Axios Pro Rata: OpenAI IPO

📣 Dude Perfect, the sports and comedy group whose YouTube channel has more than 60 million followers, yesterday named NBA exec Andrew Yaffe as its first CEO.

• Yaffe and Dude Perfect co-founder Coby Cotton will join Axios BFD on Oct. 22 in New York, for their first live conversation about evolving Dude Perfect from a social media sensation into a company. Get your ticket.

OpenAI yesterday closed its historic investment round, raising $6.6 billion at a $157 billion valuation.

• The ChatGPT maker also promised investors that it will convert into a for-profit entity — reflecting its transition from a research lab into a product-focused business — even pledging to return capital if the structural change isn't completed within two years.

Look ahead: The next step is for OpenAI to think about going public.

The big picture: The stunning reality is that $6.6 billion won't get OpenAI where it wants to go, as Axios' Scott Rosenberg explains.

• Sam Altman & Co. certainly could return to the private markets, given that the new round was oversubscribed, but there's much deeper liquidity in the public markets.
• Particularly given that OpenAI doesn't want investors that also back its top competitors.
• Plus, OpenAI now has a new CFO in Sarah Friar who previously led a listed company (NextDoor) and who effectively led another (Square/Block).

Zoom out: Going public is all about being able to tell a story, and this one almost writes itself.

• ChatGPT is almost becoming consumer shorthand for AI, and there is an argument that it could eventually become a multi-trillion dollar business (which is why VC backers in this round think they could get VC-level return multiples).
• It's a lottery ticket on a rocket ship, particularly for retail investors who missed out (or were too young) to bet on Amazon or Google in their early days.

The bottom line: OpenAI must eventually go public if it's to fulfill its promise. It will need the money, and its venture backers won't have other viable exit options.

• Doing it sooner rather than later, even if it requires an uncomfortable level of disclosure, is a show of strength that would lengthen its competitive advantage.

Bain Capital is supporting a share buyback plan by Korea Zinc, the world's largest refined zinc smelter, which is designed to prevent a takeover by MBK Partners.

Why it's the BFD: This is a bitter fight between the founding families of a $12 billion metals giant, each of which now has a deep-pocketed private equity firm on its side.

• On one side is the Chang family, which recently partnered with MBK to launch a $1.5 billion tender offer to buy a control stake in Korea Zinc. That tender ends tomorrow.
• On the other is the Choi family, which now plans to buy back $2 billion of Korea Zinc stock at an 11% premium to the Chang price. This is what Bain Capital is backing, via the purchase of another $322 million worth of shares.

Look ahead: The South Korean government would probably require that any future sale of Korea Zinc be to a domestic company, thus limiting exit opportunities for MBK.

The bottom line: "The battle and its aftermath will have implications far beyond Korea. Including affiliates, the company accounts for 12% of the world's zinc produced outside of China, 5% of its lead and around 9% of its silver. ... Those are vital for efforts to limit Beijing's metals dominance." — Bloomberg

• Poolside, a French developer of AI for software development, raised $500 million in Series B funding. Bain Capital Ventures led, and was joined by DST Global, StepStone Group, Schroders Capital, Premji Invest, BAM Elevate, B Capital, Winslow Capital, Adams Street, Dorsal Capital, and Fin Capital. axios.link/4eNEgRL

• Submer, a Spanish provider of data center cooling solutions, raised $55.5m in Series C funding. at a $500m valuation. M&G led, and was joined by Mundi Ventures and insiders Planet First Partners and Norrsken VC. axios.link/3BDHYip

• Crescendo, an SF-based customer experience platform, raised $50m in Series C funding. General Catalyst led, and was joined by Celesta Capital and Alorica. axios.link/3zGVPUM

• Koho, a Canadian neobank focused on the underbanked, raised C$40m. Propelr Growth led, and was joined by Rockefeller Capital, Drive Capital, TTV, and BDC. axios.link/3N7PBR1

• Mstack, a Houston-based manufacturing chemicals sourcing platform, raised $40m in Series A equity and debt funding co-led by Lightspeed and Alpha Wave. mstack.co

• Resolve AI, an SF-based "AI production engineer" raised $35m in seed funding. Greylock led, and was joined by Unusual Ventures and angel investors. resolve.ai

