When Kamala Harris began rolling out her economic agenda in August, she began with food prices. A literal kitchen-table issue.

• This included a proposed "price-gouging" ban, which was misinterpreted as price controls, and enhanced scrutiny of mergers in the food and grocery sectors.

Zoom out: The vice president could have reasonably assumed at the time that her case would be bolstered — in terms of both substance and attention — by the FTC's efforts to block Kroger from buying rival supermarket giant Albertsons for nearly $25 billion.

• Were the FTC to prevail, it would be a feather in her regulatory cap. Were the FTC to lose, it would highlight the need for more stringent rules.

Fast forward: The federal trial ended more than six weeks ago, with final briefings submitted more than a month ago, but there's yet to be a ruling.

• Judge Adrienne Nelson said at the time that she would work "as expeditiously as possible, because everyone is anticipating a decision."

Zoom out: For context, the recent antitrust case between Capri and Tapestry ended after Kroger-Albertsons, and we got a ruling last week.

• We're also past time JetBlue/Spirit Air decision timeline. Even the landmark Microsoft antitrust case in 1999 got an initial finding in 45 days after closing arguments, a mark Nelson could hit this Friday.

Elsewhere: Two state-level trials over the Kroger-Albertsons deal recently wrapped up — one in Colorado and one in Washington — although an FTC victory could make those cases moot.

The bottom line: It's entirely possible that Nelson, a Biden appointee, will rule in the upcoming days. Or even the upcoming hours.

• But her sluggishness has deprived Harris of a talking point. And delayed the grocery industry from knowing how big their giants can grow.

xAI is in talks to raise "several billion dollars" at around a $40 billion valuation, just five months after it raised $6 billion at a $24 billion valuation, per the WSJ.

Why it's the BFD: This illustrates how frontier model developers are the most capital-intensive startups ever, leaving early-aughts cleantechs in their digital dust.

• It also comes as Google reported blowout earnings, which means it may not be the AI pushover that many in Silicon Valley had come to believe.

The big variable: Musk has been promised a "cost-cutting" role in a prospective Trump administration, kind of akin to what Charles Grodin did in the movie "Dave."

• This all might be a campaign lark, particularly given Musk's fuzziness on the math, but at some point the multi-company CEO will be stretched too thin. And that could create added risk for xAI investors, particularly at a $40 billion mark.

The bottom line: These deals are structured like venture capital, have missions similar to project finance, and are valued like large-cap private equity.

• DoorLoop, a Miami provider of property management software, raised $100m in Series B funding led by JMI Equity. axios.link/4e4F5VA

• Sana, a Swedish developer of enterprise AI agents, raised $55m at a $500m valuation led by NEA, with Menlo Ventures participating. It also acquired workflow automation startup CTRL. axios.link/4hjGM4p

• Regal, a New York-based maker of contact center software, raised $40m in Series B funding. Emergence Capital led, and was joined by Founder Collective and Homebrew. regal.ai

⚡ Neara, an Australian AI grid startup, raised US$31m in Series C funding led by EQT, per Axios Pro. Other backers include Partners Group, Square Peg Capital, Skip Capital, and Prosus Ventures. axios.link/4fmk1ee

• Zinc, an Indian education savings startup, raised $25.5m in seed funding. Nexus Venture Partners led, and was joined by Quona Capital, EDBI, Global Ventures, and Saison Capital. axios.link/4e6d8fS

• Tabs, a New York-based revenue automation platform for B2B companies, raised $25m in Series A funding, per Axios Pro. General Catalyst led, and was joined by Primary Ventures and Lightspeed Venture Partners. axios.link/3YoXtmo

• Biild, an Austin, Texas-based provider of financial solutions for commercial subcontractors, raised $17.5m. LL Funds and MissionOG co-led, and were joined by RJT Credit, Ulysses Management, and HighSage Ventures. billd.com

• Speakeasy, an API creation and testing startup, raised $15m in Series A funding, per Axios Pro. FPV Ventures led, and was joined by insiders GV and Quiet Capital. axios.link/4fpzryw

• Infinite Machine, an e-scooter maker, raised $9.3m in seed funding. A16z led, and was joined by Adjacent, Necessary Ventures, and Nico Rosberg. axios.link/40q91Iu

🚑 Vara, a German breast cancer detection startup, raised $8.9m co-led by IBB Ventures, Smart Family Office, and FJH. axios.link/4fmFYKf

• Sapien, a developer of financial analysis bots, raised $8.7m in seed funding. General Catalyst led, and was joined by Neo. axios.link/3NNzPLn

• Gig Wage, a Dallas-based payment platform for the gig economy, raised $8.3m in Series A extension funding from Discover, Motley Fool, and Chartline Capital Partners. gigwage.com

• iGent AI, a London-based software engineering AI startup, raised £6.3m in seed funding. HV Capital led, and was joined by XTX Ventures, TwinPath, 10x Founders, and Dhyan. igent.ai

🚑 Cornerstone, a provider of health-care data cleaning software, raised $5m in seed funding, per Axios Pro. Acrew Capital led, and was joined by insiders Initiate Ventures and Healthy Ventures. axios.link/3YGtEPt

• Latii, a New York-based construction industry supply chain startup, raised $5m in seed funding. Leadout Capital led, and was joined by Era Ventures, Act One, Nine Four Ventures, and RADV. axios.link/3UqwV2E

