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Regulations on Private Funds Are Loosening. What Will That Mean for Venture?
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By Yuliya Chernova, WSJ Pro
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Good day. The Trump administration is easing up regulations on private funds. Last week, the Securities and Exchange Commission abandoned proposed rules that would have added new compliance requirements on registered investment advisers. The agency has also said it’s looking to relax restrictions on access to funds-of-funds for retail investors.
How do you expect these changes to affect venture capital? Email your responses to vcnews@wsj.com.
Last week, we asked where the next big jump in gaming innovation will occur and whether it will be enough to jolt the sector out of its current funding rut. Here are responses, edited for length and clarity:
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Jens Hilgers, founding general partner of Bitkraft Ventures: “What the market—what consumers—crave is truly fresh and unique gameplay experiences. Historically, these have been unlocked through the emergence of new platforms and technologies. Today, we’re seeing the rise of AI, blockchain, and next-gen wearable or portable compute—each laying the foundation for profound innovation in gameplay and entertainment.”
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David Pakman, managing partner and head of venture investments at CoinFund: “On-chain games can allow gamers to own their in-game items and profit from the trading and resale of their game progress. Eventually, building games on blockchains will unlock opportunities for other developers to build atop successful games, which will enhance the gaming industry and the investments the vertical receives.”
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Sheena Jindal, founder and general partner at Sugar Free Capital: “AI will do for gaming what TikTok did for media: shift power from institutions to individual creators and players. One of our portfolio companies, CreativeMode, is already seeing thousands of players use AI to build their own experiences. This is the beginning of a player-led era.”
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And now on to the news...
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Caris Life Sciences says it uses molecular profiling and AI insights for improved cancer treatment recommendations. PHOTO: CARIS LIFE SCIENCES
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Caris comes out strong. Cancer-testing company Caris Life Sciences surged in its stock-market debut Wednesday, continuing a run of strong initial public offerings for revenue-making healthcare companies, WSJ Pro reports. Shares of the Irving, Texas-based company rose more than 33.3% from their IPO price of $21 a share, closing at $28 a share.
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Caris raised $494 million by selling more than 23.5 million shares at an IPO price higher than earlier estimates. The company originally expected to go public at $16 to $18, then revised that range up to $19 to $20.
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Revenue-making healthcare companies have found an audience recently among cautious IPO investors. Caris’s offering follows IPOs by Hinge Health, which uses technology to largely automate musculoskeletal care, and virtual-care company Omada Health, both companies with fast-growing revenue.
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$412.3 Million
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Revenue booked by Caris Life Sciences in 2024, up from $306.1 million the year before.
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Ohio Greenlights First-Ever Venture-Capital Hospital Acquisition
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Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost on Wednesday approved General Catalyst’s bid to acquire Summa Health, a hospital system in Akron with over 20 facilities in the area, and convert it to for-profit status, WSJ Pro reports. General Catalyst said in November it would pay $485 million for Summa through its Health Assurance Transformation Co., or Hatco, in a deal that would for the first time give a venture firm the ownership and management of a hospital.
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Yost’s office said the firm must raise its price by $15 million cash. It also added conditions to ensure that General Catalyst maintains Summa’s current policy of providing charity care and essential services, and fulfills its promise to invest at least $550 million in Summa’s operations after the deal closes.
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Trump Delays TikTok Ban for a Third Time
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President Trump gave TikTok another 90-day reprieve Thursday, issuing an executive order deferring enforcement of the 2024 law requiring the Chinese-controlled video app to be sold or shut down for national security reasons, The Wall Street Journal reports. The TikTok ban was set to take effect on Jan. 19, but Trump has issued a series of extensions that have allowed the app to continue operating. The most recent extension expired Thursday.
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Why Companies Are All-In on AI After Arriving Late to Everything Else
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After largely failing to grasp the internet, social media, smartphones and e-commerce quickly enough to avoid significant pain, many businesses have already gotten onboard with AI.
Many potentially transformative applications of artificial intelligence remain hypothetical, of course. Researchers are still assessing the strengths and significant limits of reasoning models. Cybersecurity professionals emphasize the risk of connecting AI with private company data. And regulators, lawmakers and advocates want rules to protect humans on the whole from out-of-control AI.
Meanwhile, 88% of enterprises declare they are undertaking an AI transformation, according to research from McKinsey.
Read the full column.
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People
Atalanta Therapeutics, which is developing treatments for intractable diseases of the central nervous system using RNA interference, named Joanne Kotz as chief executive officer. The Boston-based company also appointed Douglas Pagán as chief financial officer and chief operating officer.
Provi, an online B2B marketplace for the beverage alcohol industry, named Qingqing Ouyang as its chief product and technology officer. She most recently held the same role at OJO Labs.
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Draig Therapeutics, a U.K.-based startup focusing on developing treatments for neuropsychiatric diseases, launched from stealth with $140 million in funding. Access Biotechnology led the company’s Series A round, which included participation from SV Health Investors and others.
Eigen Labs raised $70 million from a16z crypto for EigenLayer, its restaking protocol on Ethereum. The company is based in Seattle.
Corvia Medical, a Tewksbury, Mass.-based developer of transcatheter cardiovascular devices for the treatment of heart failure, closed a $55 million funding round from investors including General Catalyst.
Maven AGI, a Boston-based startup building AI agents to support customer journeys, landed $50 million in Series B funding led by Dell Technologies Capital.
Traversal, a New York-based AI-powered site reliability platform for the enterprise, raised $48 million in seed and Series A funding led by Sequoia Capital and Kleiner Perkins.
Pelico, an agentic AI-powered supply chain orchestration platform founded in France, picked up a $40 million strategic financing round. General Catalyst led the investment, with Larry Bohn joining the company’s board.
Hoppr, a Chicago-based infrastructure platform for building and deploying AI foundation models and applications in medical imaging, secured $31.5 million in Series A financing led by Kivu Ventures and Greycroft.
Payabli, a Miami-based payments infrastructure platform for software companies, closed a $28 million Series B round led by Fika Ventures and QED Investors.
Multiplier, a startup building AI-native professional services firms, launched with $27.5 million in seed and Series A funding. Lightspeed Venture Partners led the Series A portion.
Uncountable, a San Francisco-based platform for digital transformation in industrial research and development, grabbed $27 million in Series A funding. Sageview Capital led the investment, with Principal Caitlin Vorlicek joining the board.
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Here is our weekly roundup of stories from across WSJ Pro that we think you'll find useful.
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An Austin startup has gotten U.S. clearance to build a “guideway” on which autonomous hybrid shuttles would ferry freight between Mexico and Texas in an effort to speed up trade.
Private equity accounts for about half of the companies in the “shadow IPO pipeline,” setting the stage for what could be a busy second half of companies going public.
An Israeli startup is rethinking how to tackle two of the planet’s most stubborn environmental threats—toxic algae that can lead to dead zones in oceans and rising carbon levels.
The ad world is obsessed with industry news videos from two 27-year-old guys.
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SpaceX’s Starship exploded during a test on June 18 at the company’s Texas facility. PHOTO: LABPADRE/STORYFUL
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