Big congrats to the winners of the international VCIC competition, in which students form "venture capital firms," including due diligence of real startups and deal negotiations with real founders. If you're looking to hire young VC talent, this might be a good place to start...

• 1st place for MBAs went to BYU Marriott: Rushton Hiltbrand, Adam Navar, Christina Bates, Jessica Talbert, Parker Robbins and Skyler Seymour.
• 1st Place for undergrads went to University of Michigan: Breana Ang, David Burton, Arjan Guglani, Linda Karti, Nathan Vanderweide and Isabella Wash.

Elizabeth Holmes got headlines earlier this week after a judge ruled that she must soon begin serving her prison sentence, but Holmes wasn't the only ex-CEO of a health tech unicorn to leave court unhappy.

Driving the news: Rishi Shah, who founded Outcome Health and led it to a $5.5 billion valuation, on Tuesday was found guilty of mail fraud, wire fraud, bank fraud and money laundering.

• Also convicted by the federal jury were Outcome Health's former president, Shradha Agarwal, and former CFO and COO, Brad Purdy.
• Each defendant could face decades in jail, with sentencing to come later.

Backstory: Outcome Health was launched in 2007, eventually becoming Chicago's most valuable tech startup since Groupon. Its business was installing ad-supported patient information and consent touchscreens in doctor's offices and waiting rooms, raising money from such firms as Goldman Sachs, Alphabet's CapitalG, Valor Equity Partners and Pritzker Group VC.

• Things began falling apart in late 2017 when the WSJ reported that Outcome had "misled pharma companies by charging them for ad placements on more video screens than the startup had installed."
• One month later, a group of Outcome's investors sued for fraud. Shah denied wrongdoing, but agreed to resign and return most of a massive secondary he had negotiated as part of the company's most recent financing round.
• In November 2019 came the criminal charges. In addition to lying about the number of installed devices, the feds included evidence that patient engagement metrics were also inflated — all in an effort to trick advertisers and secure new investment.
• The complaint also revealed that a new C-suite hire at Outcome had raised internal alarm bells just weeks after joining. He lasted just three weeks.
• Also worth noting is that Shah was a very active angel investor who at one point co-founded a firm with fellow Outcome convict Shradha Agarwal.

Cap table: Private equity firm Littlejohn & Co. purchased Outcome Health in 2019, and then sold it two years later to a portfolio company of L Catterton, Searchlight Capital Partners and Silver Point Capital.

The bottom line: Rishi Shah was never a national business celebrity like Elizabeth Holmes, nor did his fraud risk patient health. But Outcome raised almost the exact same amount of equity and debt funding as did Theranos, and did so from more sophisticated investors.

• That puts Shah in the small (but growing) pantheon of grifters whose chosen marks were big-name venture capital funds.

Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) is circulating an early framework for artificial intelligence oversight legislation, Axios has learned.

Why it's the BFD: This could turn AI, the hottest technology among venture capital investors, into a regulated industry.

Details: The proposed rules would include identifying who trained the AI, the intended audience, data source disclosure, an explanation of how the algorithm arrives at its responses and ethics transparency.

Elsewhere: Amazon CEO Andy Jassy this morning released his annual shareholder letter, writing that generative AI projects will be "transformative" for the company.

The bottom line: "Schumer plans to spend the next several weeks refining his proposal with input from academic, industry and government experts. As majority leader, he exercises control over the Senate's schedule and thus could shepherd the legislation to the floor." — Andrew Solender & Ashley Gold, Axios

🚑 Alentis Therapeutics, a Swiss developer of treatments for organ fibrosis and CLDN1 positive tumors, raised $105m in Series C funding. Jeito Capital led, and was joined by Novo Holdings, RA Capital Management and insiders BB Pureos Bioventures, Bpifrance and Schroders Capital. https://axios.link/3ZZBSjb

• Alphasense, a New York-based market intelligence and search platform, raised $100m at a $1.8b valuation led by CapitalG. https://axios.link/3MDDvzT

• Teamworks, a Durham, N.C.-based athlete engagement platform for collegiate and pro teams, raised $65m in Series E funding led by Dragoneer. https://axios.link/3o4jIPT

