Venture Capital
• Bilt, a New York-based rent credit card provider, raised $250m at a $10.75b valuation led by General Catalyst and GID. Axios Pro flashback.
• Harmonic AI, a math-focused AI startup co-founded by Robinhood's Vlad Tenev, has raised $100m, valuing it at $875m, led by Kleiner Perkins. Sequoia Capital, Index Ventures and Paradigm participated in the deal. Go deeper
🚑 Neuros Medical, a Cleveland‑based nerve‑stimulation device maker, raised a $56m Series D led by EQT Life Sciences, with participation from USVP, Amzak Health, Osage University Partners, Sectoral Asset Management, and Aperture Venture Partners. Go deeper
• Agora, a stablecoin startup, raised $50m in Series A funding led by Paradigm, with participation from Dragonfly. Go deeper
• Tolan, an AI companion, raised $20m in Series A funding. Khosla Ventures led, joined by NFDG, Bloomberg Beta, Homebrew, and Lachy Groom. tolans.com
• QuiX Quantum, a Dutch photonic quantum computing startup, raised €15m in Series A funding. Invest-NL and EIC Fund led, joined by PhotonVentures, Oost, and FORWARD.one. Go deeper
• Woba, a Brazilian flexible office network provider, raised $13.5m led by Bewater, with participation from Kaszek and Valor Capital. Go deeper
• Knox, a federal managed cloud provider, raised $6.5m in seed funding. Felicis led, joined by Ridgeline and FirsthandVC. Go deeper
• ALTR, a Phoenix‑based alcohol removal tech company, raised $5m in seed funding. Demeter led, joined by Suntory Global Spirits, Techmind, AZ Venture Capital, FTW Ventures, Bluestein Ventures, Solvable, and Xinomavro. Go deeper
• Booz Allen Ventures invested in Corsha, a Vienna, Va.-based machine identity provider. corsha.com
Private Equity
🚑 Angeles Equity Partners and Kain Capital merged Agile Occupational Medicine and Akeso Occupational Health, creating the nation's second-largest independent occupational medicine provider. Go deeper
• ArcLight agreed to acquire the economic interests in Middletown, a 484-MW natural gas-fired power generation asset in Ohio. Go deeper
• Counsel Press, a portfolio company of Align Capital Partners, acquired Gibson Moore, a Richmond, Va.-based provider of legal services like court rules interpretation and proofreading. counselpress.com
• Lubrication Engineers, a Wichita, Kan.-based portfolio company of Aurora Capital Partners, acquired SWEPCO, a Fort Worth, Texas-based maker of industrial greases and lubricating oils, from DalFort Capital Partners. lelubricants.com
• Rehlko, a Wisconsin-based energy resilience company owned by Platinum Equity, agreed to acquire Wilmott Group, a U.K. maker of backup power solutions. rehlko.com
Liquidity
• NexPhase Capital sold Zing Zang, a non-alcoholic cocktail mix brand, to Mizkan America. mizkan.com
• Torch, a leadership coaching platform that's raised over $90m, acquired Praxis Labs, an AI learning platform that had raised around $19m from backers like Accenture and Precursor Ventures. Go deeper
• Ulta Beauty (Nasdaq: ULTA) agreed to acquire High Street retailer Space NK from Manzanita Capital. Go deeper
M&A
• Bazaar Technologies, a Pakistani e-commerce platform that's raised over $100m from firms like Dragoneer and Tiger Global, acquired local payments company Keenu. Go deeper
• Jupiter (LSE: JUP), a British money manager, agreed to acquire smaller rival CCLA Investment Manager. Go deeper
• Iveco Group (Milan: IVG) received bids for its defense unit from KNDS (€1.9b), Czechoslovak Group, and Leonardo (€1.6b), per Bloomberg. Go deeper
Fundraising
• Flyer One Ventures, a Ukrainian VC firm, raised €50m for its fifth fund. Go deeper
• Glilot Capital Partners, an Israeli VC firm, is raising its fifth fund, per an SEC filing.
🚑 Lorient Capital, a Birmingham, Mich.-based health care investment firm, closed its third fund with $500m. Go deeper
• RCP Advisors of Chicago is raising up to $500m for its 20th primary fund-of-funds, per an SEC filing.
💊 Vie Ventures, a new Boston-based life sciences VC firm, aims to raise $75m by the end of the year to invest in autoimmune disease companies. Go deeper
It's Personnel
• Scott Kupor, former managing partner of a16z and the firm's first employee, was confirmed by the U.S. Senate to lead the Office of Personnel Management (OPM). Go deeper
Odds & Ends
💊 AbbVie (NYSE: ABBV) agreed to pay up to $1.22b for exclusive rights to a blood cancer therapy made by New York biotech IGI Therapeutics. Go deeper
💊 Novartis (NYSE: NVS) agreed to pay up to $175m to China's Sironax for the exclusive option to acquire its blood-brain barrier crossing tech. Go deeper
- Ryan Barwick, Natalie Breymeyer, Erin Brodwin, Colin Campbell, Katherine Davis, Katie Fehrenbacher, Ryan Lawler, Chris Metinko, Alan Neuhauser, and Dan Primack contributed to this report.