes down in March, we look really smart on paper, but it was just about right place, right time."

🏦 Speaking of banks: The FDIC yesterday rescinded a Biden-era policy to increase scrutiny of large bank mergers.

🛒 Supermarket sweep: Kroger yesterday announced the sudden exit of CEO Rodney McMullen, after a board "investigation of his personal conduct."

• Then, just hours later, Albertsons said that its CEO Vivek Sankaran is leaving as part of a "planned retirement."
• Had Kroger succeeded in buying Albertsons for $25 billion, before being stopped by antitrust regulators, McMullen would have led the combined company. Today, the two grocers are locked in a legal battle over the failed deal.

⚖️ Speaking of antitrust: American Airlines is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to reverse a lower-court decision that blocked its regional partnership with JetBlue on antitrust grounds.

• The deal had been approved in the waning days of Trump's first term, but was then challenged by former President Biden's Justice Department.
• No word on if a SCOTUS ruling in favor of AA could cause JetBlue to revisit its scuttled efforts to buy Spirit Airlines.

😨 Fear city: I spent part of last week in LA for the Upfront Summit, which was mostly populated by VCs, and repeatedly heard the same sorts of Trump retribution fears that I detailed from Davos.

• There even was a high-profile investor who refused to go on stage if asked politically sensitive questions (no, not my interview).
• I've covered these industries through four prior administrations, including Trump 1.0, and have never before heard such concerns (whether founded or unfounded).

Anthropic, the generative AI juggernaut, has raised $3.5 billion led by Lightspeed Venture Partners at a $61.5 billion post-money valuation.

Why it's the BFD: The numbers are staggering, even though the parameters were leaked weeks ago.

• Anthropic is now the world's seventh-most valuable unicorn, and is significantly younger than the six companies ahead of it.

Other investors include Cisco Investments, Fidelity, D1 Capital Partners, Menlo Ventures, General Catalyst, Jane Street, and Salesforce Ventures.

The bottom line: Anthropic last week released a new standard model, Claude 3.7 Sonnet, that for the first time integrates advanced reasoning.

🚑 Callio Therapeutics, a Seattle and Singapore-based developer of antibody-drug conjugates for treating cancer, raised $187m in Series A funding. Frazier Life Sciences led, and was joined by Jeito Capital, Novo Holdings, Omega Funds, ClavystBio, Platanus, Norwest, Pureos Bioventures, SEEDS Capital and EDBI. axios.link/4ijwHEb

• Odeko, a New York-based provider of ordering and supply chain software to restaurants and cafes, raised $96m in Series E funding, per Axios Pro. B Capital led, and was joined by Balius Partners, Era Funds, FJ Labs, KSV, Tiger Global Management, Two Sigma Ventures, and Primary Ventures. It also secured a $30m credit facility. axios.link/4h6aGYA

🚑 Aescape, a New York-based maker of automated massage therapy devices, raised $83m. Valor Equity Partners led, and was joined by insiders Fifth Wall, Alumni Ventures, and Kevin Love. axios.link/41nVr7s

• Mews, a Dutch hotel management SaaS, raised $75m in Series C3 funding. Tiger Global led, and was joined by insiders Kinnevik, Battery Ventures, and Goldman Sachs Alternatives. axios.link/3FgcqRx

• Swap, a provider of cross-border trading tools for ecommerce companies, raised $40m in Series B funding. Iconiq Growth led, and was joined by Cherry Ventures, QED Investors, Portfolio Ventures, and 9900 Capital. axios.link/41GbEGw

🚑 Bluebird Kids Health, a Boston-based pediatric health clinic startup, raised $31.5m in Series A funding co-led by F-Prime and .406 Ventures, per Axios Pro. axios.link/3F4Sn8R

⚡ Echandia, a Swedish maritime battery company, raised $20.7m. Klima led, and was joined by Industrifonden, SEB Greentech VC, and EEI. axios.link/3F5S6T1

• QuantWare, a Dutch quantum computing startup, raised €20m in Series A funding. Invest-NL and Innovation Quarter co-led, and were joined by EIC Fund, Forward.one, Graduate Entrepreneur Fund, and QDNL Participations. axios.link/41nLFSO

