🔥 Top Exits & Liquidity Events
F5 → CalypsoAI (AI Security) — $180M. Brings AI guardrails into F5’s app delivery & security platform.
Minute Media → VideoVerse (Sports/AI Video) — Undisclosed. Adds Magnifi’s AI clipping/short-form engine to Minute Media’s portfolio.
SMBC-led consortium → Air Lease (Aircraft Lessor) — $7.4B take-private. One of the year’s largest transport finance deals.
Aon → Madison Dearborn (Wealth Businesses) — $2.7B carve-out. Sponsor re-acquires businesses it knows well.
Kraken → Breakout (Prop Trading Infra) — Undisclosed. Expands Kraken into evaluation-model prop trading.
💡 Total disclosed deal value: ~$10.3B+
(plus IPO activity in fintech and crypto adding to the week’s momentum).
📊 Deal Deep Dives
F5 → CalypsoAI — $180M
Enterprises need guardrails as GenAI hits production.
F5 can now deliver prompt/output controls directly in its traffic flow.
Lesson: Controls closest to inference and data flows win; distribution matters.
Minute Media → VideoVerse — Undisclosed
Sports rights-holders need scalable short-form content.
VideoVerse’s AI clipping generates sponsor-ready inventory in real time.
Lesson: AI that manufactures monetizable content earns premium multiples.
Air Lease → SMBC Consortium — $7.4B
Scarce new-tech aircraft + orderbook scale drives deal logic.
Financing certainty makes leasing an attractive consolidation play.
Lesson: In capital-intensive categories, scale + cheap capital outweigh margin compression.
💵 Valuations & Comps
AI Security tuck-ins: $100–300M band (CalypsoAI fits).
Wealth carve-outs: Sponsors paying ~20× EBITDA for known platforms.
Transport finance: Less about multiples, more about EV, orderbooks, and funding costs.
Trend: Strategics pay up for workflow control. Sponsors focus on cash flow durability and carve-outs.
📌 Milestone Signals
Klarna IPO: Priced at $40; trading stable.
Gemini IPO: Priced above range; strong first-day pop.
Lendbuzz: Filed for IPO with 38% H1 revenue growth.
More to come: StubHub and Netskope eye near-term marketing windows.
🗺️ Sector Heatmap
Cyber/AI Security — $180M
Sports/AI Media Infra — Undisclosed
Aircraft Leasing — $7.4B
Wealth/Asset Management — $2.7B
Crypto Infra — Undisclosed
🔥 Theme: AI at the edges (security, content) + scale economics (leasing, wealth) dominated deal value.
🧑💼 Executive & Org Moves
Walgreens (private): Installed new CEO Day-0 to accelerate turnaround.
IPO candidates: Ramping up CFO/finance hires ahead of filings.
Signal: Transaction-aligned leadership changes remain the best near-term exit tells.
🏦 Private Equity Watch
Carve-outs rising: Sponsors buying non-core assets from strategics.
Private credit: Speeds up $1–5B EV transactions; less reliance on banks.
Secondaries: $20B+ funds provide LP liquidity and help smooth exit pipelines.
⚖️ Regulation & Review
Big Tech remedies: Courts now cite AI challengers when weighing search market remedies.
EU Data Act: Enforcement deadlines hitting; diligence packs expanding to include portability & provenance.
Bank M&A chatter: Softer rates revive regional consolidation buzz.
🎯 Exit Prep Tip of the Week
Build a “Telemetry One-Pager.”
Show investors or acquirers:
Cohort NRR by segment
Unit economics under AI load
Compliance posture (governance, data portability)
Cash conversion & private-credit readiness
Clarity on these four items = higher multiples.
🔮 Market Pulse & Deal Radar
IPO window: Klarna and Gemini priced; Lendbuzz filed; Legence also in market.
M&A cadence: More AI security + media tooling tuck-ins expected; wealth carve-outs remain hot.
Macro: Job softness but credit spreads steady; constructive for Q4 deal math.
📝 Signals Playbook
Founder takeaway: Make your product the default path in critical workflows. Distribution wins.
Investor takeaway: Follow licenses and orderbooks—scarcity drives exits.
📚 Resource Spotlight
IPO Calendars: Track post-Labor-Day slates.
AI Governance Checklists: Map compliance to new rules.
PE Integration Playbooks: 100-day carve-out plans are today’s alpha.
✍️ Editorial Closing
This week, exits spanned two poles: AI at the edge (guardrails, media engines) and scale economics (leasing, wealth).
If you’re building in either orbit, exits are open—if your telemetry is crisp and your regulatory posture is turnkey.