Happy Thursday. Scooter startup Bird Rides Inc. is facing a mass tort lawsuit alleging the Santa Monica, Calif.-based company failed to properly maintain scooter parts including brakes, wheels and throttles, resulting in the injury of the suit’s 41 plaintiffs.

The suit, filed earlier this month in Los Angeles Superior Court, alleges that brake failure, sudden accelerations, and faulty throttle buttons and wheels resulted in injuries such as fractures, broken bones and concussions. Plaintiffs described being thrown off the scooters or jumping off to avoid cars when brakes or other features failed.

The suit also names scooter manufacturers Xiaomi USA Inc. and Segway Inc. as defendants.

The lawsuit comes after WSJ Pro reported in January that scooter mechanics for industry leaders Bird and Neutron Holdings Inc., known as Lime, have faced spare parts shortages that forced them to scavenge for old parts, including brakes, wheels and throttles off other broken scooters to make repairs.

And now on to the news...

Drug discovery. After largely funding itself through collaborations with drugmakers such as Eli Lilly & Co., biotechnology startup AbCellera Biologics Inc. has raised $105 million in Series B financing, WSJ Pro’s Brian Gormley reports.

• AbCellera scans the immune systems of animals and people in search of antibodies to treat or prevent diseases. That has attracted partners such as Eli Lilly, which has joined with AbCellera in a deal that includes an effort to uncover antibodies to treat or prevent Covid-19.
   
• Because of its partnerships, AbCellera until now had raised only $10 million in venture capital through a 2018 Series A round led by DCVC Bio.
   
• This new financing led by DCVC Bio and OrbiMed Advisors will enable AbCellera to build a biological-drug manufacturing plant and offer more services to its partners.

Furloughs. Beauty brand Glossier Inc. plans to furlough most of its roughly 150 retail employees starting June 1, according to a spokeswoman. Glossier closed its retail locations March 13 due to coronavirus concerns. In a filing the company made with New York state authorities, Glossier indicated it would temporarily let go 91 local employees, WSJ Pro’s Yuliya Chernova reports. They are part of more than 100 that Glossier employs across its New York and Los Angeles retail locations, according to the spokeswoman. It also employs roughly 50 people in London through a third party, she said.

In one of the largest Series A rounds for a female-led startup this year, women’s health-care provider Tia Inc. said it raised $24.3 million led by Threshold Ventures, formerly known as DFJ.

New York-based Tia closed the round in mid-March, at a time when funding for startups with all-female founders has been on the decline. In the first quarter of this year, 133 such U.S. startups raised $600 million, according to PitchBook. That’s down from the peak in the first quarter of 2019, when 201 such startups raised $1 billion.

Tia, founded by Carolyn Witte and Felicity Yost, has an all-female board. Emily Melton, a managing partner at Threshold, has joined Tia’s board, along with Lynne Chou O’Keefe, founder and managing partner at Define Ventures.

The company plans to use the financing to expand from its first clinic based in New York to open other locations that would be funded together with larger health systems, Ms. Witte said. The company also has expanded its virtual-care model during the pandemic. Define Ventures, ACME, Torch Capital, Homebrew and Compound, as well as John Doerr, also participated in the round.

—Yuliya Chernova

Funds

Race Capital launched a new early-stage technology venture-capital fund with about $125 million in commitments, according to a person familiar with the deal. The firm focuses its investments in the enterprise software, infrastructure, fintech and middleware sectors. Company founders and general partners include BEA Systems founder Alfred Chuang, along with former partners from 500 Startups, Greylock Partners and Horizons Ventures.

Exits

Indian electric-powered vehicle startup Ola Electric Mobility Pvt. acquired Amersterdam-based electric scooter company Etergo BV for an undisclosed sum. Last year, Ola Electric raised more than $300 million from investors including SoftBank, Matrix Partners India and Tiger Global Management.

Cryptocurrency startup Coinbase Inc. acquired crypto prime brokerage platform Tagomi for an undisclosed amount. In October 2018, San Francisco-based Coinbase raised a $300 million Series E round from Tiger Global Management, Y Combinator Continuity, Wellington Management, Andreessen Horowitz and Polychain that valued the company at more than $8 billion. Tagomi was backed by investors including Founders Fund, Collaborative Fund and Digital Currency Group.