• Cybersyn, a New York-based data-as-a-service startup, raised $62.9m in Series A funding. Snowflake led, and was joined by Coatue and Sequoia Capital. https://axios.link/3UAPZKM

🚑 Recuro Health, a Richardson, Texas-based digital holistic health platform, raised $47m in Series B funding from Arch Venture Partners, Flippen Group, GPG Ventures and 4D Capital. www.recurohealth.com

• Hometree, a London-based residential energy services company, raised $46m in Series B funding. 2150 and Energy Impact Partners co-led, and were joined by Legal & General Capital and insider Inven Capital. The company also acquired BeWarm, a green home improvement financing platform. https://axios.link/3obCCEE

🚑 1upHealth, a Boston-based health care data platform, raised $40m, per Axios Pro. Sixth Street Growth led, and was joined by insiders F-Prime Capital, Jackson Square Ventures and Eniac Ventures. https://axios.link/3KWh0Vy

• Tradier, a retail brokerage for active traders, raised $24.6m in Series B funding, as first reported by Axios Pro. Peak6 Strategic Capital led, and was joined by insiders F-Prime Capital and KF Business Ventures. https://axios.link/41tSgtn

• LMS365, a Danish provider of online learning management software, raised $20m in first-round funding. Blue Cloud Ventures led, and was joined by Kamet Capital. https://axios.link/43y8sM6

• Thynk, a Belgian provider of hospitality industry software, raised $13m in Series A funding led by Singular. https://axios.link/3GFdsES

• Otterize, a network policy automation startup, raised $11.5m in seed funding. Index Ventures led, and was joined by Dig Ventures, Vine Ventures, Jibe Ventures, Crew Capital and Operator Partners. www.otterize.com

• Spendflo, an SF-based SaaS buying and management tool, raised $11m in Series A funding co-led by Prosus Ventures and Accel. https://axios.link/4088vLj

🐶 Companion, an SF-based AI engagement tool for dogs (you read that correctly), raised $6m from Lerer Hippeau and Digitalis Ventures. www.joincompanion.com

• Ampersand, an SF-based developer platform focused on SaaS intolerability, is announcing $4.7m in seed funding. Matrix Partners led, and was joined by Base Case Capital, Flex Capital and 2.12 Angels. www.withampersand.com

⚡ Haven Energy, a Los Angeles-based home battery installer, raised $4.2m in seed funding. Lerer Hippeau and Giant Ventures co-led, and were joined by Quantum Innovation Fund and Raven One Ventures. https://axios.link/3KBRF1K

• Kala, a Colombian lending infrastructure startup, raised $4m. Cometa led, and was joined by Canary, Acrew, Clocktower and 99 Startups. https://axios.link/41oYAC7

• NATIX, a German decentralized camera network for creating real-time urban maps, raised $3.5m led by Blockchange Ventures. www.natix.io

• Whizz, an e-bike subscription platform for last-mile deliverers, raised $3.4m from Joint Journey and TMT Investments. www.getwhizz.com

U.S. funds invested more than $27 billion in cleantech in 2021.

What this means: Private equity investors can make the most of their capital by grasping the interplay of cleantech operations, value creation opportunities and challenges, and new technologies.

Here’s what you need to know.

• Benford Capital Partners acquired Legacy Bakehouse, a Wisconsin-based maker of bagel chip and other snacks. https://axios.link/3mx6r1R

• Cinven agreed to buy risk management group Archer from RSA Security, a portfolio company of Clearlake Capital Group and Symphony Technology Group. Earlier reports suggested that Archer could fetch more than $2b. www.rsa.com

• CVC Capital Partners is among several PE firms kicking tires on UAE-based credit card processor Network International (LSE: NETW), per Bloomberg. https://axios.link/3GBxZKs

⚡ Greenwood Sustainable Infrastructure acquired Saturn Power's solar and battery development portfolios, per Axios Pro. https://axios.link/3KW2b5m

• Numerix, a New York-based portfolio company of Genstar Capital, acquired Fincad, a financial derivatives pricing and risk analytics solution, from Zafin, whose backers include Accenture Ventures, and Beedie Capital. www.numerix.com

