BlackRock has spent big this year on expanding its private equity business, whether that be through acquisitions or partnerships.

• But now it's winding down one of its first forays into the asset class.

Driving the news: BlackRock will not raise a second fund under the Long Term Private Capital banner, despite having already been in market and securing at least $300 million in commitments.

• Its 19-person investment team instead will be charged with winding down the $4.3 billion debut fund, with hopes that carried interest and other incentives will convince them to stick around.

Why it matters: This shows that even the biggest brands, such as the $10 trillion ETF king, can be hit hard by LP distribution demands.

Catch up quick: BlackRock launched LTPC in 2018, hiring PSP Investments CEO Andre Bourbonnais to lead a program focused on midmarket companies and long hold periods.

• The original idea was to raise more than $10 billion via an evergreen structure, including from some of BlackRock's institutional clients, but instead it switched to a more conventional GP/LP model and closed on the $4.3 billion in 2019.
• LTPC's initial transaction was a large minority investment in Authentic Brands, but most of its deals were leveraged buyouts of companies like Creed Fragrances, Summit Cos., and Paradigm Oral Surgery. Its most recent was an early 2023 purchase of insurance claims management firm Alacrity Solutions.

Zoom in: Many of the deals have been winners (e.g., Creed selling to Kering for $3.83 billion), but the paper multiples continued to be much more impressive than the actual distributions, according to a public pension report through June 30, 2024:

• Net IRR: 33%
• Net MOIC: 2.4x
• Net DPI: 0.6x

The bottom line: When BlackRock went back to market, LPs basically said to focus on returning money rather than raising money.

• The firm declined comment when contacted by Axios.

The bottom line: Scaling sometimes includes shutdowns.

Inversion, a developer of space-based cargo delivery, tells Axios that it has raised $44 million in Series A funding co-led by Spark Capital and Adjacent.

Why it's the BFD: This could provide near-instant delivery of medicines and other emergency supplies to anywhere on Earth within an hour. Same goes for military cargo like drones.

How it works: Inversion is developing small spacecraft (4 feet x 8 feet) that can store cargo in space for up to five years. The vehicles have targeted reentry capabilities, thus letting them "glide" the cargo to the ground destination.

• "There are times like natural disasters and some national security situations in which you need the thing at the location immediately," Inversion Space CEO Justin Fiaschetti explains. "You can prepare for that need maybe even years in advance, but not for the time or place."

Other investors include Lockheed Martin Ventures, Kindred, and Y Combinator.

The bottom line: This is one of several orbital ideas that's been made more plausible by major reductions in launch costs.

• Cyera, an Israeli cloud data security company, raised $300m in Series D funding at a $3b valuation. Accel and Sapphire Ventures co-led, and were joined by Sequoia Capital, Redpoint Ventures, Coatue, and Georgian. axios.link/3V4brZR