President Trump is not playing populist on artificial intelligence, despite his Bernie-like interest in having the U.S. government acquire shares of companies like OpenAI and Anthropic.

Why it matters: MAGA critics of Big AI are likely to be disappointed — as will others hoping for more guardrails.

The big picture: Trump views the AI giants through his dealmaker lens — believing that the stakes could become historically lucrative.

• It's anathema to free-market capitalism, and Republican dogma about "picking winners and losers," but has been a signature of Trump's second term.
• The U.S. government now owns small pieces of chipmakers, miners, quantum computing companies, and more. Usually in exchange for grants that were originally designed to be nondilutive.

Zoom in: OpenAI and Anthropic may soon be worth trillions of dollars, which means the U.S. government could have a material incentive to help these companies grow bigger.

• That dovetails with the laissez-faire AI policy that Trump already has exhibited. No wonder Sam Altman seems eager to make a deal.

Behind the scenes: Populists may feel the White House tide is turning on AI, given the recent departure of AI czar David Sacks and the pending departure of deputy Sriram Krishnan.

• Neither of them left over policy disagreements. Sacks' time as a special government employee was up, and he's still a White House advisor. Krishnan plans to launch some sort of large AI consulting firm, and also is expected to remain in Trump's orbit.
• Sacks has publicly cautioned against government taking stakes in Big AI, but mostly because of his libertarian leanings and what it could mean with Democrats in power. Not because he believes Trump has gone soft on accelerationism.

The bottom line: There are no deals yet, and it's possible there never will be. If they do happen, though, it likely means less regulation, not more.

Morgan & Morgan, the country's largest personal injury law firm, may seek to raise more than $1 billion via a minority investment, per multiple reports.

Why it's the BFD: This could supercharge the regulatory debate over MSOs, a structure that law firms use to sidestep rules against non-lawyers owning their own practices.

• Some states are seeking to stop private equity investment in MSOs, which create a legally separate entity for a law firm's back-office activities.
• No firm has yet used an MSO to go public, although that may just be a matter of time.

Zoom in: JPMorgan is advising Morgan & Morgan, which is a lot of Morgans.

• The firm is based in Orlando but has offices in every U.S. state and nearly 1,200 attorneys.
• Forbes reported in 2024 that it had over $2 billion in revenue and spent around $350 million in advertising.

The bottom line: Firm founder John Morgan tells the FT that he hasn't made a final decision, saying he still needs to learn more about MSOs and doesn't like "usury rates" charged by private equity.

• PhysicsX, a London-based physics AI startup for industrials, raised $300m in Series C funding at a $2.4b post-money valuation. Temasek led, joined by M&G Investments, Intrepid Growth Partners and insiders Applied Materials, Atomico, General Catalyst, July Fund, NGP, NVIDIA, Radius, and Siemens. axios.link/3RLeXtw

A, an NYC-based cybersecurity startup focused on AI-powered attacks, raised $47m from Lightspeed, Cyberstarts, Wiz CEO Assaf Rapaport and Cyera CEO Yotam Segev. axios.link/3RWw0J1

• Blnk, an Egyptian POS financing startup, raised $12.5m in Series A funding. Algebra Ventures led, joined by SANAD Fund for MSME, Endeavor Catalyst, and EIIC. axios.link/4g7UB7D

• Volteum, a Budapest-based EV and mixed fleet management platform, raised €2.5m. Movens Capital led, joined by WakeUp Capital, Aidiom, Day One Capital, Techstars, and Nesprit. axios.link/4eu7cko

• BeatpulseLabs, a London-based startup focused on scaling AI training data, raised $1.8m in pre-seed funding. Araya Ventures and Lighthouse Ventures led, joined by Alumni Ventures and Avalancha Ventures. axios.link/4fxjYjc

• Arcline Investment Management agreed to acquire Continental Aerospace Technologies, a Mobile, Ala.-based maker of piston aircraft engines, for $535m from Aviation Industry Corporation of China. axios.link/4uqHvWG

• Carlyle agreed to pay $700m to acquire Chung Ho Group, a South Korean renter of home and health care appliances, per Bloomberg. axios.link/4fsJDcI

• Carlyle also secured majority ownership of MAI Capital Management, a Cleveland-based RIA in which it first invested five years ago.

