Good day. More large enterprise software companies with deep pockets are launching AI agents, presenting a competitive threat to startups that build AI agents. Is that changing how venture investors gauge competition in the already crowded market? Please email responses to vcnews@wsj.com.

Last week, we asked if venture firm fundraising is on the increase or if there are more weak months or years ahead of slow activity. Here are edited and condensed responses:

• Alyssa Jaffee, a partner at 7wire Ventures: “While LPs certainly aren't throwing money around like they once were, we’re seeing a shift toward a more disciplined, intentional approach to backing managers. The market has become more selective—not frozen. There's a growing appetite for targeted strategies with clear return potential, and we’re increasingly hearing from LPs that they’re less interested in deploying capital to large, multi-strategy AUM shops. Instead, they’re looking to reengage with captive, focused funds that offer stronger alignment, differentiated insights, and a clear, ROI-driven approach."
   
• Hany Nada, partner and co-founder of ACME Capital: “We will likely see more soft quarters ahead, but this period is usually when the vintages that outperform are raised. The dot-com reset took three years to reach the bottom of LP inflow, and the global financial crisis took four years to find the bottom. In the current SaaS bubble, we are now in year three, so we are likely near the bottom, if not already in it.”

And now on to the news...

AI coding startup now worth $29.3 billion. Cursor has raised $2.3 billion at a $29.3 billion valuation—nearly 12 times the value the company had in January. Accel, which invested in the AI coding startup’s last funding round, co-led this one with Coatue, a new investor. Existing investors such as Thrive Capital and DST Global also participated in this funding round, the company’s third this year.

• Other new investors include Alphabet’s Google and Nvidia, which Cursor invited to the round “to deepen the partnership,” said Michael Truell, co-founder and chief executive officer of the startup.
   
• Google provides artificial-intelligence services and cloud computing to the startup, while Nvidia is an enterprise customer. 

Blue Origin took crucial steps toward its space-development goals on Thursday, launching its orbital rocket for the first time with cargo and landing the rocket’s booster. The Jeff Bezos-owned company launched its New Glenn rocket from a pad near Cape Canaveral, Fla., just before 4 p.m. ET. It is scheduled to deploy two National Aeronautics and Space Administration science satellites that will fly to Mars, where their goals include studying the red planet’s atmosphere.

Battery Ventures led a $50 million investment in financial technology company Maybern. Battery’s investment in the fund-operations company aims to bridge a technology gap in private markets. While the industry is measured in the trillions of dollars under management across strategies, it still runs largely on a patchwork of old technology and Excel spreadsheets. Maybern bills itself as an operating system for fund financing, automating accounting and financial operations and streamlining auditing. The investment values Maybern, which seeks to inject artificial intelligence into fund operations, at about $270 million, according to a person familiar with the company.

People

Harbor Health, an Austin, Texas-based primary- and specialty-care clinic group and health insurer, said it named Erin Page as its chief operating officer. She is the former chief operating officer and president of value-based care of VillageMD. Harbor recently raised a $130 million Series B round and said it is expanding its presence across Texas, operating 40 clinics that serve Austin, Dallas, El Paso and San Antonio.

Forterra, a Clarksburg, Md.-headquartered company providing autonomous mission systems for defense and logistics, closed a $238 million Series C equity and debt round. Moore Strategic Ventures led the funding, which saw participation from Salesforce Ventures, 645 Ventures, 9Yards Capital, XYZ and others.

Majestic Labs, an AI server architecture startup with offices in San Francisco and Tel Aviv, emerged from stealth with over $100 million in financing from investors including Bow Wave Capital and Lux Capital.

Parallel, a San Francisco-based startup building web infrastructure for AI agents, raised $100 million in Series A funding at a $740 million valuation. Kleiner Perkins and Index Ventures co-led the investment, which included contributions from Spark Capital, Khosla Ventures and First Round Capital.

Scribe, a San Francisco-headquartered workflow AI startup, landed $75 million in Series C funding at $1.3 billion valuation. StepStone led the round, which included additional support from investors including Amplify Partners, Redpoint Ventures and New York Life Ventures.

WisdomAI, a San Francisco-based AI analytics and business intelligence provider, snagged $50 million in Series A funding. Kleiner Perkins led the round, which saw contributions from NVentures, Latitude Capital, Madrona, Menlo Ventures and others.

Sensetics, a haptics and touch data company advancing digital capture and transmission of realistic touch experiences, said it has raised more than $1.7 million in pre-seed financing. It said it will use the funding to accelerate product development for its hardware and software platform. The financing was co-led by MetaVC Partners and Fitz Gate Ventures, with participation from Blue Sky Capital and AIC Ventures.

• Chinese Hackers Used Anthropic’s AI to Automate Cyberattacks

• Defense-Tech Founder Faces Charges for Online Solicitation of Preteen

• Robinhood Offers to Bring Cash to Your Doorstep, for a Fee

• NBCUniversal Launching New Cable Sports Channel

• Electric-Truck Maker Harbinger Raises $160 Million 

• Biomining Startup Gets $13.5 Million as Critical Minerals Race Gathers Speed

• Big Tech’s Soaring Profits Have an Ugly Underside: OpenAI’s Losses

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.