Silicon Valley's congressman is facing a revolt from some of his wealthiest constituents, and even could get primaried.

Why it matters: This is ground zero for the thorny politics of income inequality, which will become more pervasive as the AI revolution mints more billionaires and costs "normies" their jobs.

Catch up quick: Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) recently endorsed a proposed wealth tax on California billionaires, which could be on the state's ballot this November.

• If approved by voters, the measure would apply a one-time 5% tax on billionaires residing in the state as of last Thursday, payable in 2027. Payments also could be spread out over five years, but with added interest.
• Proceeds would be put into a dedicated account, the vast majority of which would be earmarked for health care.
• The measure was written by state labor unions, and is opposed by Gov. Gavin Newsom.

The big picture: Khanna's support unleashed a flood of condemnation from tech founders and investors, including talk of finding and funding a rival candidate.

• A lot of the backlash was just about the rich wanting to retain their riches, with some accusing Khanna of endorsing "tyranny" via what they view as property seizure.
• Others argued that California shouldn't increase any taxes until it becomes more fiscally responsible.

Zoom in: The deeper disagreements, however, were on how such a wealth tax would actually work — namely in that it would seem to apply to unrealized capital gains. If you're having 2024 flashbacks, you're not alone.

• In short, this would be a major philosophical shift in U.S. tax policy, if even in just one state. Massachusetts, for example, has a "millionaire's tax" — but it only applies to real income — not paper wealth.

Khanna has said that he supports workarounds for startup founders with illiquid stock, but hasn't put meat on that bone.

• For example, what if there's an active secondary market for shares, or the startup has enough investor interest to execute a tender? Would the workaround be an exclusion, deferral, or something else?
• Khanna declined interview requests, although a spokesperson offered to provide a written response to texted questions. Unfortunately, all that came back was pablum about how Khanna "has convened top economists, tech leaders, and labor leaders to work through the details of what will make sure Silicon Valley remains an engine for innovation while we tackle the stark inequality and lack of healthcare for working families."
• Also unanswered were questions about how this proposed tax might compel startups to remain private longer, plus his support of possible taxes on large personal; loans that use stock as collateral (e.g., "buy, borrow, and die").

The bottom line: Khanna wants to make a good faith argument about how slightly reducing income inequality could help millions of citizens obtain better health care, but hasn't yet figured out how to thread the policy needle.

• If he does so, it could provide a model for other politicians of both parties. If not, it could become a warning against trying.

Apollo Global Management has agreed to sell coin-exchange kiosk operator Coinstar to Arctic Slope Regional Corp., which manages investments for indigenous residents of northern Alaska.

Why it's the BFD: Coinstar is a pillar of America's currency logistics, although its importance may diminish now that new pennies aren't being produced.

Zoom in: Coinstar's predecessor company was taken private by Apollo in 2016, but by 2023 needed to restructure its debt because of liquidity troubles.

• Bloomberg reports that this deal would repay more than $750 million of principal plus all interest.
• The deal hasn't yet been publicly announced — expect that to come in a few weeks — but reportedly was disclosed in a private notice to Coinstar bondholders.
• It's unclear how Apollo will make out, and the firm declined comment.

The bottom line: "Coinstar struggled with a slowdown after the pandemic and went on to expand its digital-currency offerings. [In 2024] it began allowing customers to use cash to buy cryptocurrency at its kiosks or through an app." — Scott Carpenter, Bloomberg

⚡ Kraken, a London-based utility software startup developed within Octopus Energy, raised $1b at an $8.65b post-money valuation to split from Octopus and prep for an IPO. D1 Capital Partners led, joined by includes Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan, Fidelity, and Durable Capital Partners. axios.link/4jkb34i

• Champ Titles, a Cleveland-based provider of digital solutions to motor vehicle agencies, raised $55m led by W. R. Berkley, Point72 Ventures, and ORIX. axios.link/49JYQBR

• Known, a dating app, raised $9.7m led by Forerunner Ventures and NFX. axios.link/4blYof8

🚀 AE Industrial Partners agreed to buy a control stake in the space propulsion and power systems business of L3Harris Technologies (NYSE: LHX) for $845m. axios.link/4jvWcEe

• America's Test Kitchen, owned by Neuberger Berman portfolio company Marquee Brands, agreed to purchase bankrupt recipe site Food52. Food52 had raised over $100m from firms like TCG. axios.link/4pEiMfn

• Bain Capital agreed to buy nearly a 44% stake in the Seoul-listed parent company of activewear brand Andar for around $150m. axios.link/44P3s86

• Bridgepoint agreed to buy a majority stake in U.K. restructuring consultancy Interpath from H.I.G. Capital at an £800m enterprise value. axios.link/45xrG6P

• Com Laude, a global corporate registrar owned by PX3 Partners, acquired Markmonitor from Newfold Digital, a portfolio company of Clearlake Capital and Siris Capital Group. axios.link/4jjP51m

• DigitalBridge and Credstview Partners completed their $1.5b take-private buyout of broadband provider WideOpenWest. axios.link/3JdrhOY

