Axios Pro Rata: Weil winds down
💰 Welcome to what has become a very busy morning in deals land. Thrive Holdings buying ADT, DoorDash making Instacart official, and possibly the largest tech merger ever. And each of them gets little more than a blurb today. Here we go...
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We've written about how AI thus far has been much better at discovering drugs than developing them, which is a bit like being great at grocery shopping but helpless in the kitchen.
- Formation Bio also sees the stubborn bottleneck, and just raised a $600 million "drug development accelerator" fund to help address it.
The big picture: This effort is unusual.
- Formation Bio is not a venture capital firm. It's a biotech startup backed by some of the world's most successful and deep-pocketed investors — including a16z, Sequoia Capital, and Thrive Capital — and was valued at $1.7 billion when it last raised funding in 2024.
- But it is definitely reminiscent of a venture capital fund, with Formation Bio serving as general partner (including carried interest) and the LP base consisting mostly of university endowments, foundations, and hospitals (many of which are LPs with Formation's actual VCs).
- CEO Ben Liu says that his goal is to build a large pharma company, on par with an Eli Lilly or Sanofi, and that this structure will help Formation Bio "take more shots on goal" without having to risk diluting existing shareholders by raising additional equity. In fact, Liu says Formation has no plans to do another venture round.
Zoom in: The fund will buy molecules and drug programs that Formation will then help bring through development.
- Formation's key innovation, Liu believes, is that it's using AI and centralization to create a more efficient clinical research organization. Specifically, he argues that nearly half of drug development costs come from CRO margins — driven by billable hours — with Formation believing it can reduce spend by between 30% and 50%.
- "CROs have perverse incentives," Liu says. "We can't really save on manufacturing, which is expensive, but we can cut a lot of the redundant headcount, extra site visits and other things that cause clinical trials to cost so much."
Look ahead: Each company acquired by the fund will become its own NewCo, with any early successes to be sold to Big Pharma. Basically a hub-and-spoke model.
- "That's only a short-term strategy to lower our cost of capital," Liu explains. "We do think we've found a category that we would hold onto, which we'll share in a couple quarters."
The bottom line: Curing disease is becoming AI's holy grail, the inarguable good that could offset the feared bads.
- Formation and other CRO startups may or may not help crack the code. But, to borrow a phrase from Liu, it's worth taking more shots on goal.
Illustration: Lindsey Bailey/Axios
Weil, Gotshal & Manges, one of Wall Street's top law firms, has decided to dissolve.
Why it's the BFD: This is a reminder that a law firm's most valuable assets walk out the door each night, and rival poaching can cause something akin to a bank run.
By the numbers: Weil Gotshal ranked No. 9 among global deal advisors in 2022, per LSEG, but by last year had fallen outside the top 25.
- It has around 2,000 global employees — including around 1,200 attorneys, some of whom are first-year associates who just joined.
- Weil Gotshal generated around $2 billion in revenue last year. That's double a decade earlier, but well behind the revenue of top peers.
Behind the scenes: The shutdown decision is being recommended by firm leadership, but still needs to be voted on by the full partnership.
The bottom line: "The roots of the crisis at Weil date back more than a decade. The firm raked in business during the chaotic aftermath of the 2008-09 financial crisis but failed to reinvest those profits and even cut lawyers when many of its competitors were in growth mode. It has fallen behind industry leaders in head count, revenue and profit—leaving it vulnerable to poaching from rival firms." — Erin Mulvaney & Andrew Scurria, WSJ
🚀 Firehawk, a Dallas-based maker of rocket motors, raised $150m in Series D funding at a $1.4b valuation led by Advent International and Rochefort Asset Management. axios.link/4idqxbC
Serval, an SF-based IT service management platform, raised $150m in Series C funding at a $3b valuation, per Axios Pro. Sequoia Capital led, joined by Elad Gil, Evantic, First Round, General Catalyst, Redpoint, Conviction, and Headline. axios.link/4e7xSHf
🚑 NeuroXess, a Chinese brain-computer interface startup, raised around $105m in Series B funding led by SDIC Juli, Shenzhen Capital Group, and Qinzhi Capital. axios.link/4kfMI28
🚑 BioGeometry, a Chinese biotech using AI-driven protein design, raised over $100m from Shanghai Biomedical Innovation and Transformation Fund, Guoke Investment, Fortune Capital, Xinglian Capital, Gaorong Capital, and Index AI Industry Innovation Fund. axios.link/4zgcc4g
Foundry Robotics, an Emeryville, Calif.-based autonomous factory developer, raised $100m in Series A funding. Marlinspike Partners led, joined by Khosla Ventures, SE Ventures, and Wing VC. axios.link/3UNFeJr
Broccoli, an SF-based automated customer platform for home service businesses, raised $52m in Series A and B funding. Khosla Ventures led both rounds, joined by YC and Operator Partners. axios.link/4eAr5WA
Opentrons, a Long Island City, N.Y.-based lab automation biotech, raised $40m in Series E funding, per Axios Pro. Avego led, joined by BroadOak Capital Partners. axios.link/4iw8lsK
Numeracle, a McLean, Va.-based identity management startup, raised $28m led by Edison Partners. axios.link/4ByAYhu
Ozlo, a Boston-based maker of earbuds for sleep, raised $22m in Series B funding. Modi Ventures led, joined by LifeArc, Artis Ventures, Resmed, Scrum Ventures, Drive by DraftKings, Wheelhouse 360, Wise Ventures, Niremia Collective, Accelerate Ventures, and World Solver Syndicate.
