Good day. Here is this week’s question: Are SPACs underrated or overrated?

At the CB Insights Future of Fintech virtual conference on Wednesday, CapitalG partner Jesse Wedler's response to a WSJ Pro question during a panel discussion was this: "Overrated. Extracting too much value from the companies they are taking public and a short-term fad."

Share your thoughts on whether going public through a blank-check company is under or overrated. Please email marc.vartabedian@wsj.com.

And now on to the news...

Videogame company Roblox Corp. has filed to go public at a time when the pandemic has supercharged demand for online gaming, WSJ's Sarah Needleman reports.

• Roblox said in its IPO filing that it has enjoyed massive sales growth. Revenue advanced 56% to $488.2 million in 2019 and increased further during the pandemic. Sales in the first nine months of 2020 rose more than 68% to $588.7 million, according to the filing, and bookings in that period surged 171% from a year earlier.
   
• But like many highly anticipated technology-focused public offerings, Roblox isn’t profitable. It lost $86 million last year and $203.2 million in the first nine months of this year.
   
• Venture investors in Roblox include Altos Ventures, First Round Capital, Index Ventures, Meritech Capital and Tiger Global, according to the filing.
   
• Roblox isn’t a traditional game developer or publisher. It operates a free online platform that has millions of games created by its own players with tools the company provides. The company generates revenue by selling virtual currency to users called Robux for purchasing in-game perks such as virtual pets or accessories for customizing the look of their avatars.

Wayne Ting, CEO of scooter-rental startup Lime, was bullish on his company’s rebound, coming after its business was hammered by the coronavirus pandemic in the spring, WSJ Pro's Marc Vartabedian reports. Speaking at the WSJ Future of Everything event, Mr. Ting said Lime notched its first Ebitda-positive quarter in the just-ended period, and he projected a full year of positive Ebitda for 2021. The rate of “scooter decay,” or the depreciation of scooters, has been a heavy cost and obstacle to Lime and other startups’ efforts to become profitable and isn’t reflected in the outlook. Lime, however, is introducing a new, longer-lasting scooter that will help mitigate this cost, Mr. Ting said.

Forter Ltd., which sells online fraud detection-software powered by artificial intelligence, said that it raised $125 million. The deal brings its post-money valuation to just over $1.3 billion, WSJ Pro's Jared Council reports. The investment round was led by new investors Bessemer Venture Partners, Felix Capital and venture capitalist Itai Tsiddon, with participation from previous investors including March Capital, Sequoia Capital, NewView Capital and Scale Venture Partners. Forter sells an automated fraud-prevention platform for online merchants. The software uses machine-learning algorithms that were trained to look for patterns of fraud in tens of billions of historical transactions.

Nasdaq Inc. will buy Verafin, a software company that uses artificial intelligence to help banks detect money laundering and fraud, for $2.75 billion, WSJ reports. If completed, the Verafin acquisition would be New York-based Nasdaq’s largest deal in more than a decade and its latest effort to diversify away from its core exchange business into technology. The deal is expected to close early next year, subject to regulatory approval and other conditions.

Funds

Biotech investor ARCH Venture Partners is seeking $1.5 billion for its ARCH Venture Fund XI LP, according to a regulatory filing. In April, the Chicago-based firm raised $1.46 billion across its ARCH Venture Fund X LP and ARCH Venture Fund X Overage LP funds. ARCH recently invested in drug development startups insitro Inc., Walden Biosciences Inc. and Dewpoint Therapeutics.

SR One completed its spin out from GlaxoSmithKline and closed its first fund with $500 million to back U.S. and European biotechnology startups. Founded in 1985, the firm has offices in San Francisco and London. SR One recently provided funding to hearing loss treatment developer Decibel Therapeutics, protein engineering technology provider Dren Bio Inc. and cancer-drug developer Novellus Ltd.

Marathon Venture Capital held the first closing of its second fund with €40 million ($47.5 million) in commitments to continue leading seed rounds in Greek startups. The Athens-based firm is backed by institutional investors such as EIF and HDBI, along with family offices and high-net-worth individuals worldwide. Marathon also promoted Thaleia Misailidou to principal and Chris Gasteratos to associate.

Financial Venture Studio closed its inaugural fund at $13 million to make early-stage investments in U.S. financial technology startups. Limited partners include pension and institutional funds, insurance companies, commercial banks, family offices and individuals. Founded in 2018, the firm has completed two exits from its investments: the sale of Sheltr to Hippo Insurance, and the sale of Joust Banking to ZenBusiness.

People

Alexandria, Va.-based QED Investors is expanding into the Indian and Southeast Asian markets and has hired Sandeep Patil to lead investments in the new regions. He previously held positions at Flipkart, Truecaller and Capital One. QED also appointed Camila Key Saruhashi as a principal based in San Francisco and Adams Conrad as a principal in New York. Ms. Saruhashi previously worked at Nubank and Earnin. Before QEC, Mr. Conrad was at Quovo and Plaid.

