Axios Pro Rata

Four years ago, private equity was giddy over the prospect of a massive federal infrastructure bill. Then, "Infrastructure Week" became a punchline.

Why it matters: Infrastructure is again on the table, expected to be President Biden's top legislative priority once the stimulus is signed.

• Private equity infrastructure execs are "cautiously optimistic" this time around, repeating their 2016 thesis about the nonpartisan nature of bridges, roads and airports.

The big question: Will a Biden infrastructure plan lean heavily on public-private partnerships, which had been expected to be a major feature of Trump’s stillborn effort?

• Including P3’s could help get more GOP buy-in, but also could erode some Democrat support. One piece of the calculus may be if Biden chooses to pursue infrastructure via reconciliation (currently, it appears he will).
• “I think they should include P3’s for the multiplier effect, like the Australian model, but if it’s just federal manna to the states, some of that will crowd out private investment,” explains the head of a large U.S. infrastructure fund.
• The new stimulus package includes billions in state and local aid, aimed primarily at filling revenue shortfalls. Some of that could be used for infrastructure projects, although private equity investors expect that to be mostly about small public works efforts that were planned pre-pandemic.

State of play: Private equity firms have raised more than $200 billion for infrastructure funds over the past two years, much of which is earmarked for the U.S.

Wildcard: Last month's Texas power problems.

• "I think that Texas may help both parties realize that there needs to be an investment in power resilience and energy infrastructure," another private equity infrastructure investor says. "It doesn't matter if they call it 'energy transition' or not, so long as they get to the same place."

Bottom line: Everyone supports at least the idea of a major infrastructure bill, and private equity is at the ready to participate. Again.

Neeva, a search engine startup led by former Google Ads boss Sridhar Ramaswamy, raised $40 million in Series B funding co-led by Sequoia Capital and Greylock.

• Why it's the BFD: Venture capitalists often ask founders, "Why wouldn't Google just build that and crush you?" In this case, the founder is driving straight into Google's core business.
• Details: Neeva is currently in beta with several thousand users, and ultimately plans to unveil an ad-free, personalized search experience. Expect it to be on a paid subscription basis, likely with a free trial period.

• History: Google itself only raised $35 million in total VC funding before going public in 2004, including from Sequoia Capital. Ramaswamy tells Axios that today's search challenges are much more daunting, given user expectations around scale and local.
• Bottom line: "I don't feel any animus toward Google or the folks I worked with. They are wonderful people. But I think it's fine for people to change their mind about important topics [like data privacy], and search being a monoculture is a terrible outcome for all of us ... Apps are important, but search is the gateway." — Sridhar Ramaswamy, CEO of Neeva and a Greylock venture partner

• M1 Finance, a Chicago-based automated money management platform, raised $75 million in Series D funding. Coatue led, and was joined by insiders Left Lane Capital and Clocktower Technology Ventures. http://axios.link/TJy8

• Vendr, a Boston-based software procurement platform, raised $60 million in Series A funding. Tiger Global led, and was joined by YC, Sound Ventures, Craft Ventures, F-Prime Capital and Garage Capital. http://axios.link/y5EF

• Pipe, a Miami-based trading platform for recurring revenue, raised $50 million. Siemens Next47 and Raptor Group co-led, and were joined by Shopify, Slack, HubSpot, Okta, Chamath Palihapitiya, Marc Benioff, MSD Capital, Republic, Alexis Ohanian and Joe Lonsdale. http://axios.link/5DAz

🚑 Ibex Medical Analytics, an Israeli cancer diagnostics platform, raised $38 million in Series B funding co-led by Octopus Ventures and 83North. http://axios.link/fUdv

• Preply, an online marketplace for tutor-based foreign language learning, raised $35 million in Series B funding. Owl Ventures and Full In Ventures co-led, and were joined by EduCapital, All Iron, Diligent Capital, Evli Growth Partners and insiders Point Nine Capital and Hoxton Ventures. www.preply.com

🚑 Paige.AI, a New York-based computational pathology startup, raised $25 million in new Series C funding from KKR and Johnson & Johnson (round total now $125m). http://axios.link/zA7W

• Cosi Group, a German provider of short-term rental properties, raised €20 million. Soravia led, and was joined by insiders Cherry Ventures, e.ventures, Kreos Capital and Bremke. http://axios.link/Gz7c

• Demostack, an Israeli platform for building software demos, raised $17.3 million from Bessemer Venture Partners, Amiti Ventures, Operator Collective and Cerca Partners. http://axios.link/oFDo

