Om Malik died on Wednesday, surrounded by family and friends, after a long heart health battle.

• This one hurts, even though we hadn't talked in quite a while. Maybe that's why it hurts a bit more.

Om was an early internet entrepreneur who soon became one of the nascent industry's leading journalists. He blogged. He reported. He founded a tech media company — serving as both inspiration and competition for many of us — before later becoming a venture capitalist.

• In recent years he'd rededicated himself to writing, reminding us that he'd always been one of tech's clearest thinkers.

I'd be remiss if I didn't note that he was extremely supportive of my work, including when I was a lowly trade rag reporter. He even pinch-hit on my original newsletter and was an enthusiastic career counselor. Finally, Om was a financial supporter of our Peloton fundraising rides.

• I'm grateful for all of it.

Social media is full of such sentiments, but I wanted to share two particular remembrances. The first from Katie Fehrenbacher, an Axios Pro reporter who was part of the original Gigaom team. The second from Kara Swisher, who was in the same tech reporting and media entrepreneur trenches.

Katie: "Om had a unique way of looking at technology, using his knowledge of the underlying infrastructure to predict how people would use it. He also used design as a throughline in his career, shaping everything from his reporting to his media products to his hobbies.

• In 2006, I got coffee with Om at the Starbucks on Battery Street. As a young tech journalist, I was trying to convince him to help get me a job at Business 2.0. Instead he said he was starting something new and invited me to join Gigaom as the first employee. I took the job on the spot and spent the next nine years working alongside him.
• He wasn't only a boss, or a mentor, he was a close friend. Om loved people and was always so generous with his time. His legacy is the countless young founders, journalists, designers and investors he advised along the way.
• Om liked to say he wasn't a journalist after he became an investor. But it was in his DNA and in the weeks before he died, he wrote some of the most insightful stories on AI and tech out there. His loss is massive for journalism, for the tech industry and for all of us who considered him a friend."

Kara: "From the start of the Internet age, Om was always my inspiration for so many things. While we took different paths, he forged the trail we all followed.

• He was always there first, whether it was how to write about tech as a human endeavor, or how to throw amazing and substantive gatherings to bring the community together, to being righteous about the importance of holding leaders accountable.
• Unfailingly generous, perfectly spiky, deeply wise and just a true believer in humanity, he lived a life that was full and impactful. My one vision of him was his arms opened wide to welcome us all into his wonderful world."

Rest in peace Om. And thank you.

General Intuition, an AI lab that uses gaming content for training, raised $320 million in Series A funding at a $2.3 billion post-money valuation and already is working on a Series B round.

Why it's the BFD: The next phase of AI adoption and investment is expanding into the physical economy, according to a Goldman Sachs report shared exclusively with Axios.

• GI's bet is that gaming — both gameplay video and the player inputs that produced it — can help build both world models and large action models faster and cheaper than by other training techniques.

Cap table: Khosla Ventures led the Series A, joined by General Catalyst, Hedosophia, Bezos Expeditions, Innovation Endeavors, and Nico Rosberg.

The bottom line: "It shouldn't have been possible to start a frontier lab in 2025. The doors were shut, they said. But thanks to Vinod [Khosla], and his relentless ability to believe in founding teams, it was." — Pim de Witte, CEO of General Intuition

• Kalshi is in talks to raise funds at a $40b valuation, per the FT. axios.link/4gqlwvV

• Scaled Cognition, a Mountain View, Calif.-based AI lab focused on reliability, raised $100m in Series A funding. Khosla Ventures led, joined by Genesys. axios.link/44vkyXL

🚑 Lycia Therapeutics, a biotech targeting disease-causing extracellular proteins, raised $75m in Series D funding. Balyasny Asset Management led, joined by Adage Capital Management, HBM Healthcare Investments, OrbiMed, Eli Lilly, Franklin Templeton, Invus, RTW Investments and Venrock Healthcare Capital Partners. axios.link/4xQybhQ

• Patronus, an AI agent stress-testing startup, raised $50m in Series B funding. Greenfield Partners led, joined by Notable Capital, Lightspeed, Datadog, and Samsung. axios.link/4g329Zu

• Upside, a Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based housing stability platform, raised $20m in Series A funding. Aquiline led, joined by Flare Capital Partners and insiders 645 Ventures, Freestyle Capital, Triple Impact Capital, and Techstars. axios.link/4vs8Rgl

• Netris, a Santa Clara, Calif., network automation startup, raised $15m in Series A funding from a16z. axios.link/4xN3PN5

• Jarvie AI, a developer of AI agents for group chats, raised $8.3m in seed funding from a16z, Base10 Partners, and Lightspeed. axios.link/4uSzMRD

• Sazabi, an SF-based engineering observability platform, raised $8m in seed funding from J2 Ventures, Village Global, YC, and Orange Collective. axios.link/4ahebec

⚡️ H2site, a Spanish industrial hydrogen production and separation company, raised €6m in Series B extension funding from EIC. axios.link/4eEVbre

⚡️Eqon, a Norwegian developer of energy management and industrial heating control tech, raised $6m in seed funding. Azolla Ventures and Wilstar Innovate led, joined by Climentum Capital and Gain Venture Capital. axios.link/4eIwlXn

• Tomo, an iMessage-based AI focused on personal improvement, raised $5m in seed funding led by Bain Capital Ventures. axios.link/4g2inCd

• Samepage, an NYC-based product management intelligence platform, raised $4.9m from Craft Ventures, Freestyle VC, and Glasswing Ventures. axios.link/4xKNGHX

