Illustration: Shoshana Gordon/Axios
Venture Capital
• Cognition, an AI coding startup, is in talks to raise funding at a $10b valuation from Founders Fund and Khosla Ventures, per Forbes. Go deeper
• Armada, a San Francisco-based infrastructure company delivering compute and storage, raised a $131m round. Pinegrove, Veriten, Glade Brook, Founders Fund, Lux Capital, Shield Capital, 8090 Industries, M12, Overmatch, Silent Ventures, Felicis, and Marlinspike participated. Go deeper
• Legalon Technologies, a Japanese contract review platform, raised $50m in a Series C round led by Goldman Sachs, with participation from World Innovation Lab, Mori Hamada & Matsumoto, Mizuho Bank, and Shoko Chukin Bank. Go deeper
⚡ Deep Isolation Nuclear, a Berkeley, Calif.-based nuclear waste disposal startup, raised $33m from investors including NAC International and Segra Capital Management. Go deeper
• Lightyear, an Estonian trading app, closed a $23m Series B round led by NordicNinja, with participation from Superangel, SpecialistVC, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Metaplanet and Skaala. Go deeper
• Monet, a financial cash flow startup targeting the creative industry sector, raised £17m in funding from Paul Rippon, Michael Fischer, Dan Adler and Force Over Mass. Go deeper
💊 Astra Therapeutics, a Swiss biotech making eukaryotic pathogen drugs, raised €8.3m in seed funding. MIG Capital AG and Digitalis Ventures led and were joined by Borealis Ventures, Kickfund and Venture Kick. Go deeper
• Memories.ai, a video analysis platform, raised $8m in a seed round led by Susa Ventures, with participation from Samsung Next, Fusion Fund, Crane Ventures, Seedcamp and Creator Ventures. Go deeper
• Volca, a NY-based referral marketing platform for contractors, raised $5.5m in seed funding led by Pathlight Ventures, with participation from MetaProp, GTMFund and Recall Capital. Go deeper
• IdentifAI, an Italian deepfake detection platform, raised €5m in a funding round led by United Ventures. Go deeper
• Rocksalt, a B2B marketing platform, raised a $3.5m seed round led by Lightspeed Venture Partners, with participation from defy.vc and angel investors Gokul Rajaram, Mike Volpe, and Anu Bharadwaj. Go deeper.
Private Equity
• Cinven is nearing an acquisition of Artefact, a French data services company backed by Ardian, in a deal that could value it around €1b, per Bloomberg. Go deeper
• GTCR is in talks to acquire Blackhawk Network, a prepaid gift-card provider that could value it at between $4b to $5b, per Bloomberg. Silver Lake Management and P2 Capital Partners back BlackHawk. Go deeper
💊 Nordic Capital and Permira are in talks to acquire Bavarian Nordic, a Copenhagen-listed vaccine maker, per Bloomberg. Go deeper
Liquidity
🚑 Waystar (Nasdaq: WAY), a provider of health care payment software, agreed to acquire 100% of Iodine Software from shareholders led by Advent International for a total enterprise value of $1.25b. Go deeper
Public Listings
⚡ Deep Isolation Nuclear, a Berkeley, Calif.-based nuclear waste disposal startup, completed its deSPAC with Aspen-1 Acquisition and will trade in the coming months. Go deeper
• Highview Merger (Nasdaq: HVMCU), a Delray Beach, Fla.-based blank check company targeting middle-market businesses in North America and Europe, filed to raise $200m. Go deeper
• InMobi, an Indian mobile advertising company backed by SoftBank, is planning to raise as much as $1b in an IPO in the country, per Bloomberg. Go deeper
• McGraw Hill, a Platinum Equity-backed textbook publisher, raised $415m in an offering of 24.4m shares priced at $17, below its range of $19 to $22. It values the company around $3.3b. Go deeper
🚑 Shoulder Innovations, a Grand Rapids, Mich.-based developer of implant systems for shoulder replacement surgery backed by US Venture Partners and Fidelity, is seeking to raise as much as $105m and list under SI on the NYSE. Go deeper
M&A
• Doss, a business and e-commerce software provider backed by Theory Ventures, acquired Genie, a London-based inventory management platform used by Shopify merchants backed by NEA. Go deeper
• JD.com is in talks to bid on Ceconomy, a German electronics retailer, that could value the company above $2.3b. Go deeper
• LVMH-owned Paris Match magazine is buying a controlling stake Abaca, a French photo and video agency. Go deeper
• Veolia North America has acquired circular chemical producer Chameleon Industries. Go deeper
Debt
⚡Energy Vault, a Westlake Village, Calif.-based energy storage developer, raised $18m in project financing for a battery storage project in Texas. Go deeper
• Unlock, a Tempe, Ariz.-based fintech that offers homeowners upfront cash in exchange for a share of their home's future value, secured $250m through a purchase commitment agreement with D2 Asset Management, with participation from Saluda Grade, Second Century Ventures and Reach. Go deeper
• ESS Tech, a Wilsonville, Oregon-based energy storage company, raised $900k in debt and options. Go deeper
Fundraising
💊 Brandon Capital, an Australia-based life sciences investor, raised about $287m for its sixth fund. Go deeper
• Elad Gil is reportedly looking to raise $1.5b for a new fund, per The Information. Go deeper
💊 TCG Labs Soleil, a Bay Area venture firm and biotech R&D operator, raised another $400m, doubling its initial pool of capital to $800m. Go deeper
Odds & Ends
⚡ Bloom Energy, a San Jose, Calif.-based fuel cell maker, announced a collaboration with Oracle to deploy Bloom's fuel cells at Oracle data centers. Go deeper
⚡ BP plans to exit the Australian Renewable Energy Hub, green hydrogen production facility, as both an equity holder and operator, per Bloomberg. Go deeper
💊 Novartis, a Swiss pharma giant, will pay $60m upfront and as much as $1b to license inflammatory disease therapies from Watertown, Mass.-based Matchpoint Therapeutics. Go deeper
⚡ Oklo, (NYSE: OKLO) a Santa Clara, Calif.-based advanced nuclear company, has partnered with Liberty Energy. Go deeper
- Ryan Barwick, Natalie Breymeyer, Erin Brodwin, Colin Campbell, Katherine Davis, Katie Fehrenbacher, Ryan Lawler, and Chris Metinko contributed to this report.
