Illustration: Annelise Capossela/Axios
Venture Capital
💊 Rakuten Medical, a San Diego-based photoimmunotherapy biotech, raised $70m in Series F funding. It also converted $30m in convertible promissory notes plus accrued interest. TaiAx Life Science Fund led, joined by Daiwa Securities, Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking, ABIES Capital and Nexus CVC. Go deeper
🌎 Mosa Meat, a Dutch lab-grown meat producer, raised €15m from Invest-NL, PHW Group, and Just Eat Takeaway CEO Jitse Groen. Go deeper
• Autonomous Technologies Group, an AI research lab, raised $15m in pre-seed funding from YC, Box Group, and Collaborative Fund. Go deeper
🌎 BlueNalu, a San Diego-based cultivated seafood producer, raised $11m led by Agronomics, Siddhi Capital, and Lewis & Clark AgriFood. Go deeper
• AgileRL, a startup focused on reinforcement learning for training AI models, raised $7.5m. Fusion Fund led, joined by Flying Fish, Octopus Ventures, Entrepreneur First, and Counterview Capital. Go deeper
Private Equity
• Blackstone purchased Madison Dearborn Partners' remaining equity stake in Air Control Concepts, a Norfolk, Va.-based commercial HVAC, electrical and controls company. Go deeper
🚑 DirectMed, a Frazier Healthcare Partners portfolio company, acquired Tri-Imaging, a Madison, Tenn.-based provider of aftermarket diagnostic imaging parts, systems, service, and technical training. Go deeper
🚑 Grant Avenue Capital acquired PatientCare EMS Solutions, a Tyler, Texas-based ground-based health care transportation services provider. Go deeper
• Kelvin Group, a Southfield Capital portfolio company, acquired PermaCold Engineering, a Portland, Ore.-based industrial refrigeration company. Go deeper
• Sigma, a portfolio company of Wind Point Partners, acquired Masonry Supply, a Selma, N.C.-based maker of municipal waterworks castings, polymer enclosures and other waterworks accessories. Go deeper
• TA Associates invested in PureSpectrum, a Westlake Village, Calif.-based market research tech company. Go deeper
• UserTesting, a Thoma Bravo portfolio company, acquired User Interviews, a participant recruitment platform for user research, market research, and AI training. Go deeper
Going Public
🚑 Soren Acquisition, a health care SPAC, raised $220m in its IPO. Go deeper
Liquidity
• Fireblocks, a crypto custody and infrastructure firm, agreed to acquire fintech accounting startup Tres Finance for about $130m, per Fortune. Tres had raised around $19m from Lightspeed, Cyberfund, MoonPay Ventures, New Form Capital, Boldstart Ventures, Cyber.Fund, Faction Ventures, and Ambush Capital. Go deeper
M&A
• BlueScope Steel (ASX: BLS), Australia's largest steel producer, rejected an A$13.5b takeover offer from SGH (ASX: SGH) and Indiana-based Steel Dynamics (Nasdaq: STLD). Go deeper
⚡️Honda Development & Manufacturing of America agreed to buy LG Energy Solution's stake in an Ohio EV battery plant for $2.9b. Go deeper
⚡️ Pattern Energy, an SF-based renewables developer and operator, agreed to acquire Cordelio Power, which is building or owns 1.5 GW of projects in the U.S. and Canada. Cordelio is wholly owned by Pattern's majority shareholder, CPP Investments. Go deeper
⚡️Nofar Energy (Tel Aviv: NOFR), an Israeli renewables developer, agreed to acquire a ~1 GW U.S. utility-scale solar portfolio from bankrupt independent power producer Pine Gate Renewables for $285m. Go deeper
Fundraising
🚑 Catalio, a NY-based health care investment firm, raised $325m for its second credit fund. Go deeper
• Creation Investments of Chicago raised $46m for its second impact credit fund. Go deeper
• Lux Capital raised $1.5b for its ninth fund. Go deeper
• Warburg Pincus raised $3b for its third financial services fund. Go deeper
It's Personnel
• Zeynep Tumer Bayazid joined AEA Investors as head of EMEA IR and fundraising. She previously was with AlbaCore Capital Group. Go deeper
• Kay Blackwell joined GenNx360 Capital Partners as head of IR, succeeding the retiring Carmen Rojas. Blackwell previously was with Neotribe Ventures. Go deeper
• Gerald Castaldo joined LoneTree Capital as a partner. He previously was at H.I.G. Capital. Go deeper
🌎 Tony Kalajian will become chief accounting officer at Beyond Meat, succeeding Yi Luo. Go deeper
Odds & Ends
⚡️HA Sustainable Infrastructure Capital (NYSE: HASI) and residential solar and storage developer Sunrun (Nasdaq: RUN) formed a JV to finance 300 MW across roughly 40,000 home energy systems. Go deeper
🌎 Joby, the Santa Cruz-based eVTOL developer, bought a Dayton, Ohio, factory for $61.5m to double production to four aircraft per month. Go deeper
🌎 Sheriff's officials seized alt protein producer Meati's property in Thornton, Colo., over alleged non-payment of $6.7m in property taxes. 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.
