Good day. Many in venture capital are hopeful that the U.S. will become more welcoming to foreign entrepreneurs and high-tech professionals as the new presidential administration takes charge. But will the immigrants be eager to move stateside?

While the U.S. remains the center of gravity for the global venture market, in the last few years places such as Canada, Israel, Latin America, and Europe developed bigger venture and startup markets.

European venture funds, for example, raised $16.75 billion in 2020, according to preliminary data from Preqin, up from $9.44 billion in 2016. Meanwhile, the Latin American venture market is on fire. There were about 13 private tech companies valued at more than $1 billion in Brazil alone, as of September of 2020, compared with none in 2017, according to a report by venture firm Atlantico.

In Israel, tech companies raised $9.93 billion last year through Dec. 15, almost three times the level of funding in 2015, thanks to a big jump in capital committed to late-stage rounds, according to IVC Research Center, an Israeli data company.

As some foreign markets become more attractive, current events in the U.S. could give entrepreneurs pause. The attack on the U.S. Capitol last week could damage the country's reputation as a stable democracy and undermine its appeal to entrepreneurs who have choices of where to build their startup.

If more violence were to unfold, then “forget about talent going to Austin or Miami, a lot of talent and money would leave the country,” said Kathleen Utecht, managing partner at Core Innovation Capital. “I think we are still attractive but if there is another incident like this, we start declining,” she added.

And now on to the news...

New genetic medicines. Tessera Therapeutics Inc., a biotechnology startup seeking to pioneer new types of genetic medicines, has raised more than $230 million in venture capital as it prepares to start its initial clinical trials, WSJ Pro’s Brian Gormley reports. Cambridge, Mass.-based Tessera was founded by Flagship Pioneering, a firm that launches and funds life science startups.

• The startup, which previously raised $50 million in venture funding, is one of a growing number of genetic-medicine developers seeking disease treatments based on DNA or RNA. They include companies such as Crispr Therapeutics AG, which went public in 2016 after raising venture capital. Crispr has developed a portfolio of potential disease treatments based on the gene-editing technology Crispr/Cas9.

Walmart Inc. said Monday that it has joined with investment firm Ribbit Capital to create a new fintech startup to further expand its financial-services offerings, WSJ reports. The new company will be majority-owned by Walmart. Ribbit has backed several well-known fintech startups, including digital brokerage firm Robinhood Markets Inc., buy-now-pay-later lender Affirm Inc. and personal-finance website Credit Karma Inc.

The shift to remote work is jolting the lackluster personal computer market, as chief information officers and other corporate information-technology leaders raced to equip stay-at-home workers during the coronavirus pandemic, WSJ’s Angus Loten reports. After a slowdown early in the year, total global shipments of personal computers in 2020 surged 11% from 2019, to 297 million units, according to a report Monday by research firm Canalys.

• The gains represent the sharpest full-year growth rate in a decade, and the highest volume of PC shipments since 2014, the report said.

Funds

Z3Partners held the first close of its targeted $100 million Tech and Digital Fund to invest in Indian companies focused on fintech, ecommerce, B2B commerce, Software/SaaS, data analytics and agritech. So far, the fund has invested in cybersecurity provider Cyfirma and online grocery startup DealShare.

China-based blockchain investment firm Fenbushi Capital is aiming to raise between $15 million and $20 million for its Fenbushi Ecosystem Fund to further the development of applications within the Filecoin and IPFS ecosystems.

People

Bolt Financial Inc., an ecommerce checkout startup, named Maju Kuruvilla as the company’s first CTO. He was previously a vice president at Amazon. In December, San Francisco-based Bolt raised $75 million from investors including General Atlantic, WestCap, Activant Capital and Tribe Capital.

Live event ticketing platform Lyte promoted Lawrence Peryer to the post of chief strategy officer and appointed Wendi Sturgis as chief revenue officer. Prior to joining Lyte, Mr. Peryer was director of live events at Amazon. Ms. Sturgis was previously chief executive of Yext Europe. Last month, Lyte raised $33 million in Series B equity and debt funding from Social Capital, Rocketship VC, Jackson Square Ventures, Accomplice, Correlation Ventures and others.

