Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios
Venture Capital
• Rift, a Dutch developer of iron fuel, raised €83.1m in Series B funding. PGGM led, joined by Invest-NL, Oost, Rubio Impact Ventures, BOM, and Energietransitiefonds Rotterdam. It also secured €30.7m in project financing from the EU Innovation Fund. Go deeper
💊 Prolium Bioscience, an NYC-based autoimmune biotech, raised $50m in Series A funding from founding investor RTW Investments. Go deeper
💊 Poplar Therapeutics, a Cambridge, Mass.-based food allergy biotech, raised $45m in Series A extension financing. Janus Henderson Investors led, joined by RA Capital, SR One, Vida Ventures, and ArrowMark Partners. Go deeper
• Fig Security, a NY-based security operations firm, raised $38m in a combined seed and Series A. Team8 and Ten Eleven Ventures led, joined by several angel investors. Go deeper
• JetStream Security, an AI governance startup, raised $34m in seed funding. Redpoint Ventures led, joined by CrowdStrike Falcon Fund. Go deeper
• RenoFi, a Philadelphia-based home renovation financing platform, raised a $22m Series B co-led by Fifth Wall and Progressive Insurance, with participation from HighSage Ventures, Alumni Ventures, Flintlock Capital, Gaingels, Canaan, First Round Capital, Curql and TruStage Ventures. Go deeper
• ArmorCode, a Palo Alto, Calif.-based exposure management startup, raised $16m. Cheyenne Ventures led, joined by Ballistic Ventures, Highland Capital, Sierra Ventures, NGP Capital, Harmonic Growth Partners, Tau Ventures, and Cervin. Go deeper
• EGI Battery, an Ann Arbor, Mich.-based advanced battery startup, has raised a $10m seed round led by TSV Capital and including family offices. Go deeper
• Groundwork, a Finnish provider of software for underground utilities, raised €2m in seed funding led by Greencode Ventures and 2C Ventures. Go deeper
Private Equity
⚡ Bernhard Capital Partners and Stonepeak Partners are in advanced talks to buy Louisiana power producer Cleco from Macquarie Group for more than $5b, per Bloomberg. Go deeper
• Gemspring made a minority investment in Aeromed, a Charlotte, N.C.-based provider of supply chain solutions to aerospace and defense. The deal supports Aeromed's acquisitions of Hitek Electronic Materials, NorcaTec, and Kit Pack Co. Go deeper
• Gryphon Investors acquired a majority stake in HRSoft, a Denver-based provider of compensation management software, from Bow River Capital. Go deeper
• J.C. Flowers committed up to $200m to launch Accelerated Wealth Partners, an RIA acquisition platform. Go deeper
⚡ NBIM, Norway's sovereign wealth fund, agreed to pay $425m for a 33.3% stake in a portfolio of U.S. solar plants and onshore wind power facilities. Other buyers are BCI and Brookfield. Go deeper
• Perceptyx, a Temecula, Calif.-based employee experience platform backed by TCV, acquired Lyceum AI, an Oxford, Ohio-based employee learning platform seeded by Miami University Social Impact Fund. Go deeper
• TPG invested around $250m into Findhelp, an Austin, Texas-based social care tech platform. Go deeper
• TWG Global has committed to invest at least $1b over 5 years in BluePath Finance, an SF-based energy infrastructure finance company. Go deeper
• Virtual Technologies Group, a Jacmel Partners portfolio company, acquired Vector Tech, a Freeland, Mich.-based provider of customized and integrated IT solutions to businesses. Go deeper
Liquidity
• American Securities said it will sell portfolio companies CPM Holdings, a Blaine, Minn.-based equipment manufacturer, and MW Components, a Charlotte, N.C.-based components manufacturer to Rosebank Industries, a U.K.-based investment firm for $3.25b. Go deeper
• Quantum Health, a Columbus, Ohio-based portfolio company of Warburg Pincus and Great Hill Partners, acquired CirrusMD, a Denver-based virtual health provider that had raised around $46m from firms like Blue Venture Fund, Colorado Impact Fund, Drive Capital, and 7wireVentures. Go deeper
M&A
• Elliott Investment Management has acquired around a $1b stake in Pinterest (NYSE: PINS). Go deeper
💊 Esperion Therapeutics (NASDAQ: ESPR), an Ann Arbor, Mich.-based cardiometabolic and rare disease startup, agreed to pay $75m upfront and up to $180m to acquire edema biotech Corstasis Therapeutics. Go deeper
• MSCI (NYSE: MSCI) acquired index services provider Compass Financial Technologies. Go deeper
• Otovo, a Norwegian solar installer marketplace startup, plans to acquire Santa Ana, Calif.-based EnergyAid for an enterprise value of $10m, a combination of cash and shares in Otovo. Go deeper
• Roots (TSX: ROOT), a Canadian clothing retailer, hired JPMorgan to explore a possible sale. Go deeper
• Zurich Insurance Group (SWX: ZURN), a Swiss insurer, agreed to acquire British cyber insurer Beazley (LSE: BEZ) for £13.35 a share, or about $11b. Go deeper
It's Personnel
💊 Ben Carpenter, formerly the global co-head of health care investment banking at J.P. Morgan, joined Evercore as a senior managing director focused on biopharma investment banking. Go deeper
• ArcLight named Gary Lambert as a senior advisor, focusing on AI-related infrastructure. Go deeper
• Fei Liu joined Range Energy as president and board member. Liu was previously president of Flex Asia. Go deeper
• Jose Luis Crespo was promoted to CEO of Plug Power. Crespo was previously president and chief revenue officer. Go deeper
- Ryan Barwick, Natalie Breymeyer, Erin Brodwin, Colin Campbell, Katherine Davis, Katie Fehrenbacher, Ryan Lawler, Chris Metinko, Chelsea Naso, Alan Neuhauser, Dan Primack, and Brock E.W. Turner contributed to this report.