• Scoro, a London-based provider of work management software for professional service businesses, raised $16.4 million in Series B funding. Kennet Partners led, and was joined by Columbia Lake Partners, Inventure, Livonia Partners and Tera Ventures. www.scoro.com

• Cube, a New York-based provider of planning and analysis software for corporate finance teams, raised $10 million in Series A funding. Mayfield led, and was joined by Bonfire Ventures and Operator Collective. www.cubesoftware.com

• Porter Road, a Nashville, Tenn.-based whole animal butchery, raised $10 million. L37 Ventures led, and was joined by River Park Ventures, Middleland, FJ Labs, MAX Ventures, Tribeca Venture Partners and Slow Ventures. http://axios.link/kfes

• Plan A, a Berlin-based platform for corporate carbon footprint tracking and reporting, raised $3 million. Demeter led, and was joined by Coparion and SoftBank. http://axios.link/Zz1g

• Elucidate, a Berlin-based financial crime risk scoring platform, raised €2.5 million in seed funding. Frontline Ventures led, and was joined by insiders Seed X Liechtenstein, Apex Ventures and Big Start Ventures. www.elucidate.co

• Omeda Studios, a London-based gaming startup led by former Twitch influencer Robbie Singh, raised $2.2 million in seed funding. GFR Fund led, and was joined by Inventure, Progression Fund, 1Up Ventures, Aream & Co. and Ride Ventures. www.omedastudios.com

• Influenxio, a Taipei-based microinfluencer platform, raised $2 million in seed funding led by DCM Ventures. http://axios.link/SFGR

• Mentorcam, a Los Angeles-based video messaging platform for consumer advice from experts, raised $1.4 million. General Catalyst led, and was joined by Studio VC, Kosinski Ventures and Realize Tech Fund. www.mentor.cam

• Amwins Group, a Charlotte-based specialty insurer, agreed to buy Worldwide Facilities, a Los Angeles-based wholesale broker. Amwins backers include New Mountain Capital, ACAS, LNC Partners and Dragoneer. www.amwins.com

• Charlesbank Capital Partners agreed to invest in Ivanti, a South Jordan, Utah-based IT automation platform whose existing backers include Clearlake Capital Group and TA Associates. www.ivanti.com

• Fortress Investment Group is in talks to acquire certain noncore assets of Colony Capital, including a wellness infrastructure portfolio that was valued at around $3.3 billion at year-end 2020, per Bloomberg. http://axios.link/OYX9

⛽ HitecVision acquired North Sea-focused Zennor Petroleum from Kerogen Capital for around $625 million. http://axios.link/bUHu

• JMI Equity invested in Canto, a San Francisco-based provider of digital asset management software. www.canto.com

• Levine Leichtman Capital Partners acquired Creditinfo, an Icelandic provider of credit information and risk management solutions. www.creditinfo.is

🚑 Questa Capital invested in Claritas Rx, a San Francisco-based data integration and analytics platform for specialty and rare diseases. www.claritasrx.com

• Wind Point Partners acquired FoodScience, an Essex, Vt.-based maker of nutritional supplements for humans and pets. www.foodsciencecorp.com

🚑 Abbisko Therapeutics, a Chinese oncology-focused biotech, is prepping a $250 million Hong Kong IPO, per Bloomberg. It’s raised over $300 million from firms like The Carlyle Group, OrbiMed, Warburg Pincus, CICC Capital, Lilly Asia Ventures, Qiming Venture Partners, Shanghai Jianxin Capital, Janchor Partners, Sage Partners and Temasek. http://axios.link/BFcB

• Coupang, a South Korean e-commerce giant, raised its IPO price range from $27-$30 to $32-$34. It still plans to offer 120 million shares, and list on the NYSE (CPNG). The company reports a $475 million net loss on $12 billion in revenue for 2020, while include SoftBank Vision Fund, Greenoaks Capital, Maverick Ventures and Sequoia Capital. http://axios.link/au05

• Frontier Group Holdings, a Denver-based budget airline, filed for a $100 million IPO. It previously filed in 2017 but pulled the offering last year, and its new filing comes as rival Sun Country prepares to go public. http://axios.link/BuEs

• Global-E Online, an Israeli platform for cross-border ecommerce, filed for a $100 million IPO. It plans to list on the Nasdaq (GLBE) and reports $8 million of net income on $136 million in revenue for 2020. Shareholders include Red Dot Capital Partners and Deutsche Post. http://axios.link/xjUE

