Good day. One metric shows how venture-deal volume fluctuated as the coronavirus crisis gripped different parts of the world.

For instance, as the coronavirus shifted out of Asia earlier this year, venture deals in the region rebounded. In March, the Asia-Pacific logged 505 deals, up from 339 in February and 379 in January, according to London-based data provider GlobalData.

In Europe, which was ravaged by the virus after Asia, the number of venture deals declined from 352 in January to 346 in February and 291 in March. And North America, which accounts for roughly 48% of all venture deals world-wide, experienced a steady decline from 851 in January to 763 in February and 656 in March.

However, despite the Asia-Pacific’s recovery, the region is still registering deal volume below that of the fourth quarter in 2019. If this trend follows for North America, a potential rebound in the coming months won’t necessarily mean the industry is back on track.

And now on to the news...

Rare diseases. Rallybio LLC, a biotechnology startup formed in 2018 by three veterans of rare-disease specialist Alexion Pharmaceuticals Inc., has raised $145 million to develop a portfolio of experimental rare-disease therapies, WSJ Pro’s Brian Gormley reports.

• Rallybio seeks to acquire and develop medicines from other companies and says it scouts opportunities in the U.S., Europe, Israel and Asia.
   
• The company acquired its lead product from Scandinavian biotech company Prophylix AS, a potential treatment for a rare disease that causes pregnant women to develop antibodies that attack the platelets of her fetus.

New fund. Lachy Groom, an early Stripe Inc. employee and an angel investor, is raising his second fund to back early-stage startups, according to people familiar with the situation, WSJ Pro’s Yuliya Chernova reports. Mr. Groom is targeting about $100 million for the fund, LGF II, the people said. Based out of San Francisco, Mr. Groom is a solo general partner at his firm. He invests across technology sectors and has backed companies such as productivity-software provider Notion Labs Inc. and design collaboration company Figma Inc.

Funds

Cowen Inc.’s health-care investment strategy, Cowen Healthcare Investments, raised $493 million for its third fund, which was $93 million above its original target. The New York-based firm focuses on investments in the biopharma, diagnostics and digital health sectors. Cowen Healthcare Investments III LP’s limited partners included institutional investors, family offices and high net worth individuals.

People

Cloud database startup YugaByte Inc. appointed Bill Cook as chief executive. With this move, founding Chief Executive Kannan Muthukkaruppan becomes president of product development. Mr. Cook was most recently president and co-founder of Pivotal Software. Sunnyvale, Calif.-based YugaByte is backed by Dell Technologies Capital and Lightspeed Venture Partners.

Search-as-a-service platform Algolia Inc. named Bernadette Nixon as chief executive. She was previously chief executive at Alfresco. San Francisco-based Algolia is backed by Accel, Salesforce Ventures, SaaStr fund, Alven Capital, Point Nine Capital Storm Ventures and others.

Exits

Autonomous retail checkout provider Standard Cognition acquired Italian peer Checkout Technologies for an undisclosed sum. San Francisco-based Standard has raised $86 million in funding from investors including CRV, Initialized Capital, EQT Ventures and Y Combinator. Checkout was a portfolio company of B-Engine.

Merck’s ILUM Health Solutions combined with Infectious Disease Connect Inc., which offers telemedicine-enabled services to hospitals for the treatment of infectious diseases, and is backed by health-care provider and insurer UPMC. As part of the deal, UPMC Enterprises, UPMC’s venture-capital, innovation and commercialization arm, along with Merck Global Health Innovation Fund, will each invest $5 million in the combined entity.

Ontario Systems, a provider of workflow automation software used in health-care billing and in accounts-receivable operations, acquired health-care payments startup SwervePay for an undisclosed amount. Founded in 1980, Muncie, Ind.-based Ontario was acquired by private-equity firm New Mountain Capital last year. SwervePay, of Chicago, was backed by KGC Capital, Mandell Ventures and 4490 Ventures.

Brex Inc., a San Francisco-based issuer of credit cards to startups, picked up $150 million in new funding from investors including Lone Pine Capital and DST Global. The company has raised over $400 million to date from Y Combinator Continuity, Kleiner Perkins and others.

Amplyx Pharmaceuticals Inc., a San Diego-based company whose antifungal agent and monoclonal antibody for the treatment of BK virus are currently in clinical development, added $53 million in Series C funding, bringing the round total to $90 million. Sofinnova Investments led the extension, which included participation from new investors Pfizer Inc. and Adage Capital Management, along with existing backers New Enterprise Associates, Lundbeckfonden Ventures, Arix Bioscience, Pappas Capital, RiverVest Venture Partners, 3x5 Partners and BioMed Ventures.

DataGrand, a Shanghai-based artificial intelligence and robotic process automation startup, secured $38 million in Series B+ funding. Shenzhen Capital Group led the round, with participation from SAIF Partners, Z Capital and Mount Morning Capital.

Sound Agriculture, an Emeryville, Calif.-based agtech startup, completed a $22 million Series C round. S2G Ventures led the investment, and was joined by Cultivian Sandbox, Fall Line Capital, Cavallo Ventures and Syngenta Ventures. Sanjeev Krishnan, managing director and chief investment officer of S2G, joined the company’s board. Cheryl Martin, founder and principal of Harwich Partners, will chair the board.

Bevy Labs Inc., a Palo Alto, Calif.-based virtual event community platform, raised $15 million in Series B financing. Accel led the round, with support from investors including Upfront Ventures. Ryan Smith, co-founder and chief executive of Qualtrics, also invested and joined the company’s board.

CathVision ApS, a Copenhagen-based startup developing an artificial intelligence therapeutic platform for cardiac electrophysiology procedures, snagged a €13 million ($14.2 million) financing round from investors including Vaekstfonden.

ChromaCode Inc., a Carlsbad, Calif.-based molecular diagnostics company, added $10 million in Series C financing, which brought the round total to $38 million. Adjuvant Capital provided the add-on funding, with Managing Partner Jenny Yip joining the board. Additional Series C investors included Northpond Ventures, New Enterprise Associates, Domain Associates, Windham Ventures, Okapi Ventures and Moore Venture Partners.

Tapcart, a Santa Monica, Calif.-based startup that builds mobile apps for ecommerce stores, nabbed a $10 million investment. SignalFire led the round, with participation from previous investors Greycroft and Amplify.

Command E, a San Francisco-based provider of workplace search and navigation tools, was seeded with a $4.3 million investment from Bain Capital Ventures, Craft Ventures, Amplify Partners, Abstract Ventures, Upside Partnership and others.

Regulus Cyber, an Israeli GPS cybersecurity startup, grabbed a $4 million investment. SPDG Ventures led the round, with participation from btov Partners, Sierra Ventures, Canaan Partners Israel, F2 Capital, Technion TIOF fund and Technion R&D Foundation.

• Spotify strikes podcast deal with Joe Rogan worth more than $100 million.
   
• Facebook launches shopping platform for small businesses.
   
• 20 ways tech can keep your kids engaged and learning.
   
• Former Obama antitrust official lays out possible case against Google.
   

• "Way too late": Inside Amazon’s biggest outbreak. (New York Times)
   
• Google says it won't build custom AI for oil-and-gas extraction. (OneZero/Medium)
   
• Walmart says it will discontinue Jet, which it acquired for $3 billion in 2016. (TechCrunch)
   
• How a Chinese AI giant made chatting—and surveillance—easy. (Wired)

This newsletter was compiled by Matthew Strozier, 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.