Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios
Venture Capital
• Kast, a Singapore-based stablecoin payments platform, raised $80m in a Series A co-led by QED Investors and Left Lane Capital, with Peak XV Partners, HSG and DST Global Partners participating. Go deeper
• Dify, a Menlo Park, Calif.-based AI application and agentic workflows developer, raised $30m at a $180m valuation. HSG led, joined by GL Ventures, Alt-Alpha Capital, 5Y Capital, Mizuho Leaguer Investment, and NYX Ventures. Go deeper
• Isembard, a London-based manufacturing startup, raised $50m led by Union Square Ventures, joined by Tamarack Global, IQ Capital, Notion Capital, CIV and individual investors. Go deeper
• Saltz, a Lithuanian digital marketplace for the food industry, raised €20m in Series A funding from EBRD, Inovo, Lifeline Ventures, and Change Ventures. Go deeper
💊 Tacit, a Brisbane, Calif.-based RNA editing startup, raised $19m from Civilization Ventures, KdT Ventures, Eisai Innovation and Michigan Capital Network. Go deeper
• Cytotrait, a British agricultural gene-editing startup, raised £3m in seed funding led by Northern Gritstone. Go deeper
• NjiaPay, a South African payment routing startup, raised $2.1m in seed funding led by Newion. Go deeper
Private Equity
• Altamont Capital Partners acquired Key Container, a Pawtucket, R.I.-based corrugated box manufacturer. Go deeper
• Midland Industries, a Gemspring Capital portfolio company, acquired Industrial Specialties Manufacturing, an Englewood, Colo.-based industrial and medical components maker. Go deeper
• Monomoy Capital Partners agreed to acquire auto services chain Jiffy Lube from Shell (LSE: SHEL) for $1.3b. Go deeper
Liquidity
• Advent International is exploring a sale of Ultra Maritime, a Braintree, Mass.-based defense-tech company that could fetch more than £3b, per Bloomberg. Go deeper
• KKR is looking to sell data center cooling provider CoolIT Systems in a deal worth over $3b, according to reports. Go deeper
• Liga Portugal, a professional Portuguese soccer league, has hired Oakvale Capital to advise on a potential stake sale in the company's broadcasting and commercial rights, Bloomberg reports. Go deeper
• Main Post Partners has agreed to sell DeMert Brands, the parent company of hair-care brand Not Your Mother's, to Germany's Henkel. Axios flashback
M&A
• Judan, a financial services holding company owned by Abu Dhabi, is buying a majority stake in Alpha Wave Global, an alternative asset manager with stakes in artificial intelligence companies. Go deeper
• OpenAI agreed to buy Promptfoo, an AI security and evaluation platform that had raised over $18m from Insight Partners and a16z. Go deeper
• Underdog, a fantasy sports company, acquired a derivatives exchange and clearinghouse from Aristotle, the parent company that operates the political predictions market PredictIt. Go deeper
It's Personnel
• E-Fei Wang joined hedge fund manager Irenic Capital Management to lead a new private equity practice. He previously was with Apollo. Go deeper
• Matt Carbonara joined venture firm Mayfield. He previously was a managing director with Citi Ventures. Go deeper
• Peter Faricy has joined Slate Auto as its new CEO. Faricy was previously vice president of Amazon Marketplace and advisor to Bessemer Venture Partners. Go deeper
Odds & Ends
💊 Alfasigma, an Italian pharma company, will pay $300m upfront and up to $690m to license a liver disease drug from GSK. Go deeper
- Ryan Barwick, Natalie Breymeyer, Erin Brodwin, Colin Campbell, Katherine Davis, Katie Fehrenbacher, Ryan Lawler, Chris Metinko, Alan Neuhauser, Dan Primack, Lucinda Shen, and Brock E.W. Turner contributed to this report.
