Follow the Money Edition 22

A Moment for Infra-Funds, That's "Infrastructure" not "Infrared" (aka X-Ray Vision)

Deep Insight: The Dam Broke Before the Water Did

The Hoover Dam isn’t a dam anymore—it’s a monument to a hydrologic past we’re quietly outgrowing. Lake Mead is slipping toward the 900-foot mark, the threshold below which turbines stop spinning. The federal government knows this isn’t a theoretical risk: they’ve already built a bypass intake at 865 feet to keep water flowing to Las Vegas. The turbines will fall silent before the taps do.

What comes next isn’t hydro—it’s a race to retrofit. Photovoltaics will offset what hydro no longer can… likely elsewhere not atop the lake itself. Cities will plug into power grids fed by solar, nuclear, and other things.

Apax's $687 million bet this week is on underground infrastructure. Somebody has to dig the holes, reroute the flow, and keep Vegas and many other cities alive. There was a time when water made power. Now water IS power, Dominic Greene style… and increasingly, power is power—regardless, someone has to lay the physical pipes and wiring for both.

Venture

• TSOLife, a Tampa, Fla.-based insights platform for senior living operators, raised $43M in Series B funding led by PeakSpan Capital.

  • Quick Insight: There hasn’t really been a Seniors tech platform since A Place For Mom was founded in 2000… we’re watching, they took inspiration from Ali Larter in Landman, perhaps?

• Exterra, a Canadian startup focused on converting asbestos waste into critical minerals, raised $20M (Canadian) in Series A funding. Clean Energy Ventures and BDC Capital co-led, joined by the Government of Quebec, Investissement Quebec, MOL Switch, and Karpowership.

  • Quick Insight: 51st state doing some good things

• IPercept, a Swedish developer of predictive industrial maintenance software, raised €5M. Luminar Ventures led, joined by RunwayFBU, Backstage Invest, AI.Fund, and J12.

• Lightsonic, a European software platform for distributed fiber optic sensing, raised €3.3M in seed funding. Maki.vc led, joined by Raise Ventures and Sondo.

• Onebeat, a New York City-based inventory platform, raised $15M. Schooner Capital led, joined by Magenta Venture Partners, Surround Ventures, AnD Ventures, J-Ventures, and INcapital Ventures.

• Quantum Systems, a German developer of aerial intelligence systems, raised €160M. Balderton led, joined by Hensoldt, Airbus Defense, Bullhound Capital, LP&E and insiders HV Capital, Project A, Peter Thiel, DTCP, Omnes Capital, Airbus Ventures, Porsche and Notion.

  • Quick Insight: The words of Jonathan Nolan, visually directed by Christopher Nolan, spoken through the mouth of one Morgan Freeman: “nothing like a little air superiority.” The air is built world. Unlike “credits” below…

• CNaught, an SF-based carbon credits platform, raised $4.5m in seed funding led by Bow Capital, with participation from FJ Labs, Silence VC, Karman Ventures, and Marketplace Capital.

  • Quick Insight: This one is striked because“Carbon credits” are not built-world tech and we don’t give a shit what Brendan Wallace says or how many actresses he’s dated.