Good day. Limited partners became even more interested in European venture-capital funds during the pandemic, according to a new report.

In a survey of 63 LPs who invest in or are interested in investing in European venture funds, about 43% of LPs said they had accelerated their deployment in venture funds, while 20% said they decreased their investment and 37% said the pandemic had no impact on their investment, according to the survey by Mountside Ventures and the Allocate conference. The LPs had met with 2,000 venture firms over the past 12 months.

The pandemic has impacted the desire of family offices to deploy in venture, but has had little impact with larger institutional investors, the report found.

About 65% of the limited partners were open to more than venture funds, including 50% interested in direct startup deals, and 58% interested in co-investment deals where LPs invest alongside a VC.

In terms of diversity, about 64% of LPs said they have a goal to increase funding in female-led venture firms.

And now on to the news...

Climate tech heats up. Union Square Ventures is raising its first climate-tech focused venture fund, according to people familiar with the situation, WSJ Pro’s Yuliya Chernova reports. The move is an indication that climate tech is gaining new support in the venture industry after largely falling out of favor about a decade ago.

• USV’s climate fund is likely to raise in the range of $100 million and $200 million, one of the people said. The firm’s current team is expected to manage the fund, the person said.
   
• The decision to launch a dedicated climate fund comes on the heels of Union Square Ventures Partner Albert Wenger announcing in January that the firm has added climate and sustainability to its investment thesis.

China's Future Capital Discover Fund, which focuses on early-stage investments, has closed its fourth and largest fund, raising $187 million from global investors entirely from virtual roadshows, Jing Yang reports for WSJ Pro. The coronavirus pandemic has deepened a consolidation in the country's venture capital industry as new funds closed reach a decade low. 

• The USD Fund IV received commitments from several university endowments, including those in the U.S., as well as family offices, fund of funds, and high-net-worth individuals, according to the company.
   
• Future Capital's biggest exit this year is electric-vehicle maker Li Auto Inc., which raised $1.1 billion on the Nasdaq in July.

The latest startup looking to capitalize on new demands and dislocations created by the pandemic is Neighbor.com, which aims to be a sort of Airbnb for storage space, Konrad Putzier writes in The Wall Street Journal. The Lehi, Utah, firm converts vacant restaurants, offices and parking lots into storage space. It is betting that young professionals fleeing cities, temporarily moving in with relatives or downsizing after losing a job will eventually return to their previous style of living. But in the meantime, they will need somewhere to store a lot of their stuff.

• Neighbor, founded in 2017, raised $10 million in a January funding round led by Andreessen Horowitz, the Menlo Park, Calif.-based venture-capital firm.

Funds

Innovation Endeavors is seeking $325 million for its fourth fund, according to a regulatory filing. The firm recently participated in funding rounds for cybersecurity startup Illusive Networks, drug development company Dewpoint Therapeutics and API platform Cube Dev Inc.

People

Desjardins Capital appointed Marie-Hélène Nolet as chief operating officer. She was most recently vice president, strategy and program support, advisory services at the Business Development Bank of Canada. Last week, Montreal-based Desjardins Capital invested in Local Logic, a location intelligence platform for the real estate sector.

Business software investor OpenView Venture Partners added Sanjiv Kalevar to its investment team. He was previously a principal at Battery Ventures. Boston-based OpenView recently closed its sixth fund with $450 million in commitments.

Socure Inc., a provider of identity verification and fraud prevention services, promoted co-founder and chief product officer Johnny Ayers to the position of chief executive. In August, the New York-based company raised a $35 million round from investors including Sorenson Ventures, Citi Ventures, Commerce Ventures, Scale Venture Partners and Flint Capital.

Exits

Software maker Autodesk Inc. agreed to purchase architecture software startup Spacemaker AI for $240 million, net of cash. Oslo-based Spacemaker provides artificial intelligence-assisted design and construction simulation software for the property development sector, and has raised funding from Atomico, Northzone, Round Hill Ventures and Construct Venture.

Launchmetrics, a provider of influencer relationship management tools, acquired Chinese influencer analytics platform Parklu for an undisclosed sum. New York-based Launchmetrics raised $50 million from Bpifrance, Seventure, Cipio Partners and Famille C in 2018. Click Ventures and Fresco Capital list Parklu in their portfolios.

Business risk intelligence provider Flashpoint acquired security automation startup CRFT Inc. for an undisclosed amount. New York-based Flashpoint is backed by Georgian Partners, Greycroft Partners, TechOperators, K2 Intelligence, Jump Capital, Leaders Fund, Bloomberg Beta and Cisco Investments.

