AI's grandest promises aren't about chatbots or other innovations that make our lives incrementally easier. They're about scientific breakthroughs that could literally save our lives.

• So far, however, the billions of VC dollars plugged into AI drug discovery have taken on the tint of fool's gold.
• As the FT recently reported: "It has been longer than the average 10 years that it takes to discover and develop a medicine, yet there are few AI-discovered candidates in late-stage clinical trials, and not one has been approved. Despite pledging to cut the industry's high failure rate, many of the companies' initial studies flopped."

One explanation may be that many of the upstarts have used AI to mine and synthesize decades of existing research on specific indications, expecting to discover diamonds.

That's an argument being made by Geoff von Maltzahn, a serial biotech CEO and longtime partner with Flagship Pioneering.

• His new company, Lila Sciences, yesterday announced $235 million in Series A funding at a $1.2 billion pre-money valuation.
• Its plan is to develop autonomous labs that conduct thousands of concurrent experiments in life, chemical, and materials sciences — and then make the platform available to an array of customers (including biotechs).
• Lila's founding principle is that science is largely stuck in The Bitter Lesson, a famed AI argument that real breakthroughs come from scaling new compute power rather than plugging existing human knowledge into current compute. The general over the specialized.
• "If training models are based on data of the past, then you're going to be limited," von Maltzahn says. "What we're building is a means to go west."

It's worth noting, however, that Flagship Pioneering is among the firms that have put big money into AI drug discovery.

• Lila tries squaring that circle by arguing that its strategy is complementary, not counter, to those efforts — although it's not entirely convincing.

The bottom line is that faith in AI drug discovery is being tested. Maybe what it needs is a slightly different gospel.

Alden Global increased its takeover offer for Dallas Morning News publisher DallasNews (Nasdaq: DALN) to $20 per share, topping a $16.50 per share proposal from Hearst.

Why it's the BFD: A bidding war for newspapers seems almost as antiquated as print editions (something Alden is pledging to maintain in Dallas).

Catch up quick: Hearst in July announced an agreement to buy DallasNews for $14 per share. Alden subsequently submitted an unsolicited, nonbinding $16.50 per share bid.

• DallasNews stuck with Hearst, which yesterday increased its own bid to $16.50 per share.
• Alden now has come back over the top, with a 21% premium to Hearst's latest offer and a 356% premium to where DallasNews shares traded before Hearst's initial bid. It would value DallasNews at around $95 million.

The bottom line: Alden has a reputation for buying and gutting newsrooms, which perhaps is why DallasNews so far hasn't agreed to engage. At this price, however, it might no longer have that luxury.

• Divergent Technologies, a manufacturing platform for military parts, raised $290m in Series E funding ($250m in equity) at a $2.3b valuation led by Rochefort Asset Management. axios.link/3IdUysE

• Nothing, a London-based smartphone developer, raised $200m in Series C funding at a $1.3b valuation. Tiger Global led, joined by Nikhil Kamath, Qualcomm Ventures and insiders GV, Highland Europe, EQT, Latitude, I2BF, and Tapestry. axios.link/46lE0GV

• Dyna Robotics, a Redwood City, Calif.-based developer of robots for commercial settings, raised $120m in Series A funding. Robostrategy, CRV, and First Round Capital led, joined by Salesforce Ventures, NVentures, Amazon Industrial Innovation Fund, Samsung Next, and LG Technology Ventures. axios.link/4pgLWlw

• SEON, a fraud prevention startup, raised $80m in Series C funding. Sixth Street Growth led, joined by IVP, Creandum, Firebolt, Hearst and Bank Muscat. axios.link/3VjMTMo

• Remedio, an Israeli cybersecurity startup, raised $65m. Bessemer Venture Partners led, joined by TLV Partners and Picture Capital. axios.link/3IqYmXr

• Tabs, a New York-based developer of AI agents for finance teams, raised $55m in Series B funding, per Axios Pro. Lightspeed led, joined by General Catalyst, Primary Venture Partners, and World Innovation Lab. axios.link/46sd2xH

🚑 AllRock Bio, a Natick-based biotech focused on cardiopulmonary and fibrotic diseases, raised $50m in Series A funding led by Versant Ventures and Westlake BioPartners. axios.link/3VOZK9l