🚑 Toothio, a Scottsdale, Ariz., dental staffing tech startup, raised $5m, per Axios Pro. Craft Ventures and NVP Capital co-led, and were joined by Rho Capital, Marketplace Capital, Roosh Ventures, Burst Capital, Revere Partners, Karman Ventures, AZ Crown, and Connexa Capital.axios.link/48ptIX9

• UnitPlus, a German cash management solution for SMEs, raised €4.7m in seed funding. VC Pact led, and was joined by Seed X. axios.link/4fo41sk

• Final Boss Sour, a maker of gaming-themed sour snacks, raised $3m in seed funding led by Science Inc. axios.link/4f3R3A1

• Finfra, an Indonesian lending infrastructure startup, raised $2.5m led by Cento Ventures, with participation from Accion Venture Lab, Z Venture Capital, and Matiss Ansviesulis. axios.link/3Uqx6Lm

• Wobby, a Belgian knowledge platform, raised $1.2m in seed funding from Shaping Impact Group: SI3 fund, V-Ventures, and imec.istart. axios.link/4hmf2Ml

• Accent Equity acquired Brimer, a Norwegian maker of products and tech for the fish-processing industry. axios.link/4e7k8tb

• ADQ, an Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund, completed its purchase of a minority stake in auction house Sotheby's. axios.link/3NM6Ebx

🏈 Arctos Partners is in talks to buy a minority stake in the NFL's Buffalo Bills, per Bloomberg. axios.link/4e5Q2X2

• Bain Capital agreed to buy an 80% stake in AQ Compute, the data center subsidiary of Germany's Aquila Group. axios.link/40lweM5

• Bridgepoint agreed to buy Eckoh (LSE: ECK), a British provider of payments and customer engagement software, for £169m. axios.link/3C3PMdD

🎵 Concord Music, a portfolio company of Blackstone, raised $850m in debt financing backed by its music assets. axios.link/4f5lLsK

• CVC Capital Partners completed its purchase of around a 50% stake in Epicor, an Austin, Texas, industry-specific business software firm, from Clayton, Dubilier & Rice. epicor.com

• ECI Partners invested in IGG, a British provider of pensions trusteeship and governance services. axios.link/3Yp7AaO

• Fujitec (Tokyo: 6406), a Japanese elevator maker with around a $2.5b market cap, has spoken with EQT and other PE firms about a possible buyout, per the FT. axios.link/3NLwiwV

• GDS Holdings (Nasdaq: GDS), a Chinese data center operator, raised $1b in Series B funding for its non-China operations led by Coatue, with Baupost Group also participating. axios.link/40n39Qg

• Hyve Group, an events company backed by Providence Equity Partners and Searchlight Capital Partners, acquired HLTH, a health-care conference organizer. axios.link/3NIobRJ

• Neuberger Berman invested in Mariner, an Overland Park, Kan.-based financial services firm backed by Leonard Green & Partners. mariner.com

• Swiggy, an Indian food delivery company, is seeking to be valued at up to $11.3b in an IPO next month. That's more than its last private round, but a 57% discount to rival Zomato. axios.link/4f5aNDn

• FactSet (NYSE: FDS) agreed to buy Toronto-based IR tech provider Irwin from K1 Investment Management. axios.link/48po5Iu

• Preston Hollow Community Capital, a Dallas-based municipal finance lender, is weighing a sale process, per Bloomberg. Backers include Stone Point Capital, HarbourVest Partners, and TIAA. axios.link/4hmmbMP

⚡ Brookfield agreed to buy minority stakes in four U.K. wind farms from Denmark's Ørsted for around $2.27b. axios.link/4e8HGO8

• Siemens is nearing an agreement to buy Altair Engineering (Nasdaq: ALTR), a Troy, Mich.-based engineering software firm with nearly a $9b market cap, per Bloomberg. axios.link/48ng3Qp

• Vivendi's (Paris: VIV) supervisory board approved the French media giant's plan to split into four companies, with a shareholder vote on Dec. 9. 

• BBG Ventures raised $60m for its second fund. axios.link/3YHWkaE

Berkshire Partners raised $7.8b for its 11th private equity fund. berkshirepartners.com

• Blackstone raised $22b for a new direct lending fund, per Bloomberg. axios.link/40o29eF

• Brookfield plans to raise $2b for a Middle East-focused fund, with around half coming from Saudi Arabia's PIF, per Bloomberg. axios.link/3Yn8Tad

• Crosscut Ventures raised $100m for its latest fund. axios.link/3CcXmm9

• Janngo Capital, an Africa-focused VC firm, raised €73m for its second fund. axios.link/3C5NaMo

• Proximity launched as an early-stage VC firm co-led by Neil Sirni (ex-Roc Nation head of new ventures) and actress Olivia Wilde. axios.link/3AjmHub

• Resurge Growth Partners of London is raising €120m to back "VC orphans," early-stage European and Israeli startups whose growth has stagnated, per Sifted. axios.link/4fGieB5

• Socium Ventures, the corporate venture arm of Axios owner Cox Enterprises, launched a $300m second fund. sociumventures.com

• Tamarack Global, an early-stage VC firm focused on deep tech, raised $72m for its second fund, per Axios Pro. axios.link/40qLmrs

• Thomas H. Lee Partners is raising its 10th flagship buyout fund, per an SEC filing.

🌎 Verdane, a Norwegian PE firm, raised €700m for its second decarbonization fund. verdane.com

• Charlotte Palmer joined Integra Global Advisors to co-lead VC fund-of-funds program. She previously was with British Business Bank. axios.link/3YhPdEA

The U.S. economy grew at a 2.8% annualized rate in the third quarter, according to an initial print from the Commerce Department. Go deeper.