Private equity funds are almost never liable for the misdeeds or financial responsibilities of their portfolio companies, because of how such deals are structured. In the case of for-profit college investments, that means taxpayers have been left holding the bag.

Driving the news: The Biden administration recently canceled $55.6 million in student loan debt for fraud victims of three for-profit colleges.

• One of them was Marinello Schools of Beauty, which had been owned by private equity firm Abry Partners until it lost federal student aid access in 2016 and shut its doors.

This isn't first time that the feds have bailed out students who were defrauded by PE-backed, for-profit colleges. For example, private equity firms had stakes in publicly traded ITT Tech, whose former students were recently given $500 million in loan forgiveness.

Then there are PE-backed schools that do owe money to the Department of Education. But they haven't paid, and no collectors are hitting up private equity.

• The largest of these, according to the National Student Defense Legal Network, is now-defunct Vatterott College, which owes $244 million.
• Vatterott had been owned by TA Associates, which has a current portfolio company (Full Sail University) that continues to participate in Title IV loan programs.
• NSDL also cites over $2 million owed to DoE by Fortis, an indirect portfolio company of JLL Partners.
• Plus Education Corp. of America, which it says "has left taxpayers on the hook for at least $30 million, and likely more." Backers included Monroe Capital, Vision Capital and Landmark Partners.

Look ahead: There's still a backlog of tens of thousands of fraud claims that remain unforgiven, but which the Biden administration is working through.

The bottom line: Private equity funds typically lost their entire investment when for-profit college deals went south. But they didn't need to pay up for the fraud. The rest of us did.

Prime Medicine, a Cambridge, Mass.-based gene editing startup co-founded by biochemist David Liu, raised $200 million in Series B funding and disclosed that it raised $115 million in Series A funding.

• Why it's the BFD: Liu is one of the foremost CRISPR innovators, first investing "base editing" in 2016 and then "prime editing" in 2019. It's that latter effort that's the basis of Prime Medicine, and basically acts as a sort of word processor for potentially editing a larger number of genes without triggering some of of CRISPR's more troublesome reactions.

• Investors include Arch Venture Partners, F-Prime Capital, GV, Newpath Partners, Casdin Capital, Cormorant, Moore Strategic Ventures, PSP Investments, Redmile Group, Samsara BioCapital and T. Rowe Price.
• The bottom line: "Prime editing can ... insert, delete or replace long stretches of DNA. And it can do so in any cell type and any spot on the genome. Other CRISPR systems can only operate in regions of the genome where there are essentially molecular anchors to tether themselves." — Jason Mast, EndpointsNews

• Elevate Brands, an Amazon merchant rollup platform, raised $250 million in equity and debt funding from firms like FJ Labs and Novel TMT. http://axios.link/TW5I

• Quantexa, a London-based provider of dig data analytics for decision-making, raised $153 million in Series D funding. Warburg Pincus led, and was joined by Dawn Capital, AlbionVC, Evolution Equity Partners, HSBC, ABN Amro Ventures and British Patient Capital. http://axios.link/5slY

🐺 Arctic Wolf Networks, a Sunnyvale, Calif.-based security operations center-as-a-service company, raised $150 million in Series F funding at a $4.3 billlion valuation from firms like Viking Global Investors and Owl Rock. www.arcticwolf.com

• Foundry, an Austin, Texas-based online brand platform led by ex-Walmart and Pizza Hut exec Helen Vaid, raised $100 million from LightBay Capital and Monogram Capital Partners. www.foundrybrands.com

• Gembah, an Austin, Texas-based product creation platform, raised $11 million in Series A funding. ATX Venture Partners led, and was joined by Silverton Partners and Flexport. http://axios.link/kDwW

• Vara, an Indian provider of small business payroll management software, raised $4.8 million in seed funding from Go Ventures, RTP Global, AlphaJWC, Sequoia Capital India, FEBE Ventures and Taurus Ventures. http://axios.link/5Hgk

• Vaayu, a German carbon tracking platform for retailers, raised $1.6 million in seed funding led by CapitalT. http://axios.link/nFCi