• LlamaIndex, a Mountain View, Calif.-based cloud service for building unstructured data agents, raised $19m in Series A funding. Norwest Venture Partners led, and was joined by Greylock. axios.link/4kAruKe

• Numeral, a sales tax AI startup, raised $18m in Series funding led by Benchmark, per Axios Pro. axios.link/3QGgBc3

• Napo, a London-based insurance solutions, closed a €14.4m Series B funding round. Mercia Ventures led, and was joined by DN Capital, Companion Fund, MTech Capital, and Helvetia Venture Fund. axios.link/3D4KcZz

• Aryon Security, an Israeli cloud security enforcement platform, raised $9m co-led by Viola Ventures and Blumberg Capital. aryon.security

⚡ Moonwatt, a Dutch developer of a battery-based energy storage system, raised €8m in seed funding. Daphni and LEA Partners co-led, and were joined by Founders Future, Ventech, and Kima Ventures. axios.link/4invs6Z

⚡ Installer, a Norwegian renewables installation platform, raised $4m in seed funding. Brighteye Ventures led, and was joined by PT1, Futurum, and Sondo. axios.link/41FXNQw

• Lenkie, a London-based cashflow management platform, raised £4m in Series A equity funding (plus £45m in debt). axios.link/43ETXIT

• Cino, a bill-splitting startup, raised €3.5m in seed funding led by Balderton Capital. axios.link/3DqvI6b

• Humanitru, a Richmond, Va.-based engagement platform for nonprofits, raised $3m led by Dogwood Ventures. axios.link/4kqQGm7

• Kleio, a French enterprise conversational AI startup, raised €3m in seed funding co-led by Serena and Daphni. axios.link/43fRl3Q

• Ardian and Rockfield acquired Cristóbal de Moura, a Barcelona student housing facility with 347 beds. axios.link/41Ep9Xb

• Authentic Restaurant Brands, a portfolio company of Garnett Station Partners, acquired Tavern in the Square, a "polished-casual" restaurant chain in New England. authenticrb.com

• Beary Landscaping, a portfolio company of Silver Oak Services Partners, acquired Wisconsin-based MJS Landscaping Services. bearylandscaping.com

• Celebrity Coaches, a portfolio company of Allied Industrial Partners, acquired BandWagon, a Bowling Green, Ind., provider of RVs for mid-level tour transportation. axios.link/3F5Evem

⚡ Copley Equity Partners invested in Herzig Engineering, a Kansas City-based firm focused on safety and compliance in electrified environments. herzigengineering.com

• Eurazeo acquired Bioline Agrosciences, a British provider of biological control products. biolineagrosciences.com

• Exponent agreed to invest in Hippo Digital, a provider of digital transformation solutions for the U.K. public sector. axios.link/4ijgQW0

• Flexera, a portfolio company of Thoma Bravo, completed its purchase of financial cloud management assets from NetApp (Nasdaq: NTAP). axios.link/4gVshTx

⚡ Francisco Partners agreed to acquire Quorum Software, a Houston-based provider of energy ERP software, from Thoma Bravo. quorumsoftware.com

• GS Foods Group, a portfolio company of Highview Capital and A&M Capital Partners, acquired The Danielsen Co., a foodservice provider to K-12 schools in Northern California. gsfoodsgroup.com

• New Water Capital acquired Dutch Gold Honey, a Lancaster, Pa., honey producer. axios.link/4bsSV4d

• Nexa Equity merged three providers of software for foodservice and restaurants: ComplianceMate, MeazureUp, and Storewise. The new company is called Ladle. ladle.com

• Stone Point Capital invested in Keller Williams Realty, the world's largest real estate franchise by agent count. A Keller Williams spox declined to say if Stone Point received a control stake. axios.link/3DjxUwn

• BYD, a Chinese EV maker, raised $5.6b in an upsized share sale in Hong Kong. axios.link/41pP7Mv

• CoreWeave, a Roseland, N.J.-based cloud computing platform valued by VCs at $23b, filed for an IPO that Renaissance Captial estimates could raise $3.3b. The company plans to list on the Nasdaq (CRWV) and reports an $863m net loss on $1.9b in revenue for 2024. Backers include Magnetar, Fidelity, and Nvidia. axios.link/4bs1vAz

