Good day. Travel and spending-management startup TripActions Inc. raised $275 million in new funds in a sign that some corners of the travel industry are making a comeback after a pandemic-induced crisis. The financing round, which was led by Greenoaks Capital with participation from investor Elad Gil and others, gave TripActions a post-money valuation of $7.25 billion.

Palo Alto, Calif.-based TripActions sells corporations a one-stop shop platform where they can manage business travel, expenses and spending. It charges businesses a subscription based on the number of employees they add to the platform and takes a $25 fee on each booking.

Founded in 2015, TripActions saw rapid growth from its early days as it aimed to disrupt a travel-and-expense software industry that was ripe for innovation, co-founder and Chief Executive Ariel Cohen said. But when the pandemic put traveling on ice in the spring of last year, the startup's revenue collapsed. "Our entire revenue went down to zero overnight," Mr. Cohen said, referring to the sudden loss of the flat fees.

The crisis pushed the startup to cut 23% of its workforce, raise around $800 million in capital and expand beyond the U.S. market. TripActions said it is hiring again and currently has about 1,500 employees.

The latest financing comes as vaccine rollouts have helped economies reopen, giving the startup new momentum. TripActions more than doubled the travel budget it manages from February 2020 through July, while the expense budget grew 1400% over the same period, the company said.

Still, bans to some travel destinations mean the average budget of TripActions' clients has been below pre-pandemic levels. The startup was able to make up for that loss with the expansion of its client base and a pick-up in domestic and continental flights.

"Today, I don't think we have one company on the platform that is not doing some kind of travel," Mr. Cohen said.

And now on to the news...

Autism treatment. Biotechnology startup Axial Therapeutics Inc. has raised $37.3 million in new venture capital to run clinical trials of a medicine designed to help people with autism who exhibit certain problematic behaviors, WSJ Pro’s Brian Gormley reports. Autism is a developmental disability that can affect social skills, communication, relationships and self-regulation. Axial is developing a medication for people who experience symptoms such as severe tantrums, mood swings and aggressive behavior. 

• The antipsychotic medications risperidone and aripiprazole have been approved in the U.S. to treat these behavioral symptoms associated with autism. Each can cause side effects including weight gain.
   
• Axial’s experimental medicine, which isn’t an antipsychotic, is designed to work in the gut to reduce autism irritability. The drug could prevent certain substances produced by gut microbes from traveling to the brain, where they affect the ability of nerve cells to form strong connections with other nerve cells, according to Axial, which raised this funding to test its drug in new clinical trials.

Europeans are flying again for business, as executives hit the road and airlines add flights to key destinations, The Wall Street Journal reports. The continent, one of the world’s biggest aviation markets, was slower than the U.S. and China to return to the skies. A fast vaccination drive and the rollout of a vaccine passport program lifted vacation travel this summer. Now, business travel is bouncing back too. Businesses are also flying again in the U.S., though the spread of the Delta variant and delays to office reopenings have put a dent in that recovery. In September, European corporate trips were 49% of the 2019 level, compared with 42% in the U.S., according to travel-analytics company ForwardKeys.

Shares of special-purpose acquisition companies have lost their luster for those who recently saw them as a ticket to fast riches, WSJ reports. That is good news for a different group of investors, who treat them as an alternative to bonds. Known on Wall Street as SPAC arbitrage, the trade has become turbocharged of late—thanks in equal parts to the day-trader-fueled craze for special-purpose acquisition companies that materialized late last year and the more-recent slump in SPAC demand. While the mania helped increase the number of SPACs to 6 ½ times what it was in the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic, this year’s rout has driven down share prices. That has created what some describe as a near risk-free opportunity that offers an attractive return compared with alternatives like short-term U.S. Treasurys.

In her two-year career as a tech entrepreneur, Mythili Sankaran says she noticed a tremendous lack of diversity among founders and funders in the venture ecosystem. So this year, she launched the Neythri Futures Fund, which is focused on increasing the representation of South Asian women in startup investing.

Neythri just raised an oversubscribed $10 million in capital from 90% racially diverse limited partners. The fund had an original fundraising target of $3 million and reached $10 million after an influx of investor attention. So far, 247 investors have backed the fund.

Neythri will invest between $50,000 and $500,000 in enterprise business-to-business startups led by at least one racially diverse person and that are building innovative services for the global market. The fund has already made nine investments.

