Happy Friday. More venture investors have been seeking startups in India as the country's 1.3 billion people drive economic growth. Utsav Somani, head of AngelList India, has launched a new fund, iSeed, to invest in early-stage startups in India. Investors in the fund include Naval Ravikant, co-founder of AngelList, and Sheel Mohnot, general partner at 500 FinTech. iSeed is separate from AngelList and Mr. Somani will still have his day job with AngelList, he said.  

The fund will invest in 30 to 35 startups with checks of about $150,000 each. While there are a number of large U.S. firms that have made investments in India, there is less funding at this earlier micro-VC stage, he said.

While earlier Indian startups were copycats of global companies or focused just on the Indian market, many Indian startups are now built to target global markets, Mr. Somani said. Software as a service and enterprise tools "are one of the most interesting sectors," Mr. Somani said.

Mr. Somani raised the fund in the U.S. using AngelList's backoffice product for managing venture firms' backoffices, but it invests in India-based companies. The fund was set up as a U.S.-based fund in order to make it easier for U.S. investors to back the fund, he said.

AngelList India in 2018 launched a syndicates program to make it easier for angels to make single deals with other investors similar to its U.S. version. It has now itself invested in about 140 companies, doing about three per week, and is the largest seed investor in India, he said.

Note: The Pro VC newsletter will not be published Monday in observance of Memorial Day in the U.S. We will be back on Tuesday.

And now on to the news...

Pivots. Corporate travel was the be-all for Mint House Inc., a provider of short-term upscale apartment rentals. As the pandemic hit in March, Will Lucas, the founder and chief executive of the New York-based startup, watched with horror as revenue evaporated, WSJ Pro’s Yuliya Chernova reports. As bookings for April and May disappeared with equal speed, Mr. Lucas said that he and his executive team realized, “You’ve got to rethink everything.”

• The company rallied and ended up finding new customers among traveling nurses, students booted from their dorms and others.
   
• Finding those clients was a temporary pivot that allowed Mint House to increase occupancy and draw revenue when its regular business dropped off. But Mr. Lucas believes there is a long-term benefit to come out of the crisis—the willingness of landlords to sign more flexible deals, so-called management agreements.

Automation. Companies are expected to ramp up automation in the aftermath of the coronavirus outbreak as employers seek to cut costs and boost productivity, CIO Journal's Angus Loten reports. Some of these cost-cutting efforts will involve the use of artificial-intelligence-powered robotic software developed to replace workers by tackling repetitive tasks, such as handling routine contact-center calls and processing employee-benefits forms. But physical robots also will be enlisted to stock grocery-store shelves, disinfect hotel rooms and perform other manual labor that carries a heightened risk of infection.

• Read previous WSJ Pro VC coverage.

M&A spree. After pushing the pause button during the coronavirus pandemic, big enterprise-technology companies later this year are expected to go on a shopping spree for smaller tech firms, CIO Journal reports. The tighter market could leave fewer options for cash-strapped chief information officers, they say.

Funds

Growth equity investor Oceanpine Capital held the first $200 million close of its second fund. Limited partners in Oceanpine Capital Fund II include entrepreneurs, asset management allocators, family offices and venture capitalists. The firm, with offices in China and San Francisco, closed its debut fund with $400 million in 2016. Oceanpine said it has done six deals from the new fund, committing about $100 million in early to late-stage growth companies in the technology sector.

Cybersecurity-focused Cyberstarts is seeking $100 million for its second fund, according to a regulatory filing. Earlier this year, the firm participated in a $17 million funding round for private application access startup Axis Security.

Samsara Inc., a San Francisco-based provider of sensors and software for managing vehicle fleets and industrial operations, raised $400 million in new funding. New investors Alliance Bernstein, Franklin Templeton, General Atlantic, Sands Capital Management and Warburg Pincus provided the financing, along with existing backers Andreessen Horowitz, Dragoneer Investment Group, General Catalyst and Tiger Global.

Amwell, a Boston-based telehealth provider, closed a $194 million Series C round from investors including Allianz X and Takeda.

Aspiration Partners Inc., a Los Angeles-based socially conscious and sustainability-focused fintech startup, completed a $135 million Series C round. Alpha Edison led the investment, which included participation from UBS O’Connor Capital Solutions, DNS Capital, Radicle Impact, Sutter Rock, Social Impact Finance, Pohlad Companies, AGO Partners and others.

Mindstrong Health, a Mountain View, Calif.-based startup offering virtual mental healthcare and digital symptom measurement, secured $100 million in Series C funding from General Catalyst, ARCH Venture Partners, Foresite Capital, 8VC, Optum Ventures, What If Ventures and others.

Nautilus Biotechnology, a Seattle- and San Carlos, Calif.-based biomedical research startup, picked up $76 million in Series B financing led by Vulcan Capital. New investors Perceptive Advisors, Bezos Expeditions and Defy Partners were joined by AME Cloud Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz, Bolt and Madrona Venture Group in the round.

HotSpot Therapeutics Inc., a Boston-based drug developer, closed a $65 million Series B round. S.R. One led the investment, with participation from Atlas Venture, Sofinnova Partners, Tekla Capital Management, MRL Ventures Fund, Solasta Ventures and Cleva Pharma. S.R. One’s Jill Carroll and Tekla Capital’s Henry Skinner joined the company’s board.

Amplitude, a San Francisco-based product intelligence platform, snagged $50 million in Series E funding, bringing the company’s valuation to over $1 billion. GIC led the round, which included contributions from Sorenson Capital, Sequoia Capital, Benchmark, Battery Ventures, IVP and Lead Edge Capital.

Ecwid, a San Diego- and Russia-based ecommerce software platform, landed a $42 million investment led by Morgan Stanley Expansion Capital and PeakSpan Capital. Pete Chung of Morgan Stanley Expansion and Phil Dur from PeakSpan are joining the board.

Spruce, a New York-based real-estate technology startup offering online real estate title and escrow services, raised $29 million in Series B funding. Scale Venture Partners led the round, with support from Zigg Capital and Bessemer Venture Partners.

CLARA analytics Inc., a Santa Clara, Calif.-based provider of artificial intelligence technology to the commercial insurance industry, procured $25 million in Series B funding. Aspen Capital Group led the round, with participation from investors including Oak HC/FT.

RapidAPI, an application programming interface marketplace, added $25 million in Series B financing from investors including Andreessen Horowitz, DNS Capital, Green Bay Ventures, M12 and Grove Ventures. The company raised $25 million in an earlier Series B tranche last June.

Artms Inc., a Vancouver-based nuclear medicine startup, collected $19 million in Series A financing. Deerfield Management Co. led the round, and was joined by GHS Fund.

• Amazon targets fall for Prime Day as it tries to return to pre-pandemic operations.
   
• Coronavirus lockdowns spark boom in online learning for adults, too.
   
• Next in videoconferencing—hiding your on-screen double chin.

• Inside supercomputing's race to find coronavirus treatments and cures (Protocol)
   
• Netflix will start cancelling inactive members’ subscriptions. (CNBC)
   
• Students are failing AP tests because the College Board can’t handle iPhone photos. (Verge)
   
• How Nextdoor courts police and public officials. (CityLab)
   
• Twitter’s Jack Dorsey is giving Andrew Yang $5 million to build the case for a universal basic income. (Rolling Stone)

This newsletter was compiled by Matthew Strozier, 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.