Illustration: Brendan Lynch/Axios
Venture Capital
• Sarvam, an Indian AI model and infrastructure developer, raised $234m at a $1.5b valuation. HCLTech led, joined by Bessemer Venture Partners, Khosla Ventures, and Peak XV Partners. Go deeper
⚡️GPS Renewables, an Indian biofuel developer, raised $66.3m in Series C funding led by PixelSky Capital. Go deeper
• Arcade.dev, an SF-based AI agents security startup, raised $60m in Series A funding. SYN Ventures led, joined by Morgan Stanley and Wipro. Go deeper
• Undo, a U.K.-based agentic AI debugging startup, raised $37m led by Elsewhere Partners. Go deeper
• Interchecks, an NYC-based real-time payments platform, raised $50m in Series C funding from Bettor Capital, Commerce Ventures, Decades Holdings, and Thayer Street Partners. Go deeper
• Nox Metals, a Detroit-based metals service center, raised $11.5m in seed funding. Hyperion led, joined by Operator Collective, YC, Palmer Luckey, DTX, and RoboStrategy. Go deeper
• El Dorado, a LatAm-focused cross-border payments app, raised $9m in Series A funding. Paradigm led, joined by Coinbase Ventures and Verda Ventures. Go deeper
• Waniwani, an SF-based AI distribution platform for financial services, raised $8m in seed funding. Seedcamp led, joined by Redstone, Zone II Ventures, and Plug & Play. Go deeper
⚡️ Vaja, a Swedish solar-tracking tech developer, raised €3.1m in seed funding. The Footprint Firm led, joined by Node.vc. Go deeper
🌎 Picketa Systems, a Canadian developer of crop nutrient sensing tech, raised C$2.1m. Tall Grass Ventures led, joined by BDC Seed Fund, Verdex Capital, Skull Diamond & Heart Capital, NBIF, Koan Capital, and East Valley Ventures. Go deeper
🌎 Cordon Technologies, a British developer of precision-spraying systems for ag, raised £1m led by British Design Fund. Go deeper
Private Equity
• Ardurra, backed by Littlejohn & Co., acquired Kelly Engineers, a Glen Mills, Pa.-based municipal engineering and surveying firm. Go deeper
• Sundance Growth invested in CDWare, a Canadian provider of heavy-duty commercial fleet and delivery management software. Go deeper
• Truelink Capital will invest in Horwitz, a Minneapolis-based commercial and industrial mechanical, electrical and plumbing services provider. Go deeper
Public
• Leader's Advantage Acquisition, a SPAC led by Paritosh Chakrabarti (PMC Group), filed for a $150m IPO. Go deeper
Liquidity
• 1Password, valued by VCs at $6.8b, acquired NYC-based cloud infrastructure startup Apono for between $250 million and $300 million. Apono raised $54m from 33N Ventures, Swisscom Ventures, USVP, Vertex Ventures, New Era Capital, Redseed Ventures, Silvertech Ventures, AWS Startups, Meron Capital, YYM Ventures, and Booster Ventures. Go deeper
• SailPoint (Nasdaq: SAIL), agreed to acquire Entro, an Israeli provider of non-human identity and credentials security, for a reported $200m. Entro had raised over $18m from firms like Dell Technologies Capital, StageOne Ventures, and Hyperwise Ventures. Go deeper
Funds
• Gutter Capital, an early-stage venture firm, closed its third fund at $75m. Go deeper
It's Personnel
• Zhiyan Cao joined Simpson Thacher & Bartlett as a NYC-based partner focused on secondary transactions. She previously was with Debevoise & Plimpton. Go deeper
⚡️ James McEwan joined Moelis as a managing director of M&A, focused on the energy sector. He joins from Citi. Go deeper
Odds & Ends
• Searles Valley Minerals, which produces critical minerals, received a $20m interest-free advance from Tata Chemicals to continue supplying soda ash to customers and a $20m DIP financing from Karnavati Holdings while it looks to sell its assets through Chapter 11. Go deeper
🌎 Zenobe Energy, backed by KKR, has raised £980m in debt to expand a fleet of green vehicles in the U.K. and Ireland. Go deeper
