Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios
Venture Capital
• Standard Bots, an NYC-based industrial robots developer, raised a $200m in Series C at a $1b valuation led by General Catalyst and RoboStrategy. Go deeper
💊 Cellares, a South SF-based cell therapy manufacturing platform, raised $20m in Series D extension funding from ARK Invest. Go deeper
• Pogo, an NYC-based consumer data and research platform, raised $32m from Buckley Ventures, Mantis, 20VC, and Village Global. Go deeper
• Golden Analytics, a Bellevue, Wash.-based data analytics platform, raised a $14m seed extension. Insight Partners led, joined by NEA and Madrona. Go deeper
• Billables AI, an SF-based autonomous timetracker for lawyers, raised $10.2m in Series A funding. Avenue Growth Partners led, joined by Wing VC, SignalFire, and Alumni Ventures. Go deeper
• Orbital, an LA-based developer of orbital data centers, raised $5m in pre-seed funding. a16z led, joined by Basis Set, Human Element, Wayfinder, Antler, Anti Fund, Ascent, Rubik, Zero Knowledge Ventures, LYVC, Feld Ventures, New Legacy, FNDR, UpHonest, and Asterisk. Go deeper
• Soffi, an SF-based collaborative workspace for enterprise product teams, raised a $4.6m pre-seed round. Innovation Endeavors led, joined by Motive Force Ventures and Darkmode Ventures. Go deeper
🌎 Campground, an Oakland-based provider of operations software for social impact programs, raised $2.2m from Precursor Ventures, Acumen Americas, Underdog Labs, and the Access Georgia Foundation. Go deeper
• Mesoware, a Palo Alto, Calif.-based manufacturing automation startup, raised $1.5m in pre-seed funding led by Pillar VC. Go deeper
⚡️ Granarium Technologies, a Finnish provider of supercapacitors for energy storage, raised €1m in pre-seed funding. BSV Ventures and Beamline led, joined byFiBAN, EstBAN, and LatBAN. Go deeper
Private Equity
• Abry Partners invested in KaufmanIT, an Irvine, Calif.-based managed IT, cybersecurity, and cloud services provider for SMBs. Go deeper
💊 Archimed acquired IRAB, a Barcelona-based developer of PET radiopharmaceuticals. Go deeper
• Gemspring acquired a minority stake in Comoto, an omnichannel platform for motorcycle and powersports enthusiasts that's majority-owned by Prospect Hill Growth Partners. Go deeper
• Platte River Equity acquired Tallman Equipment Co., a Columbus, Ind.-based provider of lineman tools and equipment. Go deeper
Liquidity
• Consensus, an agentic B2B research platform for software sales, said it will buy Saleo, a live-demo platform, and closed its acquisition of Peel, an agentic AI conversation platform. Saleo raised a $13m Series A in 2023, led by Emergence Capital. Go deeper
• Encore Consumer Capital told Twang Foodservice, a San Antonio-based provider of beverage solutions, to Solina USA. Go deeper
• Sycamore Partners is in talks to sell Boots, a U.K. health and beauty retailer that could fetch around $10b, per the FT. Go deeper
M&A
• Novara, a Westminster, Colo.-based operational risk management software developer, acquired Toronto-based Ensogo, a platform that automates workflows. Go deeper
• VisonWave, a West Hollywood, Calif.-based sensing tech company, will buy a controlling stake in Foresight Autonomous for $17.5m. Go deeper
Funds
• Man Group is targeting $1.25b for its third opportunistic credit fund, with a $1.5b hard cap. Go deeper
It's Personnel
• Brad Finkle (ex-TIAA) is joining Barings as global COO, while global private finance chief Bryan High will join senior leadership, and president Eric Lloyd will assume the vice chairman role. Go deeper
• Brian McKenna joined Ridgepost Capital as VP of investor relations. He previously was with Citizens JMP. Go deeper
• Ken Yagen and Bryan Wise joined Norwest as principals. Yagen, formerly CPO at CData, will be an operating exec focused on AI and product. Wise, former CIO at 6sense, will be CIO. Go deeper
