Illustration: Shoshana Gordon/Axios
Venture Capital
• Pliant, a Berlin-based provider of modular B2B payment solutions, raised $80m in Series C funding. Seaya Nova and Speedinvest led, joined by Illuminate Financial, Motive Partners, and Molten Ventures. Go deeper
• Kalepa, an AI-powered insurance startup, raised $75m in Series B funding at a $470m valuation. Updata Partners led, joined by IA Ventures and Inspired Capital. Go deeper
• 42AI, an Israel-based developer of behavioral AI models for financial institutions, raised $62.5m in seed funding from firms like Infinity Group. Go deeper
• Supa, a U.K. property management platform, raised £21m in seed funding. 2150 and OpenOcean led, joined by Kompas VC, Actia Capital Partners, and Heartfelt. Go deeper
• Numica, an AI accounting platform seeking to buy small U.S. accounting firms from retiring owners, raised $21.4m led by Roosh X and Flashpoint Capital. Go deeper
• Firmly, which helps retailers sell through AI shopping assistants, raised $15m in Series A funding, per Axios Pro. Squarepoint Capital led, joined by Samsung Next, JPMorgan Payments, and Mastercard. Go deeper
• Snaplii, a prepaid wallet for AI agents, raised $15m from backers like Hat-Trick Capital, per Axios Pro. Go deeper
• LO:TECH, a London-based continuous on-chain trading startup, raised $12m in Series A funding. MMC led, joined by Faction, 13 Books Capital, and Atka. Go deeper
• Kabilio, a Spanish AI accounting platform, raised €10m. Picus Capital and Visionaries led, joined by CDTI. Go deeper
• Clark, an NYC-based developer of audit agents, raised $11m in seed funding. Touring Capital led, joined by insiders Marathon Management Partners, Rerail, and Sofeon Ventures. Go deeper
• Finpilot, a Seattle-based maker of AI agents for institutional investors, raised $10m in Series A funding. Lobby Capital led, joined by Madrona. Go deeper
• Lombard Systems, a provider of financing infrastructure for tokenized assets, raised $4m in pre-seed and seed funding. Ethereal Ventures led, joined by Alps Capital, First Commit Capital, Veris Ventures, and Atka. Go deeper
• Athena, a legal AI startup for commercial real estate, raised $2.5m led by a16z Speedrun. Go deeper
• Revolut, a British neobank, completed a secondary deal led by Glade Brook Capital Partners at a $115b valuation. Axios Pro flashback. Go deeper
Private Equity
• Advent agreed to acquire Vermeg, a Dutch provider of tech for capital markets and life insurance, from Charterhouse Capital Partners. Go deeper
• CD&R and GTCR are working on a $40b take-private bid for Global Payments (NYSE: GPN), a payments processor in which GTCR holds a 16.35% stake, per the FT. Go deeper
• Grant Thornton completed its $5b buyout of CBIZ, creating one of the country's largest accounting firms. Grant Thornton backer New Mountain Capital made a new investment to support the deal. Go deeper
• Hoxton Wealth, a wealth management platform focused on British expats, raised $135m from Aspirity Partners. Go deeper
• Main Capital Partners acquired a majority stake in 21south, a Dutch provider of ERP software for waste management and environmental services firms. Go deeper
• Rainier Partners acquired Apex Insurance Services, a Richardson, Texas-based non-standard auto MGA platform. Go deeper
• VisiQuate, backed by Accel-KKR, acquired enterprise workflow platform Artiva HCx from Finvi. Go deeper
More M&A
• KeyBanc Capital Markets acquired Atlantic-Pacific Capital, an investment bank focused on private equity. Go deeper
• Porter, a health care IT services provider, acquired Pareto Intelligence, a Chicago-based population intelligence platform. Go deeper
• Yellow Card, a VC-backed stablecoin payments infrastructure provider, acquired GoMoney, a Brazilian provider of virtual asset services. Go deeper
Fundraising
• Creandum, a Swedish VC firm, raised $750m for its eighth fund. Go deeper
• I Squared Capital raised $3b for its second infrastructure credit fund. Go deeper
It's Personnel
• David Shields joined Transom Capital Group as EVP of operations and finance. He previously was CFO for Any Hour Group. Go deeper
• Ibrahim Ajami is stepping down as Mubadala's head of ventures to launch Noha, his own fund targeting $500m, per the FT. Go deeper
• Melissa Imperiale joined ATL Partners as head of IR and marketing. She previously was with Lindsay Goldberg. Go deeper
• Nic DiLoretta joined Warwick Investment Group as director of capital formation and IR. He previously was with Global Infrastructure Partners. Go deeper
• Sequoia Capital announced that it is closing its London office and laying off its London staff — including partners Luciana Lixandru, George Robson, and Julien Bek — saying it plans to keep investing in Europe but no longer requires a "local presence." Go deeper
