Term Sheet — Wednesday, March 25

1. When news first leaked last night about the possibility of a deal, all we heard was that Brazilian private equity firm 3G Capital was in "advanced talks" to buy Kraft. I wrote a piece arguing that Warren Buffett was likely involved, due to both his history with 3G (Heinz & Tim Hortons) and the fact that 3G simply didn't have enough money to do this on its own. Seems that hunch was on the money, with Buffett and 3G contributing a combined $10 billion in cash to fund the deal ($5.2b/$4.8b split). That said, I didn't sniff out the Heinz merger piece...

2. This is Buffett's third bite at Kraft Foods. He originally owned many of the assets via an early investment in General Foods. Then he bought big into Kraft Foods in around 2008, before selling most of the stake after it spun off its international business (Mondelēz).

3. This was a fast deal, with Buffett telling CNBC this morning that talks only began four weeks ago.

4. Every time Buffett does a new deal with 3G, it opens him up to charges of hypocrisy. Remember, the Oracle is a regular critic of private equity, decrying both its use of leverage and short-term hold times (well, short-term compared to Berkshire Hathaway). But the simply reality is that 3G is a private equity firm. Yes, it seems to have longer-term holds than do most traditional PE firms, but it is no stranger to partial exits (see: Burger King deal with Bill Ackman) or using big leverage (see: Heinz). Plus, it has a traditional 2/20 fund structure.

5. Look out below: It's also notable that Buffett leaves cost-cutting/layoffs out of his PE critique, even though it is the most common argument made by the asset class' opponents. That's probably because 3G is more ruthless than most. Just go back and read Jennifer Reingold's outstanding piece about what happened at Heinz after 3G took over. If you are a Kraft executive (senior or junior), today should be spent dusting off your resume.

• Fund scoop: New Enterprise Associates has secured approximately $2.57 billion in capital commitments for its fifteenth fund, Fortune has learned. A final close has not yet occurred, as the firm keeps working toward a $2.75 billion hard cap that would make it the largest VC fund of all time (topping NEA's $2.6 billion fourteenth fund, closed in 2012). Expectations are that things will wrap up sometime next month.

• Breaking deal: August, maker of a smart-lock for homes, is announcing $38 million in Series B funding. Bessemer Venture Partners led the round, and was joined by Comcast Ventures, Qualcomm Ventures and return backers Maveron, Cowboy Ventures, Industry Ventures, Rho Ventures and SoftTech VC.

Company founder and CEO Jason Johnson suggests that a lot of the new capital will be used for marketing and retail expansion. The company originally began selling product late last year via Apple retail stores and Amazon, but seems to have new retail deals in place. He also talked about product expansion -- including improved functionality with other, non-August IoT devices -- but shied away from suggesting that August is seeking to become another Nest. Instead, all of the focus is on "access control for the home."

THE BIG DEAL

• H.J. Heinz Co. has agreed to merge with Kraft Foods Group Inc. (Nasdaq: KRFT). Following the deal, Heinz shareholders -- including 3G Capital Partners and Berkshire Hathaway -- would hold a 51% stake in the combined company.

Kraft shareholders would receive stock in the combined company, plus a special cash dividend of $16.50 per share that will be funded via a $10 billion equity commitment from 3G and Berkshire Hathaway. Read more.

VENTURE CAPITAL DEALS

• Cyanogen Inc., a Palo Alto, Calif.-based mobile operating system pure-play, has raised $80 million in Series C funding. Premji Invest led the round, and was joined by Twitter Ventures, Qualcomm Incorporated, Telefónica Ventures, Smartfren Telecom, Index Ventures, Access Industries, Rupert Murdoch and Vivi Nevo. Return backers included Benchmark, Andreessen Horowitz, Redpoint Ventures and Tencent. www.cyanogen.com

• Ayasdi, a Palo Alto, Calif.-based provider of machine intelligence software, has raised $55 million in Series C funding. Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers led the round, and was joined by Centerview Capital Technology, Draper Nexus and return backers Institutional Venture Partners, Khosla Ventures, Floodgate and Citi Ventures. www.ayasdi.com

• Nanigans Inc., a Boston-based provider of mobile ad and ad automation software, has raised $24 million in Series B funding. Cheetah Mobile (Nasdaq: CMCM) led the round, and was joined by Wellington Management and return backer Avalon Ventures. www.nanigans.com

• Swan Global Investments, a Denver-based independent financial advisory firm, has raised $23 million in growth equity funding from FTV Capital. www.swanglobalinvestments.com

• WP Engine, an Austin, Texas-based managed WordPress platform, has raised $23 million in new funding from existing backer North Bridge Venture Partners. Dow Jones reports that the deal was done at a valuation north of $120 million. www.wpengine.com

• InAuth, a Las Vegas-based provider of mobile fraud prevention and mobile application security, has raised $20 million in Series A funding led by Bain Capital Ventures. www.inauth.com

