Good day. Consumer e-commerce and manufacturing aren’t the only industries relying on well-oiled logistics to operate effectively. Healthcare companies are aiming to move goods and supplies around the globe with increasing efficiency, highlighted by two deals announced this month.

Bttn Technologies Inc., a healthcare distribution startup that allows medical practitioners, businesses and emergency responders to order supplies, raised a $20 million Series A round.

The financing was led by Tiger Global, with participation from venture firm Fuse. The deal, which closed in late March, comes as Seattle-based bttn adds distribution and fulfillment centers to its supply chain, which it says allows it to cut out middlemen and offer lower prices.

Earlier this month, buyout giant EQT’s private-equity division and investment firm Mubadala said they are acquiring Envirotainer, a Swedish medical supply-chain services provider for roughly €2.8 billion, equivalent to about $3 billion. Envirotainer designs, manufactures and leases temperature-controlled containers, used primarily for moving biopharma products via air freight.

The deals serve as evidence of the growing demand for logistics services across industries.

“Years of supply-chain interruptions have medical providers thinking deeply about faster, more reliable and cost-effective ways to source medical supplies,” bttn Chief Executive and co-founder JT Garwood said.

And now on to the news...

Dealing with crypto losses. Cryptocurrency-focused hedge fund Three Arrows Capital Ltd. has hired legal and financial advisers to help work out a solution for its investors and lenders, after suffering heavy losses from a broad market selloff in digital assets, the firm’s founders said Friday, The Wall Street Journal reports.

• “We have always been believers in crypto and we still are,” Kyle Davies, Three Arrows’s co-founder, said in an interview. “We are committed to working things out and finding an equitable solution for all our constituent.”
   
• The nearly decade-old hedge fund, which was started by former schoolmates and Wall Street currency traders Su Zhu and Mr. Davies, had roughly $3 billion in assets under management in April this year.

SpaceX fired some employees involved in a letter that criticized Chief Executive Elon Musk and the way the company applies internal rules, according to an email to staff from SpaceX’s president and people familiar with it, WSJ reports. Gwynne Shotwell, SpaceX’s president, said the company conducted an investigation and decided to terminate a number of employees who participated in the effort, according to the email, a copy of which was viewed by The Wall Street Journal. She said the letter diverted employees’ attention from company operations, and she took issue with how the note was circulated, the email showed.

Some of the world’s biggest companies are starting to set up shop in the metaverse, sketching out an early blueprint for how people might eventually make real money in the much-hyped digital realm, WSJ reports. For fashion brands, toy makers and others, this online world where users interact in their digital guise of avatars is emerging as a new frontier for commerce. Companies are creating versions of their products that exist only on screens, with ownership backed by digital deeds known as nonfungible tokens, or NFTs. They’re also snapping up virtual real estate. More than 70% of the “land” in one online world called “The Sandbox” has already been bought—largely by businesses such as Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, and Atari, a longtime videogame maker.

Financial firm ProShares is ready to roll out the first U.S.-listed short bitcoin futures exchange-traded fund this week, allowing investors to effectively bet against the largest cryptocurrency after its price tumbled below $20,000 over the weekend, reports WSJ. The Bethesda, Md., firm’s fund, the Short Bitcoin Strategy ETF, will trade on the New York Stock Exchange and go by the ticker BITI.

Funds

Matrix Partners is seeking to raise $800 million for its Matrix Partners XII LP and $450 for its Matrix Partners India IV LP funds, according to regulatory filings. In 2018, the firm secured $450 million for its preceding U.S. fund and $300 million for its third India-focused fund.

Immutable launched its Immutable Developer and Venture Fund, a $500 million vehicle to support Web3 games and NFT-centric companies that build on the company’s Ethereum-focused platform, Immutable X. In March, Sydney-based Immutable said it raised a $200 million Series C round from investors including Temasek, King River Capital, Prosus Ventures, AirTree Ventures, Fabric Ventures and Possible Ventures.

Jit, a Tel Aviv-based startup that automates product security for developers, emerged from stealth with $38.5 million in seed financing. Led by boldstart ventures, the round included participation from Tiger Global Management.

Narmi Inc., a New York-based provider of digital banking technologies, snagged $35 million in Series B funding co-led by Greycroft, New Enterprise Associates and Picus Capital.

Transfr VR Inc., a New York-based startup that uses virtual reality to simulate on-the-job training, fetched $35 million in Series B funding. Lumos Capital Group led the round, with Managing Partner Victor Hu joining the board. Firework Ventures, Album VC and Spring Tide Capital also invested.

C-Zero Inc., a Goleta, Calif.-based developer of a technology for natural gas decarbonization, completed a $34 million investment led by SK Gas. Additional investors in the round included Engie New Ventures, Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Eni Next and AP Ventures.

Cube, a New York-based financial planning and analysis platform, gathered $30 million in Series B funding. Battery Ventures led the round, which saw participation from Mayfield, Bonfire Ventures, Operator Collective and GTMfund. Michael Brown, general partner at Battery Ventures, will join the company’s board.

Arkestro Inc., a San Francisco-based predictive procurement orchestration platform, closed a $26 million Series A round led by New Enterprise Associates, Construct, Koch Disruptive Technologies and Four More Capital.

Impulse Space Inc., an El Segundo, Calif.-based developer of in-space transportation services for the inner solar system, landed a $10 million investment from Lux Capital. Founders Fund previously provided seed funding.

Wilco, a Tel Aviv-based upskilling platform for software developers, was seeded with a $7 million investment. Led by Hetz Ventures, the round included participation from Vertex Ventures and Flybridge Capital Partners.

ReturnGO, an Israeli startup that manages returns and exchanges for products purchased on e-commerce sites, closed a $6.5 million seed round led by TPY Capital.

Amy, an Israel-based sales intelligence platform that helps users prepare for external meetings, picked up a $6 million seed investment led by Next Coast Ventures and Lorne Abony.

Augmenta, a Toronto-based startup whose technology automates building design for the construction industry, emerged from stealth with $4.1 million in seed funding. Lead investor Hazelview Ventures was joined by Ferguson Ventures and Whiteshell Group Inc. in the round. Roger Poirier, co-founder of Hazelview Ventures, will join Augmenta’s board.

Makelog, a release communications platform for product updates, raised $3 million in seed funding. Accel led the round, which saw additional support from Basecamp Fund, Formulate Ventures and Bluewatch Ventures.

• In defense of online anonymity
   
• China's Covid fallout flattens JD.com's e-commerce party
   
• How to stand up to a bear market
   
• Your 401(k) is sagging. Bitcoin won’t fix it.
   
• Tech layoffs might ease IT hiring woes

• VC funding to Black-founded startups slows dramatically as venture investors pull back (Crunchbase News)
   
• Police will be able to scan your fingerprints with a phone (Wired)

This newsletter was compiled by Marc Vartabedian and Zachary Cole.

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

The Team: Matthew Strozier, Yuliya Chernova, Brian Gormley and Marc Vartabedian.

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