• Mill Point Capital agreed to acquire Total Safety Supplies & Solutions, a Fairfield, Calif.-based distributor of industrial MRO products. axios.link/4ofbtvs

SpaceX will be this week's big IPO, but four other companies also plan to price: eRock, Parabilis Medicines, Forbright, and WhiteHawk Minerals.

• Bending Spoons, an Italian holding company that buys and seeks to revitalize legacy tech brands, filed for a U.S. IPO that could fetch around a $20 billion valuation. Major shareholders include Baillie Gifford. axios.link/4xgSggK

🍺 Carlsberg, the Danish brewer, is prepping an IPO for its India unit that could raise up to $700m, per Bloomberg. axios.link/4fxxWBv

• ITG, a Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based telecom services provider owned by Oaktree Capital Management, filed for an IPO that Renaissance Capital estimates could raise $300m. It reports $6m in net income on over $1.1b of revenue in 2025 and plans to list on the Nasdaq (ITG). axios.link/4ocxhb5

• Sinda, an exploration-stage silver miner focused on Mexico, filed for an IPO on the NYSE (SIND). axios.link/4vtJYAA

🚀 Quantum Space, a Rockville, Md.-based space defense and orbital mobility company, agreed to go public via reverse merger with Inflection Point Acquisition Corp. VI (Nasdaq: IPFXU), a SPAC led by Michael Blitzer (Kingstown Capital Management). It's raised over $80m from VC firms like Sporos Capital Partners, 1802 Ventures, Prime Movers Lab, AnD Ventures, Amvanova, Hypernova Fund, Gaingels, Mana Ventures, and IBX. axios.link/3RTNTbr

• Spring Valley Acquisition V, an energy and AI infrastructure SPAC, filed for a $200m IPO. axios.link/4fs1jFn

🚑 Incyte (Nasdaq: INCY) agreed to acquire Vega Therapeutics, a South SF-based biotech focused on bleeding disorders, for up to $2b ($1.25b upfront) from VC-backed Star Therapeutics. axios.link/4uRvDOs

🚑 Standard BioTools (Nasdaq: LAB) agreed to acquire Treeline Biosciences, a Watertown, Mass.-based cancer drugmaker that had raised around $1.2b from firms like Arch Venture Partners, Fidelity, Exor, OrbiMed, GV, and KKR. axios.link/4et5WxP

• Bouygues Telecom, Orange, and Free-iliad Group agreed to buy SFR, France's second-largest telco, from Patrick Drahi's Altice France for around $23.5b. axios.link/4uY1rkU

• Ingredion (NYSE: INGR) agreed to acquire U.K. ingredients maker Tate & Lyle (LSE: TATE) for £3.7b (including £1b of debt). axios.link/4edseTa

• Intesa Sanpaolo (Milan: ISP) offered to buy rival Italian lender Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena (Milan: BMPS) for $35b, setting up a possible bidding war with BPM Banco. axios.link/43lRGko

• Macquarie is in talks to buy Cargill's metals unit, per Reuters. axios.link/4egHFKq

📺 Paramount Skydance (Nasdaq: PSKY) would be willing to divest some children's TV assets, possibly including Nickelodeon, to secure EU approval for its Warner Bros. Discovery (Nasdaq: WBD) takeover, per Bloomberg. axios.link/4xdAfjp

• In related news, several U.S. states reportedly will sue to block the deal.

• Playground Global, a Silicon Valley venture firm, secured up to £150m from British Business Bank for a U.K.-focused fund. axios.link/4vfIfPT

• 645 Ventures promoted William Hess to principal. axios.link/4uk2g6k

• EQT promoted Gustav Segerberg to CFO, succeeding Kim Henriksson. axios.link/4dTWraV

• Ulrich Körner, former Credit Suisse CEO, joined Motive Partners as an industry partner. axios.link/4xh6U7T

Buyout firms marked down the value of their software portfolios by around 8% in the first quarter, according to a new Bain & Co. report.

• Non-tech buyout firms "are rotating both capital and investment resources toward businesses perceived as less exposed to near-term AI disruption and global volatility."