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Vie Ventures Launches to Bankroll Autoimmune-Disease Biotechs
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By Brian Gormley, WSJ Pro
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Good day. Veteran life sciences investors have launched Vie Ventures, which plans to fund biotechnology startups targeting autoimmune diseases and connect them with nonprofits that might accelerate their drug development.
Vie co-founders Luke Evnin and Dr. Steven St. Peter previously invested together with MPM Capital, now MPM BioImpact. Both also have experience with nonprofits.
Vie aims to secure $75 million in a first closing of a fund by year-end, St. Peter said. Several venture firms launch biotechs, but Vie instead plans to target those raising their second or third rounds of funding. “There’s a gap in the market for people willing to lead deals in a Series B or C,” St. Peter said.
Biotech venture capital generally has retreated this year as initial public offerings in the sector have slumped. More capital is needed to fund startups advancing promising research in autoimmune diseases, said Louis DeGennaro, former president and CEO of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society and now a senior adviser to Vie.
“There are companies that have good agents and good science that are wanting for investment,” DeGennaro added.
Read the full article.
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And now on to the news...
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Sequoia Capital investor Shaun Maguire PHOTO: BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE/GETTY IMAGES
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The Sequoia investor whose anti-Mamdani posts set off a Silicon Valley storm. Shaun Maguire has built a reputation as Sequoia Capital’s link to Elon Musk. The tech investor also shares Musk’s penchant for sparring on social media, and his X posts about New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani have ignited a Muskian storm. An online petition sprang up over the weekend asking Sequoia leadership to condemn the comments, investigate Maguire’s conduct and apologize. Maguire’s posts and the reaction from founders place one of Silicon Valley’s biggest investors in a delicate position. Read the full WSJ article.
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$12.9 Billion
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The amount Amazon Prime Day, which kicked off Tuesday, is expected to generate in the U.S., up 53% from last year, according to research firm Emarketer. The event is four days long this year instead of two.
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Once Popular Pre-IPO Investing Platform Linqto Files for Bankruptcy
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Linqto, the once-highflying private stock investment platform, has filed for bankruptcy protection, citing investigations into its business and questions about what its customers even own, WSJ reports. Linqto was one of the first to capitalize on small investors’ hunger for the hottest private companies, including Elon Musk’s SpaceX and artificial-intelligence company Anthropic, and it became a test case for the risks to individual investors entering the lightly regulated market for pre-IPO shares.
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After Setback, Tech Firms Renew Push for Federal AI Regulation
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Technology firms continue to push for federal artificial-intelligence regulations, after Congress last week stripped the Trump administration’s budget bill of a proposed 10-year moratorium on state-level AI laws, WSJ reports. The moratorium, which was tucked into an earlier version of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, was intended to pave the way for federal guardrails on data privacy and security in AI tools, among other issues, avoiding a patchwork of state-by-state requirements
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Funds
Red Dot Capital Partners, an Israel-based early growth venture-capital firm, raised its third flagship fund, securing $320 million in commitments.
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ServiceUp, a Los Gatos, Calif.-based vehicle repair platform for fleets and insurers, raised $55 million in Series B funding led by PeakSpan Capital.
Tulum Energy, an Italy-based hydrogen tech startup closed a $27 million venture financing round led by CDP Venture Capital (through its Green Transition Fund) and TDK Ventures.
Layer, a San Francisco-based accounting software startup, raised $6.6 million in seed funding led by Emergence Capital.
Augmentus, a Singapore-based robotics startup, raised $11 million in a Series A+ funding round led by Woori Ventures.
Brainfish, an Australia-based customer support startup, raised $6.4 million in pre-series A funding led by Prosus Ventures.
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A pilot tests a fiber-optic drone in a field in central Ukraine. PHOTO: SVET JACQUELINE FOR WSJ
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Tether holds an $8 billion pile of gold in a secret Swiss vault (Bloomberg)
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Microsoft, OpenAI and a U.S. teachers’ union are hatching a plan to ‘bring AI into the classroom’ (Wired)
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