🚑 Midstream Health, an SF-based health-care revenue recovery startup, raised $20m in Series A funding, per Axios Pro. Valorous led, joined by a16z, Foundry, and CommonSpirit Ventures. axios.link/4sDvtdq
🚀 Rendezvous Robotics, a Golden, Colo.-based developer of self-assembling spacecraft, raised $20m. MaC Venture Capital and Toyota Ventures led, joined by University of Michigan Endowment, Astera Ventures, Industrious Ventures, Aurelia Foundry, ATX Venture Partners, and Mana Ventures. axios.link/47NTPaF
Reflex, a startup focused on modernizing industrial software, raised $15m in Series A funding, per Axios Pro. Standard Capital led, joined by Databricks Ventures, Y Combinator, Lux Capital and Abstract Ventures. axios.link/4Bp1g5E
Rocker, an AI assistant maker, raised $12.85m. Greycroft led, joined by Anthropic and Menlo Ventures' Anthology Fund, Matchstick, and Stripe. axios.link/3WecMki
TrashLabs, an SF-based operating system for waste haulers, raised $12m, per Axios Pro. Ventana led, joined by Bienville Capital, Harlem Capital, and CreativeCo. axios.link/3W7m0yQ
Pathfinder, a Phoenix-based provider of charge cards for families using state education funds, raised $12m in Series A funding, per Axios Pro. Portage led, joined by Reach Capital, Gradient, and Stand Together Ventures Lab. axios.link/48m4tpi
🚑 Blue Arbor Technologies, an Ann Arbor, Mich.-based prosthetic control tech company, raised a $10.5m Series A led by Ottobock. axios.link/4ByeflD
ShareWillow, an incentive pay platform for home-service technicians, raised $8.5m in seed funding, per Axios Pro. Circadian Ventures led, joined by Lerer Hippeau Ventures, Twelve Below, Notation Capital, Charge Ventures, Expa, and Scott Belsky. axios.link/3UuKK3x
Mochatrade, an NYC provider of tokenized U.S. equities to traders in India, raised $5.5m. CoinFund led, joined by Coinbase Ventures. axios.link/4kn0Jel
Bleu Robotics, a French developer of AI models for industrial humanoid robots, raised €5m in pre-seed funding. Contrarian Ventures and OVNI Capital led, joined by Kvanted, WEPA Ventures, Motier Ventures, and Charlie Songhurst. axios.link/4eUlNoX
i23, a British AI insurance brokerage, raised £4.9m in seed funding from Four Cities Capital, Outward VC, Seedcamp, and Insiders Ventures. axios.link/4sv2jNn
A MESSAGE FROM J.P. MORGAN
Dylan Taylor, founder and CEO of Voyager Technologies, said that J.P. Morgan was the “perfect fit” for his ambitious company and its banking needs. Dylan trusted J.P. Morgan to provide critical support and guidance as Voyager scaled from startup to IPO.
