Illustration: Rebecca Zisser/Axios
Venture Capital
• Zero Hash, a crypto and stablecoin infrastructure firm, is in talks to raise $250m at a $1.5b valuation after walking away from a potential acquisition by Mastercard, per CoinDesk. Go deeper
• Vention, a Canadian software and hardware platform for automation and robotics, raised US$110m from investors including Investissement Québec, Desjardins Capital, Fidelity Investments Canada, and NVentures. Go deeper
• Mesh, a crypto payments network, raised $75m in Series C funding at a $1b valuation. Dragonfly Capital led, joined by Paradigm, Moderne Ventures, Coinbase Ventures, SBI Investment and Liberty City Ventures. Go deeper
• Lunar, a Nordic challenger bank, raised €46m from Heartland, Orbit Alliance and 100A. Go deeper
• Phia, a shopping app, raised $35m. Notable Capital led, joined by Khosla Ventures and insider Kleiner Perkins. Go deeper
• Fiddler AI, a Palo Alto, California-based observability and security platform, raised $30m in Series C funding. RPS Ventures led, joined by Lightspeed Venture Partners, Lux Capital, Insight Partners, Capgemini Ventures, Dallas VC, Dentsu Ventures, Mozilla Ventures, LG Technology Ventures, Benhamou Global Ventures, and LDV Partners. Go deeper
💊 Antheia, a Menlo Park, Calif.-based biosynthesis company, raised $24m in Series C extension funding led by Athos KG and America's Frontier Fund. Axios flashback
• Gridline, an Atlanta-based alts management platform for financial advisors, raised $18.5m in Series A funding led by Fintop. Go deeper
• Risotto, a Berkeley, Calif.-based helpdesk automation startup, raised $10m in seed funding. Bonfire Ventures led, joined by YC, 645 Ventures, Ritual Capital, and Surgepoint Capital. Go deeper
• Chamelio, an NYC-based in-house legal intelligence platform, raised $10m in seed funding led by Work-Bench and Emerge. Go deeper
• Paraglide, an agentic AI startup focused on accounts receivable, raised $5m in seed funding. Bessemer Venture Partners and DN Capital led, joined by Born Capital and The Nordic Web Ventures. Go deeper
• CVector, an NYC-based industrial AI startup, raised $5m in seed funding. Powerhouse Ventures led, joined by Fusion Fund, Myriad Venture Partners, and Hitachi. Go deeper
Private Equity
• Bain Capital acquired APP Jet Center, a provider of aviation services at supply-constrained U.S. airports, from Ridgewood Infrastructure. Go deeper
🚑 JPMorgan Life Sciences Private Capital recapitalized Turbett Surgical, a Henrietta, N.Y.-based medical device company. Go deeper
• LaunchPad Home Group, backed by RFE Investment Partners, acquired RJ Home Inspections and Sherwood Inspection Services, two inspection companies serving New England. Go deeper
• LevelBlue, a Dallas-based portfolio company of WillJam Ventures, acquired Eden Prairie, Minn.-based cybersecurity company Fortra. Go deeper
• PaperTech, a May River Capital portfolio company, acquired Bake-Best Trays, a Redmond, Ore.-based maker of pressed paperboard trays. Go deeper
🚑 Resonetics, backed by Carlyle and GTCR, acquired Resolution Medical, a Fridley, Minn.-based medical manufacturing company, from Arcline Investment Management. Go deeper
M&A
• Odeko acquired District Distribution, a Washington-based specialty food & beverage distributor. Odeko has raised more than $280m from investors like B Capital, Balius Partners, Era Funds, FJ Labs, KSV, Tiger Global Management, Two Sigma Ventures, and Primary Ventures. Go deeper
• Odgers acquired Ridgeway Partners, a U.S.-based executive search firm focused on financial services and board advisory. Go deeper
Going Public
• ClearThink 1 Acquisition, a financial services-focused SPAC, filed for a $150m IPO. Go deeper
Liquidity
💊 SK Capital Partners agreed to sell the controlled drug substance businesses Noramco to CDMO Siegfried Holding (Swiss: SFZN). Go deeper
It's Personnel
• Tim Britt has been appointed CEO of Broad Sky Partners-backed Frontline Managed Services, an IT and financial services provider. Go deeper
• Taylor Cavanah, former PetDesk CEO, joined Blueprint Equity as the firm's first operating partner. Go deeper
⚡ Lisa Drake has been promoted to president of Ford Energy. She previously was vice president of Ford's tech platform programs and EV systems. Go deeper
• Levine Leichtman Capital Partners promoted Andrew Alexander and Greg Flaster to senior managing directors; Brian Klaban and Luc Sandmann to managing directors; and Kelsey Gordon, John King and Kelly Leong to director. Go deeper
Debt
• Float Financial, a Canadian business finance platform, secured nearly C$100m in debt facilities from Silicon Valley Bank and an unnamed Canadian bank. Go deeper
Colin Campbell, Katherine Davis, Katie Fehrenbacher, Ryan Lawler, Alan Neuhauser, Chris Metinko, Dan Primack, Erin Brodwin, Natalie Breymeyer and Brock E.W. Turner contributed to this report.
