Private Equity 24 Hours

Last updated: May 18, 2026, 5:30 AM ET

PE Exits & Physical-World Bets

L Catterton sold Everlane to Shein at roughly $100 million, a steep haircut for the once-celebrated DTC apparel brand that PE backers had nurtured through the pandemic boom. The deal underscores a broader reset in consumer-facing valuations as e-commerce consolidation accelerates. Across the sector, Eclipse's $2.5 billion investment in Cerebras demonstrates that some funds remain aggressively positioned in physical-world technology, with founder Lior Susan betting that AI chip infrastructure will drive outsized returns as the market matures.

AI Capital Flows

Investors have committed billions to DeepMind-related ventures, reflecting institutional confidence in frontier AI despite lingering regulatory scrutiny. The capital concentration around a small group of researchers and founders has drawn comparisons to a "mafia" dynamic that could concentrate risk in a handful of bets.

Biohacking Gaps

Meanwhile, the biohacking sector's gender imbalance is emerging as a structural risk as the industry scales, with women underrepresented in both founding teams and funding pipelines, potentially limiting the market's growth trajectory.