• All States Ag Parts, a De Soto, Iowa-based portfolio company of Kinderhook Industries, acquired Rubbertrax, a Conyers, Ga.-based provider of aftermarket tracks and undercarriage parts for mobile industrial equipment like excavators. www.rubbertrax.com

• Arlington Capital Partners acquired TRP Infrastructure Services, a Fort Worth, Texas-based provider of roadway marking and traffic control solutions, from MSouth Equity Partners. www.trpinfrastructure.com

• Circle Graphics, a Longmont, Colo.-based portfolio company of H.I.G. Capital, acquired Canvaspop, a Canadian online retailer of personalized wall décor. www.circlegraphicsonline.com

🚑 Curia, a pharma contract R&D firm backed by The Carlyle Group and GTCR, is in talks to pay more than $500 million to buy smaller rivals LakePharma and Integrity, per Bloomberg. http://axios.link/7X9y

• Insightsoftware, a Raleigh, N.C.-based provider of financial reporting software, raised around $1 billion from Hg Capital at a $4 billion valuation. Existing backers include Genstar Capital and ST6. http://axios.link/cBce

• Mediaocean, a New York-based portfolio company of Vista Equity, agreed to buy London-based ad tech firm Flashtalking from TA Associates for around $500 million http://axios.link/6ZTC

🚑 NMS Capital acquired DirectMed Parts & Service, a San Diego-based provider of medical imaging parts for MRI and CT machines, from Mercury Capital. www.directmedparts.com

• PSG invested in SchoolStatus, a Hattiesburg, Miss.-based provider of K-12 communications and student data analytics SaaS. www.schoolstatus.com

• Starwood Capital Group made an unsolicited $1.8 billion takeover offer for industrial REIT Monmouth Real Estate Investment Corp. (NYSE: MNR), topping an existing deal with Sam Zell’s Equity Commonwealth (NYSE: EQC), per Bloomberg. http://axios.link/wYZG

• Webhelp, a Paris-based portfolio company of Groupe Bruxelles Lambert, agreed to buy OneLink, a Colombian provider of BPO and CRM solutions, from One Equity Partners. www.onelinkbpo.com

• Cadre Holdings, a Jacksonville, Fla.-based provider of safety and survivability equipment for first responders, filed for a $144 million IPO. It plans to list on the NYSE (CDRE) and reports $7 million of net income on $110 million in revenue for Q1 2021. http://axios.link/1HB9

• Couchbase, a Santa Clara, Calif.-based NoSQL database, set IPO terms to 7 million shares at $20-$23. It would have a $992 million fully diluted value, were it to price in the middle, and raised nearly $300 million from firms like Accel (20.9% pre-IPO stake), North Bridge (13.7%), GPI Capital (13%), Mayfield (10.1%) and Adams Street Partners (5.4%). http://axios.link/bGRv

• CS Disco, an Austin, Texas-based provider of software to law firms, set IPO terms to 7 million shares at $26-$29. It would have a $1.6 billion fully diluted value, were it to price in the middle, and plans to list on the NYSE (LAW). The company raised over $230 million from firms like Bessemer Venture Partners (26.4% pre-IPO stake), LiveOak Venture Partners (19.2%) and Georgian Partners (12%). http://axios.link/7BQ6

🚑 Dynacure, a French developer of treatments for neuromuscular diseases, set IPO terms to 6.3 million shares at $15-$17. The pre-revenue company would have a $339 million fully diluted value, were it to price in the middle, and raised $115 million from firms like Bpifrance, Eurazeo, Pontifax, Tekla Healthcare, Sphera Funds, Perceptive Advisors and Kurma Partners. http://axios.link/Utc0

🚑 Erasca, a San Diego-based precision oncology startup, set IPO terms to 17.5 million shares at $14-$16. The pre-revenue company would have a $1.9 billion fully diluted value, were it to price in the middle, and raised $420 million from firms like Arch Venture Partners (11.2% pre-IPO stake), Cormorant (9.7%), Colt Ventures (6.6%) and OrbiMed. http://axios.link/Wm9H

