Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios
Venture Capital
• PointFive, an NYC-based AI cost efficiency firm, raised $60m in Series B funding. Accel led, joined by Salesforce Ventures, Entrée Capital, Perpetual Growth, Vesey Ventures, Sheva Ventures, and Index Ventures. Go deeper
• Stepful, a medical worker training platform, raised $55m in Series C funding. Oak HC/FT led, joined by Foresite Capital, Hearst Ventures, and the Citi Impact Fund and insiders SemperVirens, YC, Intermountain Health, and ECMC Education Impact Fund. Go deeper
🌎 Innovafeed, a French insect ag firm, raised €51m from insiders Creadev, QIA, Temasek, FFC, ABC Impact, and ADM. Go deeper.
• Marble Technologies, a Lincoln, Neb.-based automated meatpacker, raised $30m in Series A funding. Go deeper
• Edge Markets, an NYC-based banking platform for gambling and prediction markets, raised $29.2m in Series A funding. CoinFund led, joined by Indicator Ventures, Mantis VC, Stepstone Group, and Bullpen Capital. Go deeper
• NewOrbit, a U.K. developer of very-low Earth orbit satellites, raised $18.5m in Series A funding led by Voyager Ventures. Go deeper
⚡️ Galvany Energy, a German heat pump installer, raised €10m in seed funding led by SET Ventures and AENU. Go deeper
• 701x, a Fargo, N.D.-based developer of wearables for beef cattle, raised $10m in Series B funding from individuals. Go deeper
• Lexful, a Salt Lake City-based IT documentation platform, raised $7m in seed funding led by Top Down Ventures and York IE. Go deeper
• Clear Robotics, a Hong Kong-based developer of autonomous maritime vessels, raised $1.75m in pre-Series A funding. Shipsfocus Ventures led, joined by Katapult Ocean, SGInnovate, M7 Holdings, and MGS Ventures. Go deeper
Private Equity
• Bain Capital agreed to acquire a majority stake in FDH Aero, a Commerce, Calif.-based aerospace and defense industry supply chain company, from Audax Private Equity (which will retain a position). Go deeper
• Cadogan Tate, a TSG Consumer portfolio company, acquired Fully Loaded Deliveries, a Phoenix-based luxury moving, storage, and design installation company. Go deeper
• Godspeed Capital Management invested in JP Donovan, a Rockledge, Fla.-based general contracting and precision fabrication firm focused on space infrastructure, heavy civil, and design-build construction. Go deeper
• Peer39, an O3 Industries portfolio company, acquired Adloox, a Paris-based ad verification company. Go deeper
• Pye-Barker Fire & Safety, backed by Altas and Leonard & Green Partners, bought Fire Protection Specialists, a provider of fire protection services in the Pacific Northwest. Go deeper
• Second Nature Brands, a Chicago-based snackmaker owned by CapVest Partners, agreed to buy Tillamook Country Smoker, a beef jerky and protein snack maker, from Insignia Capital and family backers. Go deeper
• Thoma Bravo agreed to acquire Kneat.com (TSX: KSI), an Ireland-based digital validation platform, for C$650m. Go deeper
Liquidity
• Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) agreed to buy Firefly Bio, an SF-based biotech focused on protein degraders, for $1b in cash. Firefly had raised $94m in 2024 from Versant Ventures, MPM BioImpact, Decheng Capital and Eli Lilly. Go deeper
M&A
⚡️ Oklo (NYSE: OKLO) acquired ARMEC, a Tennessee-based manufacturing and engineering firm serving the nuclear industry. Go deeper
Debt
⚡️ Pathway Power, a San Diego-based energy storage project developer, closed $150m in financing from AB CarVal. Go deeper
Fundraising
⚡️ ARM-Harith Infrastructure Investments, a Nigerian PE fund manager, plans to raise $200m to invest in sub-Saharan energy and climate infrastructure projects. Go deeper
• Future Standard raised $3b for its fifth PE secondaries fund. Go deeper
It's Personnel
• Inovia promoted Mia Morisset to partner. Go deeper
• Richie Schwartz joined Goodwin as a Boston-based partner in its life sciences and public M&A practices. He previously was with Paul Weiss. Go deeper
Odds & Ends
🌎 Grapheal, a French startup developing biosensors for real-time PFAS detection, received a €2.5m grant from the European Innovation Council accelerator program. Go deeper