🚑 Enara Bio, a British cancer immunotherapy startup, raised $32.5m in Series B funding. Pfizer Ventures and M Ventures co-led, and were joined by insiders RA Capital, Samsara BioCapital, and SV Health Investors. axios.link/4eNGiRR

🚑 Rippl, a Seattle-based virtual dementia care company, raised $23m in Series A funding. Kin Ventures led, and was joined by Arch Ventures, General Catalyst, GV (Google Ventures), F-Prime, Mass General Brigham Ventures, and 1843 Capital. axios.link/3zU8WBX

• MarqVision, an LA-based online brand protection startup, raised $16m in Series A extension funding from Altos Ventures. axios.link/3BnLGN6

• Vieu, a Seattle-based sales optimization startup, raised $11m. Trilogy Equity Partners led, and was joined by Incubate Ventures and Vela Ventures. vieu.com

• Reducto, an SF-based startup that helps LLMs read documents, raised $8.4m in seed funding led by First Round Capital. reducto.ai

• iAsk, a Chicago-based search startup, raised $4.2m in seed funding, per Axios Pro. Corazon Capital led, and was joined by Chingona Ventures, Starting Line VC, Alumni Ventures, Listen VC, Motivate VC, Octava Singapore, and Chicago Early Growth Venture. axios.link/3zHKtQl

• Rivrs, a French developer of UGC video games, raised €4m led by Pléiade Venture. axios.link/4gIZke9

• Billables AI, an SF-based timekeeping solution, raised $3.9m in seed funding. Wing VC led, and was joined by F7, SignalFire, Darkmode, Alumni Ventures. billables.ai

• Plumery, a Dutch digital banking platform, raised $3.3m from DN Capital and Fontes. plumery.com

• Runware, an SF-based generative media startup, raised $3m from a16z, LakeStar, Lunar Ventures, Begin Capital, and Zero Prime. axios.link/3Y41jCh

Goldman Sachs' whitepaper identifies key M&A and financing opportunities in the private equity space this year. These include:

• Sponsor M&A.
• Public equity markets.
• Secondary markets.
• Leveraged loan markets.

Explore Goldman Sachs' Private Equity Inflection Point whitepaper.

• Altor Solutions, a subsidiary of Compass Diversified (NYSE: CODI), completed its purchase of Lifoam Industries, a Greer, S.C., provider of cold-chain packaging solutions, for $137m in cash. lifoam.com

•Bregal Investments is weighing a take-private offer for Novem Group, a German car-interior designer that went public three years ago, per Bloomberg. axios.link/3Y8X9sU

• Cendyn, a portfolio company of Accel-KKR, acquired Knowland, a provider of data-as-a-service insights on meetings and events, from Serent Capital. axios.link/3N7HWlJ

• EQT Partners completed its $3b take-private buyout of digital consultancy Perficient. axios.link/3wjxH95

• ICE USA, an acquisition platform of Godspeed Capital Management, acquired Robert G. Campbell & Associates, a Knoxville, Tenn., civil engineering and inspection firm. ice-eng.com

• Insight Partners invested in Sysdyne Technologies, a Stamford, Conn., provider of tech solutions for ready-mix concrete operations. sysdynetechnologies.com

• LMAX Group, a London portfolio company of J.C. Flowers & Co., acquired FX HedgePool, a New York-based institutional swaps matching service that that raised $8m from IVP, Fidelity International Strategic Ventures, and NAVentures. axios.link/3zQxwne

• Mubadala Capital agreed to buy a control stake in Babel, a Madrid-based IT and digital transformation services provider that had raised VC funding from firms like Aurica Capital. babelgroup.com

• New Mountain Capital made a minority investment in Chicago-based midmarket business advisory firm Portage Point Partners. axios.link/3NvrD2l

• Outdoor Living Supply, a Rochester, Minn., portfolio company of Trilantic North America, acquired San Jose, Calf.-based Garden Supply Hardscapes. outdoorlivingsupply.net

🏈 Stephen Ross is in advanced talks to sell minority stakes in the NFL's Miami Dolphins to Ares Management (10%) and Joe Tsai (3%), at an $8.1b valuation, per Bloomberg. The deal also would include positions in Hard Rock Stadium and F1's Miami Grand Prix. axios.link/4dqZzHK

• TPG and Zayo Group, a portfolio company of EQT and DigitalBridge, each are vying to buy the fiber and wireless assets of Crown Castle (NYSE: CCI), which could fetch nearly $10b, per Reuters. axios.link/4dBRzDQ

