Good day. It’s getting harder to raise venture funds, especially in a sector as volatile as blockchain. But aspiring managers have an institutional believer.

Accolade Partners, a limited partner in venture funds from such firms as Accel, Bond Capital and Mucker Capital, has decided to launch a blockchain-focused fund of venture funds.

“We’re at an inflection point with a critical mass of quality managers,” said Atul Rustgi, who is running the new fund with colleagues. The firm plans to raise $75 million for the fund of funds, Mr. Rustgi said.

Accolade recently committed to Andreessen’s second crypto fund, as well as two funds managed by Polychain Capital. 

Mr. Rustgi said that the firm wants to create a portfolio in blockchain that would be “diversified across vintage, manager, stage and subsectors.”

And now on to the news...

Pediatric cancer. Venture investors have launched Day One Biopharmaceuticals LLC with $60 million in Series A financing and a plan to develop cancer drugs for people of all ages, including children, WSJ Pro’s Brian Gormley reports.

• Cancer is rare in children, so most cancer drugmakers focus on adults. As a result, new cancer drugs are often only tested in children well after they have gone through clinical trials in adults.
   
• Day One has acquired rights to a molecularly targeted drug that could treat both children and adults with cancer, and is planning to launch new clinical trials of the compound in children by early 2021.
   
• Venture firm Canaan incubated the company and participated in this financing along with Access Biotechnology and Atlas Venture.

Coming to terms. Buyout firms focused on shoring up portfolio companies struggling with the coronavirus pandemic have stepped up requests to hold on to more of investors’ realized gains, WSJ Pro’s Preeti Singh reports. Such amendment requests made to the limited partners of their funds seek to change the recycling portion of investment contracts, which govern the percentage of capital a firm can retain from a realized investment. The volume of requests seeking to alter these terms has increased significantly in recent weeks, people familiar with the matter said.

Layoffs rattle Silicon Valley. The tech industry has been one of the most resilient sectors of the economy during the Covid-19-induced economic downturn. Microsoft Corp. and Amazon.com Inc. reported strong sales growth for the first quarter even as quarantining measures came into effect. But major layoffs at big companies including Uber Technologies Inc. and Airbnb Inc., as well as a host of smaller startups, have shaken any sense that the tech industry is insulated from the broader employment destruction—and, for many, undermined hope that jobs lost would be easily replaced. (WSJ)

• Related: Startups, VCs Try to Place Tech Workers as Layoffs Surge

Fundraising. Streaming platform MasterClass, which offers classes taught by celebrities, Wednesday said it raised $100 million in a Series E funding round amid a surge in demand sparked by the coronavirus pandemic, WSJ Pro reports. The San Francisco company, which operates under the legal name Yanka Industries Inc., said Fidelity Management & Research Co. led the round, with participation from new investors Owl Ventures and 01 Advisors and existing investors New Enterprise Associates, IVP, Atomico and NextEquity.

People

Sports-tech venture firm SeventySix Capital added Michael Schreiber as a general partner. He was previously chief content officer at Altice USA and president of Altice USA News.

Exits

Cambridge, Mass.-based eGenesis Inc., a startup seeking to use gene editing to clear technical hurdles to using animal organs in humans, acquired the assets and operations of production partner ICBiotec for an undisclosed amount. In November 2019, eGenesis raised a $100 million funding round from Fresenius Medical Care Ventures, Leaps by Bayer, Wellington Partners, Alta Partners, ARCH Venture Partners, Biomatics Capital and Khosla Ventures.

Atea Pharmaceuticals Inc., a Boston-based biopharmaceutical company working on the development of an oral antiviral treatment for Covid-19, scored $215 million in Series D funding led by Bain Capital Life Sciences. New investors including RA Capital Management, Perceptive Advisors, Rock Springs Capital, Adage Capital Management, Redmile Group and Omega Funds also participated in the round, along with existing backers Morningside Ventures, Cormorant Asset Management, Ally Bridge Group and Sectoral Asset Management.

States Title, a San Francisco-based startup that facilitates residential real-estate loan closings, completed a $123 million Series C round led by Greenspring Associates. Existing backers Foundation Capital, Assurant Growth Investing, FifthWall Ventures, Lennar Ventures and SCOR Global P&C Ventures joined new investors Horizons Ventures, Eminence Capital and HSCM Bermuda in the funding.