Foundry group Team8 hired Fleur Sohtz as chief marketing officer. She was previously chief marketing officer at Collibra. Team8, which is based in New York and Tel Aviv, in September launched Team8 Fintech to create and scale fintech startups.

Exits

International Business Machines Corp. agreed to acquire Instana, an application performance monitoring and observability provider, for an undisclosed amount. Chicago-based Instana is backed by investors including Accel and Meritech Capital.

Near, a provider of intelligence on people and places, is acquiring location intelligence platform Teemo for an undisclosed sum. Singapore-based Near is backed by investors including Sequoia Capital, JP Morgan Private Equity Group, Cisco Investments, Telstra Ventures and Greater Pacific Capital. Teemo, based in Paris, is backed by Index Ventures, ISAI and Mosaic Ventures.

Addepar Inc., a Mountain View, Calif.-based wealth management platform, closed a $117 million Series E round. WestCap Group led the investment, which included participation from 8VC and Sway Ventures.

SellerX, a Berlin-based startup that acquires third-party Amazon sellers, secured more than €100 million ($118.5 million) in seed equity and debt financing. Cherry Ventures, Felix Capital and TriplePoint Capital led the round, with additional support from Village Global and others.

Medable Inc., a Palo Alto, Calif.-based digital clinical trial platform, picked up a $91 million Series C investment. Sapphire Ventures led the round, with participation from GSR Ventures, PPD Inc. and Streamlined Ventures. David Hartwig, managing director at Sapphire Ventures, joined the company’s board.

Imago Biosciences Inc., a South San Francisco, Calif.-based developer of treatments for myeloid diseases, completed an $80 million Series C round led by Farallon Capital Management. New investors including funds and accounts advised by T. Rowe Price Associates, funds and accounts managed by Blackrock Advisors, Surveyor Capital, Irving Investors and Kingdon Capital Management also participated in the funding, along with existing backers Frazier Healthcare Partners, Omega Funds, Amgen Ventures, MRL Ventures Fund, HighLight Capital, Pharmaron Investments, Greenspring Associates, Xeraya Capital and a fund managed by Blackstone Life Sciences.

Verbit, a New York-based transcription and captioning services provider, fetched $60 million in Series C funding. Sapphire Ventures led the investment, with participation from Vertex Growth, Vertex Ventures, Stripes, HV Ventures and ClalTech. Jai Das, managing director and president at Sapphire Ventures, joined the board.

olist, a Brazilian ecommerce platform, snagged a 310 million Brazilian real ($58 million) Series D investment. SoftBank Latin America Fund led the round, which included contributions from Valor Capital Group, Península, VELT Partners, FJ Labs and others.

ZenBusiness, an Austin, Texas-based online platform aimed at helping small businesses, secured $55 million in Series B financing. Cathay Innovation led the round, with participation from GreatPoint Ventures, Breyer Capital, Omega Venture Partners, Greycroft, Lerer Hippeau, Interlock Partners, mark vc and ATX Venture Partners.

Umoja Biopharma Inc., a Seattle-based cancer therapy startup, closed a $53 million Series A round led by MPM Capital and Qiming Venture Partners USA.

Abnormal Security Corp., a San Francisco-based cloud email security platform, raised $50 million in Series B funding. Lead investor Menlo Ventures was joined by Greylock in the round.

Udemy Inc., a San Francisco-based online education marketplace, collected $50 million in Series F funding at a $3.25 billion premoney valuation from investors including Learn Capital.

MycoWorks, a San Francisco plant-based leather startup closed a $45 million Series B round co-led by WTT Investment Ltd. and DCVC Bio. New investors including Valor Equity Partners, Humboldt Fund and Gruss & Co. also contributed to the funding, along with previous backers Novo Holdings, 8VC, SOSV, AgFunder, Wireframe Ventures and others.

Aclima Inc., a San Francisco-based air pollution and greenhouse gas measurement and analysis provider, secured more than $40 million in Series B funding. Clearvision Ventures led the round, which included participation from Microsoft Climate Innovation Fund, Robert Bosch Venture Capital, Plum Alley and Rethink Impact.

• Apple reaches $113 million settlement with states over iPhone battery issues.
   
• Airbnb’s IPO: Everything you need to know.
   
• Nvidia benefits from sustained remote work, videogaming demand.
   
• BuzzFeed to acquire HuffPost in stock deal with Verizon Media.
   
• Marissa Mayer makes contact again.

• State, federal antitrust lawsuits likely to challenge Facebook for buying rivals and weaponizing data. (Washington Post)
   
• Japan Inc. to begin experiments issuing digital yen. (Reuters)
   
• As antitrust pressure mounts, Google to pull back benefit to news sites that adopted its preferred mobile technology. (The Markup)
   
• Election misinformation often evaded YouTube’s efforts to stop it. (New York Times)
   
• Amazon lays off dozens of employees at drone program. (FT)

This newsletter was compiled by Tomio Geron 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, Tomio Geron, Yuliya Chernova, Brian Gormley and Marc Vartabedian.

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