Good day. Last week, we asked how women can continue to break funding barriers in venture capital.

• Deena Shakir, a partner at Lux Capital, said: “Representation matters starting from baby board books and going all the way through board rooms. ‘DEI’ should not be relegated to some form of 'ESG' or 'CSR' or other philanthropic alphabet soup; it should be core to the business, in the best interest of any venture capitalist, LP, or tech executive.”
   
• Adrianna Samaniego, a principal at Female Founders Fund, said that female founders have to spend more time justifying their experience instead of proving the value of their product or business model. “As an industry, we need to get past the preconceived notions of founders’ competence based on their gender or racial identity.”
   
• Galina Ozgur, vice president of platform at H/L Ventures, said that women need to be more present throughout the industry: “At VC organizations that influence policy such as NVCA; at the LP level, where funders get their pick of funding strategies and focus; at the VC firm level, where GPs influence not just their sourcing and diligence workflows, but also their hiring and promotion practices; at the founder and ecosystem level, where firms across the board (not just diverse GPs) are asked to do better for women.”
   
• Ruby Gadelrab, CEO and founder of digital health company MDisrupt, said that the industry needs more women LPs. “We need a concerted effort to rebalance the distribution of funds at every venture firm because women founders are the darkhorse of the startup scene, worth betting on.”

This week’s question: Has deal pace slowed down in recent weeks? If so, has this led to more thorough diligence?

Please email responses to marc.vartabedian@wsj.com.

And now on to the news...

Retail-tech. AiFi Inc., a startup that develops automated checkout technology for retailers, stadiums and large-scale events, raised $65 million in capital as it aims to compete with Amazon.com Inc., which has developed similar technology.

AiFi, which was founded in California in 2016, tapped large retail, telecommunications and semiconductor corporations for the funding. Qualcomm Inc. and Verizon Communications Inc., participated in the Series B financing through their venture arms. Discount supermarket chain Aldi and Polish convenience store chain Zabka also participated in the round, among other investors.

Verizon said its 5G wireless service could benefit AiFi’s technology. Qualcomm said that while AiFi wasn’t using Qualcomm chips, it could aid the startup with computing services.

Peloton Interactive Co.’s new chief executive is looking to overhaul the stationary-bike maker’s pricing strategy in a bid to turn around the company, The Wall Street Journal’s Sharon Terlep reports. The company on Friday will start testing a new pricing system in which customers pay a single monthly fee that covers both the namesake stationary bike and a monthly subscription to workout courses. If a customer cancels, Peloton would take back the bike with no charge. Select Peloton stores in Texas, Florida, Minnesota and Denver will for a limited period offer a bike and subscription for between $60 and $100 a month, an experiment that aims to find a price proposition that will help return Peloton to profitability without crippling growth.

War, inflation, looming rate increases and a possible slowdown in global growth are rarely good news for stocks. India’s booming tech sector hasn’t been immune. But there are some interesting exceptions, the Journal’s Megha Mandavia reports. Shares of Walmart -backed CE Info Systems, a digital mapping company that works with Apple and Amazon, are holding up well since the firm’s market debut in late 2021—despite an eye-popping price to sales ratio of over 50. Unlike many of its unicorn peers, the company is benefiting from direct regulatory tailwinds and is experiencing sustained profit growth.

Funds

Portage Ventures, the venture capital arm of alternative investment firm Sagard, has raised $616 million to date for its third fund to make fintech investments in the U.S, Canada and Europe. New limited partners HarbourVest Partners, Kensington Capital Partners and Meridian Credit Union join previous investors Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, Public Sector Pension Investment Board and Eldridge as backers of the new fund. Portage Ventures III LP expects to have a final close next month.

Bain Capital Crypto launched with $560 million to make seed through growth-stage investments in crypto/web3 startups.

Interactive entertainment-focused Makers Fund closed its third fund with $500 million in commitments, which is substantially more than the $260 million and $200 million the firm raised for its previous two funds in 2020 and 2017, respectively. Makers Fund recently participated in funding rounds for user-generated content startup Voldex and mobile gaming startup Dream Games.

Sorenson Ventures, which makes early-stage investments in enterprise software and security companies, raised $150 million for its oversubscribed second fund. Exits from the firm’s inaugural fund include Bridgecrew (acquired by Palo Alto Networks), CloudKnox (acquired by Microsoft) and Openpath (acquired by Motorola).

People

Simplex Ventures, the venture capital arm of proprietary trading firm Simplex Trading, hired Kate Kitto as principal. She was previously at Flying Fish Partners.

Galaxy Interactive, a division of Galaxy Digital Holdings that invests in interactive entertainment, appointed Ryan (Rongchang) You as partner and managing director, and co-head of the company’s gaming division. He previously covered gaming at Liontree and Bank of America Merrill Lynch.

Exits

Customer service platform Dixa acquired customer data analytics provider Miuros and customer service conversational AI company Solvemate for $43 million. In July, Copenhagen-based Dixa said it landed a $105 million Series C round from General Atlantic, Notion Capital, Project A Ventures and SEED Capital.