A&M Capital Partners acquired a majority stake in Delta Group, a Buford, Ga.-based provider of investigative and claims support services. axios.link/4Bw6SuP
AML Analytics, a U.K. provider of anti-money laundering system testing, secured growth funding from Covalent Equity Partners. axios.link/3UNcosF
🚑 Blue Matter Consulting, backed by Baird Capital, agreed to buy health-care comms agency Cognite. axios.link/3WfGi9g
Cobblers Cove Capital and Arkhouse Management offered to buy Applebee's and IHOP franchisor Dine Brands Global (NYSE: DIN) for around $494m in cash, or $39 per share, per Bloomberg. axios.link/3UUmI1Z
Hunter Point Capital agreed to a GP financing partnership with Bow River Capital. axios.link/4zVEKQd
Casap, an SF-based platform for automating financial disputes and fraud investigations, raised $56m in Series B funding. Base10 Partners led, joined by Experian and Synchrony. axios.link/4svWrDG
Monomoy Capital Partners made a nonbinding $101 per share takeover bid for LCI Industries (NYSE: LCII), a maker of components for the recreation and transportation markets. LCI already has an all-stock merger agreement with Patrick Industries (Nasdaq: PATK). axios.link/3WeTzin
phData, a Minneapolis-based provider of big data management solutions, secured new funding from existing backer Gryphon Investors and new investor Anthropic. axios.link/4yLoLTO
Platinum Equity agreed to acquire Chicago-based propane distributor EDP from PPC. axios.link/4sqOKhS
Thrive Holdings agreed to buy home security giant ADT (NYSE: ADT) for around $15.3b. axios.link/3Whithk
Industrial Growth Partners agreed to sell AdvancedPCB, an Aurora, Colo.-based provider of printed circuit board solutions, to Amphenol (NYSE: APH). axios.link/4eY6awK
Onsemi (Nasdaq: ON) is in talks to buy NYC-based chip startup Ferric for nearly $1b, per The Information. Ferric has raised over $40m from firms like New Science Ventures. axios.link/4idif3x
RapidCanvas, a VC-backed maker of custom AI apps, bought Entytle, an Austin-based OEM software developer that had raised $10m from Accel, Moment Ventures, and Shengjing Network. axios.link/4srHQJk
Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios
DoorDash (Nasdaq: DASH) made it official, agreeing to buy Instacart (Nasdaq: CART) for $17b, or $65 per share.
Marvell Technology (Nasdaq: MRVL) is in advanced talks to buy data center optics maker Lumentum (Nasdaq: LITE), which has a market cap of nearly $83b, per Bloomberg. axios.link/4ipMrHg
Adani Group of India is weighing a €3b takeover of Dutch energy storage group VTTI, per Bloomberg. axios.link/4BvCwZp
🚑 Chapter, a Medicare navigation startup, acquired Cupertino, Calif.-based personalized retirement navigation platform Hively. axios.link/4A2FyTJ
🚑 Eversana, a Chicago-based biopharma services company, agreed to acquire London-based health economics and outcomes research firm Estima Scientific. axios.link/4zgIUCA
Federal Signal (NYSE: FSS) acquired Global Vacuum Systems, a Navasota, Texas-based maker of liquid vacuum tank trucks, for around $29m. axios.link/4stdvKi
Freshworks (Nasdaq: FRSH) acquired Robusta Dev, an Israeli incident intelligence engine for tech disruptions. axios.link/3UXhrqt
🚑 Rho Nutrition, a Miami-based maker of liquid supplements and vitamins, hired Rothschild to find a buyer, per Reuters. axios.link/4sreWJk
BY Venture Partners, a Dubai-based early-stage firm, raised $60m for its third fund and opened a Lisbon office. axios.link/3UnHFSD
Lightspeed secured $750m for a new AI-focused fund and related vehicle, per the WSJ. axios.link/4ikTbHX
U&I Ventures raised over $32m for its debut seed fund. Its founders are Kim Cooper (YouTube) and Kim Moore (Glynn Capital). uandi.vc
Christine Lagarde said she'll step down as European Central Bank president on Feb. 7, 2027 — nine months before her term is set to expire.
DLA Piper hired Jesse Sheff, Seung-Ju Paik,and Preeta Paragash away from Latham as partners in its capital solutions practice. dlapiper.com
LGT Capital Partners of Switzerland promoted Sascha Gruber to CEO. axios.link/4zUQnqD
Lisa Liu joined crypto-focused VC firm Dragonfly as a partner. She previously was with SignalFire. axios.link/4e57wWg
🚑 Daryl Tol is stepping down as president of General Catalyst's HATco, the effort that bought an Ohio hospital, per Modern Healthcare. axios.link/4yOsuQQ
The U.S. economy grew at an annualized rate of 3.4% in Q3, better than expectations and outpacing the year's prior two quarters. Go deeper.
A MESSAGE FROM J.P. MORGAN
Jake Loosararian, co-founder and CEO of Gecko, chose J.P. Morgan early on as his startup's banking team. With the help of his dedicated J.P. Morgan team, Gecko successfully broke into new markets and navigated change with confidence.
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