Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios. Stock: Getty Images
Venture Capital
• Kalshi, the predictions market company, is in talks to raise funds at a $40b valuation, per the FT. Go deeper
• Scaled Cognition, a Mountain View, Calif.-based AI model lab, raised $100m in Series A funding. Khosla Ventures led, joined by Genesys. Go deeper
• Upside, a Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based housing stability platform, raised $20m in Series A funding. Aquiline led, joined by Flare Capital Partners and insiders 645 Ventures, Freestyle Capital, Triple Impact Capital and Techstars. Go deeper
• Netris, a network automation startup, raised $15m in Series A funding from a16z. Go deeper
• Sazabi, an SF-based engineering observability platform, raised $8m in seed funding from J2 Ventures, Village Global, YC, and Orange Collective. Go deeper
⚡️H2site, a Spanish industrial hydrogen production and separation company, raised €6m in Series B extension funding from EIC. Go deeper
⚡️Eqon, a Norwegian developer of energy management and industrial heating control tech, raised $6m in seed funding. Azolla Ventures and Wilstar Innovate led, joined by Climentum Capital and Gain Venture Capital. Go deeper
• Tomo, an iMessage-based AI focused on personal improvement, raised $5m in seed funding led by Bain Capital Ventures. Go deeper
• Samepage, an NYC-based product management intelligence platform, raised $4.9m from Craft Ventures, Freestyle VC, and Glasswing Ventures. Go deeper
• Orthogonal, a payment layer for the internet, raised $4.3m in seed funding led by Pantera Capital. YC, Pioneer Fund, Decasonic, Blast, Outbound, and Surreal joined. Go deeper
• Ground, an on-chain finance startup, raised $3.6m from Bain Capital Crypto, ParaFi, Nascent, Robot Ventures, and Chapter One. Go deeper
Private Equity
• CVC Capital Partners agreed to invest in General Atlantic-backed Chess.com, a Utah-based online chess platform. Go deeper
• Daida, backed by HiGro, acquired Scan-Optics, a Manchester, Conn.-based document processor. Go deeper
• Permira and Warburg Pincus completed their $8.4b take-private buyout of Clearwater Analytics, a Boise, Idaho-based investment and accounting software maker. BFD flashback
• YA Group, backed by THL Partners, acquired Carr Engineering, a Houston-based motor vehicle crash reconstruction firm. Go deeper
Liquidity
🚑 Agilent Technologies (NYSE: A) completed its $950m acquisition of Biocare Medical, a Pacheco, Calif.-based maker of cancer research tools and materials, from Excellere Partners and GHO Capital. Go deeper
• Bumble (NAS: BMBL), a dating app backed by Blackstone, is exploring a sale and is working with Morgan Stanley on the process, per Reuters. Go deeper
• ExlService (Nasdaq: EXLS) agreed to buy iMerit, a San Jose, Calif.-based AI model training company, for up to $310m. iMerit had raised around $25m from British International Investment, the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation, YC, and Omidyar Network. Go deeper
M&A
• Adobe (Nasdaq:ADBE) agreed to acquire Topaz Labs, an Addison, Texas-based provider of video and image enhancement models. Go deeper
🌎 BeZero Carbon, a London-based carbon ratings agency, acquired Cedar, an NYC-based developer of carbon management software. Cedar's investors include Eniac Ventures, MCJ, Obvious Ventures, Redalpine, Shine Capital and Union Square Ventures. Go deeper
⚡️ IsoEnergy (NYSE American: ISOU) completed its acquisition of Toro Energy, an Australian uranium developer, in an all-share transaction valuing Toro for A$75m. Go deeper
Public Offerings
💊 Remix Therapeutics, a Watertown, Mass.-based RNA processing reprogramming biotech, is going public via a reverse merger with Passage Bio (Nasdaq: PASG), a Philadelphia-based gene therapy company. Go deeper
Odds & Ends
💊 Novartis (NYSE: NVS) will pay Antares Therapeutics (Nasdaq: ATRS) $105m upfront and up to $1.8b in additional payments to develop new cancer treatments. Go deeper
💊 Eli Lilly (NYSE: LLY) will pay up to $1.9b to Abbisko Therapeutics, a cancer-focused Chinese biotech, to develop new drug candidates. Go deeper
