Illustration: Maura Losch/Axios
Venture Capital
• Decart, a real-time GenAI research lab, raised $300m at nearly a $4b valuation. Radical Ventures led, joined by insiders Benchmark, Sequoia Capital, Zeev Ventures, and Aleph VC. Go deeper
• Destinus, a Dutch drone and missile developer, is in talks to raise around €200m at a €5b+ valuation ahead of a planned IPO, per Sifted. Go deeper
⚡️ Gradiant, a Woburn, Mass.-based provider of water cooling solutions for data centers, raised Series E funding at a $2b valuation. Safar Partners and Hostplus Superannuation Fund led, joined by ClearVision Ventures. Go deeper
• SiMa.ai, a San Jose, Calif.-based chip developer, is in talks to raise more than $100m at a $1.4b valuation, per The Information. Go deeper
• WIRobotics, a Seoul-based robotics company, raised $68m in Series B funding. JB Investment led, joined by InterVest, Hana Ventures, Smilegate Investment, SBVA, NH Investment & Securities, Company K Partners, GU Investment, and FuturePlay. Go deeper
🌎 Tomorrow.io, a Boston-based weather data company, raised $35m in additional Series F funding from Pitango and Harel Insurance. Go deeper
• Novella, an NYC-based AI wholesale insurance broker, raised $21m led by Brewer Lane Ventures, with participation from Box Group, Crystal Venture Partners, SV Angel, Avid Ventures, Verissimo Ventures, Blank Ventures, and Arch. Go deeper
• Blink, a hospitality employee experience platform, raised $17m from Enlightened Hospitality Investments. Go deeper
🚑 Vortex Imaging, a Sunnyvale, Calif.-based medical imaging company, raised $12m from 10D Ventures, Entrée Capital, Harel T.E.C Partnership, Connecticut Innovations, and PhiFund Ventures. Go deeper
• Cosmico, an Italian future-of-work holding company, raised €12m in equity and debt funding. P101 SGR led, joined by Prana Ventures. Go deeper
• Aeon, a Hong Kong-based settlement layer developer for agents, raised an $8m pre-seed round. YZi Labs led, joined by IDG Capital, HashKey Capital, Stanford Blockchain Builders Fund, Oak Grove Ventures, SevenX Ventures, Alchemy Ventures, Draper Dragon, Contribution Capital, and Uphonest Capital. Go deeper
🌎 Supermeat, an Israeli lab-grown meat developer, raised $6m toward a targeted $10m Series A from Agronomics, New Agrarian Co., and Milk & Honey Ventures. Go deeper
🌎 Elvy, a Swedish maker of home energy systems, raised €5.9m led by Essential Capital and Daft Capital. Go deeper
🌎 Melazyme, a Holladay, Utah-based precision fermentation startup, raised $2m in seed funding. SeaX Ventures led, joined by Stellaris Venture Partners and Plug and Play Ventures. Go deeper
🌎 Resurrect Bio, U.K. developer of disease-resistant crops, added €2m to its Series A, closing the round at €8.8m. Corteva led, joined by Calculus Capital, Pymwymic, UKI2S, SynBioVen, and AgFunder. Go deeper
Private Equity
• Balance Point Capital Advisors and Serent Capital invested in The Edge, a jewelry retail software company. Go deeper
• EMS, a Wynnchurch Capital portfolio company, acquired American Metals Supply, a Tampa-based aluminum products distributor for the patio and industrial end markets. Go deeper
• FortyAU, backed by ASH Investment Partners, acquired Ronin Consulting, a Nashville-based software engineering and AI development firm. Go deeper
⚡️Hall Capital acquired BatteryPlex, a Coral Springs, Fla.-based battery distributor. Go deeper
• LMC Landscape Partners, a Trivest Partners portfolio company, acquired Dallas-based Prestige Landscape Services. Go deeper
• Qualtrics, owned by Silver Lake and other PE firms, completed its $6.75b acquisition of health care patient feedback firm Press Ganey Forsta from Ares Management and Leonard Green & Partners. Go deeper
M&A
🚑 Gyde, an Austin, Texas-based insurance brokerage platform, acquired We Know Medicare, a Bellevue, Wash.-based Medicare insurance agency. Go deeper
💊 Neurocrine Biosciences (Nasdaq: NBIX) completed its $2.9b all cash acquisition of Soleno Therapeutics (Nasdaq: SLNO). Go deeper
💊 Quince Therapeutics (Nasdaq: QNCX) will merge with Orphai Therapeutics, a clinical-stage biotech treating rare pulmonary diseases. Xiphos Bio and 4Catalyzer backed Orphai. Go deeper
• Uber (NYSE: UBER) increased its stake in Delivery Hero. Go deeper
Fundraising
• The European Commission picked Swedish investment firm EQT to manage its €5b deep-tech Scaleup Europe Fund. Go deeper
It's Personnel
• Elaine Kao joined Dechert as a Dallas-based partner in the law firm's corporate and securities practice. She previously was with McDermott Will & Emery. Go deeper
• Evercore hired Chris Connelly as a senior managing director of industrials investment banking. He previously was with JPMorgan. Go deeper
Odds & Ends
💊 Regeneron (Nasdaq: REGN) will pay $125m to Parabilis Medicines, a Cambridge, Mass.-based clinical-stage developer of cancer drugs, with up to about $2.2b in potential milestone payments and tiered royalties. Go deeper
