Good day. Investment in biotech, once a starry sector within venture, slid in the first half, though solid merger-and-acquisition deals provided some underpinning. What is your outlook on the biotech sector: Is the glass half empty or half full? Please email responses to vcnews@wsj.com.

Last week, we asked how the AI hiring spree, which has lured away startup founders with monster pay packages, could affect venture capital. Here are responses, edited for clarity and length.

• Mar Hershenson, managing partner, Pear VC: “Some early exits can be life-changing, and we understand how hard it is to turn down extraordinary offers. It is just really hard for founders, some of whom may be struggling financially, to turn down paydays of $100M+. We ultimately support the founder decision. That said, we’re most excited to back founders who are in it for the long haul and who want to build enduring companies that benefit all involved, including their employees.”
   
• Songyee Yoon, founder and managing partner, Principal Venture Partners: “Excessive hiring beyond market norms typically signals panic rather than strength. As investors, we need to see beyond the hype, avoid being drawn into inflated valuations from bidding wars, and instead back teams demonstrating disciplined execution, profound insight and sustainable competitive advantage. There are no shortcuts in AI—only the compound benefits of depth.”
   
• Galina Ozgur, general partner, H/L Ventures: “In this market, acqui-hires and early exits are often the best-case scenario—most AI startups won’t even get that far. As startup moats erode, a VC’s edge is how we help founders hold ground: sharper GTM [go-to-market] strategies, stronger networks of capital allocators and industry insiders, and hands-on advisers who know how to defend momentum before incumbents move in. You can write protections into term sheets—but at this stage, risk is the model, not the exception.”

And now on to the news...

Stock soars in debut. Figma priced shares of its initial public offering at $33 a piece and closed its first trading day at $115.50, a 250% pop.  The design-software company had the highest first-day jump ever for an IPO sized at $500 million or more, according to Renaissance Capital, a provider of pre-IPO research and IPO-focused ETFs.

Only two other companies with public offerings of $500 million or more had first-day trading increases of greater than 150% in the research firm’s 30 years of records: Circle, which went public earlier this year, and Palm, which listed in March 2000, said Matt Kennedy, a senior strategist with Renaissance. Figma’s debut is “a shot in the arm for the IPO market,” Kennedy said. “So I now feel more confident that we'll have a fairly robust calendar in the fall, and an even bigger 2026 than we expected.” 

—Yuliya Chernova

The AI arms race is accelerating as the major tech companies add to their already gargantuan levels of spending. The bets are paying off for investors, but not for all employees.Alphabet’s Google, Microsoft, Amazon and Meta Platforms are set to spend nearly $400 billion this year on capital expenditures, largely to build their artificial-intelligence infrastructure. That is more than the European Union spent on defense last year.

Noma Security, a New York-based startup that polices artificial-intelligence agents, raised $100 million in investment capital, the company said Thursday. The new funding, led by Evolution Equity Partners, comes less than a year after the company’s $32 million Series A round. Other investors include Ballistic Ventures, Glilot Capital, Cyber Club London and Databricks Ventures. The outsize Series B round reflects booming demand for AI agents. Rather than develop and sell autonomous tools, Noma Security helps businesses keep close tabs on existing AI agents spread throughout their systems.

Corrections & Amplifications: Iconiq led Ramp’s Series E-2 round. Wednesday’s newsletter incorrectly said it was Iconiq Growth, an earlier name for Iconiq’s venture and growth arm.

Funds

Bonfire Ventures launched its fourth fund with $245 million in commitments to continue making seed-stage investments in business software startups. The Los Angeles-based firm also promoted Tyler Churchill to partner and named Jason Tahir as vice president.

People

Jump Capital, an early-stage firm focusing on fintech, application software and infrastructure software, appointed Will Walker as a senior associate and Miles Scheffler as a data analyst.

Chainguard, an open-source supply-chain security provider, appointed Quincy Castro as chief information security officer and Eyal Bar as chief financial officer. Castro was previously CISO at Redis, and Bar was at Monday.com.

DCVC appointed Prineha Narang as the firm’s newest operating partner.

MapLight Therapeutics, a biopharmaceutical startup focused on developing therapeutics for patients suffering from debilitating central nervous system disorders, scored $372.5 million in Series D funding co-led by Forbion and the growth equity business within Goldman Sachs Alternatives. Nanna Lüneborg, general partner at Forbion, will join MapLight’s board.

Observe, a San Mateo, Calif.-based observability platform built on a streaming data lake, closed a $156 million Series C round. Sutter Hill Ventures led the investment, which included participation from Madrona Ventures and others.

Anaconda, an Austin, Texas-based unified AI platform for open source, raised more than $150 million in Series C funding, valuing the company at over $1 billion. Insight Partners led the round, which included participation from Mubadala Capital. 

Motive, a San Francisco-based platform helping safety, operations and finance teams manage workers, vehicles, equipment and fleet-related spend, picked up $150 million in new funding. Kleiner Perkins led the investment, with Partner Ilya Fushman rejoining the board.

Carbyne, a New York-based 911 emergency response platform, added $100 million in new funding from investors including AT&T Ventures and Cox Enterprises.

Oxide Computer Co., an Emeryville, Calif.-based startup developing in-house enterprise systems for customers to use as an alternative to public cloud computing resources, grabbed a $100 million Series B round led by US Innovative Technology Fund.

SAFE, a Palo Alto, Calif.-based autonomous cyber-risk-management provider, secured $70 million in Series C financing. Avataar Ventures led the round, which included participation from NextEquity Partners and Prosperity7 Ventures.

Saphyre, a Hoboken, N.J.-based provider of software used in securities trading, closed a $70 million growth equity investment from FTV Capital.

Good Job Games, an Istanbul-based mobile game studio, fetched $60 million in Series A funding co-led by Menlo Ventures and Anthos Capital.

Wallarm, a San Francisco-based platform for API and agentic AI security, completed a $55 million Series C round led by Toba Capital.

Lumana, a Los Gatos, Calif.-based AI video security startup, collected $40 million in Series A funding. Wing Venture Capital led the round, with Founding Partner Peter Wagner joining the board.

Augmodo, a Seattle-based maker of a wearable real-time inventory and task tracker for retailers and brands, raised $37.5 million in Series A funding. TQ Ventures led the round, which included contributions from Lerer Hippeau and others.

• The AI company capitalizing on our obsession with Excel

• Tech giants are revising AI product claims that faced scrutiny

• Amazon shares fall because cloud unit’s growth wasn’t enough for Wall Street
   
• Apple’s iPhone sales blow past estimates as customers raced to beat tariffs

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.

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