Good day. Here is today's question: How has the venture capital sector fared during the pandemic?

Third-quarter data suggest that the sector is having a strong year. Firms have already raised more capital than in all of last year, and the total value of exits in the third quarter hit its second-highest level on record, according to a report from data analytics firm PitchBook Data Inc. and the National Venture Capital Association.

Share your thoughts with us about what other metrics or narratives are important to consider when assessing venture firms’ performance in recent months. Please email marc.vartabedian@wsj.com.

And now on to the news...

Fund alert. Josh Buckley, a former teenage startup founder and angel investor, is raising his second venture-capital fund, according to people familiar with the matter, joining a growing group of solo general partners who are changing the early-stage venture market, WSJ Pro’s Tomio Geron reports.

• Mr. Buckley is seeking $150 million for his fund and already has about $100 million in commitments, according to the people. He raised about $50 million for his first fund, Buckley Ventures LP, according to a regulatory filing.
   
• Several individual venture capitalists have recently raised their own venture funds and are leading Series A and other large funding rounds for startups, which previous seed investors didn't or couldn't do because of smaller fund sizes or an earlier-stage focus.

Supply-chain software provider E2open LLC plans to go public through an agreement with a blank-check company, making it the latest in a stream of companies bypassing the traditional path to a Wall Street listing, WSJ reports. Austin, Texas-based E2open is set to merge with CC Neuberger Principal Holdings I, a special-purpose acquisition company, or SPAC, in a deal that would value the company at about $2.57 billion, the companies said Wednesday.

• E2open’s current majority investor, private-equity and venture-capital firm Insight Partners, took the cloud-based software company private in 2015 after buying it for $273 million. The company has since grown through a series of acquisitions, and its customers include Procter & Gamble Co. , Cisco Systems Inc. and Microsoft Corp.

Alta Growth Capital is taking a cautious approach to investing its third Mexico-focused fund, which it recently closed with $150 million in commitments, even as the firm pursues opportunities in a market shaken by the coronavirus pandemic, WSJ Pro reports. “I think everybody is still trying to figure out exactly where things are going with Covid and the economy, not just in Mexico but globally,” said Scott McDonough , a co-founder and managing director at the Mexico City firm. “There’s still a lot of uncertainty about where these economies are going.”

Funds

True Ventures closed two new funds with a combined total of $840 million. True Core Fund VII LP raised $465 million to continue providing seed and early stage investments focused on sectors including technology-enabled consumer brands, SaaS and infrastructure software, and health and life sciences. True Select Fund IV, at $375 million, will provide follow-on capital to existing True portfolio companies. The firm, with offices in Palo Alto, Calif., and San Francisco, closed its sixth fund at $350 million, and its third Select fund with $285 million in 2018.

Menlo Ventures has launched its 15th fund with $500 million in commitments. The new fund will make seed and Series A investments in companies spanning consumer, enterprise, frontier tech and health care. Menlo Ventures XV LP is complemented by the Menlo Inflection Fund, a $500 million fund raised in 2019, bringing the firm’s total capital to $5.5 billion under management. The Menlo Park, Calif.- and San Francisco-based firm closed its 14th fund with $450 million in 2017.

Business software investor OpenView Venture Partners said its sixth fund reached its hard cap with $450 million in commitments. The Boston-based firm recently participated in funding rounds for remote patient monitoring startup Optimize.health, Australian software testing and deployment provider Buildkite and cybersecurity asset management platform Axonius Inc.

People

Information Venture Partners, a Toronto-based business-to-business financial technology and enterprise software investor, appointed Hasan Basrai as associate, Sara Defina as director of finance and Peter Carrescia as venture partner. Mr Basrai was previously operations manager at Ritual.co. Ms. Defina formerly held positions at SurePath Capital Partners and KPMG. Mr. Carrescia was previously senior vice president of strategy and corporate development at Wave Financial.

London-based Felix Capital added Angela Chou and Joseph Pizzolato to its team. Ms. Chou was previously a product marketing manager for Facebook's Workplace product. Mr. Pizzolato joins Felix from Vitruvian Partners.

Exits

Eli Lilly & Co. agreed to acquire Disarm Therapeutics for an initial $135 million, with up to $1.225 billion in additional payments based on the successful development and commercialization of new products resulting from the acquisition. Cambridge, Mass.-based Disarm is developing treatments for peripheral neuropathy and other neurological diseases such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and multiple sclerosis. The company is backed by Atlas Venture, Lightstone Ventures and AbbVie Ventures.