🚑 Conceivable Life Sciences, a New York-based developer of automated IVF labs, raised $50m in Series A funding, per Axios Pro. Advance Venture Partners led, joined by Artis Ventures, Stride, and ACME. axios.link/4mn4iPh

• MarqVision, an LA-based brand protection startup, raised $48m in Series B funding. Peak XV Partners led, joined by Salesforce Ventures, HSG, Coral Capital, Michael Seibel, YC, Altos Ventures, and Atinum Investment. axios.link/3VRxIKk

🚑 Modern Animal, a vet clinic network, raised $46m in Series D funding from Addition, Upfront Ventures, True Ventures, and Founders Fund. axios.link/4n670cU

• WorkFusion, a developer of AI agents for financial crime compliance, raised $45m led by Georgian. workfusion.com

⚡ Rodatherm Energy, a Salt Lake City-based geothermal startup, raised $38m in Series A funding. Evok Innovations led, joined by TDK Ventures, Toyota Ventures, TechEnergy Ventures, MCJ, Active Impact Investors, Renewal Funds, Grantham Foundation, and Giga Investments. axios.link/48k1IG9

• Nory, a London-based restaurant management system, raised $37m in Series B funding. Kinnevik led, joined by insider Accel. axios.link/4pqCjkg

🌎 Bioweg, a German developer of biodegradable replacements for microplastics, raised €16m in Series A funding. Axeleo Capital led, joined by EIC Fund, NBank Capital, and BonVenture. axios.link/3JXGhkm

• Envive AI, an AI platform for retail brands, raised $15m in Series A funding, per Axios Pro. Fuse VC led, joined by Point72 Ventures. axios.link/3Kpfptt

🚑 Highlight Therapeutics, a Spanish developer of skin tumor treatments, raised €15m led by Buenavista. highlighttherapeutics.com

• Sharp Performance, a provider of personal coaching for those in high-risk jobs, raised $12m in seed funding. A16z led, joined by A*, Commonweal Ventures, Formation, SV Angel, and Liquid 2 Ventures. axios.link/3VieIEE

• Ray Security, an Israeli data security startup, raised $11m in seed funding led by Venture Guides and Ibex Investors, per Axios Pro. axios.link/3IpoqSL

🚑 Birches Health, a gambling addiction treatment startup, raised $10m in Series A funding led by AlleyCorp, per Axios Pro. axios.link/3VDXNNb

⚡ Field.energy, a German developer of agricultural photovoltaics, raised more than €10m led by HV Capital, with participation from Future Energy Ventures, AENU, and Angel Invest. axios.link/4mjtZjM

• Tucker's Farm, a value-oriented holding vehicle, raised $10m in Series B funding from InterAlpen Partners and Brookside Equity Partners. axios.link/4n5fuRR

• Fabrix Security, an Israeli startup focused on identity sprawl, raised $8m in seed funding from Norwest Venture Partners, Merlin Ventures, and Jibe Ventures. fabrix.security

• Scalekit, an agentic apps authentication startup, raised $5.5m in seed funding led by Together Fund and Z47. scalekit.com

• UiAgent, a New York-based developer of AI agents for large accounting firms, raised $4.6m in seed funding led by Marathon Management Partners. axios.link/46s10nP

• Temelion, a French platform for pre-construction workflows, raised €3.2m in seed funding. 360Capital led, joined by ISAI Build Venture, SE Ventures and Kima Ventures. axios.link/4pqB4l6

• Ardurra, a Littlejohn & Co. portfolio company, acquired Perteet, a transportation infrastructure consultancy. axios.link/48iMCRk

• ATIS, an elevator and escalator inspection firm owned by Thompson Street Capital Partners, acquired the U.S. elevator inspection business of Technical Inspection Agency USA. axios.link/4gnX4ZP

⚡ Blackstone agreed to acquire Hill Top Energy Center, a 620-megawatt natural gas power plant in Western Pennsylvania, for nearly $1b, from Ardian. axios.link/46gnnMY

• Centre Partners and Baldwin Creek Partners acquired Maynor, a Raleigh-based provider of residential field services. axios.link/42z5uaZ

• CVC Capital Partners agreed to acquire Carma, a Canadian submetering firm, from TerraNova Partners. axios.link/4glwikG

• CVC also is in talks to buy KKR's majority stake in Indian investment bank Avendus Capital, after talks fell through with Mizuho Financial Group (Tokyo: 8411), per Bloomberg.