Industrial automation company Rockwell Automation Inc. acquired Fixx Inc., a developer of maintenance and asset management software, for an undisclosed amount. Toronto-based Fixx is backed by investors including BuildGroup.

DataRobot, a Boston-based developer of an AI software platform that automates the building, deploying and management of machine-learning models, raised $270 million in a pre-initial public offering funding round led by Altimeter Capital. Additional investors included T. Rowe Price, funds and accounts managed by BlackRock, Tiger Global, Silver Lake Waterman, B Capital Group, Glynn Capital, ClearBridge, New Enterprise Associates and Sapphire Ventures. The new funding values DataRobot at more than $2.7 billion, or more than double its valuation in a $206 million Series E round in September 2019, and brings total funding to just over $700 million.

PingCAP, a San Mateo, Calif.-based SQL database startup, closed a $270 million Series D round. GGV Capital, Access Technology Ventures, Anatole Investment, Jeneration Capital and 5Y Capital led the investment, which included participation from Coatue, Bertelsmann Asia Investment Fund, FutureX Capital, Kunlun Capital, Trustbridge Partners, Matrix Partners China and Yunqi Partners.

Klaviyo, a Boston-based marketing platform, secured $200 million in Series C funding. Accel led the round, which included participation from existing investor Summit Partners. Accel’s Ping Li joined the company’s board.

Heyday, a San Francisco-based startup that partners with sellers to acquire, launch and incubate brands on digital marketplaces like Amazon, grabbed a $175 million Series A round from General Catalyst, Khosla Ventures, Arbor Ventures and others.

Cato Networks, a Tel Aviv-based secure access service edge platform, picked up a $130 million investment valuing the company at over $1 billion. Lightspeed Venture Partners led the round, with additional participation from new investor Coatue, along with existing backers including Greylock, Aspect Ventures, Acrew Capital and Singtel Innov8.

Kandou, a Switzerland-based semiconductor company, completed a $92.3 million Series C round. Existing investors Bessemer Venture Partners led the funding, with participation from Climb Ventures and Swiss Select Opportunities.

Paddle, a London- and New York-based startup whose technology helps software companies sell their products, landed $68 million in Series C financing. FTV Capital led the round, which included contributions from Kindred Capital, Notion Capital and 83North.

Tibber, a Stockholm-based digital energy provider, nabbed a $65 million Series B investment. Eight Roads Ventures and Balderton Capital led the round, with support from investors including Founders Fund. In addition to equity, the company secured working capital funding from Nordea.

Forto, a Berlin-based digital freight forwarder, collected a $50 million investment. Inven Capital led the funding, and was joined by Iris Capital, Rider Global, Northzone, Cherry Ventures, H14 and Maersk.

Yubo, a Paris-based Generation Z-focused social network, raised $47.5 million in Series C funding. Previous backers Idinvest, Iris Capital, Alven and Sweet Capital led the round, along with new investors including Gaia Capital Partners. Jerry Murdock, co-founder of Insight Partners, joins the board.

Zilliz, a Chinese unstructured data analytics startup, closed a $43 million Series B round. Hillhouse Capital led the funding, and was joined by TrustBridge Capital, Pavillion Capital, 5Y Capital and Yunqi Partners.

Unbound Tech, a New York-based provider of cryptographic key management and protection, secured $20 million in Series B financing. Evolution Equity Partners led the round, which included contributions from Innovation Endeavors, Goldman Sachs, Citi and BlueRed Partners. J.R. Smith, a partner at Evolution Equity, will join the company’s board.

Everytable, a Los Angeles-based startup that offers prepared food priced according to the neighborhood, fetched a $16 million Series B round. Creadev led the investment, with additional participation from Kaiser Permanente Ventures, Candide Group, Gratitude Railroad Ventures and Desert Bloom Food Ventures.

• Zuckerberg, Dorsey tout progress in combating political misinformation
   
• DoorDash loves the ‘burbs as much as you do
   
• Bots grade your kids’ schoolwork—and they’re often wrong
   
• Apple’s M1 MacBook Air and MacBook Pro: the laptop’s biggest leap in years
   
• Businesses counting on new wave of AI-enabled tools to juice sales, reduce customer churn

• Talkspace working with advisers on possible sale (Bloomberg)
   
• Dropbox's Drew Houston is betting everything on a new future for work (Protocol)

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, Tomio Geron, Yuliya Chernova, Brian Gormley and Marc Vartabedian.

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