Apple Tree Partners has invested billions of dollars to launch and grow biotech companies, but now a legal dispute threatens to shut many of them down.

The big picture: Apple Tree has an unusual structure for a venture capital firm, according to court documents in Delaware and the Cayman Islands.

• Since 2012 it's been almost entirely funded by one man, a Russian oligarch named Dmitry Rybolovlev. If that name sounds familiar, it's probably because you remember his unsuccessful art fraud allegations against auction house Sotheby's.
• Rybolovlev made more than $2.4 billion of commitments to Apple Tree, but not via a blind pool. Instead, Apple Tree would propose "budgets" for new portfolio companies for approval by Rybolovlev or a representative of his family office.

Zoom in: This concentrated capital arrangement was risky for Apple Tree portfolio companies, particularly given that Apple Tree sought to be their only investor via tranched financings.

• The protection was a "global default" provision. Were Rybolovlev to refuse a valid capital call, the fund could confiscate up to 50% of his interests.

Behind the scenes: According to a lawsuit filed by Apple Tree, this arrangement worked fine until shortly after Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

• After that, Apple Tree claims that Rybolovlev got stingy. By September 2022, his family office allegedly said it only would approve "austerity" budgets going forward.
• There were some legal wranglings in the Caymans, which got resolved.

Fast forward: Last month, Apple Tree issued over $100 million in capital calls — $87 million of which is earmarked for up to 10 portfolio companies.

• This is according to a Cayman's complaint by Rybolovlev because much of Apple Tree's filing in Delaware is redacted.
• He claims that he is not legally obligated to pay because, in part, the companies haven't met certain milestones. Moreover, he accuses Apple Tree of "serious mismanagement and a lack of probity."
• Apple Tree calls the situation "an emergency," saying that several of its portfolio companies "face imminent collapse." In fact, a source tells Axios that one of them has already signaled its plans to shutter.

Look ahead: The firm is asking the court for specific performance (i.e., require that Rybolovlev meet his capital call), and argues that Rybolovlev actually wants them to struggle and sell to him on the cheap.

• Rybolovlev wants a ruling that his obligations have been met.
• Meanwhile, up to 10 startups and hundreds of employees are stuck in limbo.

Uber (NYSE: UBER) is in talks with former CEO Travis Kalanick to help fund his prospective bid for the U.S. subsidiary of Chinese self-driving car company Pony.ai (Nasdaq: PONY), per the NY Times.

Why it's the BFD: The breakup between Uber and Kalanick was brutal. When Uber went public 23 months later, new CEO Dara Khosrowshahi rejected Kalanick's request to stand on the NYSE "balcony" to help ring the opening bell.

• Kalanick also has remained steadfast that Uber would have a self-driving fleet had he remained in charge.

Zoom in: For Uber, these talks reflect serious competition from Waymo. And fears of serious competition from Tesla, which just launched its robo-taxi service in Austin.

• For Pony, it reflects how national security rules have caused it to keep its U.S. and Chinese businesses and tech separate — thus setting the stage for a sale.

The bottom line: First came news that Oasis is reuniting. Now this.

Editor's note: Yesterday's edition incorrectly said that Kalshi uses blockchain to facilitate bets. It doesn't, although users can use select cryptocurrencies to deposit and withdraw.

• Tacta Systems, a Palo Alto-based developer of dextrous intelligence for robots, raised $64m in Series A funding. America's Frontier Fund and SBVA led, joined by Matter Venture Partners, B Capital, EDBI, Sojitz, CDIB -TEN Capital, Yazaki Innovations, B5 Capital, Tyche Partners, and Woven Capital. tactasystems.com