Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios
Venture Capital
• Etched, a San Jose, Calif.-based builder of frontier inference clusters, raised $700m at a $21b valuation. Jane Street led, joined by Kleiner Perkins, Sequoia, a16z, Tiger Global, Bain Capital Ventures, Neo, Primary, Stripes, Positive Sum, and Blackstone. Go deeper
• Velaura AI, a Santa Clara, Calif.-based compute infrastructure company, raised $110m in Series A funding at a $1b valuation. Seligman Ventures led, joined by Capricorn Investment Group, Prosperity7 Ventures, Mayfield, Maverick Silicon, MARA, Premji Invest, Samsung Catalyst Fund, and StepStone Group. Go deeper
💊 Abcuro, a Newton, Mass.-based developer of treatments for autoimmune diseases and cancer, raised $66m in Series D funding. New Leaf Venture Partners led, joined by abrdn, Bain Capital Life Sciences, Samsara BioCapital, Redmile Group, Mass General Brigham Ventures, RA Capital Management, Pontifax, Sanofi Ventures, Foresite Capital, NEA, Eurofarma Ventures, Kaitai Capital, Soleus Capital, Nancy Chang, Shang Bay, and Rock Springs Capital. Go deeper
• Smack Technologies, an Austin, Texas-based provider of battlefield software, raised $61m in Series B funding. Costanoa Ventures and First In led, joined by Point72 Ventures, Geodesic Capital, Nomi Capital, Felicis, Sapphire Ventures, Scribble Ventures, Fortitude Ventures, Bloomberg Beta, and Palumni VC. Go deeper
🚑 Hopscotch Primary Care, a Chicago-based provider of primary care for rural communities, raised $53m in Series D funding. 8VC and Townhall Ventures led, joined by aMoon Fund, Citi Impact Fund, Alumni Ventures, K2 HealthVentures, Autism Impact Fund, John Doerr, Richard Merkin, and the Leon Levine Foundation. Go deeper
⚡️Ampaire, a Long Beach, Calif.-based developer of hybrid-electric aircraft propulsion systems, raised $19m in Series B funding. DiamondStream Partners led, joined by Alaska Airlines and International Airlines Group. Go deeper
• Quartr, a Swedish data layer for institutional finance, raised $18m. Altos Ventures led, joined by SEB. Go deeper
• Sonic Fire Tech, a Columbus, Ohio-based developer of acoustic fire suppression systems for data centers, commercial kitchens and homes, raised $15m. The O.H.I.O. Fund led, joined by Khosla Ventures. Go deeper
🚑 Enginprime Medical, a Chinese maker of percutaneous ventricular assist devices, raised $12m in Series A funding led by Qiming Venture Partners. Go deeper
• Computomics, a German crop breeding startup, raised €6.3m in Series B funding. Convent Capital led, joined by HTG, MBG Baden-Württemberg and Amathaon Capital. Go deeper
• Codio, a Cambridge, Mass.-based technical education platform, raised $5m led by Armada Investment. Go deeper
🚑 Capitan Orthopedics, a Grand Rapids, Mich.-based designer of implant products for shoulder surgery, raised a $4.1m seed round. Go deeper
Private Equity
🚑 Guidant Power, backed by Shore Capital, acquired Dyna Scan Technical Services, a Cincinnati-based infrared inspection firm specializing in health care facilities. Go deeper
⚡️ KKR offered to acquire natural-gas and electricity distributor UGI Corp (NYSE:UGI) for roughly $9b, or $42.50 a share, per WSJ. Go deeper
🚑 Providence Equity Partners agreed to acquire a majority stake in CheckedUp, an NYC-based patient education and engagement tech company, from Rockbridge Growth Equity. Varsity Healthcare Partners is taking a minority stake. Go deeper
• Risepoint, backed by The Vistria Group, acquired the North American operations of Keypath Education, a health care education company. Go deeper
• River Associates Investments acquired Diamond Wipes, a Chino, Calif.-based wet wipe maker. Go deeper
• Summit Restoration Group, backed by Point 41, acquired Capital Construction Services and Capital Fire & Water, Richmond, Va.-based emergency response and rebuild groups. Go deeper
• Trinity Consultants, backed by Veritas and Oak Hill Capital, acquired Sacramento-based environmental consultancy Verux. Go deeper
• Uplift Investors is acquiring Engage Fi, a financial services tech consultant, from Falfurrias Management Partners. Go deeper
Liquidity Events
💊 BioMarin (Nasdaq: BMRN) agreed to buy Alesta Therapeutics, an oral therapies biotech that had raised over $60m from Frazier Healthcare Partners, Droia Ventures, Novartis Venture Fund, RV Invest, SSI Strategy, Thuja Capital Management, and RTW Investments. Go deeper
• Checkr, valued by VCs at $4.6b, acquired Truv, a Las Vegas-based financial verification tech company that had raised $30m from Kleiner Perkins, Abstract Ventures, Soma Capital, and Nyca Partners. Go deeper
Public Listings
• Karman Line Acquisition, an aerospace SPAC formed by Meteora Capital, raised $200m in its IPO. Go deeper
M&A
• DB Cargo of Germany is seeking to sell its U.K. rail freight business, per Loadstar. Go deeper
⚡ Equinor (Oslo: EQNR) acquired an 87.7% stake in the Lackawanna Energy Center, a 1,483 MW gas-fired combined cycle power plant in Pennsylvania, for $940m from Invenergy. Go deeper
• Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) agreed to acquire LCN Capital Partners, a real estate investing firm, for up to $410m. Go deeper
• Pilgrim's Europe, part of JBS-backed Pilgrim's Pride, agreed to acquire Walkers Deli & Sausage, a U.K.-based deli meats supplier, for about $192m from Samworth Brothers. Go deeper
🚑 Trusted Health, an SF-based health care workforce technology company, acquired ShiftOS, an SF-based AI scheduling agent for hospitals and health systems. Go deeper
Fundraising
• Broadwing Capital Management, a Dallas-based private equity firm specializing in lower middle market manufacturing and services investments, closed its debut fund with $440m. broadwingcap.com
• QuantumLight, a London-based VC firm founded by Revolut CEO Nik Storonsky, raised $500m for its second fund. Go deeper
It's Personnel
• Nick Theccanat left Blue Owl Capital, where he was managing director of comms and public affairs, to become a managing director at ICR. Go deeper
Odds & Ends
⚡️ Canadian uranium miner NexGen Energy, in talks with mining giant BHP, is looking to raise $1b for a Saskatchewan mining project, per Reuters. Go deeper
⚡️ Dimension Energy, an Atlanta-based distributed energy assets developer, closed $657m in construction-to-term debt and tax equity financing led by MUFG Bank, First Citizens Bank, ING Capital, and National Bank of Canada. It also upsized its corporate credit facility to $200m, led by Nuveen Energy Infrastructure Credit. Go deeper
⚡️ Elroy Air, an SF-based developer of autonomous heavy-lift drones, received a $46m multi-year U.S. Army contract to develop hybrid-electric aircraft. Go deeper
⚡️ Mesa Power Solutions, a Loveland, Colo.-based manufacturer of distributed power systems, is investing $70m to open a factory in Evansville, Wyo. Go deeper
