Morning greetings from the world-famous "Cafe at DCA," just after the escalators and just before TSA security check at Reagan National Airport. My menu recommendation is ... don't.

• A few quick notes to kick us off, as I spent all yesterday hobnobbing at the Axios What's Next Summit...

Brain bucks: EQT Life Sciences yesterday announced the close of its debut LSP Dementia Fund, with €260 million in capital commitments.

• This is the first dementia-focused fund ever raised entirely by a VC firm, although there was an earlier one in 2013 that was partially formed and funded by various governments. So far it's made five investments and expects to find another eight or nine companies.
• Around 54 million people currently suffer from dementia, and one estimate has that awful figure tripling by 2050.
• Philip Scheltens, a longtime dementia researcher leading the EQT effort, tells me he believes it could outperform other life sciences funds: "There are so few investors focused on it, so much to invest in and so much appetite from pharma because there are basically no solutions on the market."

From the What's Next Summit: CVS CEO Karen Lynch doesn't sound like she has much appetite for jumping into another major acquisition effort, instead preferring to focus on the integration of Signify Health ($8 billion deal closed yesterday) and Oak Street Health ($10.6 billion deal set to close in the second half).

• YouTube CEO Neal Mohan was asked if he'd consider buying TikTok, were the U.S. government to force a sale. He claimed to have not thought about it.
• And I believe him since it's hard to imagine U.S. antitrust regulators would allow Google to acquire TikTok. What Mohan didn't say, however, if that the best outcome for YouTube would be for TikTok to be banned. When asked if it should be banned, Mohan dodged.
• A replay of all mainstage interviews is available here.

One to watch: Clearlake Capital is not taking no for an answer on Blackbaud, the donor management software company that rebuffed Clearlake's $4.8 billion take-private offer.

• The private equity firm is Blackbaud's largest outside shareholder with an 18.8% stake, and yesterday reiterated its unsolicited acquisition bid. It added: "We find it concerning that the Board is unwilling to engage with us to demonstrate any such value upside for the benefit of all stockholders."
• This isn't yet a hostile takeover effort, which is highly unusual for a private equity firm to launch, but it's trending in that direction.

Follow-up: Alibaba earlier this week announced plans to break into six businesses, each with the ability to raise capital and conduct IPOs.

• This raised a question about what happens to the Chinese tech giant's venture capital investment portfolio.
• A source familiar with the situation says that deals done by the "Alibaba Ventures" team will remain in the Alibaba holding company. However, some Alibaba investments were done by the business units that are now being given more autonomy (cloud intelligence, for example), and those deals will remain with their respective business units.

Antin Infrastructure Partners and Scandinavian Enviro Systems (STO: SES) formed a joint venture, backed by Michelin (Paris: ML), to launch a large-scale European tire recycling group.

Why it's the BFD: An estimated 1 billion tires reach the end of their lives each year, including around 3.5 million tons of tires in Europe alone. The vast majority are tossed into landfills.

Details: Antin is expected to hold a 70% stake in the JV. The supply agreement with Michelin, which is being called a "partner" to the JV, includes delivery of recovered carbon black and tire pyrolysis oil.

The bottom line: The group's first full-scale plant will be in Sweden, with the ability to recycle around 40% of that country's annual end-of-life tires, with construction to begin later this year. Once completed, plans are to construct similar facilities throughout Europe.

