Private Equity 24-Hour Briefing
×Last updated: October 30, 2026, 3:40 PM ET
Mega-Rounds & Venture Funding
This week's largest funding rounds were led by physical AI news.crunchbase.com and manufacturing startups, according to Crunchbase News. Wellington Management and Sequoia Capital co-led a $1bn Series G peinsights.substack.com in Kalshi, valuing the prediction-market platform at $40bn. Meanwhile, travel tech funding is sliding news.crunchbase.com toward a multiyear low, even as investors pour money into AI.
Fund Managers & Fundraising
Ares Management raised $31bn peinsights.substack.com in gross capital commitments during the third quarter, while fee earnings climbed 11%. Pantheon's Hassanally said its latest flagship fund will back pei-secondariesinvestor.com the same mid-market deals with larger checks. Partners Group, however, faces pressure as its US evergreen fund gated redemptions again peinsights.substack.com after requests reached $2.2bn.
Buyouts & Acquisitions
TPG completed its acquisition peinsights.substack.com of a controlling 61.17% stake in Lotte Rental in a $990m deal that Affinity could not close. Stonepeak closed its purchase peinsights.substack.com of BMO Financial Group's equipment finance carve-out and launched a new vehicle called Longview. In a larger transaction, OpenAI-backed Thrive Holdings is acquiring techcrunch.com ADT in a $15.3 billion deal.
European Startups & Talent
Talent ranks as the top concern sifted.eu for European AI startups as funding pressures mount. Creandum and USV co-led a $40m seed round sifted.eu into Machenta, a robotics lab without a product yet. South Korea is wagering on startups sifted.eu to secure its position on the global stage, while France's startup ecosystem shows signs sifted.eu of disenchantment with Emmanuel Macron. Former EQT investor Doreen Huber joined Interface Capital sifted.eu with a focus on cybersecurity deals.
AI Governance & Infrastructure
Startups building guardrails for autonomous agents sifted.eu are drawing investor interest as agentic AI expands.
Events
Tech Crunch Founder Summit techcrunch.com takes place November 4 at SoWa Power Station in Boston, and the early-registration window closes in five days. Attendees can also book Braindate techcrunch.com networking sessions ahead of the event.
Coming Up
The Tech Crunch Founder Summit happens November 4 techcrunch.com at SoWa Power Station in Boston.