Illustration: Natalie Peeples/Axios
Venture Capital
• Oura, a Finnish smart ring maker, is raising $875m in Series E funding at around a $10.9b valuation, per Bloomberg. Go deeper
• Empower Semiconductor, a San Jose, Calif.-based processor maker, raised $140m in Series D funding led by Fidelity Management & Research Company. Maverick Silicon, CapitalG, Atreides Management, Socratic Partners, Walden Catalyst Ventures, Knollwood, and the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority participated. empowersemi.com
🚑 Ausperbio, an SF-based biotech focused on chronic hepatitis B, raised $63m in Series B2 financing. Qiming Venture Partners co-led, with participation from HanKang Capital, CDH Investments, YuanBio Venture Capital, Sherpa Capital, and Genesis Capital. Go deeper
🚑 Avenzo Therapeutics, a San Diego-based oncology biotech, raised $60m in Series B funding led by OrbiMed and SR One, with participation from Longwood Fund, Foresite Capital, Lilly Asia Ventures, Surveyor Capital, New Enterprise Associates, Deep Track Capital, Sofinnova Investments, Sands Capital, INCE Capital, TF Capital, Delos Capital, and Quan Capital. Go deeper
🌎 Nxtfood, a French plant-based meat producer, raised €49m from Creadev, Roquette Ventures, Clay Capital and IRD Invest. Go deeper
⚡️ Lithium de France, a subsidiary of Arverne Group focused on low-carbon geothermal heat and lithium, raised €40m from Arverne and Equinor Ventures. Arverne will hold 65% of Lithium de France, and Equinor Ventures will hold 24.4%. Go deeper
🌎 The Protein Brewery, a Dutch producer of fungi-based ingredients, raised €30m in Series B funding from Invest-NL, the Brabant Development Agency, Novo Holdings, Unovis Asset Management, and Madeli. Go deeper
• Brale, a stablecoin issuer, raised $30m led by Lightspeed, with participation from NEA, Refract, Matthew Prince (Cloudflare), Steve McLaughlin (FT Partners), The FinTech Fund, Foundation Capital, Alan Curtis, Farooq Malik (Rain), Liam Horne (Tempo), Daniel Lev (Coinflow). brale.xyz
🚑 Seven Starling, a NY-based maternal telemental health provider, raised $8m led by Rethink Impact and joined by Pear VC, Zeal Capital Partners, Magnify Ventures, Ulu Ventures, Expa, Fiore Ventures, the March of Dimes, Rogue Women's Fund, and Graham & Walker. Go deeper
🌎 Earthmover, a weather and climate data provider, raised $7.2m in seed funding led by Lowercarbon Capital, joined by Costanoa Ventures and Preston-Werner Ventures. Go deeper
• Veezoo, a Zurich-based agentic AI platform, raised a $6m Series A led by ACE Ventures. veezoo.com
🌎 Alchemy, a Canadian advanced materials developer for the automotive and defense sectors, raised $6m from NameSilo Technologies, Pathfinder Asset Management and Pembroke Management. Go deeper
• Unit 221B, a New York-based cybercrime tracking company, raised $5m in seed funding led by J2 Ventures, with participation from Pipeline Capital. Go deeper
• Predicti, a Danish predictive platform for financial institutions, raised $4.2m led by TX Ventures and Dreamcraft Ventures, with participation from Plug and Play. Go deeper
🌎 GrainChain, a McAllen, Texas-based agtech and fintech, received a $3m investment from Bed Bath & Beyond. Go deeper
🌎 Time-Travelling Milkman, a Dutch developer of dairy-free cream made from sunflower seeds, raised €2m in pre-Series A funding from Sparkalis and Evercurious. Go deeper
Private Equity
• Carrick Capital Partners acquired a majority stake in Intelligo, an Israeli provider of corporate background checks that had raised over $40m in VC funding from firms like Felicitas Global Partners and Behrens Investment Group. Go deeper
• Lion Equity Partners acquired Custom Tube Products, an Edgewater, Fla.-based manufacturer of metal tubing assemblies and components. Go deeper
⚽ The Paine family, owner of the Maine Mariners, took a minority ownership interest in Portland Hearts of Pine, a professional soccer team playing in USL League One. Go deeper
• Thoma Bravo agreed to buy PROS Holdings, a Houston-based provider of revenue management software to airlines. for around $1.4b, per $23.25 per share (42% premium to Friday's closing price). Go deeper
• TreeServe, a portfolio company of Soundcore Capital Partners, acquired Dave Leonard Tree Specialists and JL Tree Service. Respectively based in Lexington, Ky., and Fairfax, Va., both provide tree care services. Go deeper
• Valsoft, a Montreal-based software acquisition platform backed by Coatue and Viking Global Investors, acquired Quorum Information Technologies (TSX-V: QIS), a Canadian software maker for automotive dealerships and Original Equipment Manufacturers. Go deeper
Public Listings
• Commercial Bancgroup, a community bank with dozens of branches in Kentucky, North Carolina, and Tennessee, set IPO terms to 3.7m shares at $25.75-$27.75. It would have a $367m market cap, were it to price in the middle, and plans to list on the Nasdaq (CBK). Go deeper
M&A
• Anson Funds Management is pushing Clear Channel Outdoor (NYSE: CCO) to pursue a sale, per Bloomberg. The activist investor holds around a 3.6% position. Go deeper
🌎 H2O Innovation, a Canadian water products and services provider, acquired Lama Sistemas de Filtrados S.L. Unipersonal, a Spanish water filtration system manufacturer. Go deeper
Fundraising
⚡️Macquarie Asset Management closed its Macquarie Green Energy Transition Solutions fund with $3b+. Go deeper
• Ventech, a Paris-based VC firm, raised €175m for its sixth fund. Go deeper
It's Personnel
• Tim Atkinson (ex-Blantyre Capital) and Steven Carew (Warakirri Asset Management) joined Hayfin as managing directors of partner solutions. Go deeper
• Timmy T. Davis, former ambassador to Qatar, joined Irth Capital Management as president and partner. Go deeper
• Geoff Iles and Lukas Poensgen were promoted to co-heads of EMEA M&A at Bank of America. Go deeper
• Rohan Juneja (ex-Jefferies), Ryan Lake (Arlington Capital Advisors) and Lauren Vitale (Lincoln International) joined JPMorgan as mid-cap investment bankers, per Bloomberg. Go deeper
• Serge Tismen joined Moelis & Co. as a managing director of M&A. He previously spent more than two decades at Citi. Go deeper
• Zin Florence Zhang was hired as a partner in Cleary Gottlieb's private funds practice. Go deeper
Odds & ends
⚡️Deep Isolation, a Berkeley, Calif.-based radioactive materials disposal startup, signed a licensing deal with Navarro Research and Engineering, an Oak Ridge, Tenn.-based energy and environmental services federal contractor. Go deeper
⚡️Porsche canceled some planned electric models as it slows its EV rollout. Go deeper
⚡️Stellantis canceled the forthcoming plug-in hybrid version of Jeep's Gladiator pickup. Go deeper
• Lucerne International, an Auburn Hills, Mich.-based automotive supplier, canceled a planned $50m Detroit plant, citing tariffs impacts. Go deeper
⚡️The Dutch government canceled its SolarNL program, which had allocated €135m, and conditionally awarded another €277m, to establish domestic solar manufacturing. Go deeper
- Ryan Barwick, Natalie Breymeyer, Erin Brodwin, Colin Campbell, Katherine Davis, Katie Fehrenbacher, Ryan Lawler, Chris Metinko, Alan Neuhauser, Dan Primack, and Brock E.W. Turner contributed to this report.
