Private markets roared back this week with a wave of mega-deals and renewed liquidity activity. Mira Murati’s stealth AI venture, Thinking Machines Lab, raised a stunning $2B seed at a $10B valuation, while legal AI startup Harvey followed with a $300M Series E at a $5B mark — signaling AI’s continued dominance across funding rounds. M&A was equally active: Japan hit a record $232B in H1 deal volume, and Nippon Steel finally closed its $14.1B acquisition of US Steel. In Europe, Advent’s $5.1B buyout of Spectris underscored appetite for industrial consolidation. On the financing front, EDF secured $6.1B in bond placements, and xAI locked in $5B in private debt, highlighting strong lender appetite for infrastructure and AI. IPO momentum is cautiously building, with filings from Wealthfront, Brainlab, and Virgin Australia, while secondaries and continuation funds are quietly heating up behind the scenes.

AI & Infra

• Harvey raised a $300M Series E at a $5B valuation to power AI for legal teams. Kleiner Perkins and Coatue led. (Harvey)

• Thinking Machines Lab, Mira Murati’s stealth venture, raised a $2B seed at a $10B valuation (a16z). (Techcrunch)

• PhysicsX, building industrial & defense AI, raised $135M Series B from Atomico and Temasek. (PhysicsX)

• Decagon, automating CX with AI agents, raised $131M Series C at a $1.5B valuation (Accel, a16z). (Decagon)

• Botpress, AI agent infra, raised $25M Series B (FRAMEWORK, Inovia). (Globenewswire)

• Snowcap Compute, developing superconducting AI chips, raised $23M seed (Playground Global). (Reuters)

• Qualytics, data quality infra for AI, raised $10M Series A (BMW i Ventures). (Qualytics)

• Browserbase, browser-based AI infra, raised $40M Series B (Notable Capital). (Builtinsf)

• Profound, AI visibility for brands, raised $20M Series A (Kleiner Perkins). (Profound)

Climate, Energy, & Robotics

• Insight M, aerial methane mapping, raised $30M (Morgan Stanley). (FinSMEs)

• Pelico, AI-powered supply chain orchestration, raised $40M (General Catalyst). (Pelico)

• Neura Robotics, humanoid robotics, is raising up to $1.2B. (Interestingengineering)

• Voliro, climbing drone inspections, raised $23M (Cherry Ventures, noa). (Voliro)

Fintech & Crypto

• Spinwheel, consumer credit APIs, raised $30M Series A (F-Prime, QED). (PYMNTS)

• Finom, SME banking/invoicing, raised $133M Series C (AVP). (Techinasia)

• Veda, cross-chain DeFi infra, raised $18M (CoinFund, Coinbase Ventures). (PRNewswire)

• Tensec, B2B cross-border payments, raised $12M (Costanoa). (PYMNTS)

• Nook, crypto savings app, raised $2.5M (Coinbase Ventures). (AInvest)

• Stackup, crypto treasury automation, raised $4.2M (1kx, YC). (Medium)

Consumer, HR & SaaS

• Laurel, AI-native time tracking, raised $100M Series C (IVP). (Fortune)

• Grifin, investing where you shop, raised $11M Series A (Nava Ventures). (Techcrunch)

• Cluely, consumer AI platform, raised $15M (a16z). (Yahoo Finance)

• Sauz, reinventing tomato sauce, raised $12M (CAVU). (FinSMEs)

• Warp, HR/payroll automation, raised $18M (Sound Ventures). (Warp)

Bio & Health

• Visby Medical, at-home PCR diagnostics, raised $55M (Catalio). (CTech)

• GeneCentric, RNA-based oncology diagnostics, raised $8M (Hatteras). (Yahoo Finance)

• Project Eleven, quantum-resilient digital security, raised $6M (Variant, Quantonation). (Cointelegraph)

Tech/SaaS

• Edison Partners invested $20M in NPHub, a clinical placement marketplace for nursing students. (Edison Partners)