🚑 Imago BioSciences, a South SF-based biotech focused on bone marrow cancers, set IPO terms to 7 million shares at $14-$16. The pre-revenue company would have a $499 million fully diluted value, were to price in the middle, and raised $160 million from Clarus Ventures (14.4% pre-IPO stake), Frazier Healthcare Partners (12.4%), Omega Funds (12.3%), Farallon (8.8%), Celgene (6.7%), BlackRock (6.6%), T. Rowe Price (6.6%), MRL Ventures (5.3%) and Amgen Ventures (5.3%). http://axios.link/gKwq

• Kaltura, a New York-based video SaaS company, set IPO terms to 15 million shares at $11-$13. It would have a $1.4 billion fully diluted market value, were it to price in the middle. The company postponed an earlier IPO attempt this year, and raised over $160 million from firms like .406 Ventures (16.6% pre-IPO stake), Nexus India (15.2%), Avalon Ventures (8.5%), Intel Capital (7.6%) and Sapphire Ventures (7.6%). http://axios.link/pVzP

• Knowlton Development, a Canadian provider of home and personal care products, filed for an IPO whereby it will dual list on the NYSE and TSX under ticker “KDC.” It reports a US$126 million net loss on $2.1 billion in revenue for the year ending April 30, and is backed by Cornell Capital and CDPQ. http://axios.link/hncD

• Paycor, a Cincinnati-based provider of human capital management software backed by Apax Partners, set IPO terms to 18.5 million shares at $18-$21. It would have a $3.3 billion fully diluted value, were it to price in the middle, and plans to list on the Nasdaq (PYCR). http://axios.link/O9np

• Ryan Specialty Group, a Chicago-based wholesale specialty insurance brokerage backed by Onex Corp., set IPO terms to 56.9 million shares at $22-$25. It would have a $6 billion fully diluted value, were it to price in the middle, and plans to list on the NYSE (RYAN). http://axios.link/05CP

• VTEX, a New York-based provider of e-commerce solutions for retailers and brands, set IPO terms to 19 million shares at $15-$17. It would have a $3 billion market value, were it to price in the middle, and plans to list on the NYSE (VTEX). The company raised around $377 million from firms like SoftBank, Tiger Global, Lone Pine Capital, Constellation and Endeavour Catalyst. http://axios.link/XH7s

⚡ Altus Power, a Greenwich, Conn.-based clean electrification company, agreed to go public via CBRE Acquisition Holdings (NYSE: CBAH) at an implied $1.58 billion valuation. Altus raised over $500 million from firms like Blackstone Credit and FS Investments. www.altuspower.com

⚡ SES Holdings, a Woburn, Mass.-based maker of lithium-metal rechargeable batteries for EVs, agreed to go public at an implied $3.6 billion valuation via Ivanhoe Capital Acquisition (NYSE: IVAN). SES had raised around $320 million from firms like Applied Ventures, Vertex Ventures China and Temasek. http://axios.link/az2R

• Metals Acquisition, a "green" metals and mining SPAC, filed for a $250 million IPO. http://axios.link/Bitk

• Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) confirmed plans to buy RiskIQ, a San Francisco-based digital threat management platform, that had raised $83 million from firms like Battery Ventures, Georgian and Summit Partners. Bloomberg pegged the price north of $500 million. http://axios.link/JqJJ

• Broadcom (Nasdaq: AVGO) is in talks to buy Cary, N.C.-based analytics software firm SAS Institute for between $15 billion and $20 billion, per the WSJ. http://axios.link/2pzJ

• Citigroup (NYSE: C) agreed to sell its Venezuela operations to Banco Nacional de Crédito. It also is in talks to sell its Australian consumer business to National Australia Bank.

• Eka Ventures, a British VC firm focused on sustainable consumer startups, raised $96 million for its debut fund. http://axios.link/gUth

• Mark Garrett, former CFO of Adobe, joined Permira as a senior adviser focused on tech investments. www.permira.com

• Mihai Cirstea, a former VP at MERU, launched Prosper Oak Capital, a lower middle-market PE firm focused on special situations. http://axios.link/j61w

• Integrity Growth Partners promoted Ryan Anderson to partner. http://axios.link/oTwc

• Go deeper: Boardroom diversity pays off