• Galileo Education, a Millpond Equity Partners portfolio company, acquired Florida's Putnam Classical Academy and New Generation Christian School. axios.link/4jnYh53

• Howden, a U.K. insurer whose backers include General Atlantic and HgCapital, acquired Atlantic Group, a New York-based transaction liability insurance broker. axios.link/4bgGH0v

• MidEuropa acquired a majority stake in Romanian Business Consult, an IT system integrator for Romania's retail, banking and industrials sectors. axios.link/4pqXWjs

• ICG invested in maritime tech company Navarino. Sellers include Viasat. axios.link/4pp65on

• J.C. Flowers completed its purchase of Elephant Insurance and other U.S. motor insurance assets from Admiral Group (LSE: ADM). axios.link/4jmLS14

• Novacap completed its $1.9b take-private buyout of Integral Ad Science, an NYC-based media measurement and optimization company. axios.link/4pj8ZuM

• Oakley Capital agreed to acquire GLAS, a London-based provider of loan agency and trustee services to debt markets, from LLCP. axios.link/3YoGml2

• Salt Creek Capital acquired a control stake in Nanoptix, a Canadian provider of printing tech for the gaming, lottery and kiosk industries. axios.link/4q6ylxg

• Stonepeak agreed to acquire a 65% stake in lubricants maker Castrol from BP (LSE: BP) at a $10.1b enterprise value. axios.link/49ltNM7

• TPG acquired a majority stake in Trustwell, a provider of food industry regulatory and traceability SaaS, from The Riverside Company. axios.link/3YkRdfP

🚑 Yomeishu Seizo (Tokyo: 2540), a Japanese maker of medicinal liquors, terminated takeover talks with KKR due to the objections of its top shareholder. axios.link/3YUKTvy

No companies plan to go public this week on U.S. exchanges.

🚑 Aktis Oncology, a Cambridge, Mass.-based biotech focused on solid tumors, set IPO terms to nearly 11.76m shares at $16-$18. The Phase 1 biotech would have a $793m market cap, were it to price in the middle, and plans to list on the Nasdaq (AKTS). It's raised over $330m in VC funding from MPM (26.2% pre-IPO stake), Vida Ventures (14.3%), EcoR1 Capital (10.5%), Blue Owl (7%), Merck, Cowen Healthcare Investments, ArrowMark Partners, Mirae Asset Venture Investment, Timefolio Capital, Pappas Capital, Bristol Myers Squibb, and Novartis. axios.link/49nHRVu

• Kunlunxin, Baidu's AI chip unit, confidentially filed for a Hong Kong IPO, per Bloomberg. axios.link/4aFZTEX

• Motive Technologies, an SF-based provider of fleet management solutions, filed for an IPO. It reports a $139m net loss on $327m in revenue for the first nine months of 2025, and plans to list on the NYSE (MTVE). The company raised over $770m from firms like GV, Index Ventures, Kleiner Perkins, IVP, Greenoaks, Base10 Partners, and Scale Venture Partners. axios.link/45o5Q5K

• Oyo Hotels, the Indian budget hospitality company that in 2024 bought Motel 6, filed confidential U.S. IPO papers, per Reuters. Its top investor is SoftBank. axios.link/4pgSuiR

• Abony Acquisition I, a SPAC led by Lorne Abony (Texas Venture Partners), filed for a $200m IPO. axios.link/44SFGIg

• Aldabra 4 Liquidity Opportunity Vehicle, a SPAC led by Terrapin Partners execs, filed for a $261m IPO. axios.link/44WcqAq

• Archimedes Tech SPAC Partners III, a SPAC led by Eric Ball (Impact Venture Capital), filed for a $200m IPO. axios.link/45qDvM9

• Illumination Acquisition I, a SPAC formed by Lucid Capital Markets execs, filed for a $200m IPO. axios.link/3YSVRBL

• Inflection Point Acquisition VI, a tech SPAC led by Michael Blitzer (Kingstown Capital Management), filed for a $220m IPO. axios.link/4slHsvz

• Spartacus Acquisition II, a TMT SPAC led by PEter Aquino (Mercury Access Group, filed for a $200m IPO. axios.link/4so2zgy

• Arlington Capital Partners agreed to sell Tex-Tech Industries, a Kernersville, N.C.-based maker of specialty textiles, to Michelin (Paris: ML). axios.link/4pnsti6

🚑 Carlyle agreed to sell Tescan, a Czech manufacturer of electron microscopes and other scientific and analytical instruments, to Shimadzu (Tokyo: 7701) for $850m. axios.link/4993Two

• Flutterwave, an Africa-focused fintech valued by VCs at over $3b, acquired Mono, a Nigerian open-banking startup that had raised $17.5m from firms like Tiger Global, General Catalyst and Target Global. axios.link/494IPHs

• Gryphon Investors completed its sale of 3Cloud, a Chicago-based Microsoft Azure consultancy, to Cognizant Technology Solutions (Nasdaq: CTSH). axios.link/4poSEF9