Blockchain infrastructure platform Blockdaemon purchased cryptocurrency API company Gem for an undisclosed sum. Blockdaemon recently closed a $207 million Series C round valuing the company at $3.25 billion. Investors in the round included Sapphire Ventures, Tiger Global Management, SoftBank Vision Fund 2, Boldstart Ventures and Lerer Hippeau.

Software development operations startup CircleCI acquired AI-powered testing platform Ponicode for an undisclosed amount. Last year, San Francisco-based CircleCI raised a $100 million Series F round from investors including Greenspring Associates, Institutional Venture Partners, Sapphire Ventures, Top Tier Capital Partners and Baseline Ventures. Ponicode, based in Paris, had raised funding from Breega, Kima Ventures and Plug & Play Ventures.

Acorns Grow Inc., a saving and investing app, grabbed $300 million in new funding, increasing the company’s valuation to nearly $2 billion. TPG led the round, with additional participation from BlackRock, Galaxy Digital, Greycroft, Torch Capital, Industry Ventures, Bain Capital Ventures, Headline, Thirty Five Ventures and others. In January, Acorns scrapped its plans to merge with a special-purpose acquisition company due to market conditions.

Lendable, a London-based consumer finance platform, picked up a £210 million (about $275 million) investment led by Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board through its Teachers’ Innovation Platform. The funding gives the company a valuation of more than £3.5 billion.

Roofstock Inc., an Oakland, Calif.-based online marketplace for single-family rental home investing, closed a $240 million Series E round, bringing the company’s valuation to nearly $2 billion. SoftBank Vision Fund 2 led the investment, which included participation from Khosla Ventures, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Bain Capital Ventures, Canvas Ventures, Citi Ventures, Expanding Capital, JLL Spark, SVB Capital, Masco Ventures and Moving Capital.

Menlo Microsystems Inc., an Irvine, Calif.-based developer of a new type of electronic switch, secured a $150 million Series C round led by Vertical Venture Partners and Future Shape. New investors Fidelity Management & Research Co., DBL Partners and Adage Capital Management also participated in the funding, along with existing backers Standard Investments, Paladin Capital Group, Piva Capital and PeopleFund.

Typeform, a Barcelona-based platform that helps companies grow their business by engaging with their audience via forms, surveys and quizzes, snagged $135 million in Series C funding led by Sofina, giving the company a post-money valuation of $935 million. Returning backers including General Atlantic, Index Ventures, Point Nine Capital and Connect Ventures also contributed to the round, alongside new investors Top Tier Capital Partners, GP Bullhound, Teamworthy Ventures and Trium Venture Partners.

Ardoq, an Oslo-based enterprise architecture startup, landed a $125 million Series D investment. EQT Growth led the round, which included participation from One Peak Partners. Victor Englesson, partner within EQT Growth’s Advisory Team, will join the company’s board.

AngelList, a startup-investing platform, closed a $100 million round at a $4 billion pre-money valuation. Tiger Global Management led the investment, which saw participation from Accomplice and others.

Capchase, a New York-based provider of non-dilutive capital for recurring-revenue businesses, nabbed $80 million in Series B funding. Led by 01A, the round included additional support from QED Investors, Caffeinated Capital, Bling Capital, ScifiVC, Thomvest Ventures, Tusk Venture Partners, Invesco and Gaingels.

RefleXion Medical, developer of a radiotherapy device to treat cancerous tumors, closed an $80 million funding round. New investors Ascension Ventures, Catalio Capital Management, Sixty Degree Capital and Hillenbrand Capital Partners were joined by existing backers TPG’s The Rise Fund, KCK Group, PSP Investments, T. Rowe Price, Ally Bridge Partners, Venrock, Pfizer Ventures and Johnson & Johnson Innovation – JJDC Inc. in the round.

Branch, a Minneapolis-based workforce payments platform, completed a $75 million Series C round. Lead investor Addition was joined by General Atlantic, Drive Capital, Crosscut Ventures and others in the funding.

Argyle, a New York-based startup offering companies access to user-permissioned employment records in real time, grabbed a $55 million Series B round. SignalFire led the funding, which included contributions from Bain Capital Ventures, Bedrock and Checkr. Ilya Kirnos, founding partner at SignalFire, will join the company’s board.

JIFFY.ai, a Sunnyvale, Calif.-based intelligent automation platform, raised $53 million in Series B financing. Eight Roads Ventures led the round, which included support from Iron Pillar, Nexus Venture Partners, Reaction Capital and Rebright Partners.

• Should the U.S. issue a digital dollar, which could compete with crypto assets?
   
• Uber, Lyft drivers clash with riders over face masks as states lift mandates
   
• Chinese EV maker NIO revives IPO alternative in Hong Kong
   
• Meta’s head of youth is leaving the company
   
• SEC proposes requiring firms to report cyberattacks within four days

• Working with the military is lucrative. For enterprise AI companies, it’s also a minefield. (Protocol)
   
• Are we entering an NFT downturn? (TechCrunch)

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.

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