• EigenLayer, an ethereum restaking protocol, raised $50m in Series A funding. Blockchain Capital led, and was joined by Coinbase Ventures, Polychain Capital, Hack VC and Electric Capital. https://axios.link/3JRRak0

🌎 Effy, a French energy renovation company, raised €20m from Felix Capital. https://axios.link/3TXbwwK

🚑 Florence, an ER patient intake and tracking startup, raised $20m in seed funding, as first reported by Axios Pro. Thrive Capital, GV and Salesforce Ventures co-led, and were joined by Vast Ventures, BoxGroup and Atento Capital. https://axios.link/3nvsW7E

• Parloa, a German contact center automation startup, raised €20m in Series A funding. EQT Ventures led, and was joined by Newion and Senovo. https://axios.link/3lMxHcx

• Orb, an SF-based billing automation startup, raised $19.1m in Series A (led by Menlo Ventures) and seed (led by Greylock) funding. https://axios.link/3lWi5mH

🌎 Gen Phoenix, a British sustainable leather maker, raised $18m in Series B funding. Material Impact led, and was joined by Dr. Martens, InMotion Ventures and Tapestry. https://axios.link/3zgMuiA

• Fixie, a Seattle-based automation platform for large language models used by enterprises, raised $17m in seed funding. Redpoint Ventures led, and was joined by Madrona Venture Group, Zetta Venture Partners, SignalFire, Bloomberg Beta and Kearny Jackson. www.fixie.ai

• Stratyfy, a New York-based provider of machine learning solutions for lenders, raised $10m. Truist Ventures and Zeal Capital Partners co-led, and were joined by Mendon Venture Partners, The 98, FIS, and Barry J. Glick. www.stratyfy.com

• True I/O, a Carlsbad, Calif.-based provider of blockchain solutions for supply chain security, device management and software licensing, raised $9m in Series A funding led by Deal Box Ventures. www.trueio.io

• Jigso, an Israeli AI observability platform, raised $7.1m in seed funding from General Catalyst, Entree Capital and Jibe Ventures. www.jigso.io

🍿 Rob’s Backstage Popcorn, a popcorn brand founded by the Jonas Brothers, raised $7m in Series A funding. Palm Tree Crew led, and was joined by Hershey’s and UTA Ventures. www.eatrobs.com

• Autio, a Santa Barbara, Calif.-based storytelling app co-founded by Kevin Costner, raised $5.9m from iHeart Media Ventures. https://axios.link/3TV8dpI

• Polytrade, a web3 protocol focused on global trade, raised $3.8m in seed funding from Alpha Wave, Matrix Partners, Polygon Ventures, Singularity Ventures and GTM Ventures, per TechCrunch. https://axios.link/3lV8vAu

• Shicken Foods, a London-based producer of plant-based Indian cuisine, raised over £2m from Veg Capital. https://axios.link/3ZrOkrJ

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• CVC Capital Partners, I Squared Capital, Stonepeak Partners and Mitsui & Co. have been shortlisted for a stake in Edotco Group, the wireless tower unit of Malaysia’s Axiata Group, per Bloomberg. The deal could fetch up to $750m. https://axios.link/3ziclqn

• EQT is in advanced talks for a majority stake in the infrastructure business of Italian telecom operator Wind Tre, a unit of CK Hutchison Holdings (HK: 0001), per Reuters. https://axios.link/3FYPqE7

• Forma Brands, the bankrupt parent company of the Morphe cosmetics brand, will be acquired by lenders Cerberus Capital Management and Jefferies Finance, in exchange for $690m in debt relief. Forma had been acquired in 2019 by General Atlantic and Sofina, both of which got wiped out. https://axios.link/3KkJyIb

• Graycliff Partners invested in Republic Electric Co., a distributor of HVAC and electrical equipment. www.republicco.com

🚑 ICU Medical (Nasdaq: ICUI) is partnering with Linden Capital Partners to bid for the patient monitoring and interventions businesses of Medtronic (NYSE: MDT), which could fetch upwards of $9b, per Reuters. Other second-round suitors include Carlyle, Clayton Dubilier & Rice and GE Healthcare. https://axios.link/3ZscZfy

• MusicBird, a music-rights investment firm, acquired the catalog of Midge Ure, a Scottish singer-songwriter-producer. https://axios.link/3nty8c4

⚡ Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan has acquired a majority stake in Sevana Bioenergy, a Boise, Idaho-based biogas company. https://axios.link/3G4SiQ6

• Recognize invested in 2X, a Berwyn, Pa.-based provider of B2B marketing-as-a-service solutions. www.2x.marketing

• Riveter Capital acquired Twelve Oaks, a provider of school meals to children in Dallas.