Publicly traded Expeditors International of Washington Inc. will bolster its online shipping platform Koho with the purchase of Fleet Logistics’ digital platform. Terms were undisclosed. Portland, Ore.-based international shipping marketplace Fleet is backed by investors including Hunt Technology Ventures, UP2398, Elefund, Avala Capital and 1517 Fund.

SmartRent, a Scottsdale, Ariz.-based provider of smart home automation technology to multifamily property managers and renters, closed a $60 million Series C round of funding. Spark Capital led the investment, which included participation from Fifth Wall, Energy Impact Partners, Amazon Alexa Fund, Bain Capital Ventures and RET Ventures. In addition to the investment, SmartRent appointed Darian Hong as chief financial officer and CJ Edmonds as chief revenue officer.

Ascus Biosciences Inc., a San Diego-based animal health and nutrition startup, secured $46 million in Series B funding. Temasek led the round, and was joined by investors including Anterra Capital, Formation 8 and Cavallo Ventures.

Monte Rosa Therapeutics Inc., a Cambridge, Mass.-based developer of small molecules to degrade disease-related proteins, snagged $32.5 million in Series A financing from Versant Ventures and New Enterprise Associates.

Gatsby Inc., a Berkeley, Calif.-based website development platform, picked up a $28 million Series B investment. Index Ventures led the round, with support from CRV and Trinity Ventures. Index Ventures Partner Shardul Shah joined the company’s board.

Otrium BV, an Amsterdam-based online fashion marketplace that sells end-of-season collections that would otherwise go unsold, collected €24 million ($26.4 million) in Series B funding. Eight Roads Ventures led the investment, which included participation from Index Ventures. Davor Hebel, head of Eight Roads Ventures Europe, joined the board.

Kentik, a San Francisco-based network intelligence platform, landed $23.5 million in equity and debt financing. Vistara Capital Partners led the round, with contributions from August Capital, Third Point Ventures, DCVC and Tahoma Ventures.

Dishcraft Robotics, a San Carlos, Calif.-based robot-powered dishwashing service for foodservice operators, raised $20 million in Series A1 financing. Grit Ventures led the investment, with participation from First Round Capital, Baseline Ventures, Fuel Capital and Lemnos. Marc Randolph, co-founder and former chief executive of Netflix, and Kelly Coyne, founder and partner at Grit Ventures, will join the board.

Treasury Intelligence Solutions GmbH, a German cloud platform for managing corporate payments and cash flows, added $20 million in funding. Aquiline Technology Growth led the investment, with support from 83North, Target Partners and Zobito. Aquiline’s Michael Cichowski joined the board.

Siren, a San Francisco-based developer of a temperature-monitoring sock that allows podiatrists to detect early signs of inflammation in patients at risk of developing diabetic foot ulcers, grabbed $11.8 million in funding. Anathem Ventures led the round, which included participation from DCM, Khosla Ventures, 500 Startups and Founders Fund. DCM Partner Jason Krikorian will join the board.

Cinchy, a Toronto-based autonomous data startup, landed $10 million in Series A funding. Information Venture Partners led the round, which included participation from BDC, ScaleUp Ventures, Techstars and Manulife Investment Management.

Cariloop, a Dallas-based caregiver support platform, nabbed a $6 million round of funding. Patterson Thoma Family Office led the investment, with participation from Revolution’s Rise of the Rest Seed Fund, ACAP Health, KCRise Fund, MPK Equity Partners and others. Colin Patrick, Patterson Thoma’s chief financial officer, will join the company’s board.

• Bad weather scrubs SpaceX launch.
   
• U.S. seizure of Chinese-built transformer raises specter of closer scrutiny.
   
• Two Chinese tech firms prepare Hong Kong listings as U.S. pressure rises.
   
• Twitter adds fact-check notices to Trump tweets on mail-in ballots.
   
• HBO Max leaves AT&T at odds with Amazon and Roku.

• Tech billionaires are plotting sweeping, secret plans to boost Joe Biden. (Recode)

• Instagram will share revenue with creators for the first time through ads in IGTV. (Verge)

• Charli D’Amelio is TikTok’s biggest star. She has no idea why. (Washington Post)

• Americans, it turns out, would rather visit a store than buy food online. (Bloomberg)

• A Monday is a Tuesday is a Sunday as Covid-19 disrupts internal clocks. (Scientific American)

This newsletter was compiled by Tomio Geron 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, Tomio Geron, Yuliya Chernova, Brian Gormley and Marc Vartabedian.

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