Rapid Micro Biosystems Inc., a Lowell, Mass.-backed provider of microbial-detection technology for the health-care product manufacturing sector, nabbed a $120 million equity and debt round. Ally Bridge Group led the equity portion, with participation from Endeavour Vision, Bain Capital Life Sciences, Longitude Capital, Xeraya Capital and Asahi Kasei Medical. Kennedy Lewis Investment Management provided the debt. Alexander Schmitz, partner at Endeavour Vision, joined the company’s board.

Couchbase, a Santa Clara, Calif.-based NoSQL database provider, snagged a $105 million Series G round. GPI Capital led the investment, and was joined by Accel, Sorenson Capital, North Bridge Venture Partners, Glynn Capital, Adams Street Partners and Mayfield. Alex Migon, partner at GPI, joined the board.

Coalition, a San Francisco-based provider of cyber insurance and security, raised $90 million in Series C funding. Valor Equity Partners led the round, with participation from Felicis Ventures, Greyhound Capital, Vy Capital, Ribbit Capital, Hillhouse Capital, Valor Equity Partners and Greenoaks Capital.

BetterCloud Inc., a New York-based company that enables IT professionals to define and enforce security policies for applications, closed a $75 million funding round. Warburg Pincus led the investment, which included participation from Accel, Bain Capital Ventures, Flybridge Capital Partners, New Amsterdam Growth Capital, Greycroft and e.ventures.

Imperfect Foods Inc., a San Francisco-based online grocery company that aims to reduce food waste, completed a $72 million Series C round. Insight Partners led the funding, with support from existing investors including Norwest Venture Partners. Adam Berger, managing director at Insight, will join the board. Imperfect is also backed by Maveron, Shasta Ventures, Flybridge and Corigin Ventures.

Khatabook Inc., an Indian accounting app for small- and medium-sized businesses, landed a $60 million Series B round. B Capital Group led the financing, with contributions from investors including Sequoia India, Tencent, GGV Capital, RTP Global, Hummingbird Ventures, Falcon Edge Capital, Rocketship.vc, Unilever Ventures and others.

MakeSpace, a New York-based on-demand storage company, secured $55 million in Series E equity and debt financing. Iron Mountain led the round, and was joined by 8VC, Upfront Ventures, Maywic Select Investments, Ten Eighty, Provenio Capital and CX Collective.

Octant Inc., an Emeryville, Calif.-based drug discovery startup, picked up a $30 million Series A investment. Andreessen Horowitz led the round, with 8VC, SV Angel, Allen & Co. and others also participating.

Truework, a San Francisco provider of employee verification services to lenders, landlords and employers, closed a $30 million Series B round. Activant Capital led the financing, with participation from investors including Sequoia Capital and Khosla Ventures. Steve Sarracino, partner at Activant, will join the board.

Confluera Inc., a Palo Alto, Calif.- and Austin, Texas-based cybersecurity startup, fetched over $20 million in Series B funding. Icon Ventures led the round, with General Partner Preeti Rathi joining the board. Harpoon Ventures, Lightspeed Venture Partners and others also participated.

Chief, a New York-based private network for women in senior management positions, secured $15 million in new funding from GGV Capital, General Catalyst, Inspired Capital, Primary Venture Partners, Flybridge Capital and BoxGroup.

Directly, a San Francisco-based customer experience automation startup, added $11 million to its most recent round, bringing the total to $31 million. Triangle Peak Partners and Toba Capital provided the new funding, joining previous investors Samsung NEXT, Industry Ventures, M12, True Ventures, Costanoa Ventures and Northgate in the round.

• Coronavirus contact-tracing apps face another challenge: designing a great user experience.
   
• Apple and Google unveil technology for Covid-19 exposure alerts.
   
• Inside Facebook and private equity’s $8.8 billion bet on India’s richest man.
  ​
• Review: Apple’s iOS 13.5 update addresses iPhone coronavirus gripes—including mask issues.

• How Covid-19 is changing seed companies and financing in Silicon Valley. (The Information)
   
• What to do when a VC writes your startup off. (TechCrunch)
   
• U.S. regulators open the door to possible tightening of Huawei chip curb. (Reuters)
   
• Silicon Valley is going crazy for Clubhouse, a social media app with 1,500 users. (CNBC)
   
• You don’t need flying cars to save lives. (NY Times)

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.