• Roark Capital Group is among the suitors for Subway, the sandwich chain that’s expected to fetch around $10b, per Bloomberg. https://axios.link/40R9rEV

🚑 SAI MedPartners acquired PharmaForce, a Reading, Pa.-based market intelligence firm for the biotech and pharma industries, from Northlane Capital Partners. www.pharmaforceintl.com

• First Mills, a Saudi flour miller, is prepping a local IPO at around a $1b valuation, per Bloomberg. https://axios.link/40O4L2E

• Khosla Ventures is shutting down its third SPAC, after failing to find an acquisition target. https://axios.link/3G2bL3M

• Cisco (Nasdaq: CSCO) agreed to buy Lightspin Technologies, an Israeli cloud security software company that had raised around $25m from VC firms like Dell Technologies Capital and Ibex Investors. https://axios.link/3M2zXGY

• KKR is seeking to sell RBMedia, a Landover, Md.-based audiobook publisher that could fetch up to $2b, per PE Hub. https://axios.link/3nzbv63

• Vista Equity hired Raymond James to find a buyer for Tripleseat, a Concord, Mass.-based catering and event management software firm that could fetch up to $500m, per Bloomberg. https://axios.link/3M3c16D

• Airbus (Paris: AIR) ended talks to buy a 29.9% stake in Evidian, the cybersecurity and cloud computing unit of Atos (Paris: ATO). https://axios.link/3G1gpPq

⚡ Hull Street Energy sold Leicester, N.C.-based renewables developer Foundation Solar Partners to Birch Creek Energy. https://axios.link/3Krb7jb

• Madison Square Garden Entertainment’s (NYSE: MGE) board approved a tax-free spinoff of its live entertainment business, which is set to be completed by April 20. https://axios.link/3TXH6dH

• WildBrain (TSE: WILD), the Canadian producer of Teletubbies, agreed to acquire House of Cool, Toronto-based animation studio, for C$15.5m in cash and stock. https://axios.link/40LwG3g

• Zenus Bank, a Puerto Rico-based digital bank, acquired Puerto Rican payments startup Financial Urban Exchange (dba FUEX Payments). https://axios.link/3G1yvRH

• Zound Industries, a Swedish headphones and sound systems company backed by Zenith Venture Capital, agreed to buy Marshall, the British maker of guitar amplifiers. https://axios.link/40t4DFI

• Accel-KKR raised $4.4b for its seventh flagship fund. www.accel-kkr.com

• Anamcara, a London-based VC firm led by Annelie Ajami (B&Y Venture Partners), raised $10.6m for its debut fund. www.anamcaracapital.com

• Gutter Capital, a New York-based pre-seed and seed VC firm, raised $25m for its debut fund. It’s led by Dan Teran (founder of Managed by Q) and James Gettinger. https://axios.link/40r44wo

• Toni Burke joined Building Industry Partners as head of strategic and investor relations. She previously was a sustainability exec at SAP. www.buildingip.com

• Deutsche Bank hired Andrew van der Vord (ex-Credit Suisse) and Siddharth Malik (BofA) to co-head its global consumer business, per Bloomberg. It also hired two more consumer/retail bankers from Credit Suisse, Carrie Barber and Jeff Ponko. https://axios.link/40PKb1R

• EY named Konstanze Nardi as its global private equity exit readiness leader and Will Rhode as its global private equity WSG leader. www.ey.com

Big Tech's comeuppance has come to its end, at least in terms of stock market performance, Axios' Matt Phillips writes.

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An example: In 2022, the firm launched a comprehensive sustainable investing platform with the goal of deploying $50 billion in clean energy and climate capital over five years.

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