Illustration: Lindsey Bailey/Axios
Venture Capital
• Kavak, a Mexican online used car dealer, raised $300m. A16z led, joined by WCM Investment Management and Foxhaven Asset Management. Go deeper
• Render, an SF-based cloud platform for application developers, raised a $100m Series C extension led by Georgian at a $1.5b valuation, with participation from Addition, Bessemer Venture Partners, General Catalyst, and 01 Advisors. Go deeper
🌎 Utility Global, a Houston-based decarbonization company, raised $100m for a first close of its Series D led by Ara Partners and APG Asset Management. Go deeper
• ChipAgents, a Santa Clara, Calif.-based provider of semiconductor design and verification software, raised $50m in Series A1 funding. Matter Venture Partners led, joined by Bessemer Venture Partners, Micron, MediaTek, and Ericsson. Go deeper
• Onodrim Industries, a Dutch defense tech and supply chain resiliency company, raised €40m in seed funding led by Founders Fund, Lakestar, and General Catalyst. Go deeper
• Stake, a Dubai-based fractional property investment platform, raised a $31m Series B led by Emirates NBD, with participation from Mubadala and Middle East Venture Partners. Go deeper
• VulnCheck, a Lexington, Mass.-based exploit intelligence startup, raised $25m in Series B funding. Sorenson Capital led, joined by National Grid Partners, Ten Eleven Ventures, and In-Q-Tel. Go deeper
• Seasats, a San Diego-based maker of small uncrewed surface vehicles, raised $20m in Series A funding. Konvoy Ventures led, joined by Shield Capital, DNS Capital, Techstars, Tanis Venture Management, Crumpton Ventures, and Dorado Group. Go deeper
• Moab, an NYC-based equipment rental and dealership software firm, raised $16m led by Elad Gil, with Ironspring Ventures participating. Go deeper
• Dataro, an SF-based fundraising intelligence platform, raised $14.3m in Series A funding led by Blueprint Equity. Go deeper
🚑 GelMEDIX, a Cambridge, Mass.-based developer of regenerative vision therapies, raised $13m in seed funding. Safar Partners led, joined by HTL Biotechnology, Beacon Angels, TiE Boston Angels, and Boston Harbor Angels. Go deeper
• Lightworks, a Canadian AI control systems consultancy firm, raised C$12m led by Round13 Capital. Go deeper
• Resurrect Bio, a British agriculture gene-editing startup, raised $8.1m in Series A funding. Corteva led, joined by Calculus Capital, Pymwymic, UKI2S, SynBioVen, and AgFunder. Go deeper
• Sphinx, a compliance agent startup for financial institutions, raised $7.1m in seed funding. Cherry Ventures led, joined by YC, Rebel Fund, Deel Ventures, and Singularity Capital. Go deeper
• Breaker, an Austin, Texas-based AI defense startup, raised a $6m seed round led by Bessemer Venture Partners, with participation from Main Sequence. Go deeper
⚡️ nuuEnergy, a German heat-pump installation startup, raised €4.3m in seed funding. Amberra led, joined by EnjoyVenture HTGF, Vireo Ventures, better ventures, and Bynd Venture Capital. Go deeper
• Cydelphi, a Dallas-based cyber forensics company, raised $3m in seed funding. Glasswing Ventures led, joined by Blu Ventures, Hyde Park Angels, and Merlin Group. Go deeper
🚑 SpendRule, an AI-powered hospital spending tracker, raised $2m led by Abundant Venture Partners, with participation from MemorialCare Innovation Fund and Zeal Capital Partners. Go deeper
Private Equity
• Diverse Logistics and Pulse Final Mile, two Argosy Private Equity logistics portfolio companies, have merged. Go deeper
• Eagle Leasing Co., a Kinderhook portfolio company, acquired Raleigh, N.C.-based assets of West Brothers Trailers and Containers4Less, which provide shipping containers and semi-trailer rentals. Go deeper