• Turnspire Capital Partners acquired GHP Group, a Niles, Ill., provider of branded portable heating products, BBQ grills, and water dispensers, from Novacap. ghpgroupinc.com

• Ocean Capital Acquisition, a SPAC led by Simon Wong (Hermitage Capital HK), refiled registration for a $60m IPO. axios.link/4dBSofL

🚑 Septerna, a biotech focused on G protein-coupled receptors, filed for an IPO. The Phase 1 company plans to list on the Nasdaq (SEPN), and raised $250m in VC funding from RA Capital Management, Deep Track Capital, Goldman Sachs, Vertex Ventures HC, Mirae, Driehaus Capital Management, Woodline Partners, Soleus Capital, Third Rock Ventures, Samsara BioCapital, Invus, Catalio Capital Management, BVF Partners, Casdin Capital, and Logos Capital. axios.link/4dqYY8Y

• Hg plans to launch an auction for SmartTrade, a French liquidity management software provider that could fetch €1b, per Bloomberg. axios.link/4eRFyLL

⚡ Nickel Road, a portfolio company of Vortus Investment Advisors, sold its DJ Basin assets to Prairie Operating Co. (Nasdaq: PROP) for $84.5m. nickelroadoperating.com

• Arcosa (NYSE: ACA) completed its $1.2b acquisition of Stavola's construction materials business. axios.link/3Y7S6ch

• Creative Artists Agency, which was acquired last year by Groupe Artemis, bought Hanold Associates, an exec search firm focused on DEI roles. axios.link/3zIBlLe

⚡ Ithaca Energy (LSE: ITH) completed its £754m purchase of most of Eni's (Milan: ENI) oil and gas producing assets in the U.K. North Sea. axios.link/4etBamj

⚡ Pure Lithium, a Boston developer of lithium extraction tech, acquired the assets of Dimien, a Buffalo, N.Y., vanadium cathode materials developer. Pure Lithium has raised over $35m from firms like Oxy Low Carbon Ventures, Ivanhoe Capital and Wilson Sonsini. axios.link/4eN2MSX

• Seven & I (Tokyo: 3382), the 7-Eleven owner that's been approached about a takeover by Canada's Alimentation Couche-Tard (TSE: ATD), is exploring a sale of its Seven Bank finance unit, per Bloomberg. axios.link/3ZVXqAy

• Fidelity raised $250m for its first dedicated VC fund. axios.link/3XP2jZQ

🚑 Frazier Life Sciences added $630m to its evergreen fund focused on public small and midcap biotechs. axios.link/4eM5c4p

• LGT Capital Partners, owned by Liechtenstein's royal family, raised over $7b for its sixth global PE secondaries fund. axios.link/3XPq8AG

• Molten Ventures acquired a majority secondary stake in the first fund of Connect Ventures, a 2012-vintage vehicle whose top portfolio company is Typeform. moltenventures.com

• Summit Partners raised $9.5b for its 12th flagship U.S. growth eqity fund. summitpartners.com

• Gurbir Grewal is stepping down as the SEC's top chief enforcement officer. axios.link/3TUQPmm

• Amish Mehta rejoined Vector Capital as a managing director. He previously founded SQN Investors. axios.link/3XOwIHI

• Kian Capital Partners promoted Carter Fields to VP and Thomas Bullock and Doyle Silva to senior associates. kiancapital.com

• Moonfare named Magnus Grufman as COO. axios.link/47NOCyV

DirecTV's proposed acquisition of Dish Networks is anything but a sure bet, as around 83% of Dish bondholders must accept a big haircut, Axios' Felix Salmon writes:

• "Bondholders aren't usually consulted in a merger. But this is a distressed deal in which the equity appears worthless — so the lenders scrambling to get paid back are actually the ones in control."
• And, as a reminder, TPG is on the hook to buy AT&T's 70% stake in DirecTV for $7.6 billion, even if the Dish deal fails.

Go deeper into the bondholder calculus.

Improving macro conditions in 2023 resulted in a notable uptick in global sponsor-backed ECM issuance.

Worth a mention: 2024 was the fastest start to issuance globally since 2018 (excluding 2021), with improved sentiment shifting investors to the offensive.

Explore the insights.

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