Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios
Venture Capital
• Moonshot AI, the Beijing-based AI lab, raised around $2b at a $20b valuation. Meituan led, joined by Tsinghua Capital, China Mobile, and CPE Yuanfeng. Go deeper
• Lunar Outpost, a Denver-based moon rover developer, raised a $30m Series B. Industrious Ventures led, joined by Type One Ventures, Eniac Ventures, and Promus Ventures. Go deeper
• Fazeshift, an SF-based agent to automate accounts receivable, raised a $17m Series A. F-Prime led, joined by Gradient, YC, Wayfinder, Pioneer Fund, and Ritual Capital. Go deeper
• Balcony, a NY-based data infrastructure company for the property market, raised a $12.7m seed led by Blockchange Ventures. Go deeper
• Jesse & Ben's, a seed-oil-free french fry brand, raised a $10m Series A led by Greycroft. Go deeper
Private Equity
• Allied Industrial Partners acquired Trinity Industrial, a Broussard, La.-based industrial and energy equipment rental and specialty services company. Go deeper
💊 BioPhorum, a portfolio company of Five Arrows, acquired PharmaX Solutions, a German pharma and life sciences consultancy. Go deeper
• Blackstone and I Squared are nearing a bid for Stroeer that could value the German media group at about €2.5b, per Bloomberg. Go deeper
• Blue Ridge Associates, a portfolio company of Levine Leichtman Capital Partners, bought Economic Group Pension Services, an NYC-based retirement plan services firm. Go deeper
• Entwistle, a portfolio company of NTC Group, acquired Hales, a Clayton, N.C.-based maker of components and machinery systems for the U.S. military. Go deeper
💊 GI Partners completed its acquisition of the CDMO and cell solutions businesses from Charles River Laboratories, forming cell and gene therapy manufacturer Rose BioSolutions. Go deeper
• Pye-Barker Fire & Safety, a portfolio company of Atlas Partners and Leonard Green, acquired AAA Fire Extinguisher Co., a Lubbock, Texas-based fire safety services provider. Go deeper
⚡ Siris completed its acquisition of a majority stake in Takkion, an Evansville, Wyo.-based services provider to the renewable energy industry, from Apollo. Go deeper
⚡ Strategic Value Partners acquired a majority stake in New Frontera Holdings, a 530-megawatt natural gas-fired combined-cycle generation facility in Mission, Texas. Go deeper
Debt
• Lambda, an SF-based AI infrastructure and GPU cloud company, closed a $1b credit facility. The financing upsizes a $275m existing credit facility. Go deeper
Odds & Ends
💊 GSK (NYSE: GSK) agreed to pay $55m upfront and up to $1b to China-based SiranBio to develop an investigational next-generation obesity treatment. Go deeper
It's Personnel
• John Atkinson joined Vistria as an operating partner focused on financial services. He previously was with Marsh. Go deeper
• MiddleGround Capital promoted Alexander van der Have to managing director and head of Europe. Go deeper
🚑 Adam Salamon, formerly at Citizens Financial Group in the health care services practice, joined MTS Health Partners to expand its coverage of private equity sponsors. Go deeper
💊 Alethia Young, former CFO of Bicycle Therapeutics, joined William Blair's biotech equity research. Go deeper
💊 Bill Burkoth, Bryce Bewley, Ryan Martin, Gibson Cooper, Wendy Chan and Ries McQuillan joined Silicon Valley Bank to expand its life science and health care team. Go deeper
• Maria Ross, former VP of enterprise digital transformation and global head of customer experience at Chubb, joined AIQA Global as COO. Go deeper
• Michael Khutorsky was promoted from senior managing director on the investment team to partner at Soundcore Capital Partners. Go deeper
• Robin Chisholm, former EMEA head of cash operations and governance at BlackRock, joined Opus Fund Services as COO, EMEA. Go deeper
