Illustration: Shoshana Gordon/Axios
Venture Capital
• DeepSeek, a Chinese large language model developer, is seeking to raise $1.5b at a $71b valuation, per Bloomberg. It may file for an IPO as soon as this year. Go deeper
• Brinc, a Seattle-based 911 drone maker, raised $125m. Motorola Solutions led, joined by Index Ventures. Go deeper
• TerraFirma, an Austin, Texas-based interplanetary construction startup, raised $115m, including a $100m Series A. Kleiner Perkins led, joined by Bain Capital Ventures, Glade Brook Capital Partners, Banner VC, Saga Ventures, Trust Ventures, Definition, PEAK6, Magnetar Capital, and Ravelin Capital. Go deeper
• Flex, an SF-based AI banking platform for mid-sized business owners, raised $70m in Series B1 funding. Halo Fund led, joined by returning investors Portage Ventures and Crosslink Capital. The round valued Flex at about $1.2b, per Reuters. Go deeper
• Auger, a Bellevue, Wash.-based supply-chain software startup, raised $50m in Series B funding. Eclipse led, joined by returning investor Oak HC/FT. Go deeper
• TYLsemi, a San Jose, Calif.-based chiplet platform, raised a $43m round. Matter Venture Partners led, joined by Viola Ventures, GHOVC, and Egis Technology. Go deeper
• Velocity, a London-based stablecoin treasury and settlement platform, raised $38m in Series A funding. Dragonfly and FirstMark led, joined by Activant Capital, Capital One Ventures, QED Investors, Coinbase Ventures, Wintermute Ventures and Ripple. Go deeper
• Feathery, an SF-based decisioning system for financial services, raised $30m in seed and Series A funding. Investors include Portage Ventures, Index Ventures, Allstate Strategic Ventures, Clocktower Ventures, Erie Strategic Ventures, and Bain Capital Ventures. feathery.io
• Thira, a Bellevue, Wash.-based enterprise platform for back-office automation, raised a $21m seed round led by Madrona and joined by FUSE. Go deeper
• Skalar, a Munich-based AI tax and accounting firm, raised €12m in pre-seed and seed funding. Headline led, joined by futurepresent, QED Investors, Repeat, MS&AD and Foreword. Go deeper
• Pure, an SF-based infrastructure platform for peer-to-peer games, raised an $8m seed round. Hidden Capital led, joined by MaC Venture Capital, Ludlow Ventures, Goodwater Capital, SignalFire, Z Fellows, Jake Brooks, and Alex Pall. purepoker.us
• Promptwatch, a Dutch AI search optimization platform, raised €6m in seed funding. Seed + Speed Ventures led, joined by Blum Ventures. Go deeper
• Linker Finance, a Pasadena, Calif.-based digital platform for community banks, raised a $5m seed extension from Chingona Ventures, Ten One Ten Ventures, Audaz Capital, Angeles Investors and 22nd State Banking Company. Go deeper
• Prolo, a London-based AI-powered procurement platform for SME construction firms, raised £4.2m in seed funding. Triple Point Ventures led, joined by a16z Scout Fund, Anamcara Capital, Concrete VC, Foundation Ventures, Haatch, Koro Capital, Love Ventures and Portfolio Ventures. Go deeper
• Sodex Innovations, an Austrian construction-site intelligence platform, raised €4m in funding. Capmont Technology led, joined by Bloomhaus, Look AI Ventures, SOSV, OMA and 12 Rounds Capital. Go deeper
• Qosmic, an Indian developer of optical ground stations, raised $3.33m in seed funding. Accel and Prosus led, joined by South Park Commons and ARTPARK. Go deeper
⚡️ Distill Energy, a grid simulation startup, raised $2.5m in pre-seed funding. Powerhouse Ventures and Pale Blue Dot led, joined by Stepchange. Go deeper
⚡️ Milo Drive, an Indian EV mobility platform, raised $2.4m in seed funding. Caret Capital led, joined by Antler India, Alteria Capital, IAN Capital, Climate Angels and Aureolis Capital. Go deeper
• NextGO Epi, a Berlin-based developer of next-generation semiconductors, raised €2m in pre-seed funding. Vireo Ventures led, joined by Ultratech Capital Partners and IBB Ventures. Go deeper
🌎 StratX, a London-based climate tech startup specializing in greenhouse gas reductions, raised $1.19m. Neglected Climate Opportunities led, joined by CarbonFix. Go deeper
🚑 Doctorsa, an Italian telemedicine platform for travelers, raised €1m. PranaVentures led, joined by Vento and 40Jemz Ventures. Go deeper
Private Equity
🚑 Inflexion agreed to acquire Primed Group, a German provider of medical consumables and sterilization services. Go deeper
• Infrastructure Consulting & Engineering USA, a Godspeed Capital Management-backed company, acquired Southeastern Land Company, a Myrtle Beach, S.C., right-of-way and easement acquisition and project management firm. Go deeper
⚡️ ePointZero, an Abu Dhabi-based energy investor, closed its acquisition of Traverse Midstream Partners, a U.S.-based portfolio company of The Energy & Minerals Group, for $2.25b. Go deeper
• Francisco Partners is in late-stage negotiations with Thoma Bravo to buy a controlling stake in Command Alkon, a Hillard, Ohio-based construction software maker, for as much as $1.3 billion, per Bloomberg. Go deeper
⚡️ Indonesia's PT Barito Renewables Energy offered to buy Energy Development Corp., a geothermal company backed by First Gen Corp., for more than $5b, per Bloomberg. Go deeper
• KKR will buy a 51% stake in Thomson Reuters' legal and tax publishing business, Global Print, in a $500m deal. Thomson Reuters will hold onto the other 49%. Go deeper
🚑 VetnCare, backed by Great Point Partners, acquired Holistic Veterinary Care, an Oakland, Calif.-based holistic medicine and rehabilitation veterinary hospital. Go deeper
Liquidity
• Cribl, an SF-based analytics software developer, acquired CardinalOps, an Israeli agentic detection platform for reportedly about $100m. CardinalOps' backers included Viola Ventures, Glilot Capital, Battery Ventures, In Venture, XT Hi-Tech, Gefen Capital, and Symbol. Go deeper
M&A
• Uber (NYSE: UBER) is in advanced talks to buy German food-delivery company Delivery Hero, per Bloomberg. Go deeper
Fundraising
• Wafra closed Constellation Generation V at $2b. Go deeper
• Greylock announced Greylock 18 with $1.5b. Go deeper
It's Personnel
• Future Standard appointed Edwin Conway as CEO. Conway was formerly global head of EPM for BlackRock. Go deeper
• Paradigm promoted Katie Biber to CEO. Go deeper
Odds & Ends
⚡️ Lucid Group (Nasdaq: LCID), the Newark, California-based EV maker, has hired restructuring adviser AlixPartners, per Bloomberg. Go deeper