⚡️GenNx360 Capital Partners invested in NVI, a Gray, La.-based compliance and testing company for energy infrastructure, industrial manufacturing, and power generation. nvindt.com
• Greenbriar Equity Group acquired freight forwarder AIT Worldwide Logistics from The Jordan Co. Go deeper
🚑 Innovative Consulting Group, a portfolio company of SV Health Investors, Health Enterprise Partners and Petra Capital Partners, acquired Pivot Point Consulting from Brentwood, Tenn.-based management consultant Highspring. Go deeper
• PlayPower, backed by Platinum Equity, agreed to acquire BCI Burke, a Fond du Lac, Wis.-based playground equipment maker. Go deeper
• Valiant Solutions, backed by Bluestone, acquired Abile Group, a network and cyber services provider to national security customers. Go deeper
M&A
• Arthur J. Gallagher (NYSE:AJG) acquired B&W Insurance Agency, a Washington, Pa.-based commercial brokerage. Go deeper
• Avenue Z, a Miami-based marketing agency, is acquiring Varfaj, a Miami-based Shopify development and optimization partner. Go deeper
• Bombardier acquired Velocity Maintenance Solutions, a New Castle, Del.-based maintenance, repair and overhaul services provider. Go deeper
• First Northern Advisors, a subsidiary of First Northern Bank (PINX: FNRN), is acquiring Beacon Wealth Strategies, a Roseville, Calif.-based financial advisory firm from Raymond James (NYSE: RJF). Go deeper
• Jana Partners has taken a stake in payments processor Fiserv (Nasdaq: FISV). Go deeper
• MNT Group, an African wireless carrier, agreed to buy the rest of a 75% stake in mobile infrastructure company IHS Holding (NYSE: IHS) for $6.2b in cash. Earlier, IHS had agreed to sell its Latin American tower operation to Macquarie Asset Management for $952m. Go deeper.
• Starboard Value is calling for a majority of seats on Tripadvisor's (Nasdaq: TRIP) board of directors, after taking a 9% stake in the company. Go deeper
Liquidity
• Booz Allen Hamilton (NYSE: BAH) agreed to acquire Defy Security, a Canonsburg, Pa..-based cybersecurity company, from Sverica Capital. Go deeper
🌎 Fulcrum, an SF-based field process management and data collection company, acquired Wildnote, a San Luis Obispo, Calif.-based environmental software company that raised $2m from HG Ventures and Entrada Ventures. Go deeper
• Mistral, a French LLM valued by VCs at over $13b, agreed to buy Koyeb, a Paris-based AI app deployment startup whose backers include Acequia Capital, MongoDB Ventures, and Samsung NEXT Ventures. Go deeper
• Palo Alto Networks (Nasdaq: PANW) agreed to acquire Israeli cybersecurity startup Koi for a reported $400m. Koi had raised about $48m from Battery Ventures, Team8, NFX, and Picture Capital. Go deeper
Fundraising
• Kinterra Capital closed its second fund with $950m. Go deeper
• British Business Bank committed up to £45m in Redrice Ventures, a London-based early-stage VC firm. Go deeper
It's Personnel
• Matthew Avril and Michael Flaskey were named CEO and COO, respectively, at Marriott Vacations Worldwide (NYSE: VAC). Avril had served as interim president and CEO since November 2025. Go deeper
• Nyla Beth Gawel, founder of NBG Strategy Consulting, joined North Highland as senior managing director. Go deeper
• Rob Willett, former CEO of Cognex, was appointed to the board of Formlabs. Go deeper
Odds & Ends
⚡️ Alphabet agreed to buy power from geothermal developer Ormat Technologies via Berkshire Hathaway's Nevada utility, NV Energy. Go deeper
Ryan Barwick, Colin Campbell, Katherine Davis, Katie Fehrenbacher, Lucinda Shen, Ryan Lawler, Alan Neuhauser, Chris Metinko, Dan Primack, Erin Brodwin, Natalie Breymeyer and Brock E.W. Turner contributed to this report.