• Lookingglass Cyber Solutions Inc., an Arlington, Va.-based provider of threat intelligence solutions, has raised $20 million in Series B funding. Neuberger Berman Private Equity Funds led the round, and was joined by Alsop Louie Partners. www.lgscout.com

• Hedvig, a Santa Clara, Calif.-based distributed storage platform, has raised $12.5 million in Series A funding. Atlantic Bridge Capital led the round, and was joined by True Ventures and Redpoint Ventures. www.hedviginc.com

• SecurityScorecard, a New York-based provider of global threat intelligence and risk awareness solutions, has raised $12.5 million in Series A funding. Sequoia Capital led the round, and was joined by return backers Boldstart and Evolution Equity Partners. www.securityscoreboard.com

• FullContact, a Denver-based provider of contact management solutions, has raised $10 million in new VC funding. Foundry Group and Baird Capital co-led the round, and were joined by Blue Note Ventures and 500 Startups. www.fullcontact.com

• Rubrik Inc., a Palo Alto, Calif.-based converged data management platform, has raised $10 million in Series A funding led by Lightspeed Venture Partners. www.rubrik.com

• Teabox, an India-based online tea-seller, has raised $6 million in Series A funding. JAFCO Asia led the round, and was joined by Keystone Group, Dragoneer Investment Group and return backer Accel Partners. Read more.

• Flower Orthopedics Corp., a Horsham, Penn.-based developer of a single-use bone fixation concept for orthopedic surgeries, has raised $4.5 million in Series C funding. No investors were identified. www.flowerortho.com

• Silk Therapeutics Inc., a Boston-based skincare line, has raised $2 million in Series 1A funding led by The Kraft Group. www.silktherapeutics.com

PRIVATE EQUITY DEALS

• Centerbridge Partners has agreed to acquire U.S. indoor water park operator Great Wolf Resorts Inc. from Apollo Global Management for $1.35 billion (including debt), according to Reuters. Read more.

• Dude Solutions Inc., a Cary, N.C.-based provider of facility management SaaS solutions, has acquired Windmill Software Inc., a provider of senior living operations software. No financial terms were disclosed. Dude Solutions is backed by Warburg Pincus. www.dudesolutions.com

• Kinderhook Industries has acquired Superwinch Holding LLC, a Dayville, Conn.-based maker of winch systems, from Islington Capital Partners. No financial terms were disclosed. www.superwinch.com

• Levine Leichtman Capital Partners has acquired CJ Fallon Ltd., a provider of print and digital educational content to primary and secondary schools in Ireland. No financial terms were disclosed. www.llcp.com

• NewSpring Capital has acquired X5 Solutions, a Seattle-based provider of custom telecom solutions. No financial terms were disclosed. www.x5solutions.com

• Meridian General Capital has acquired Silver Spur Corp., a provider of specialty glass and plastic bottles and containers to the North American market. No financial terms were disclosed. www.silverspurcorp.com

• Warburg Pincus has agreed to acquire a 35% stake in PT Nirvana Wastu Pratama, an operator of malls and hotels in India, according to a local media report. No financial terms were disclosed. www.warburgpincus.com

IPOs

• AGS Transact Technologies, an Indian provider of touchpoint technology solutions, is preparing to raise nearly $217 million in an IPO. Current shareholders include TPG Capital. Read more.

EXITS

• PAI Partners and Goldman Sachs have hired Rothschild to explore a possible sale of German building materials group Xella, according to Reuters. An IPO also is possible for the business, which is expected to be valued at around $2.7 billion. Read more.

OTHER DEALS

• FXCM Inc. (NYSE: FXCM) has agreed to sell its Japanese business to Rakuten Securities for approximately $62 million. www.fxcm.com

• Hubspot (NYSE: HUBS) has acquired Rekindle, a Boston-based mobile app for making professional connections. No financial terms were disclosed. Read more.

• Intuit (Nasdaq: INTU) has acquired Playbook HR, a San Francisco-based platform for “organizing independent workforces.” No financial terms were disclosed. www.intuit.com

• Vontobel Holding (Swiss: VON) has acquired a 60% stake in TwentyFour Asset Management, a British firm with around $6.5 billion in assets under management. No financial terms were disclosed. Read more.

FIRMS & FUNDS

• Searchlight Capital Partners, a UK-based private equity firm, is seeking to raise $1.5 billion for its second fund, according to Dow Jones. www.searchlightcap.com

MOVING IN, UP, ON & OUT

• Catherine Cai has joined Citigroup as head of China operations. She previously led China investment banking for Merrill Lynch. Read more.

• CenterOak Partners, a Dallas-based private equity firm, has made three hires: Jeff Moredock as vice president (previously with Brazos Private Equity Partners), Megan Kneipp as VP for biz dev and investor relations (Direct Development) and associate Casey Gribble (Credit Suisse). www.centeroakpartners.com

• Patricia Chalian has joined First Avenue Partners as a principal responsible for North American project management. She previously was a senior managing director with Forbes Private Capital Group. www.firstavenue.com

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