Good day. Entrepreneurs say artificial intelligence-assisted coding–which can help them write software for their businesses faster–is reshaping the way they build startups. And venture investors have shown keen interest in companies developing this technology. How are venture capitalists evaluating competition in this field, including from big tech firms that are developing their own entrants? Email responses to vcnews@wsj.com.

Last week, we asked to hear how VCs are investing in open-source technologies. Here are some responses we received, edited for length and clarity.

• Jon Turow, a partner at Madrona, said: “Open-source AI has entered its ‘Android moment:’ not just a counterweight to proprietary models, but a remixable foundation for innovation. Meta’s Llama models have already surpassed 1.5 billion downloads — most of them derivatives versus the original flavors published by Meta itself — and startups are building on that momentum. We’re especially excited about the opportunity for startups that extend these models or help enterprises do so, unlocking AI tailored to specific use cases without requiring frontier-scale resources.”
   
• Reid Christian, a general partner at CRV, said: “It can be tempting to invest in a storybook ending where the business giving its product away for free takes over markets and kills the competition. But while open-source can give you an easy in with large enterprises that want more flexibility and control than an off-the-shelf proprietary model, all those Github stars don't always translate into budget allocation within large organizations. We steer clear of startups that solely rely on ‘spare time’ contributions as a path forward in product development, and instead seek out teams that not only cultivate a robust ecosystem of plugins and integrations, but also have a talented core team that's devoted to development.”

And now on to the news...

Altman venture launch. Sam Altman’s project that aims to scan the irises of every single person on Earth in exchange for cryptocurrency has made its debut in the U.S., even as concerns around biometric data collection and processing remain, The Wall Street Journal reports.

• The U.S. rollout was made at an event late Wednesday in San Francisco, where the digital initiative called World also announced the planned launch of a payments card with Visa and a partnership with online-dating service Match Group beginning with its Tinder users in Japan. “As AI advances, it’s increasingly important to distinguish between humans and bots online,” World said on its website.
   
• Altman, OpenAI’s chief executive, co-founded the venture in 2019 as an “anonymous proof-of-human” system for people to verify their identity and prevent AI bots from pretending to be humans.

Ara Partners raised more than $800 million for its first pool of capital dedicated to midsize infrastructure operators that help industries reduce carbon emissions, expecting to benefit from efforts by both Europe and the U.S. to strengthen their domestic renewable-fuels sectors, WSJ Pro reports. The Houston-based investment firm said it wrapped up Ara Infrastructure Fund I above a $500 million initial goal, including commitments for separately managed accounts and co-investment pools.

Executives of KKR & Co. believe President Trump’s tariffs will have little effect on its portfolio companies, and promised to maintain an emphasis on Asia despite a looming trade war that has rattled the region, WSJ Pro reports. The New York firm’s leaders said on a Thursday call with financial analysts that 90% of its private-equity holdings will suffer limited or no immediate impact from the tariffs Trump announced April 2. Co-Chief Executive Scott Nuttall said the tariffs have also created a potential investment play resulting from market dislocation. The private-markets firm has invested about $10 billion in the four weeks since the tariffs were unveiled, he said.

Funds

Enterprise software investor Smith Point Capital closed its inaugural fund with more than $360 million in commitments, exceeding the original $300 million target. Additionally, the firm appointed Tyler Prince as managing director and head of value creation. He was previously global lead for alliances and channels at Snowflake.

Uncork Capital raised $225 million for Uncork VIII to invest in early-stage startups across B2B software, developer tools and infrastructure. The San Francisco-based firm also raised $75 million for growth fund Uncork IV Plus.

Early-stage crypto investor dao5 raised $222 million for its second fund. Since its $125 million debut fund in 2022, the Dubai-based firm has backed over 50 companies.

Secondary investment firm Ballast Equity Partners raised $93 million for its debut fund, which is focused on the venture capital and growth equity markets.

People

Fintech-focused TTV Capital said Lynne Laube and Rachel Hamilton have joined the firm as venture partners. Laube is the co-founder and former chief executive officer of Cardlytics. Hamilton was previously chief marketing officer at Greenlight.

Danu Venture Group, an early-stage investor in digital and physical infrastructure technology, appointed Mat Winter, Allison Binns and Michael Dubilier as general partners.

Persona, a San Francisco-headquartered verified identity platform, scored a $200 million Series D round co-led by Founders Fund and Ribbit Capital, bringing the company's valuation to $2 billion.

Astronomer, a New York-based DataOps platform, secured $93 million in Series D financing led by Bain Capital Ventures.

Canopy, a South Jordan, Utah-based accounting practice management software provider, collected $70 million in Series C funding from investors including Ten Coves Capital and Pelion Venture Partners.

Supio, a Seattle-based legal AI platform for personal injury and mass tort plaintiff law firms, raised $60 million in Series B funding led by Sapphire Ventures.

Nuvo, a San Francisco-based business-to-business trade network and automation platform, emerged from stealth with $45 million in funding from investors including Sequoia Capital, Spark Capital, Founders Fund, Index Ventures and others.

Dub, a New York-based copy trading app that lets users copy the portfolios of other investors, landed $30 million in Series A funding co-led by Notable Capital and Neo. The round included a $5.5 million venture debt facility.

Gruve.ai, a Redwood City, Calif.-based enterprise AI startup, picked up $20 million in Series A funding led by Mayfield.

Stately Bio, a Palo Alto, Calif.-based startup that builds machine learning for regenerative medicine development, was seeded with a $12 million investment led by AIX Ventures.

• Carbon-removal credits are one of the few ways companies can decarbonize, but so far demand has remained limited to just a handful of buyers.
• Getting a startup on its feet after a cyberattack can cost a fortune. More often than not, investors get stuck with the bill.
• Tariff uncertainty and geopolitical turbulence have boosted interest in private-credit investment.
• Brands like Mastercard and PepsiCo are shaking up their Pride spending, with some citing political pressure and economic uncertainty.

• Apple says most of its devices shipped into U.S. will be from India, Vietnam
   
• Apple violated antitrust ruling, judge finds
   
• Nvidia CEO says all companies will need ‘AI factories,’ touts creation of American jobs
   
• E-commerce sellers brace for end of de minimis
   
• Tesla board opened search for a CEO to succeed Elon Musk

• Amazon takes aim at Cursor with new AI coding service (The Information)
   
• Lightspeed is latest firm to shift away from classic VC model (Bloomberg)

This newsletter was compiled by Marc Vartabedian 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, Angus Loten and Marc Vartabedian.

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