Good day. Atul Rustgi, a longtime managing partner at fund-of-funds firm Accolade Partners, has left the firm.

“We parted ways with Atul at the end of last year,” said Aram Verdiyan, a partner at Accolade. “There is no change to our investment focus,” he added, declining to comment further.

Rustgi didn't respond to a request for comment.

Washington, D.C.-based Accolade invests in venture, growth-equity, as well as crypto funds. Founded in 2000 by Managing Partner Joelle Kayden, Accolade had more than $7 billion under management as of November 2024, per a regulatory filing.

The firm has backed funds from managers such as Accel, Andreessen Horowitz, Kleiner Perkins and Construct Capital, as well as growth-equity firms such as Lock 8 Partners, Radian Capital and Shore Capital Partners.

Rustgi had been at Accolade since 2007. He supported the firm’s move into creating a standalone crypto fund of funds, making the firm one of the earlier institutional investors to set up a vehicle of this sort a few years ago.

And now on to the news...

Cashing out. When AI workplace startup Notion offered employees the chance to cash out some of their shares as part of a $270 million tender offer in January, the opportunity drew higher requests from former employees than the tender could accommodate. The company had to scale back its payouts to former employees, according to people familiar with the matter, and Chief Executive Officer Ivan Zhao apologized to them afterward.

• Notion is among a host of startups and tech companies that are giving employees eager to access wealth tied up in private shares a way to cash out some of it. It marks a shift in Silicon Valley culture as companies stay private longer.
   
• Selling startup shares early was long viewed as taboo and a sign of lacking long-term commitment.

At a global summit of Big Tech leaders and heads of state in New Delhi this week, India will promote its approach of developing cheaper AI tools aimed at solving local problems as a path for other middle-income nations. “What we are attempting to do as a country…is to enable the democratization of technology,” said S. Krishnan, a senior official in India’s electronics ministry, in January. “The very fact that [this summit] is hosted in the Global South is important.” Some of AI’s top names, including OpenAI’s Chief Executive Sam Altman and Anthropic’s Dario Amodei, are expected to be present in India’s capital when Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurates the summit on Thursday.

The U.K.’s audit regulator is considering changing its accounting rules in order to encourage Chinese companies to list in London. The Financial Reporting Council will consult on whether to allow Chinese-registered companies to follow Chinese accounting rules when listing global depository receipts in London, it said Monday. Concerns around London’s attractiveness to foreign companies looking to go public were heightened last year after Chinese fast-fashion company Shein backed out of a hotly anticipated initial public offering in London.

People

Anthropic, developer of the Claude chatbot and a key rival to OpenAI, said former Microsoft and General Motors executive Chris Liddell has joined its board of directors. Last week, the San Francisco-based company announced a $30 billion Series G round.

Bretton AI, a San Francisco-headquartered AI platform for financial crime operations, scored $75 million in Series B funding. Sapphire Ventures led the round, which saw participation from Greylock, Thomson Reuters Ventures, Y Combinator and others. Rajeev Dham, partner at Sapphire Ventures, joined the company’s board. Bretton AI was previously known as Greenlite AI.

Constellr, a startup providing high-precision thermal intelligence from space, collected €37 million in Series A funding led by Alpine Space Ventures and Lakestar.

Monaco, a San Francisco-based AI-powered sales platform, emerged from stealth with over $35 million in funding from investors including Founders Fund and Human Capital.

Ever, a San Francisco-headquartered AI-native auto retail platform, emerged from stealth with $31 million in Series A funding. Led by Eclipse, the investment included contributions from Lifeline Ventures, Ibex Investors and others.

Didero, a New York-based startup building AI agents that automate enterprise procurement operations, nabbed $30 million in Series A funding. Chemistry and Headline co-led the round, which included support from M12.

Reco, a New York-based AI SaaS security startup, snagged a $30 million Series B round. Zeev Ventures led the funding, which included participation from Insight Partners, boldstart ventures and others.

Uptiq, an AI platform for financial services, landed $25 million in Series B funding. Curql led the investment, which included participation from 645 Ventures, Live Oak Ventures, Epic Ventures and others.

Sphinx, a San Francisco-based startup building browser-native compliance agents for financial institutions, raised $7.1 million in seed funding led by Cherry Ventures.

Iceberg Quantum, a Sydney-headquartered quantum computing architecture developer, was seeded with a $6 million investment. LocalGlobe led the round, which saw participation from Blackbird and DCVC.

• People Trust Websites More When They Know a Human Is on Standby

• TikTok’s Chinese Parent Has an App to Replace Hollywood

• Detroit Automakers Take $50 Billion Hit as EV Bubble Bursts

• When AI Bots Start Bullying Humans, Even Silicon Valley Gets Rattled

• Anthropic Takes Big Step in AI Race to Reshape College Coding Courses

• Marketplaces Are the Next Frontier in Publisher Deals With AI Companies

   

This newsletter was compiled by Matthew Strozier and Zachary Cole.

Share your tips, comments and questions: vcnews@wsj.com

The team: Matthew Strozier, Yuliya Chernova, and Brian Gormley.

Join us on LinkedIn.