Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios
Venture Capital
• Apptronik, a Texas-based humanoid robots developer, raised $520m at a $5.3b post-money valuation from AT&T Ventures, John Deere and insiders B Capital, Google, Mercedes-Benz, and PEAK6. Go deeper
💊 Loyal, an SF-based canine longevity drug developer, raised a $100m Series C. Longevity Fund led, joined by Baillie Gifford. Go deeper
💊 Neurent Medical, an Ireland-based maker of a minimally invasive solution to treat chronic rhinitis, raised €62.5m ($74m) in Series C funding. MVM Partners led, joined by Sofinnova Partners, EQT Life Sciences, Atlantic Bridge, Fountain Healthcare Partners and Enterprise Ireland. Go deeper
💊 Cascade Pharmaceuticals, a Shanghai-based obesity and diabetes drug developer, raised $72m. Zhongping Capital led, joined by China Life Capital, Qingsong Capital, SDIC Pioneer, Gaorong Capital, Kangjun Capital and Qingdao Guoxin. Go deeper
• Monaco, an AI sales startup founded by Sam Blond (ex-Founders Fund) and Brian Blond (Human Capital), raised $35m in seed and Series A funding led by Founders Fund, with Human Capital participating. Go deeper
• Complyance, a London-based risk and compliance startup, raised $20m in Series A funding. GV led, joined by Speedinvest and Everywhere Ventures. Go deeper
• Nucleus Security, a Sarasota, Florida-based vulnerability and exposure management startup, raised a $20m Series C. Delta-v Capital led, joined by Arthur Ventures. Go deeper
• WINN.AI, an Israel-based revenue execution platform, raised an $18m Series A. Insight Partners, Mangusta Capital and S Capital led, joined by Moneta, Highsage, Alumni Ventures, Sarona Ventures, and OurCrowd. Go deeper
⚡️Hades, a German critical minerals mining and geothermal energy startup, raised €15m led by HV Capital and Headline, joined by insiders Project A and Visionaries Tomorrow. Go deeper
• Meridian, an agentic spreadsheet startup, raised $17m in seed funding at a $100m post-money valuation. A16z and General Partnership led, joined by QED Investors, FPV Ventures, and Litquidity Ventures. Go deeper
• Scala, a Bellevue, Wash.-based contact center platform developer, raised an $8.5m seed co-led by Madrona and FUSE. Go deeper
• Upside Robotics, a Canadian developer of farming robots, raised $7.5m. Plural led, joined by Garage Capital. Go deeper
• Pelgo, a career transition agent, raised $5.5m in seed funding. Flybridge Capital Partners led, joined by ENIAC Ventures, Primary Venture Partners, and 645 Ventures. Go deeper
• Birch Hill, a New York-based onchain lending and tokenization infrastructure company, raised $2.5m in pre-seed funding co-led by ParaFi Capital and Castle Island Ventures. Nascent, FalconX Ventures, Coin Operated Group, The Operating Group, JST Digital, Flowdesk, and Ramin Kamfar (founder & CEO of Bluerock) participated. Go deeper
Private Equity
• CBGF invested in Appficiency, a Canadian IT consulting firm and software business. Go deeper
• Coral Tree Partners invested in Plein Air, a consultancy for restaurant and retail brands. Go deeper
• Halo Partners acquired W.O. Grubb, a North Chesterfield, Va.-based provider of cranes and other heavy equipment. Go deeper
• Province, a Trivest portfolio company, acquired disputes and investigations firm StoneTurn. Go deeper
• Supreme Group, backed by Trinity Hunt Partners, acquired Broth, a health care commercialization creative agency. Go deeper
Public Offerings
• Idea Acquisition, an AI-focused SPAC, raised $350m in its IPO. Go deeper
Liquidity
• GIC is considering a sale of its 80% stake in a European data center joint venture, which could value it around $2.4b including debt, per Bloomberg. Go deeper
M&A
• Baker Hughes is exploring a $1.5b sale of its Germany-based Waygate unit, per Bloomberg. Waygate provides industrial testing and inspection. Go deeper
• iCapital agreed to acquire Passthrough, a provider of investor onboarding and financial compliance solutions for private markets. Go deeper
Fundraising
💊 Elaia, a French VC firm, raised €120m in a first close of a targeted €200m early-stage fund targeting AI, biotech, cybersecurity and industrial tech. Backers include Bpifrance, MACSF, BNP Paribas, SMABTP, Arundo Re, and Groupe AG2R La Mondiale. Go deeper
• Sun Capital Partners raised a single-asset CV for Fletchers Solicitors, a U.K.-based personal injury law firm. Go deeper
It's Personnel
• Steve Amdur joined Fried Frank as a partner in the law firm's M&A and private equity practices. He previously was with Pillsbury Winthrop. Go deeper
• Burkhard Koep was named global head of communications investment banking at JPMorgan Chase. Go deeper
• Marilyn Yang was promoted to managing director by Branford Castle Partners. Go deeper
• Steve Wiborg, co-founder and exec chair of Ampler Holdings, joined Maple Park Capital Partners as an operating advisor. Go deeper
Odds & Ends
⚡️Automaker Stellantis plans to exit its U.S. battery JV with South Korean firm Samsung SDI. Go deeper
💊 Madrigal Pharmaceuticals, a West Conshohocken, Penn.-based fatty liver disease biopharma company, agreed to pay China's Ribo Life Science $60m upfront and as much as $4.4b in a deal to develop and commercialize six siRNA compounds for liver disease. Go deeper
⚡️The National Laboratory of the Rockies, fka National Renewable Energy Laboratory, laid off 134 employees, adding to 114 employees laid off last year. Go deeper
• Nickolas Asset Management acquired a resin processing and materials facility from Material Difference Technologies, a Florida-based supplier and processor of plastic resins serving industrial and consumer manufacturing markets. Go deeper
Ryan Barwick, 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.
