Good day. A few private tech companies are now raising money at valuations higher than any tech IPO market capitalizations to date.

OpenAI’s pending secondary transaction values the AI model maker at $500 billion. SpaceX’s recent secondary came in at a $400 billion mark. Anthropic, meanwhile, is in the midst of a new financing at a valuation of about $170 billion, according to reports. Databricks is raising a new funding round that would value the company at $100 billion, The Wall Street Journal has reported.

If these companies attempt to go public eventually, they will test the ability of IPO markets to accommodate such behemoth listings.

“These are extraordinary prices, but for extraordinary assets,” said Mary D’Onofrio, partner at the venture firm Crosslink Capital.

Just five tech companies since 1980 have exceeded a $100 billion IPO market capitalization in the U.S., on an inflation-adjusted basis, according to Jay R. Ritter, a scholar at the Warrington College of Business at the University of Florida, and keeper of one of the most comprehensive data sets on initial public offerings. The data excludes foreign issuers using American depositary receipts, such as Chinese e-commerce company Alibaba.

Those five, ranked by market cap, were the AT&T Wireless spinoff in 2000, valued at $138.6 billion in today’s dollars, followed by the IPO of Facebook in 2012, Airbnb in 2020, Coupang in 2021 and Palm in 2000.

The data bases market caps on the share price at the close of each stock’s first day of trading.

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And now on to the news...

Freight-tracking deal. Supply-chain risk management company Overhaul raised $105 million as it seeks to capitalize on growing demand for freight tracking services, in part to combat cargo theft.

• The Series C funding round was led by Springcoast Partners and Edison Partners, with additional debt financing from MidCap Financial.
   
• Austin, Texas-based Overhaul will use the funding to invest in artificial-intelligence technology and make acquisitions. The company this week acquired supply-chain technology company FreightVerify for an undisclosed amount.

U.S. battery companies are increasingly looking overseas for new manufacturing opportunities amid waning support for clean technologies at home.

• Group14, a Seattle-based silicon-battery maker, said Wednesday that it closed a $463 million funding round led by South Korean conglomerate SK Inc. As part of that deal, Group14 will take direct control of the manufacturing of the company’s silicon-battery material in South Korea, having previously held a 25% stake in the joint venture.
   
• Amid trade spats between nations, companies are going to have to focus on building factories in the markets where they intend to sell, said Rick Luebbe, chief executive of Group14. “If we really wanted to have direct access to Asia, we needed to fully control manufacturing in Asia.”

Alphabet’s Google has offered to change terms and conditions for developers using its Play Store in a bid to stave off a potential fine under European Union tech rules. Google said in a blog post on Tuesday that it would alter the fees it charges developers for app downloads and make it easier to lead users to deals and offers outside its own app store.

Funds

Climate tech-focused Clean Growth Fund held the first £49 million close of its second fund, which has a target of £150 million.

National security technology investor Veteran Ventures Capital closed its second fund with $60 million in commitments, which is three times the size of its inaugural fund.

People

Fintech-focused QED Investors hired Kshitij Jayakrishnan as a principal, based in Bangalore, India. He joins the firm from Elevation Capital.

Tassat, a provider of blockchain-based real-time settlement solutions, promoted Glen Sussman to chief executive officer, succeeding Zain Saidin.

Sollum Technologies, a provider of dynamic LED lighting for controlled environment agriculture, appointed Giancarlo Santella as chief financial officer. He previously served as CFO at Imaflex.

Dragos, a provider of cybersecurity for operational technology environments, appointed Eric Cross as chief revenue officer. He previously held leadership roles at companies including Reltio, Appian and Apigee.

Deals

Identity and trust technology provider Incode Technologies acquired AuthenticID for an undisclosed amount.

Midas, a Turkey-based investment platform, raised $80 million in Series B funding led by QED Investors.

KnowledgeLake, a St. Louis-headquartered enterprise workflow automation platform, picked up a $65 million growth investment led by Edison Partners. In addition to the funding, Kevin Herr was promoted to chief executive officer, replacing Ron Cameron.

Medallion, a San Francisco-based AI-powered infrastructure platform that automates provider network operations, added $43 million in new funding led by Acrew Capital.

Kasa, a New York-headquartered hospitality brand and manager for boutique hotel and apartment-style lodging properties, secured a $40 million growth investment led by SLW.

Zed Industries, a Boulder, Colo.-based creator of an open-source code editor, scored $32 million in Series B funding led by Sequoia Capital.

Pylon, a San Francisco-based B2B support platform for post-sales teams, landed $31 million in Series B funding. Bain Capital Ventures and Andreessen Horowitz co-led the round, which included participation from General Catalyst.

Casca, a loan origination platform, grabbed $29 million in Series A funding led by Canapi Ventures.

Firecrawl, a San Francisco-based platform that unlocks web data for developers and AI agents, collected $14.5 million in Series A funding led by Nexus Venture Partners.

Zipline AI, a San Mateo, Calif.-based data platform that helps enterprises develop and deploy AI products, was seeded with a $7 million investment led by Wing VC.

• Intel, SoftBank discussed a sale. Now, a cash infusion will accelerate American AI
   
• Oregon man accused of operating one of most powerful attack ‘botnets’ ever seen
   
• What are passkeys—and what do you need to know about using them?

• Mark Zuckerberg shakes up Meta’s A.I. efforts, again (New York Times)
   
• Wyoming launches first state-backed stablecoin on seven blockchains (The Block)

This newsletter was compiled by Yuliya Chernova and Zachary Cole.

WSJ Pro Venture Capital is a premium service of The Wall Street Journal. We cover venture capital and the global startup ecosystem. Share your tips, comments and questions: vcnews@wsj.com

The Team: Matthew Strozier, Yuliya Chernova, Brian Gormley and Marc Vartabedian.

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