Payments company Stripe is acquiring Nigerian payment-processing company Paystack for an undisclosed amount. The two companies have a history of working together as Stripe led Paystack's Series A financing round back in 2018. San Francisco-based Stripe added $600 million to its Series G round in April from investors including Andreessen Horowitz, General Catalyst, GV and Sequoia.

Digital analytics company Contentsquare purchased accessibility software company Adapt My Web for an undisclosed sum. In May, Paris-based Contentsquare secured a $190 million Series D investment from BlackRock Inc., Bpifrance, Eurazeo Growth, Canaan Partners, Highland Europe, H14 SpA and KKR & Co.

Getaround, a San Francisco-based car-sharing startup, raised $140 million in Series E funding led by PeopleFund. New investors including Reinvent Capital and Pennant Investors were joined by existing backers SoftBank Vision Fund, Menlo Ventures, Braemar Energy Ventures, Triangle Peak Partners, Asset Plus Capital, Bpifrance, Cathay Innovation and Via-ID in the round. PeopleFund Chief Executive Matias de Tezanos will join Getaround's board.

Plenty Unlimited Inc., a South San Francisco, Calif.-based indoor vertical farming startup, secured $140 million in Series D financing led by Softbank Vision Fund 1. Berry producer Driscoll's, which recently announced an agreement to grow strawberries at Plenty's farms, also invested.

Wealthsimple, a Toronto-based provider of personal investing and financial management tools, scored 114 million Canadian dollars ($86 million) in funding at a valuation of C$1.4 billion ($1 billion). TCV led the round, with participation from Greylock Partners, Meritech Capital, Two Sigma Ventures and existing investor Allianz X. David Yuan, general partner at TCV, will join the board.

Augury, a New York- and Israel-based machine-health provider, picked up a $55 million Series D investment. Qumra Capital led the round, which included contributions from Insight Venture Partners, Eclipse Ventures, Munich Re Venture Capital, Qualcomm Ventures and Lerer Hippeau Ventures.

FundThrough Inc., a Toronto-based automated invoice management service, grabbed a $50 million investment from Northleaf Capital Partners.

M1 Finance Inc., a Chicago-based automated money management platform, landed $45 million in Series C funding. Left Lane Capital led the round, with Managing Partner Harley Miller joining the board. Jump Capital, Clocktower Technology Ventures and others also invested.

Hello Alfred, a New York-based provider of software and services for apartment dwellers, closed a $42 million Series C round of funding from investors including Spark Capital, New Enterprise Associates and Greystar.

Extend, a San Francisco-based startup whose technology allows merchants to offer extended warranties and protection plans on their products, snagged a $40 million Series B round. Meritech Capital led the investment, which included support from PayPal Ventures, Great Point Ventures and Shah Capital Partners.

Cribl, a San Francisco-based data management startup, completed a $35 million Series B round. Sequoia Capital led the investment, with participation from CRV.

Whisper, a San Francisco-based maker of a hearing aid that improves over time, nabbed $35 million in Series B funding. Quiet Capital led the round, and was joined by investors including IVP, Sequoia Capital and First Round Capital.

Fossa Inc., a San Francisco-based provider of an open-source management and license compliance tool, fetched $23.2 million in Series B funding from Bain Capital Ventures, Canvas Ventures and Costanoa Ventures.

Sonrai Security, a New York-based public cloud security provider, raised $20 million in Series B funding. Menlo Ventures led the investment, with Partner Venky Ganesan joining the company’s board. Polaris Partners and Ten Eleven Ventures also participated in the round.

Temporal, a Seattle-based open source microservices orchestration platform for developers, obtained $18.8 million in Series A funding from Sequoia Capital, Madrona Venture Group, Amplify Partners and Addition Ventures.

• Millions of jobs have been lost, but hiring is booming at these companies
   
• Facebook has made lots of new rules this year. It doesn’t always enforce them.
   
• Senate to subpoena Twitter CEO over blocking of disputed Biden articles
   
• IBM, ServiceNow partner on AI effort aimed at identifying IT anomalies

• Unicorn Ebanx makes Latin America push as virus fuels growth (Bloomberg)
   
• How founders are finding new ways to grab investor attention (Protocol)
   
• New data show reality behind self-driving truck startup’s funding (The Information)

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, Tomio Geron, Yuliya Chernova, Brian Gormley and Marc Vartabedian.

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