Good day. Visa’s planned $5.3 billion acquisition of startup Plaid is expected to generate hundreds of millions of dollars for investors New Enterprise Associates, Spark Capital and Goldman Sachs, WSJ Pro reports today. For instance, NEA, the largest investor in Plaid, holds a more than 15% stake worth at least $700 million.

Meanwhile, health-care provider and insurer UPMC is ramping up its venture ambitions. The $20 billion company plans to invest $800 million more in drugs, diagnostics and medical devices by 2024 through its venture-capital arm.

Plus, financial technology startup Fundbox hired its first finance chief as the seven-year old company prepares for a potential initial public offering.

And now on to the news...

Visa Inc.’s planned $5.3 billion acquisition of Plaid Inc. is likely to inspire more venture investor interest in startups that enable other companies to provide financial services, WSJ Pro's Yuliya Chernova and Katie Roof report.

• The deal is expected to generate hundreds of millions of dollars for venture investors New Enterprise Associates, Spark Capital and Goldman Sachs Group Inc., according to people familiar with the matter, providing a rare big exit in the sector and some validation for the large amounts of capital that have been invested in financial technology in recent years.
   
• Spark, which owns more than 12% of Plaid, is expecting a return of about $600 million from the deal, according to people familiar with the situation.
   
• Goldman Sachs owns close to 12% of the business, or about $600 million at the time of the sale, according to two people familiar with the matter. Goldman previously invested close to $70 million in the business and first invested in 2016.

Medical venture. UPMC, a $20 billion health-care provider and insurer, said it plans to invest $800 million more in drugs, diagnostics and medical devices by 2024 through its venture-capital arm, a significant expansion of its life sciences investment effort, WSJ Pro's Brian Gormley reports. UPMC has committed $800 million more in new capital earmarked for follow-on investments in existing life sciences companies and for new investments, said Jeanne Cunicelli, executive vice president of UPMC Enterprises, UPMC’s venture-capital, innovation and commercialization arm.

Fintech. Financial technology startup Fundbox Inc. hired a former investment banker to be its first finance chief as the seven-year old company prepares for a potential initial public offering, CIO Journal reports. Marten Abrahamsen joined Fundbox in early January from investment firm The Chernin Group LLC, where he was a partner since 2018. Before that, Mr. Abrahamsen was responsible for Coatue Management LLC’s investments in Grab Holdings Inc. and Jet.com Inc., among others, and worked as an investment banker at Goldman Sachs Group Inc.

Space bankruptcy. A bankruptcy judge said space-technology company Vector Launch Inc. can proceed with a proposed sale of some of its assets to Lockheed Corp. after the companies agreed to cut bid protections by about 20%, WSJ Pro's Patrick Fitzgerald reports. Judge John T. Dorsey said at a hearing in Wilmington, Del., that Vector Launch could move forward with the $4.25 million lead bid for its satellite software business to Lockheed.

Startup Accelerator. Comcast Corp. said it is funding a new startup accelerator in a bid to connect its media properties and sports league partners with emerging marketing, media and technology companies, CMO Journal reports. Comcast will initially invest more than $15 million annually in the Atlanta-based program, called SportsTech, which will focus on startups across eight categories including sports media and entertainment; player and fan engagement; venue and event innovation; esports; and fantasy sports and betting.

Medical bankruptcy. Medical device manufacturer REVA Medical Inc. filed a prepackaged bankruptcy, proposing to cut $90 million in debt while turning over its assets to Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Elliott Management Corp. and other creditors, WSJ Pro's Andrew Scurria reports. Under the prepackaged plan, REVA’s creditors would receive equity stakes in the reorganized company and in a new limited liability company “created to continue the development and commercialization of REVA’s bioresorbable polymer technologies,” according to a sworn declaration by REVA President Jeffrey Anderson.

Funds

Felix Capital completed raising an oversubscribed $300 million third fund to continue investing in online fashion and digital-media companies across Europe and the U.S. that are looking to take advantage of changing consumer spending habits. The London-based firm also appointed Andrew Robb and Thijn Lamers as venture advisors, and David Oglesby as chief financial officer. Felix closed its second fund with $150 million in 2017.

Merus Capital raised $63 million for its fourth fund, according to a regulatory filing. The Palo Alto, Calif.-based firm’s recent investments include construction project management software startup Alice Technologies Inc. and Moesif, an application program interface and customer insight provider.

People

Zebra Medical Vision Ltd. appointed Ohad Arazi as chief executive, succeeding co-founder Eyal Gura, who will continue as chairman of the board. Mr. Arazi previously held positions at McKesson Technology Solutions, Change Healthcare and Telus Health. Israel-based Zebra is backed by investors including Aurum Ventures, aMoon Partners, Khosla Ventures and Johnson & Johnson Innovation.

Sorenson Ventures named Vidya Raman as the firm’s newest principal. Prior to joining Sorenson, she managed product strategies for eMeter, Silver Spring and Medtronic. Sorenson Ventures has more than $110 million in capital under management and is based in Menlo Park, Calif. and Lehi, Utah.