• Cal Redwood Acquisition, a TMT SPAC led by Vivek Ranadivé, filed for a $200m IPO. axios.link/3F6ZUnx

• Honeywell (NYSE: HON) agreed to buy Sundyne, an Arvada, Colo., maker of centrifugal pumps and compressors, from Warburg Pincus for $2.16b. axios.link/3QIM5OM

• Grab (Nasdaq: GRAB) agreed to buy Malaysian supermarket chain Everrise from Navis Capital Partners. axios.link/4bsdGNN

• Jamf (Nasdaq: JAMF) agreed to acquire Identity Automation, a Houston-based provider of identity and access management, for $215m from Spotlight Equity Partners. axios.link/41hjODy

• SolarWinds (NYSE: SWI) acquired incident response solution company, Squadcast, a Fremont, Calif., incident response startup that's raised around $8m from Wipro, Nexus Venture Partners, DNX Ventures, and Chiratae Ventures. solarwinds.com

🚑 23andMe (Nasdaq: ME) rejected a 41-cent-per-share buyout offer from CEO Anne Wojcicki. axios.link/4bnbdE9

• Ameresco (NYSE: AMRC) acquired ASA Controls, a Cincinnati-based smart buildings integrator. axios.link/4kgZX0d

⚡ OMV and ADNOC agreed to merge their polyolefins businesses through a joint venture, which will offer to buy Canada's Nova Chemical for US$9.4b from Mubadala. axios.link/4h6Xq5X

• State Street (NYSE: STT) agreed to acquire Mizuho's (Tokyo: 8411) global custody and related businesses outside Japan. axios.link/3Dh37Ae

• Blue Owl Capital has secured at least $1b for a fund-of-funds focused on continuation vehicles, per Bloomberg. axios.link/3QOMVt3

• CVC Capital Partners raised €4.61b for its third strategic opps fund. axios.link/4i22j1q

• Mark Walter, CEO of Guggenheim Partners, and Thomas Tull, former owner of Legendary Entertainment, formed a $40b holding company to make large AI investments. It will include Tull's existing AI investment portfolio. axios.link/4imhFgY

🚑 Sofinnova Partners raised 1.2b in new fund capital. axios.link/3XlKlyn

• Nathaniel Asker joined law firm Davis Polk as an antitrust-focused partner. He previously was with Fried Frank. axios.link/41Bx1sq

• Kyle Doherty and Deep Nishar both left General Catalyst, where they co-led later-stage investing, while early-stage partner Adam Valkin also departed, per TechCrunch. axios.link/3F32NFX

• David Finkelstein is stepping down as Citigroup's head of global consumer and retail banking, per Reuters. axios.link/3QJMYGA

🚑 John Orlando joined Trinity Capital as a Boston-based managing director of life sciences. He previously was with Flagship Pioneering. axios.link/43kux2H

• Ryan Shockley left BlackRock to joined Antin Infrastructure Partners as a senior partner. axios.link/3F0z6VQ

• HarbourVest Partners promoted seven professionals to managing director: Rima Bansal, Nick Bellisario, Melissa Cahill, Nick Fleischhacker, Jackie Peradotto, Martina Schliemann, Stephen Tamburelli, and Dorit Zak. harbourvest.com

Most major U.S. stock indices are down for 2025, with declines exacerbated on Monday by President Trump reiterating that new tariffs would go into effect today on imports from Canada, Mexico and China.

By the numbers: The S&P 500 is 0.5% lower than when the year began, including yesterday's 2% slide.

• The Nasdaq is deeper in the red, off nearly 5% for the year, while the Russell 2000 is faring even worse at 5.9%.
• The Dow Jones Industrial Average is the outlier, with a 1.5% year-to-date increase, even after yesterday's 650-point drop.

Zoom in: The only thing faring worse might be a handful of Trump-tied stocks, like Trump Media & Technology Group (-32% YTD), Tesla (-25%), and Rumble (-31%).

State of play: Stocks are down slightly at today's open.