• Pepper Money, an Australian lender backed by KKR, is restarting an IPO process that stalled in 2019, per The Australian. www.peppermoney.com.au

🚑 Citiustech, a Princeton, N.J.-based healthcare tech company owned by Baring Private Equity Asia, is seeking a SPAC deal at a valuation of around $1 billion, per Bloomberg. http://axios.link/imB2

🚑 DocGo (f.k.a. Ambulnz), a New York-based provider of last-mile telehealth and medical mobility solutions, agreed to go public at a $1.1 billion implied valuation, via reverse merger with Motion Acquisition Corp. (Nasdaq: MOTN), a SPAC led by former Fleetmatics CEO Jim Travers. Ambulnz raised a small amount of funding from Valor Equity Partners, Fine Day Ventures, Vast Ventures and The Hillview Group. http://axios.link/Cx1c

• Angel Pond Holdings, a Chinese tech SPAC led by Theodore Wang (ex-Goldman Sachs), filed for a $300 million IPO. http://axios.link/v5ur

• Corsair Partnering Corp, a financial and business services SPAC formed by Corsair Capital, filed for a $350 million IPO. http://axios.link/L5RG

• FTAC Zeus Acquisition, the 11th fintech SPAC formed by The Bancorp, filed for a $450 million IPO. http://axios.link/zSar

• Gefen Landa Acquisition, an Israeli tech SPAC formed by Gefen Capital and Landa, filed for a $250 million IPO. http://axios.link/iQbA

• Revolution Acceleration Acquisition II, a SPAC formed by VC firm Revolution and led by former Rep. John Delaney, filed for a $250 million IPO. The original Revolution SPAC recently agreed to buy warehouse robotics company Berkshire Grey. http://axios.link/cUYw

• Schultze Special Purpose Acquisition Corp. II, a SPAC formed by Schultze Asset Management, filed for a $200 million IPO. The first Schultze SPAC bought cannabis company Clever Leaves. http://axios.link/1gVW

• TPG filed for three new SPACs. One is focused on underperforming mature companies (targeting $250M), another on tech ($450M) and the third on business with a strong ESG profile ($350M). http://axios.link/0Stn

• Dropbox (Nasdaq: DBX) agreed to buy DocSend, a San Francisco-based document sharing and tracking platform, for $165 million. DocSend had raised around $15 million from firms like August Capital and DCM Ventures. http://axios.link/6FTP

⛽ GIC and Goldman Sachs are seeking a buyer for Japanese renewables group JRE, which could fetch around $2.5 billion, per Bloomberg. http://axios.link/8TCQ

• PayPal (Nasdaq: PYPL) agreed to buy Curv, an Israeli provider of digital asset security software. Curv had raised $30 million from firms like Digital Currency Group, CommerzVentures and Coinbase Ventures. http://axios.link/Dnbc

• Diageo (LSE: DGE) acquired the parent company of hard seltzer brand Lone River Ranch Water. http://axios.link/D6fK

• Macquarie and pension fund Aware Super agreed to acquire Australian telecom services firm Vocus Group (ASX: VOC) for A$3.5 billion.http://axios.link/KvX7

• Zapier, a San Francisco-based no-code automation tool, acquired Makerpad, a British no-code education service and community that had been seeded by firms like Earnest Capital. Zapier shareholders include Sequoia Capital, Salesforce Ventures, Bessemer Venture Partners and Threshold Ventures. http://axios.link/YP4K

• Ant Capital of Japan is targeting $460 million for its sixth fund, per PEI. http://axios.link/WB8y

• Apax Partners is raising $1.5 billion for its second midmarket tech fund, per public pension docs. http://axios.link/lGNj

• Coatue Management is raising its second early-stage VC fund, per an SEC filing.

• Investcorp has secured around $1 billion for a $2 billion fund focused on North American assets, per Bloomberg. http://axios.link/QL7n

• VMG Partners raised $850 million for its fifth fund focused on consumer brands. http://axios.link/XcAv

• Atomic.vc promoted Jordan Kong to principal. She continues to run the firm’s founder-in-residence program. www.atomic.vc

• Michael Kraines joined Digital Currency Group as its first CFO. He previously was president and CFO of Trading Technologies. www.dcg.co

• Jon Torrey joined Madrona Venture Group as a venture partner. He previously was with Qualtrics. www.madrona.com

• Laurent Vaille and Charles Bourgeois joined H.I.G. Capital as principals in its European direct lending group. Both were previously with Tikehau Capital. www.higeurope.com

Go deeper: Why the tech stock selloff matters