Exits

Publicly traded Equinix Inc. agreed to acquire bare metal automation platform Packet for an undisclosed amount. New York-based Packet is backed by investors including Samsung Next Ventures and Third Point Ventures.

Google agreed to acquire online inventory company Pointy, and has completed the purchase of AppSheet, which enables companies to build mobile apps without writing code. Terms of both deals weren’t disclosed. Dublin-based Pointy counts Frontline Ventures, Polaris Partners, Draper Associates and Vulcan Capital as backers. AppSheet, of Seattle, secured a $15 million Series A round in April 2019 from Shasta Ventures and New Enterprise Associates.

Secfi Inc., a San Francisco-based startup that provides financing to employees of growth- and late-stage private companies so they can exercise their stock options, secured a $550 million investment facility from hedge-fund firm Serengeti Asset Management. Last July, Secfi raised a $6 million Series A round from investors including Rucker Park Capital, Social Leverage, Weekend Fund, Elefund and FJLabs.

Tradeshift, a San Francisco-based provider of digital supply chain services, raised $240 million in equity and debt from new and existing investors. The company’s backers include Goldman Sachs Group Inc., American Express Ventures, CreditEase Fintech Investment Fund, Notion Capital and Santander InnoVentures.

Medsphere Systems Corp., a Carlsbad, Calif.-based provider of health-care information-technology systems, picked up a $40 million investment from TPG Sixth Street Partners. Principal Lee Mooney will join the company’s board.

KeyMe LLC, a New York company providing key duplication services from its network of over 3,000 smart kiosks located in major retailers, closed a $35 million funding round led by Brentwood Associates. Previous investors in the company include Battery Ventures, BlackRock Inc., Comcast Ventures, Questmark Partners and White Star Capital.

Treadwell Therapeutics, a New York-based cancer treatment startup, said life science venture creation fund TIO Bioventures launched the company with a $27 million seed investment. Additionally, Rachel W. Humphrey was appointed chief medical officer of Treadwell and head of research and development at TIO Discovery.

Insurify Inc., a Cambridge, Mass.-based car insurance comparison platform, raised $22.7 million in Series A funding. Mtech and Viola FinTec led the round, which included participation from MassMutual Ventures and Nationwide Ventures. In addition to the financing, Gene Shkolnik was hired as the company’s chief technology officer.

Zipari Inc., a Brooklyn, N.Y.-based provider of a customer-relationship management system designed for health plans, collected $22.5 million in Series B funding. Vertical Venture Partners led the round, and was joined by Health Velocity Capital, Healthworx and Horizon Healthcare Services Inc.

Codagenix Inc., a Farmingdale, N.Y.-based developer of prophylactic vaccines and oncolytic virus therapies, completed a $20 million Series B round. Adjuvant Capital led the investment, with contributions from Euclidean Capital and Topspin Partners.

Trusona Inc., a Scottsdale, Ariz.-based passwordless multifactor authentication technology provider, secured $20 million in new funding. Georgian Partners led the round, with participation from investors including Kleiner Perkins, M12, OurCrowd and Seven Peaks Ventures.

AbSci LLC, Vancouver, Wash.-based provider of a protein expression platform for biopharmaceutical discovery and manufacturing, closed a $15.4 million Series D round, which included $5 million in debt. KBI Biopharma and JSR Life Sciences led the investment, with participation from Phoenix Venture Partners, Oregon Venture Fund, WRF Capital and Columbia Ventures Corp.

BioProtect Ltd., an Israeli company whose polymer spacer balloons protect healthy tissue in radiation oncology, snagged $13 million in Series D financing from investors including Accelmed Ventures II, KB Investments and the family office of Vincent Tchenguiz.

Containous, a San Francisco-based cloud-native networking startup, completed a $10 million Series A round. Balderton Capital led the funding, with Elaia and 360 Capital Partners also participating.

• As justice department pressures Apple, investigators say iPhone easier to crack.
   
• India orders WhatsApp, Google to save data on mob attack.
   
• Amazon publishes books by top authors, and rivals fret
   
• Google Chrome to phase out third-party cookies in effort to boost privacy.
   
• PC shipments rose in fourth quarter, boosted by Windows upgrades.
   
• Senators urge $1 billion plan to loosen China’s grip on 5G.
   
• Missing ‘Friends’ on Netflix? Find a DVD player.

• BMW, Daimler self-driving may attract Fiat Chrysler. (Bloomberg) 
   
• ​National Security Agency finds flaw in Microsoft Windows. (Bloomberg)
   
• ​Grindr and OkCupid spread personal details, study says. (NY Times) 
  ​
• Google cutting web cookies. (Reuters) 
   
• Insta360’s camera. (Verge)
   
• ​Instacart tipping policy (CNBC)

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The Team: Tomio Geron, Yuliya Chernova, Brian Gormley, Heather Mack, Katie Roof and Marc Vartabedian.

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