Good day. Venture firm Delos Capital joined with Taiwanese drugmaker AP Biosciences in an unusual partnership to slash the time and cost of advancing new drugs for autoimmune diseases.

Delos, which is based in Hong Kong and has offices in Cambridge, Mass., and APBio are collaborating to launch U.S.-based biotechnology startups. APBio can then use its relationships with Chinese investigators to give these startups an advantage if they choose to conduct clinical trials in China, where the cost of running studies can be less than half that of the U.S.

China has relatively low labor costs and a large population of patients willing to participate in clinical studies. As a result, many U.S. startups would like to conduct clinical research there.

To do so, they typically need a partner in China, such as a contract-research firm. But for startups without relationships with contractors in China, it can be difficult to tell if that firm is putting its best people on the job, said Lee Cooper, a Delos managing director based in Cambridge.

“You want to be sure you’re getting the ‘A’ team,” he added.

This partnership with APBio makes conducting clinical research in China a much more realistic option, Cooper said. Biotech startups have limited resources and need to stretch their dollars, he added.

Read the full article.
 

And now on to the news...

Orbital data centers. Google is in talks with SpaceX for a rocket-launch deal as the search giant expands its own efforts to put orbital data centers in space, according to people familiar with the discussions.  A launch deal would put the two companies in partnership as they gear up to compete on orbital data centers, an unproven technology that SpaceX Chief Executive Elon Musk has said is the next frontier for his rocket company.

• Google is also in discussions about a potential deal with other rocket-launch companies, one of the people said.

OpenAI Chief Executive Sam Altman’s personal investments are coming under intensifying scrutiny from Republicans as the company heads for an initial public offering, with the House Oversight committee launching a probe into potential conflicts of interest and several GOP attorneys general calling for a Securities and Exchange Commission review. The moves follow an April article in The Wall Street Journal that detailed Altman’s efforts to have OpenAI back companies he personally invested in. They coincide with a lawsuit brought by Elon Musk in which the billionaire has alleged that Altman and OpenAI manipulated him into giving tens of millions of dollars to found OpenAI as a nonprofit organization, only for them to turn the AI lab into a for-profit venture.

Inflation anxiety. Tuesday’s hot readout on consumer prices is intensifying Wall Street’s anxiety about inflation. Even before the latest release of the consumer-price index, inflation expectations had been climbing, a potential trouble spot in a market where stocks have largely shrugged off the U.S.-Iran conflict and the resulting energy shock.

Funds

Early-stage investor A* raised $450 million for its third fund, bringing the firm’s total assets under management to more than $1 billion.

New York-based Kalos Ventures raised $78.8 million for its inaugural fund to back early-stage companies advancing workforce, care and education.

People

Preemptive cyber defense startup Silent Push appointed Thomas Bain as chief marketing officer. He previously served as CMO at VulnCheck.

Exaforce, a San Francisco-based agentic cybersecurity startup, landed $125 million in Series B funding from investors including HarbourVest Partners, Peak XV Partners, Mayfield, Seligman Ventures and Khosla Ventures.

Elliptic, a London-headquartered digital asset decisioning provider, closed a $120 million Series D round led by One Peak valuing the company at $670 million.

Havoc, a Providence, R.I.-headquartered startup building collaborative autonomy technologies, fetched $100 million in Series A funding from investors including Cobalt Capital and B Capital.

Photonic, a Canadian distributed quantum computing startup, added over $70 million in new funding, closing an investment of more than $200 million at a $2 billion post-money valuation. Planet First Partners led the financing, which included participation from Firgun Ventures, Mubadala Capital, InBC Investment Corp. and others. The company said it completed the $130 million first tranche in January.

Star Catcher Industries, a Jacksonville, Fla.-based startup building a power grid in space, obtained $65 million in Series A funding from investors including B Capital, Shield Capital and Cerberus Ventures.

Monaco, a San Francisco-based AI-powered sales platform, snagged $50 million in Series B funding. Benchmark led the investment, which saw participation from Founders Fund and Human Capital.

Embat, a Madrid-based AI-powered fintech startup specializing in treasury management, nabbed €30 million in Series B funding. Cathay Innovation led the round, which saw additional support from Creandum, Samaipata, 4Founders Capital and Venture Friends.

Judgment Labs, a San Francisco-headquartered platform for improving agents from production data, raised $32 million in combined seed and Series A funding led by Lightspeed Venture Partners.

Consensus, a San Francisco-based startup building an AI operating system for researchers, picked up a $30 million investment. GreatPoint Ventures led the funding, with DJ Patil joining the company’s board. Union Square Ventures and others also invested in the round.

Fifth Dimension, a startup providing decision intelligence for real assets investors and managers, secured $26 million in Series A financing led by HV Capital. The company has offices in London, New York and Singapore.

Adfin, a London-based payments infrastructure startup, nabbed $18 million in Series A funding. Index Ventures led the round, which included participation from Visionaries.

Greenboard, a New York-based AI-native platform for securities compliance, has raised $20 million in total funding, including a $15.5 million Series A round led by Base10 Partners.

Casimir, a Houston-headquartered quantum vacuum energy startup, was seeded with a $12 million investment led by Scout Ventures.

Exponent, a New York-based financial platform built for multi-location franchise operators, has raised $10 million in Series A and seed funding. The $7.7 million Series A round was co-led by Era and Chailease.

• YouTube Promises All Things to All Advertisers, With Some Help from AI

• OpenAI CEO Sam Altman Defends His Leadership, Personal Investing at Trial

• SAP Launches Unified AI, Automation Suite
   
• Nvidia Is Buying the Chip Supply Chain
   
• Data Centers in Space: A Pipe Dream, or AI’s Next Big Thing?

• Five ways AI search beats an old-school Google search (New York Times)
   
• Three things in AI to watch, according to a Nobel-winning economist (MIT Technology Review)
   
• xAI adds 19 new gas turbines despite ongoing lawsuit (Wired)

This newsletter was compiled by Matthew Strozier and Zachary Cole.

Share your tips, comments and questions: vcnews@wsj.com

The team: Matthew Strozier, Yuliya Chernova, and Brian Gormley.

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