• H.I.G. Capital agreed to sell Xtera, a London-based provider of subsea telecom networks, to a joint venture led by Prysmian (Milan: PRY) and Fincantieri (Milan: FCT). axios.link/3NpN8Va

• Meta (Nasdaq: META) agreed to acquire Manus AI, a Singapore-based developer of general AI agents, for upwards of $2.5b. Manus AI was valued at only $500 million when it raised $75 million in Series B funding last May, led by Benchmark. axios.link/490Mlm8

• Nvidia (Nasdaq: NVDA) signed a $20b non-exclusive licensing deal with AI chipmaker Groq, which results in most Groq employees moving to Nvidia and major returns for shareholders Social Capital, Disruptive, BlackRock, Neuberger Berman, Deutsche Telekom Capital Partners, Samsung, 1789 Capital, Cisco, D1, Cleo Capital, Altimeter, Firestreak Ventures, Conversion Capital, and Modi Venture. axios.link/3NrV0FC

• Oakley Capital is weighing a sale of London estate agency Dexters, which could fetch more than £500m, per Sky News. axios.link/4jm3udk

• Stirling Square Capital Partners sold Isoclima, an Italian maker of glass products, to a consortium led by FII and The Equity Club. axios.link/4pZAmLv

• TransDigm (NYSE: TDG) agreed to buy Stellant Systems, a Torrance, Calif., maker of electronic components and subsystems serving aerospace and defense customers, for $960m from Arlington Capital Partners. axios.link/4jlMofL

President Trump ordered that HieFo divest digital chip and digital chips and indium phosphide wafer assets it purchased in 2024 from Emcore, citing national security concerns. Emcore subsequently was acquired by private equity firms, and says it's not a party to the matter.

• Apollo Global Management agreed to invest $1.2b into building products group QXO (NYSE: QXO). axios.link/3Z2p8tL

• BlueScope Steel (ASX: BLS), Australia's largest steel producer, received an A$13.5b takeover offer from SGH (ASX: SGH) and Indiana-based Steel Dynamics (Nasdaq: STLD). axios.link/4svlh6g

• Harman International, a subsidiary of Samsung Electronics, agreed to acquire the driver assistance systems business of ZF Group, for €1.5b. axios.link/3Ln3BJf

• Devyani International, India's operator of KFC and Pizza Hut restaurants, agreed to a $934m merger with smaller peer Sapphire Foods. axios.link/4aHARoP

• Jacobs Solutions (NYSE: J) agreed to acquire the stake it doesn't already hold in consultancy PA Consulting for around $1.64b. axios.link/4pqXq50

🌎 Legence (Nasdaq: LGN), a San Jose, Calif., sustainability consultancy, acquired Bowers, a Beltsville, Md.-based mechanical contractor. axios.link/45r3QK2

🚑 Sanofi (Nasdaq: SNY) agreed to buy Emeryville, Calif.-based vaccine maker Dynavax (Nasdaq: DVAX) for $2.2b in cash. axios.link/4992ndG

🎵 Universal Music India acquired a 30% stake in Indian production company Excel Entertainment at around a $290m enterprise value. axios.link/4bgGZo7

• Antler, a Singapore-based VC firm, raised US$160m for its second U.S. fund. antler.co

• Eighty-Seven Capital, a tech VC firm led by ex-NBA exec Sam Hinkie, raised $50m for its second fund, per an SEC filing.

• Lindsay Goldberg quietly raised $4.5b for its sixth midmarket PE fund, Axios has learned.

• The NYC-based firm also was cleared by a German tribunal in its dispute with an Austrian company over an earlier portfolio company sale, and will receive $43m in penalties.

• MetLife Investment Management completed its purchase of asset manager PineBridge from Pacific Century Group for upwards of $1.2b (including $800m upfront).

• PineBridge's midmarket investment group remains under the purview of PCG, under the new name Heron View Partners. It has an initial $2.5b in AUM and continues to be led by Steve Costabile.

• Matter Venture Partners is raising up to $350m for its second "hard tech" fund, per an SEC filing.

• Katie Hughes Brouwer is leaving General Catalyst, where she was a partner and head of talent. axios.link/3YRJxld

• EJF Ventures promoted Ethan Ross to principal. axios.link/44Un9LE

• Oscar Engqvist joined Sixth Street as a principal of EMEA capital formation. He previously was with General Atlantic. axios.link/4pkfpd1

• Kevin Muskat joined Leon Capital Group as head of a new transaction advisory services group. He previously was a managing director with Accordian. axios.link/45u0RQX

• Ryan Schultz joined Tamarack Partners as a partner. He previously was with Phase 1 Equity. axios.link/4sEpcxN

• Grave Tompkins stepped down as COO at General Atlantic after 17 years with the firm. axios.link/4aPyn85

President Trump expects American oil companies to invest heavily in Venezuela's broken petro-sector, but U.S. oil companies may be hesitant to do so, Axios energy reporter Ben Geman writes.