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SaaS showdown

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DoorDash: We're the little guys

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Battery bet payoff

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General Catalyst's hospital shakeup

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Driving the day

🚨 Deals Deals Deals!

Final numbers

Serval, an enterprise service management startup, is looking to snap up talent as it challenges ServiceNow, CEO Jake Stauch tells Axios Pro.

Driving the news: Serval today announced a $150 million Series C led by Sequoia at a $3 billion valuation — its third raise in 12 months. Earlier this month it acquired software supply chain security startup Ensignia.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Axios Pro: What's behind the fundraising sprint?

Stauch: "There's a background interest that's been bubbling up for quite some time. We first got our first preempt offers in the spring.

Then we had a real breakout quarter in our fiscal Q2, which ended in July, and then August ended up being an even bigger month than the entire quarter... It was a September board meeting where it just became so obvious that there was a lot of demand." 

"Opportunistically. We're interested [in companies] connected to agent harnesses, and things around memory and voice. And then the security aspect and guardrails, I think we're really interested in the interplay of agents and security. 

But I wouldn't say we're hunting down technologies to acquire. We are building everything internally. We are looking for great teams."

Why do you think you can take on ServiceNow?

"ServiceNow is essentially a workflow automation platform, and the best way to build workflows would be to write them as code.

If you could build code easier and faster, then you could fix workflow automation. If you fix workflow automation, then you could actually make a run at one of the biggest enterprise software companies of all time."

1. SaaS showdown

DoorDash is framing its $17 billion Instacart acquisition as a way to help smaller businesses fend off Amazon and Walmart.

Why it matters: This will be the pitch if antitrust regulators come calling.

Driving the news: The two companies today pledged to scrap exclusivity agreements so that local grocers can use any delivery platform.

They also claim that combining subscription fees will save consumers $100 million annually.

Reality check: Small isn't the word that comes to mind when a $74 billion company shells out $17 billion for an acquisition.

Amazon and Walmart make convenient Goliaths, but DoorDash's more direct peers are Uber, with a $133 billion market cap, plus privately held FreshDirect and Wonder.

What we're watching: The deal faces potential state, local, and consumer backlash, particularly in blue states. 

"Corporate consolidation means higher prices, harsher exploitation, and greater economic inequality for New Yorkers," New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani wrote on the deal today. "We've stood up to these giants before. That doesn't stop now." 

DoorDash last month settled a lawsuit with New York City over allegations of underpaying delivery workers. Last year, it settled one with Chicago over deceptive practices. 

2. DoorDash: We're the little guys

Solar tech company Nextpower disclosed that its newly acquired battery business is booming, partly fueled by a major hyperscaler deal.

Why it matters: The growth underscores surging data center demand and Nextpower's expanding ambitions.

By the numbers: Nextpower's battery business generated roughly $100 million in revenue and more than $20 million in EBITDA — a margin topping 20% — in its first quarter since buying energy storage provider Prevalon.

Zoom in: Much of the battery segment revenue came from a grid-connected, behind-the-meter battery project that's "well over a gigawatt, and well over two gigawatt-hours in size," for a major hyperscaler, Nextpower CEO Dan Shugar tells Axios Pro.

"We see tremendous appetite in that segment because customers want to get online, and they don't want to wait," says Shugar. 

Zoom out: Data center onsite battery deployments in the U.S. are expected to increase roughly tenfold in power capacity this year, per BloombergNEF.

The big picture: Over the past two and a half years, Nextpower — rebranded from Nextracker last November — has acquired 13 companies to evolve into a clean power and battery tech behemoth. Its market cap is now north of $12 billion.

"There are some additional opportunities and things come to us, and we'll always evaluate things objectively," says Shugar on any future acquisitions. 

3. Battery bet payoff

Two veteran hospital executives have now exited the top job at General Catalyst's Summa Health holding company, HATCo.

Why it matters: The leadership changes raise questions about the direction of GC's ambitious health care strategy. 

Driving the news: Daryl Tol is stepping down as CEO of HATCo, with GC investor Reva Nohria taking the reins, per a LinkedIn post from GC boss Hemant Taneja. Tol will stay on as a HATCo advisor. 

Context: Unlike her predecessors, Nohria comes from a VC background.

Tol, who previously led AdventHealth's East Florida Division, held the top job at HATCo for roughly a year after spending nearly five years at GC.

He succeeded Marc Harrison, a former Intermountain Healthcare CEO who was removed in 2025 amid disagreements over strategy and vision, Axios Pro reported.

Catch up quick: GC announced plans to buy a hospital in 2023, with a vision to use it as a proving ground for health tech.

Since buying Ohio's Summa via HATCo, it's been introducing solutions from portfolio companies, including AI operating system Commure.

Between the lines: Even with a VC owner, Summa faces the same challenges as other health systems: getting staff to embrace change, integrating AI into clinical workflows, and navigating a thorny, antiquated reimbursement system.

Winning over physicians wary of unproven technology presents another hurdle.

General Catalyst didn't respond to a request for comment.

4. General Catalyst's hospital shakeup

🔐 Security shuffle (Claire Rychlewski)

Thrive Holdings strikes $15.3b deal to take ADT private again.

🌐 Salesforce goes military (Chris Metinko)

The CRM giant is buying Rune Technologies to deepen its defense push.

🔬 Exclusive: Robot-run labs (Katherine Davis)

Opentrons raised $40m to expand its lab automation business.

💰Exclusive: Revenue rescue (Will Maddox)

Midstream raised $20m to improve hospital finances.

🏭 Exclusive: Factory reset (Natalie Breymeyer)

Reflex took in $14m to modernize industrial software.

💳 Exclusive: Classroom card (Ryan Lawler)

Pathfinder landed $12m to simplify school spending decisions.

🗑️ Exclusive: Smart waste haul (Chris Metinko)

TrashLab nabbed $12m to digitize garbage hauling.

🔨 Exclusive: Pay to stay (Ryan Lawler)

ShareWillow raised $8.5m to retain home-service techs.

Collective raised $100m as AI fuels solo entrepreneurship.

The company aims to move trillions onto blockchain rails after M&A.

Wall Street law firm Weil Gotshal moves toward dissolution.

😬 SaaSpocalypse isn't over (Emily Peck)

Distressed software loans signal mounting trouble for PE.

5. Driving the day

Animated illustration of a steering wheel that turns back and forth before turning into a clock that moves from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and then changing back.

👉 GO HERE TO CATCH UP on deals since this morning's Pro Rata, including:

Kalshi, the largest U.S. predictions market, raised $1b at a $40b post-money valuation. Wellington and Sequoia Capital led, joined by Baillie Gifford, Stripes, a16z, Coatue, Layer Global, Morgan Stanley Investment Management, Sequoia Global Equities, CapitalG, Hudson River Trading, and Balyasny Asset Management. Go deeper

Scan Global Logistics, backed by CVC Capital Partners, acquired Portland, Ore.-based freight forwarder OIA Global. Go deeper

RedBird Capital Partners formed a $1b investment partnership with Guy Oseary's Sound Ventures, focused on tech, media, and culture deals. Go deeper

6. 🚨 Deals Deals Deals!

Data: Financial Modeling Prep; Chart: Claire Rychlewski/Axios

C.H. Robinson's stock got hammered today, despite an earnings beat, due to skepticism over its $5.8 billion deal for RXO and litigation concerns.

Management commentary on the deal did little to alleviate investor concern about overlapping customers, TD Cowen analysts wrote in an investor note.

October 29, 2026

1. SaaS showdown