• WestView Capital acquired EyeQ Monitoring, an AI-based video security provider. (Westview Capital)

• Riverwood Capital-backed HG Insights acquired TrustRadius, a buyer intent and reviews platform. (BusinessWire)

Healthcare

• Knowtion Health (Arsenal Capital) acquired Switch RCM, a healthcare revenue intelligence platform. (Arsenal Capital)

Chemicals & Industrials

• Shrieve Chemical (Gemspring) acquired Carbon Chemicals Group, an Ireland-based specialty distributor. (Gemspring Capital)

Consumer/Other

• Ares Management took a minority stake in the France SailGP Team. (SailGP)

• Dai Nippon Printing acquired Portugal-based Laxton, a biometric ID solutions company. (BusinessWire)

🏢 Corporates

Industrials & Energy

• Nippon Steel completed its $14.1B acquisition of US Steel, ending an 18-month takeover saga. (AInvest)

• Advent agreed to acquire Spectris, a UK testing equipment firm, for $5.1B (85% premium). (Reuters)

• TDK acquired SoftEye, a US-based smart glasses platform. (TDK)

• Ares Alt. Credit acquired a 20% stake in Eni's Plenitude for ~$2.3B. (BusinessWire)

• C&S Wholesale Grocers will acquire SpartanNash for ~$1.8B (including debt). (SpartanNash)

Financials

• Banco Santander and Barclays are exploring bids for TSB Bank (~$3.5B). (Yahoo Finance)

• Bank of Montreal acquired Burgundy Asset Management ($455M stock deal). (BMO)

TMT & Consumer

• Mark Walter agreed to acquire control of the LA Lakers at a $10B valuation. (ESPN)

• Wix acquired Base44, a no-code builder, for $80M in cash. (Techcrunch)

• Meta held acquisition talks with Runway, last valued at $3B. (CNBC)

• Americana Restaurants is in talks to acquire Cravia, the Five Guys & Cinnabon operator in the Middle East. (Yahoo Finance)

Other Strategics

• France will inject $1.5B into Eutelsat to challenge Starlink. (Yahoo Finance)

• Lagfin (Campari’s parent) will acquire 20% of PE firm Bluegem Capital. (AInvest)

• Darden Restaurants is exploring a sale of Bahama Breeze. (Restaurant Drive)

• NTT Corp secured full control of NTT Data in a $16.3B buyout. (RTTNews)

• Woody Johnson will acquire a stake in Crystal Palace FC (~$215M). (ESPN)

📈 IPOs, Direct Listings, & SPAC’s

• Harvey, Wealthfront, Navan, Virgin Australia, and Brainlab all confidentially filed or announced IPO plans.

• PhonePe (Walmart-backed) is preparing a $1.5B India IPO. (GuruTrade)

• Montage Technology, a Chinese chip designer, is eyeing a $1B Hong Kong IPO. (Thestandard)

• Iceye, a Finnish defense satellite firm, is exploring a public debut. (Bloomberg)

• Amrize, Holcim’s North American unit, fell 15% in its Swiss IPO. (Yahoo Finance)

• ProCap BTC, a Bitcoin SPAC backed by Magnetar & Blockchain.com, will merge with Columbus Circle Capital. (GlobeNewswire)

💰 Debt & Structured Finance

• EDF secured $6.1B in private bond placements (Apollo) to fund UK nuclear projects. (Bloomberg)

• xAI, Elon Musk’s OpenAI rival, secured a $5B debt package. (AInvest)

• CityFibre raised ~$1.4B in debt and a $675M accordion facility. (ExecSum)

• JBS is prepping its first post-IPO bond sale to extend maturities. (Bloomberg)

• Adani Group raised $750M for Mumbai airport via private placement. (Aviationweek)

• Saudi Arabia’s PIF launched a USD/EUR commercial paper program. (Fastcompanyme)

• Supermicro is raising $2B via convertibles. (Benzinga)

• Kuwait is mobilizing ~$6B in international bond issuance. (Bloomberg)

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