Good day. While some venture investors are slowing down amid the coronavirus pandemic, some new funds are closing and jumping into the market.

One firm, Coefficient Capital, just closed a consumer-focused fund on March 9, Yuliya Chernova reports. While consumer investing may be a tough area to navigate in the current economic environment, some emerging sectors will grow in this market, the firm believes. 

Meanwhile, startup TriNetX is using data from health-care organizations and academic medical centers to help drugmakers determine which drugs could work best, Brian Gormley reports.  

And now on to the news...

Coefficient Capital has raised a $170 million fund with plans to invest in consumer staples that could weather a recession, WSJ Pro's Yuliya Chernova reports.

• Brands that offer “a clear functional benefit to consumers at a price point that’s reasonable” have better chances to thrive now, said Managing Partner Franklin Isacson, who co-founded Coefficient with Managing Partner Andrew Goletka.
   
• The lockdowns in the U.S. that are forcing consumers to spend more time at home will accelerate shifts that were already taking place in consumer buying habits, Mr. Isacson said.
   
• That means that more people will be paying for streaming video; ordering groceries, pet food and pharmacy products for delivery; and giving up gym memberships for at-home fitness services, he said.

Buyback plan. Japan’s SoftBank Group Corp., which poured nearly $100 billion into cash-burning startups in the last years of the bull market, said Monday it would sell billions of dollars in assets to prop up its plunging stock price and shore up its debt-laden balance sheet following the threat of a ratings downgrade, the Journal's Phred Dvorak reports. The plan marks a remarkable comedown for SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son and his company, which until recently was one of the boldest providers of capital to the world’s billion-dollar unicorns. It earmarks up to $18 billion for share buybacks and another $23 billion to redeem debt and build up cash reserves. The share buybacks come after a roughly $4.5 billion share repurchase plan announced almost two weeks ago. The cash will come from the sale of as much as $41 billion of SoftBank’s assets, chief among them a stake in Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. that is worth between $104 billion and $109 billion.

Call to action. A San Francisco pension fund is calling on major corporations to lend their resources, manufacturing capabilities and distribution networks to help fight the coronavirus, and to publicly report the actions they take, the Journal's Heather Gillers reports. The $25 billion San Francisco Employees’ Retirement System asks companies listed in the S&P 500 to help produce protective gear and testing equipment and to repurpose hotels and other facilities to accommodate patients and health-care workers. The retirement officials are also calling on other U.S. public pension funds, which control a combined $4.3 trillion in assets, and on mutual funds and endowments to join the campaign.

Health-care technology company TriNetX Inc. is joining the battle against the new coronavirus. Cambridge, Mass.-based TriNetX has created a network of academic medical centers and other health-care organizations around the globe and is using its data platform to help drugmakers analyze groups or cohorts of patients and determine which types of medications would work best in specific populations. Drugmakers can use this type of information to determine how and where to conduct specific clinical trials or, once a drug is approved, to target patient populations likely to respond well to the treatment, according to Chief Executive Gadi Lachman.
TriNetX, which has raised $102 million from investors such as MPM Capital, Merck Global Health Innovation Fund, and others, has fielded interest from more than 60 of the 150 health-care organizations in its network in conducting clinical trials of drugs to fight Covid-19, Mr. Lachman said.

―Brian Gormley

The New York Times Company acquired Audm Inc., which transforms longform articles into audio, for an undisclosed amount. Hack.vc and Switch Ventures were backers of Brooklyn, N.Y.-based Audm.

Celebrity and sports focused virtual entertainment company FaceBank Group Inc. and live TV streaming startup fuboTV Inc. agreed to merge. New York-based fuboTV is backed by venture firms including Luminari Capital, Northzone and Waverley Capital. Upon completion of the deal, fuboTV will become a wholly owned subsidiary of FaceBank, and FaceBank will be renamed fuboTV Inc.

Lilium, a Munich-based electric aircraft developer, secured more than $240 million in new funding. Tencent Holdings led the round, with participation from other existing investors including Atomico, Freigeist and LGT.

Cazoo Ltd., a London-based startup that sells and delivers used cars, picked up a new £100 million ($114.8 million) funding round. DMG Ventures led the investment, which included participation from General Catalyst, CNP (Groupe Frère), Mubadala Capital, Octopus Ventures, Eight Roads Ventures and Stride.VC.

Nature’s Fynd, a Chicago-based alternative meat and dairy startup formerly known as Sustainable Bioproducts Inc., scored $80 million in Series B funding. Generation Investment Management and Breakthrough Energy Ventures led the round, with participation from 1955 Capital, Mousse Partners, ADM Ventures and Danone Manifesto Ventures.

Arkose Labs, a San Francisco-based provider of online fraud prevention technology, raised $22 million in Series B financing. M12 led the round, and was joined by existing backers U.S. Venture Partners and PayPal.

Enable, a San Francisco-based rebate management software provider, landed $13 million in Series A funding. Menlo Ventures led the round, with Sierra Ventures also participating. Menlo Partner Steve Sloane joined the company’s board.

SecuLetter, a Korean cybersecurity startup, closed an $8 million Series B round, giving the company a valuation of $38 million. Riyadh Valley Company, KDB Bank, Korea Investment Partners and UTC Investment were the investors.

• U.S. coronavirus response may include funds to boost internet access.
   
• In the coronavirus ‘infodemic,’ here’s how to avoid bad information.
   
• In bid for coronavirus vaccine, U.S. eases access to supercomputers.
   
• Airbnb racks up hundreds of millions in losses due to coronavirus.
   
• Coronavirus makes dating a lot more complicated.
   
• What you need to know about telehealth during the coronavirus crisis.

• As coronavirus surveillance escalates, personal privacy plummets. (New York Times)
   
• Why Slack’s CEO says he's not worried about Microsoft. (Protocol)
   
• Instacart plans to hire 300,000 more workers as demand surges for grocery deliveries. (CNN)
   
• Why don’t we just ban targeted advertising? (Wired)
   
• Virus spurs unexpected test for U.S. schools: Online learning (AP)

We cover venture capital and the global startup ecosystem. WSJ Pro Venture Capital is a premium service of The Wall Street Journal. Share your tips, comments and questions: vcnews@wsj.com

The Team: Tomio Geron, Yuliya Chernova, Brian Gormley and Marc Vartabedian.

Follow us on Twitter: @wsjvc, @tomiogeron, @ychernova, @BrianPGormley, @marcvarta.