Good day. The venture industry is slowing down due to the world-wide effects of the coronavirus. While most investors are pushing ahead with term sheets that were signed prior to the global pandemic, some investors are reconsidering new investments or just waiting for valuations to reset, Yuliya Chernova reports. 

Many firms are doing "triage" on their portfolios, one investor told me, trying to determine which of their companies need funding and also which may not make it through the downturn. So they're doing less new investing—at least for now. 

Deals are slowing down. And it's not just because of valuations. Many venture capitalists are working from home and can't meet entrepreneurs in person—which is often a key part of determining whether to bet on a company. 

"We are slowing down our pace mostly for the reason that we couldn't meet the founders in person to invest in them," said Morgan Lai, partner at Foundation Capital.

And now on to the news...

The chaos in the global economy is leading to a slowdown in the venture-capital market, WSJ Pro's Yuliya Chernova reports.

• Business assumptions are quickly changing as the coronavirus pandemic takes its toll, causing some investors to slow down their investing pace and focus on existing portfolio companies.
   
• Don Butler, managing director at Thomvest Ventures, said his firm plans to invest as much as it usually does annually—about $50 million to $60 million. Still, Thomvest is reassessing some current deals because of price. 
   
• Golde Wellness Inc., a health and beauty brand, got several checks from angel investors through the first week of March. That was 20% of the $1 million the startup sought in its first outside funding. Then the checks stopped coming, said CEO Trinity Mouzon Wofford.

Gaming from home. Startup Subspace Inc., which sells fast internet service for online gaming companies, moved up its public launch, aiming to provide relief for gamers as internet capacities have become strained by people working from home amid the coronavirus pandemic, WSJ Pro's Marc Vartabedian reports. Based in Los Angeles, the company is backed by venture firm Lux Capital, which led Subspace’s seed round and a $21.5 million Series A round which was raised last year.

Risks of gig work. Before the coronavirus pandemic, Joseph Puma’s best day as a gig worker was a $344 haul he notched last year. Last Friday, he nearly doubled that tally and followed up with another $602 over the weekend, WSJ Pro's Yuliya Chernova reports. Mr. Puma, 38, delivers for Shipt, a Target Corp.-owned startup that contracts people to buy products at retail stores and take them to customers’ homes. He started in November of 2018 and gets paid per delivery—varying rates, plus tips.

Denominator effect. Stock markets plunged again on Friday, capping off a tumultuous week. As a result, backers of private-equity funds are suddenly confronted with the prospect of winding up overweight to illiquid private markets, a phenomenon commonly referred to as the denominator effect. John Haggerty, managing principal and director of private market investments at investment advisory firm Meketa Investment Group, shares his insights on the phenomenon and the turmoil of the last week with WSJ Pro's Preeti Singh. 

Funds

U.S. and Israel early-stage investor UpWest Labs is raising a fourth fund targeted at $50 million, according to a regulatory filing. The firm’s third fund closed with $18 million in February 2018.

People

Early-stage investor Tuesday Capital promoted Prashant Fonseka to partner and David Jee to associate. Mr. Fonseka started with the New York- and San Francisco-based firm as an intern in 2013, while Mr. Jee joined as an intern in 2015.

Exits

Nylas Inc., a San Francisco-based provider of email, calendar and contacts APIs, acquired autonomous task tool provider June.ai for an undisclosed amount. Founded in 2013, San Francisco-based Nylas has raised over $30 million to date from investors including Spark Capital, 8VC, Slack, Data Collective, Fuel Capital and SV Angel.

Design Therapeutics, a San Diego-based startup that is developing therapies for serious degenerative disorders, closed a $45 million Series A round. SR One led the funding, with participation from Cormorant Asset Management, Quan Capital and WestRiver Group. SR One’s Simeon George and Quan’s Stella Xu will join the company’s board.

Casetext Inc., a San Francisco-based legal research platform, raised $10 million in funding from Union Square Ventures, Canvas Ventures, 8VC, Y Combinator Continuity and others.

Chilibeli, an Indonesian grocery delivery startup, secured a $10 million funding round. Lightspeed Ventures led the investment, which included participation from Golden Gate Ventures, Sequoia Surge, Kinesys Group and Alto Partners.

Diligent Robotics, an Austin-based hospital robot assistant developer, raised $10 million in Series A financing. DNX Ventures led the round, with contributions from existing investors True Ventures, Ubiquity Ventures, Next Coast Ventures, E14 Fund, Promus Ventures and Grit Ventures. Q Motiwala, partner at DNX, joined the board.

Coterie, a commercial insurance startup, picked up an $8.5 million Series A investment from RPM Ventures, Allos Ventures, Western & Southern, Intercept Ventures, Frontier Venture Capital and Sure Ventures.

StackHawk Inc., a Denver-based application security startup, was seeded with a $2.5 million investment. Costanoa Ventures and Foundry Group led the round, with participation from existing investors Flybridge Capital and Matchstick Ventures.

E25Bio, a Cambridge, Mass.-based developer of rapid diagnostic tests for infectious diseases such as dengue, zika and now the novel coronavirus, scored $2 million in financing from Khosla Ventures.

addapptation, an Exeter, N.H.-based user experience platform for Salesforce, snagged a $1.3 million round of funding. 2048 Ventures led the investment, and was joined by East Coast Angels, The Millworks II Fund and others.

• Doctors turn to malaria drugs as potential coronavirus treatment.
   
• Elon Musk’s defiance in the time of coronavirus. Meanwhile, Tesla to suspend U.S. car production over coronavirus.
   
• Companies retool operations to assist in coronavirus fight.
   

• Family going stir crazy? These apps, websites and games could help.

• Former Google engineer charged with trade-secret theft reaches deal with U.S.

• YouTube forgoes streaming quality to prevent European networks buffering. (Reuters)
   
• Netflix creates $100 million coronavirus relief fund. (Variety)
   

• World Health Organization is partnering with Whatsapp to help ensure trustworthy information gets out.

• Using Apple CarPlay impairs driver reaction more than alcohol, study shows.

• Amazon AWS launches $20 million initiative to help fight the coronavirus.

• Yelp commits $25 million to local restaurants and nightlife.

We cover venture capital and the global startup ecosystem. WSJ Pro Venture Capital is a premium service of The Wall Street Journal. Share your tips, comments and questions: vcnews@wsj.com

The Team: Tomio Geron, Yuliya Chernova, Brian Gormley and Marc Vartabedian.

Follow us on Twitter: @wsjvc, @tomiogeron, @ychernova, @BrianPGormley, @marcvarta.