🚑 GHO Capital agreed to acquire Scientist.com, a life sciences R&D orchestration platform that had raised over $20m from firms like Transformation Capital and 5AM Ventures. scientist.com

• GrowthCurve Capital acquired PlanHub, a West Palm Beach, Fla.-based software platform for commercial construction, from Mainsail Partners. planhub.com

• KKR acquired Japanese insurer Hoken Minaoshi Hompo Group from Advantage Partners. axios.link/3VSUxxe

• Momentium, a Core Industrial Partners portfolio company, acquired Superior Lithographics, a provider of folding cartons, corrugated top sheets and litho labels. momentiumpkg.com

• Percheron Capital acquired Enervise, a Cincinnati-based commercial HVAC services company. axios.link/4gtwRt5

• Verlinvest acquired a majority stake in Boulders, a Danish chain of bouldering gyms. axios.link/4n4ZIq5

• Chenghe Acquisition III, a SPAC targeting businesses with an Asia presence, raised $110m in its IPO. axios.link/4nSEUTB

🍺 Orion Breweries, a Japanese beer maker owned by Carlyle and Nomura, raised around $183m in a Tokyo IPO that priced atop its range. axios.link/464RV5u

• Netskope, a Santa Clara, Calif.-based cloud security provider, increased its IPO price range to $17-$19 from $15-$17. It still plans to offer 47.8m shares and list on the Nasdaq (NTSK). Major shareholders include Lightspeed Venture Partners, Iconiq, and Accel. axios.link/42ov1Uk

• Verisure, a Swiss fire and security alarm maker owned by Hellman & Friedman, may launch a €3b IPO in Stockholm this week, per Bloomberg. axios.link/4nvWZpl

🚑 Community Care of North Carolina acquired Med First, a Raleigh-based operator of primary care clinics, from Sverica. thinkmedfirst.com

• HPS Investment Partners is seeking to sell U.K. financial adviser Nucleus Financial Platforms, per Reuters. axios.link/4gn0yvC

• Workday (Nasdaq: WDAY) agreed to buy Sana, a Swedish developer of enterprise AI agents, for around $1.1b. Sana had raised around $140m from firms like NEA, EQT Ventures and Menlo Ventures. axios.link/46ecz1G

• Boost Run, a Chicago-based AI cloud infrastructure company, agreed to go public at an implied $614m equity value via a reverse merger with Willow Lane Acquisition Corp. (Nasdaq:WLAC), a SPAC led by Luke Weil. axios.link/4poY7wH

⚡ California Resources (NYSE: CRC) agreed to buy Dallas-based oil and gas producer Berry Corp. (Nasdaq: BRY) for around $717m in stock. axios.link/4pvYgP9

🚑 Iqvia (NYSE: IQV) agreed to acquire Next Oncology, a San Antonio-based network of cancer clinical trial centers, per Axios Pro. axios.link/3KnB7y0

• Lynn Forester de Rothschild is seeking to sell a 20% stake in the Economist Group, which could fetch around £200m, per Bloomberg. axios.link/4gsvjj1

• Advent International raised $20b for its latest flagship fund, per Bloomberg. axios.link/4pnEJQI

• Bond, a growth equity firm, promoted Alexander Krey to partner. axios.link/48gTfDB

• Gene Lockhart joined Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe as an operating partner. He's the former CEO of Mastercard and former president of BoA's global retail bank. wcas.com

• Daniel Stevenson joined Hayfin as a managing director and head of capital markets. He previously was with Deutsche Bank. axios.link/4pv7r2g

Bill Egan died on Saturday at the age of 80.

• Bill was a co-founder of Burr Egan Deleage, one of the earliest bicoastal VC firms focused on technology. He later led successor firm Alta Communications and then co-founded Marion Equity Partners.
• His investments included FedEx and Continental Cablevision, while he also chaired the National Venture Capital Association.

Bill also was the sort of person who would take time to explain the intricacies of venture capital to a young reporter who had little to offer but ears. Every newsletter I've ever written was made possible by the generosity of people like Bill.

• In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made to the Boys and Girls Clubs of Newport County or the Hope Funds for Cancer Research.