-Isaac Taylor

Funds

Munich Re Ventures, the venture capital arm of Munich Re Group, closed its Munich Re Fund II with $500 million in commitments to invest in early- and growth-stage startups across insurtech, climate tech, cybersecurity and privacy, commercial and industrial equipment technologies, and the future of transportation. The firm now has more than $1 billion in assets under management across four funds.

2150 held the final close of its oversubscribed flagship fund with €268 million ($310 million) to invest in companies seeking to sustainably reimagine and reshape the urban environment. Since the initial fund close early this year, the vehicle has backed Aeroseal, Normative, and Nodes & Links. 2150 has offices in London, Copenhagen and Berlin.

People

Proptech investor Fifth Wall appointed Mary Hogan Preusse as the firm’s first senior adviser. She previously worked at APG Asset Management US.

Exits

Bushel Inc., a developer of software for the agriculture industry, acquired GrainBridge LLC, a joint venture owned by Archer Daniels Midland and Cargill Inc. Terms weren’t disclosed. Earlier this year, Fargo, N.D.-based Bushel closed a $47 million Series C round from Lewis & Clark AgriFood, Continental Grain Co., Cargill and Germin8 Ventures.

Trumid, a New York-based electronic credit-trading platform, closed a $208 million funding round. Point Break Capital Management led the investment, which included contributions from Motive Partners, Dragoneer Investment Group, TPG and DST Global, along with funds and accounts managed by BlackRock and T. Rowe Price Associates Inc.

Hibob Inc., a human-resources technology platform, scored $150 million in Series C funding, giving the company a valuation of $1.65 billion. General Atlantic led the round, which included participation from Bessemer Venture Partners, Battery Ventures, Eight Roads, Entrée Capital and others. Hibob has offices in Tel Aviv, New York, London, Amsterdam and Sydney. Anton Levy, co-president, managing director and global head of technology investing at General Atlantic, will join the company’s board.

Karat Inc., a Seattle-based software engineer interviewing platform, secured a $110 million Series C round at a $1.1 billion valuation led by Tiger Global Management.

Halo Investing Inc., a Chicago-based technology platform for structured notes, raised more than $100 million in Series C financing. Owl Capital led the round, which included support from Abu Dhabi Catalyst Partners, Allianz Life Ventures and William Blair & Co.

Alviere, a New York-based embedded finance platform, landed $50 million in Series B funding, six months after raising a $20 million Series A round. Viola Ventures, Viola FinTech, CommerzVentures, North Coast Ventures and Opera Tech Ventures were Series B investors.

SupportLogic, a support experience platform, closed a $50 million Series B round. WestBridge Capital Partners and General Catalyst led the funding, which saw participation from Sierra Ventures and Emergent Ventures.

ResQ, a Toronto-based startup helping restaurants streamline repair and maintenance operations, snagged $39 million in Series A financing. Co-lead investors Tiger Global Management and Canvas Ventures were joined by Homebrew Ventures, Inovia Capital, Golden Ventures, Burst Capital, RSE Ventures, Maple VC and others in the round. Mike Ghaffary from Canvas Ventures and Nilam Ganenthiran, former president of Instacart, will join the board.

Leap, an energy market access provider based in San Francisco and the Netherlands, fetched $33.5 million in Series B equity and debt funding. Park West Asset Management led the round, which included participation from Union Square Ventures, Congruent Ventures, National Grid Partners and Climate Capital. Debt was provided by Silicon Valley Bank.

Brinc, a Las Vegas-based startup whose technologies protect first responders and other people in situations of danger such as mass shootings, collected $25 million in Series A funding. Index Ventures led the round, which included additional support from Sam Altman, Tusk Venture Partners, Next Play Ventures and others. Erin Price-Wright, principal at Index Ventures, joined the company’s board.

Atomic, a Salt Lake City-based startup enabling consumers to connect their payroll accounts to a third-party banking app, nabbed $22 million in Series A funding led by Core Innovation Capital.

• Huawei, Ericsson or Nokia? Apple or Samsung? U.S. or China? Who’s Winning the 5G Races.
   
• Tesla Awaits Green Light for Production in Germany
   
• DoorDash Introduces Search-Page Ads for Restaurants
   
• Wendy’s Envisions AI-Rich Apps With New Google Cloud Deal

• Why China’s falling in love with virtual idols (Protocol)

This newsletter was compiled by David Carnevali 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, David Carnevali, Yuliya Chernova, Brian Gormley and Marc Vartabedian.

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