EQRx Inc., a Cambridge, Mass.-based startup that develops slightly different versions of expensive brand-name drugs and sells them at a lower price than competitors, scored $500 million in Series B funding. Previous investors, which include Andreessen Horowitz, ARCH Venture Partners and GV, provided the new round.

Enfusion Ltd., a provider of investment management technology, picked up a $150 million minority investment from Iconiq Growth giving the company a valuation of $1.5 billion.

Visen Pharmaceuticals, a Shanghai-based startup developing treatments for endocrine-related diseases, closed a $150 million Series B round led by Sequoia China. New investors OrbiMed, Sherpa Healthcare Partners, Cormorant, HBM Healthcare Investments, Pivotal bioVenture Partners China, Logos Capital and CDG Capital also participated in the funding, along with existing backers Ascendis Pharma A/S, Vivo Capital and Sofinnova Investments.

Atalanta Therapeutics, a Boston-based developer of treatments for neurodegenerative diseases, launched with $110 million via Series A funding and upfront payments from strategic collaborations with Biogen and Genentech. F-Prime Capital provided the Series A investment.

Immunocore, a U.K.-based startup developing a novel class of T-cell receptor bispecific immunotherapies designed to treat a range of diseases, picked up a $75 million Series C round from investors including funds and accounts managed by BlackRock. The company also closed a $100 million senior secured loan facility from Oxford Finance.

Boston Metal, a Woburn, Mass.-based emissions-free metals production platform, secured $50 million in Series B financing. Piva Capital, BHP Ventures and Devonshire Investors led the round, which included contributions from Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Prelude Ventures, OGCI Climate Investments and The Engine.

Genalyte Inc., a San Diego- and Austin, Texas-based diagnostics startup, completed a $50 million funding round. Verily led the investment, which included additional support from Provenio Capital, Redmile, Khosla Ventures, HBM Partners and Samsara. Andy Conrad, chief executive and founder of Verily, will join the company’s board.

Komodo Health, a New York- and San Francisco-based healthcare analytics platform, raised $44 million in Series D funding and acquired cloud technology provider Mavens. Terms of the purchase weren’t disclosed. The new financing round was led by Iconiq Growth, and included participation from Andreessen Horowitz, Oak HC/FT, IA Ventures, Felicis Ventures and McKesson Ventures.

NuProbe, a Houston- and Shanghai-based genomics and molecular diagnostics company, nabbed $42 million in funding co-led BioTrack Capital and Yonghua Capital. Existing backers Sequoia Capital China, Ruomu Capital and Serica Partners also contributed to the round, along with new investors Taifu Capital, Panlin Capital, Juming Capital and Tuobang Capital.

Gtmhub, a Denver-based goal setting and management platform for businesses, landed a $30 million Series B round. Insight Partners led the investment, and was joined by Singular, CRV and LaunchHub Ventures.

Sensei Biotherapeutics Inc., a Gaithersburg, Md.-based developer of immunotherapies for cancer and infectious diseases, landed $30 million in Series B funding. Apeiron Investment Group and Catalio Capital Management co-led the new round, with participation from Pura Vida Investments, Cambrian Biopharma, Moore Strategic Ventures, Future Ventures and Presight Capital.

Noctrix Health Inc., a developer of wearable therapeutics to treat symptoms of chronic neurological conditions, fetched $17 million in Series B financing. Treo Ventures and OrbiMed co-led the round, which saw participation from LivaNova and others. Treo’s Tracy Pappas and OrbiMed’s Chau Khuong will join the board.

• China’s chip-independence goals helped by U.S.-developed tech 
   
• Ford, other auto makers cut output, idle workers on chip shortage
   
• TikTok and Discord are the new Wall Street trading desks
   
• Amazon, Walmart tell consumers to skip returns of unwanted items
   
• Airbnb’s Section 230 use underscores law’s reach beyond Facebook

This newsletter was compiled by Matthew Strozier 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.