• Orthogonal, a payment layer for the internet, raised $4.3m in seed funding led by Pantera Capital. YC, Pioneer Fund, Decasonic, Blast, Outbound, and Surreal joined. axios.link/3QD9lkQ

• Ground, an on-chain finance startup, raised $3.6m from Bain Capital Crypto, ParaFi, Nascent, Robot Ventures, and Chapter One. axios.link/3SqXZ3T

• AIVA, developer of an intelligence layer for hotels, raised $1.5m from Comma Capital and 645 Ventures. axios.link/4uUnOXm

♟️ CVC Capital Partners agreed to invest in online chess platform Chess.com, whose existing backers include General Atlantic. axios.link/44xTIhG

• Daida, backed by HiGro, acquired Scan-Optics, a Manchester, Conn.-based document processor. axios.link/4aX2klF

• GIMV acquired Cap Vert, a French provider of environmental services, from Ambienta. axios.link/4gbdRBv

• Norwest invested in East Range Group, a family of regional high-purity water systems and service companies. axios.link/4oLhq3k

• Permira and Warburg Pincus completed their $8.4b take-private buyout of Clearwater Analytics, a Boise, Idaho-based investment and accounting software maker. BFD flashback

⚡️ Warburg Pincus agreed to acquire Network Plus, a U.K. utility and infrastructure service provider, from OMERS Private Equity. axios.link/4eKIJ9t

• YA Group, backed by THL Partners, acquired Carr Engineering, a Houston-based motor vehicle crash reconstruction firm. axios.link/4g7SQYm

OpenAI is "leaning toward" going public in 2027 instead of this year, per the NY Times.

• Reformation, a womenswear retailer owned by Permira, filed for an IPO that Renaissance Capital estimates could raise around $200m. It reports $13m in net income on $507m in revenue for 2025 and plans to list on the NYSE (REF). axios.link/3R1zSs8

• Sinda, an exploration-stage silver miner focused on Mexico, raised $213m in its IPO. It priced at $12 (versus $11.25-$13.25 range) and will list on the NYSE (SIND). axios.link/4v9IL0Z

🚑 Agilent Technologies (NYSE: A) completed its $950m acquisition of Biocare Medical, a Pacheco, Calif.-based maker of cancer research tools and materials, from Excellere Partners and GHO Capital. axios.link/4bbXqR5

🌎 BeZero Carbon, a London-based carbon ratings agency, acquired Cedar, a developer of carbon management software whose backers included Eniac Ventures, MCJ, Obvious Ventures, Redalpine, Shine Capital, and USV. axios.link/4b5zYFN

• Bumble (NAS: BMBL), a dating app backed by Blackstone, hired Morgan Stanley to explore a sale, per Reuters. axios.link/4xREgdJ

• ExlService (Nasdaq: EXLS) agreed to buy iMerit, a San Jose, Calif.-based AI model training company, for up to $310m. iMerit had raised around $25m from British International Investment, the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation, YC, and Omidyar Network. axios.link/43YhwLv

• Navis Capital Partners next year will seek to sell Dan-D Foods, a Canadian nuts and snacks maker that could fetch $600m, per Bloomberg. axios.link/4gHrg4c

• Adobe (Nasdaq:ADBE) agreed to acquire Topaz Labs, an Addison, Texas-based provider of video and image enhancement models. axios.link/4v0UQ8h

• Elroy Air, a Byron, Calif.-based cargo drone startup, agreed to go public via a reverse merger with Columbus Circle Capital Corp. II (Nasdaq: CMII) at a $800m pre-money valuation. Elroy has raised over $100m from firms like Shield Capital, Lockheed Martin Ventures, Marlinspike, and Catapult Ventures. axios.link/4xMFJSE

🚀 Firefly Aerospace (Nasdaq: FLY) acquired Space-ng, a provider of vision navigation and autonomous guidance. axios.link/4weSwMi

⚡️ IsoEnergy (NYSE American: ISOU) completed its acquisition of Toro Energy, an Australian uranium developer, for A$75m in stock. axios.link/4vsGMWl

• ON Semiconductor (Nasdaq: ON) agreed to acquire Synaptics (Nasdaq: SYNA) for $7b in stock. axios.link/4eFsCd9

🚑 Remix Therapeutics, a Watertown, Mass.-based RNA processing reprogramming biotech, is going public via a reverse merger with Passage Bio (Nasdaq: PASG). Remix has raised over $200m from firms like Arch Venture Partners, Column Group, WTT Investment, Willett Advisors, Atlas Venture, Foresite Capital, Alexandria Venture Investments, Casdin Capital, and Surveyor Capital. axios.link/4v2gN74

• Album Ventures is raising $150m for its fifth fund, per an SEC filing.

President Trump is expected to nominate Adam ​Candeub, general counsel at the FCC, as the next DOJ antitrust chief.

• Novak Djokovic, the star tennis player, joined General Atlantic as a global strategic advisor. axios.link/3SlOWRQ

• Aaron Hinz joined Base10 Partners as CFO. He previously was CFO at Industry Ventures. axios.link/4f26pay

• Marianne Lake is retiring as CEO of JPMorgan's consumer and community banking business, taking her out of the Jamie Dimon succession race. axios.link/43Ygu24

The Iran war hasn't wreaked nearly as much havoc on the U.S. economy as prior oil supply disruptions, for two big reasons:

1. The rise of U.S. oil production (thus reduced import reliance).
2. We use less oil to produce electricity and have more efficient vehicles, plus the U.S. economy has shifted to services from manufacturing.

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