• Sound Partners acquired Los Angeles-based Marathon HVAC Service. www.marathonhvac.com

• Traub Capital Partners acquired a stake in truffle provider Sabatino Tartufi, per Axios Pro. https://axios.link/3MxnXxE

🚑 Vytalize Health, a Hoboken, N.J.-based portfolio company of Enhanced Healthcare Partners, acquired a control stake in physician-led Physician Association of New York. www.vytalizehealth.com

⚡ Ecopro Materials, a maker of cathode active materials for EV batteries, is planning to raise at least $377m via a Seoul IPO, per Bloomberg. https://axios.link/3MyX2By

• Lottomatica, an Italian gaming company owned by Apollo Global Management, is planning to raise €425m in a Milan IPO later this year, per Bloomberg. https://axios.link/3GBLKIU

• ZJLD Group, a Chinese liquor company, is planning to raise between $800m an $900m for its Hong Kong IPO, per Bloomberg. https://axios.link/413N4wv

• Future Dao, a new bitcoin miner, agreed to go public at an implied $350m pre-money valuation via Metal Sky Star Acquisition Corp. (Nasdaq: MSSA), a SPAC led by Man Chak Leung (China Seven Star). https://axios.link/3MGKzf8

• SoftBank is planning to sell most of its remaining stake in Alibaba (NYSE: BABA), in which it remains the largest outside shareholder with around a 13.7% stake, per the FT. https://axios.link/415LvOr

• Vox Media plans to spin off NowThis, the progressive publisher it acquired as part of Group Nine, to nonprofit Accelerate Change. Vox will retain a minority stake. https://axios.link/3nYQMsq

• Merck (DE: MRCG) is seeking to revive the sale process for its pigments group, which could fetch around €1b, per a German media report. https://axios.link/3oaYznh

⚡ NTPC, India’s largest power producer, is likely to sell a 25% stake in its renewable energy arm after failing to strike a divestiture deal with Malaysia's Petronas, per Reuters. https://axios.link/406RS2S

⚽ Thomas Zilliacus, a Finnish businessman, withdrew his takeover offer for Manchester United, telling ESPN the process has been “a farce.”

• In other pro sports deal news, Jeff Bezos reportedly won't bid on the NFL's Washington Commanders franchise.

• Carlyle is targeting $2b for a high-yield debt fund focused on infrastructure projects, per Bloomberg. https://axios.link/3GB3VP1

• Golding Capital Partners of Germany is raising €600m for its third co-investment fund. www.goldingcapital.com

• MassMutual launched its second MM Catalyst Fund, a $100m vehicle focused on Black-led startups in Massachusetts. https://axios.link/43msyZo

• MetaVC Partners, an SF-based VC firm focused on metamaterials startups, raised $62m for its debut fund. LPs include Corning, Gates Frontier and JSR Corp. www.metaventurepartners.com

• Warren Equity Partners raised more than $1.4b for its fourth flagship PE fund. www.warrenequity.com

🚑 Craig Christianson, former head of commercial ops for Promega, joined Water Street Healthcare Partners as an executive advisor. www.waterstreet.com

• Rob Crea is joining Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner as head of the law firm’s fund formation group. He previously was with Vedder Price. www.bclplaw.com

• Ryan Croteau joined ICG as a managing director focused on consultant relations. He previously was with SLC Management. www.icgam.com

• Deutsche Bank is hiring William Mansfield, Credit Suisse’s head of European M&A, per Bloomberg. https://axios.link/3mlfFhO

• Hamilton Lane promoted Cori English, Ilene Levinson and Matt Silverio to managing directors of fund investments. www.hamiltonlane.com

• Kim Olson, who joined Silicon Valley Bank as chief risk officer in January, has left. https://axios.link/3KQXNV9

U.S. private equity deal count fell by 9.3% between Q4 2022 and Q1 2023, but deal value rose by 11.4%. PitchBook writes:

Digital investments are a proven method for driving higher EBITDA.

Here’s why: Private equity firms can use data analysis to enhance value creation — because data is the key to unlocking revenue opportunities, reducing costs and expanding margins.

Get more insight from industry leaders.

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