Illustration: Maura Losch/Axios
Venture Capital
• Kobold Metals, a Berkeley, Calif.,-based AI mineral discovery startup, boosted a planned financing round to $292m, up from $200m, per an SEC filing.
• LMArena, an AI evaluation platform, raised $150m at a $1.7b post-money valuation. Felicis and UC Investments led, joined by a16z, The House Fund, LDVP, Kleiner Perkins, Lightspeed Venture Partners, and Laude Ventures. Go deeper
• Photonic, a Canadian quantum computing company, raised C$180m from RBC, Telus, and insiders like Microsoft. Go deeper
• Lyte, a Mountain View, Calif.-based perception company for robotics, raised $107m from Avigdor Willenz, Fidelity, Atreides Management, Exor Ventures, Key1 Capital, and Venture Tech Alliance. Go deeper
• GS Microelectronics, a San Jose, Calif.-based semiconductor services provider, raised $35m in Series B funding led by Maverick Silicon. Go deeper
• Qualinx, a Dutch low-power connectivity semiconductor designer, raised €20m. Invest‑NL led, joined by Forward.one, InnovationQuarter Capital, and Waterman Ventures. Go deeper
• Array Labs, a maker of small satellites for Earth observation, raised $20m in Series A funding. Catapult Ventures led, joined by Washington Harbour Partners, Kompas VC, YC, Maiora Capital, Animal Capital, Aera VC, Cultivation Capital, and Clearance Ventures. Go deeper
• Pluto, an NYC-based private markets lending platform, raised $8.6m in seed funding from Motive Ventures, Portage, Apollo Global Management, Hamilton Lane, Tectonic Ventures, and Broadhaven Ventures. Go deeper
• Tesoro XP, an Austin, Texas-based platform for retailers to fund in-game currency, raised $5.4m in seed funding led by Treasury and TK MediaTech Ventures. Go deeper
Private Equity
• Altaris acquired Tegria, a Spokane, Wash.-based provider of health-tech consulting, from Providence St. Joseph Health. tegria.com
• Capitol Meridian Partners and Stellex Capital Management completed the carve-out acquisition of Beaufort, a U.K. aerospace and defense survival equipment division of Survitec. Go deeper
• East Coast Power, an A&M Capital Partners portfolio company, acquired United Powerline Solutions, a Haubstadt, Ind.–based provider of overhead distribution services for electric utilities. Go deeper
• Fusion Capital Partners acquired Excel Engineering, a Diagonal, Iowa-based provider of testing services for engine, powertrain, battery systems and fuel types. Go deeper
• Greenbriar Equity Group acquired eShipping, a Parkville, Mo.-based provider of transportation, logistics, and supply chain tech, from Ridgemont Equity Partners. Go deeper
• Hg agreed to acquire financial software firm OneStream (Nasdaq: OS) for $6.4b, with General Atlantic and Tidemark participating as minority investors. Go deeper
• Lennar (NYSE: LEN) and TPG Real Estate acquired a majority interest in Quarterra, a developer of multifamily communities. Go deeper
Going Public
• Black Spade Acquisition III raised $150m in its IPO. Prior Black Spade SPACs acquired Vinfast Auto and Generation Essentials Group. Go deeper
M&A
• Akur8, a French insurance pricing engine that's raised nearly $200m in VC funding, acquired Matrisk, a Denver-based platform for regulatory filings search and intelligence. Go deeper
• GTreasury, a unit of Ripple, acquired Solvexia, an Australian platform to automate reconciliation and regulatory reporting. Go deeper
Fundraising
🚑 Lupus Ventures was launched as a philanthropic venture fund by the Lupus Research Alliance, with a focus on new therapies and diagnostics for autoimmune diseases. Go deeper
It's Personnel
• Gamut Capital Management promoted Noah Leichtling to COO (while retaining his role as general counsel and chief compliance officer). Michael Jordan and Drew Kobasa were promoted to principals. Go deeper
• HighVista Strategies promoted Whit Matthews, Rob Nagle, and Ryan Tiffany to partners. Go deeper
• North Castle Partners promoted Roy Chin to partner, John McMahon to principal and Bobby Hally to vice president. Go deeper
• Tom Stepien was promoted to CEO from president of Amprius Technologies. Go deeper
Odds & Ends
💊 Eli Lilly agreed to pay $55m in upfront and near-term payments and as much as $1.3b to AI drug discovery company Nimbus Therapeutics to develop an oral treatment for obesity and other metabolic diseases. Go deeper
Ryan Barwick, Colin Campbell, Katherine Davis, Katie Fehrenbacher, Ryan Lawler, Alan Neuhauser, Chris Metinko, Dan Primack, and Aaron Weitzman contributed to this report.
