Good day. Representatives of the governments of Israel and the United Arab Emirates, as well as Bahrain, are due in Washington this week to formally establish diplomatic relations between the countries. Israeli venture investors can’t wait. 

The normalization promises to open direct trade and travel that was previously prohibited between the Gulf states and Israel. 

Avi Eyal, of Tel Aviv-based Entrée Capital, was one of a dozen people who visited Dubai last week on one of the first official business delegations from Israel there.

Mr. Eyal recently set up a website for business entities from both countries to list their mutual interests. Already there are about a dozen Israeli venture firms expressing interest in new limited partners, dozens of startups from both sides looking for funding, and a few venture firms saying they want to invest.

U.A.E. is home to some of the largest sovereign wealth funds in the world that invest in technology, among other sectors, including Mubadala Development Company and the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority.

Israeli startups and venture investors are interested in gaining access to these funds, according to Jon Medved, founder and chief executive of OurCrowd, an Israel-based equity crowdfunding platform. There are also opportunities to distribute software and other products to U.A.E.’s businesses and form joint ventures that would benefit businesses in both countries, he said. Mr. Medved said OurCrowd is exploring opening an office there.

“We shouldn’t be just takers of money, we should also be providers,” said Entrée's Mr. Eyal. That means learning about challenges the Gulf states have in food, health care and other sectors, and helping local startups succeed, he added. Entrée is planning to open an office in the U.A.E., he said.

There is plenty of legwork still to be done. But venture capitalists are eager to make inroads.

And now on to the news...

Payments company dLocal Group Ltd., based in Montevideo, Uruguay, raised $200 million in a growth-equity financing led by General Atlantic, with Lee Fixel’s firm, Addition, participating, WSJ Pro's Yuliya Chernova reports. The deal valued the company at $1.2 billion. Latin America is suffering from the worst economic contraction on record, according to the International Monetary Fund. Yet demand for online services, whether streaming music or video or online shopping, has remained robust. “In the real world and non-digital world the contraction is very real. In the digital world it’s not. That’s why we were unfazed,” said Martín Escobari, co-president, managing director and head of Latin America at General Atlantic.

Startup Neogene Therapeutics Inc. has raised $110 million to develop personalized cellular therapies for cancer, WSJ Pro’s Brian Gormley reports. Neogene aims to treat solid tumors through cell therapies targeting markers found on the patient’s tumor. The company is expecting to start clinical trials in Europe and the U.S. in the next couple of years.

Palo Alto, Calif.-based Conductive invests in companies at the Series A through Series C rounds. The firm expects to back a slightly larger number of startups with its new fund than the 17 in its first $100 million fund. Conductive's investments have included Desktop Metal Inc., which recently announced plans to go public via a special-purpose acquisition company, as well as Ambiq Micro Inc., Blueshift Labs Inc., CSC Generation, Sprinklr Inc. and Survata Inc.

Funds

Spanish bank Banco Santander SA is launching Mouro Capital, a new venture fund focused on startups linked to the financial-services sector. The fund succeeds Santander Innoventures, and will have resources of $400 million, double the bank's current fintech venture capital commitment. Mouro will focus on leading funding rounds with initial investments of up to $15 million.

Foundry group Team8 is launching Team8 Fintech to create and scale fintech startups. Joining the group to lead the new venture vehicle is former president and chief executive of Leumi Group, Rakefet Russak-Aminoach; founder and president of Payoneer, Yuval Tal; and founder and former chief product officer of eToro, Ronen Assia. Team8 Fintech will co-found five to six companies over the next five years, investing $5 million to $8 million in seed funding per deal, and will usually follow-up with Series A investments. The New York- and Tel Aviv-based firm in June launched Team8 Capital to invest in data science and artificial intelligence.

People

Zumper Inc., an apartment-rental marketplace, named Shalin Amin as the company’s first chief experience officer. He previously held positions at Uber and CloudKitchens Design. San Francisco-based Zumper has raised $140 million in funding from investors including Andreessen Horowitz, e.ventures, Greycroft, Dawn Capital, Kleiner Perkins, Greylock, New Enterprise Associates and Blackstone Group.

Exits

Medallia Inc. acquired consumer insights provider Sense360 for $44 million in cash. Sense360 was backed by investors including Builders VC, FirstMark Capital, Qualcomm Ventures and Upfront Ventures.

Escient Pharmaceuticals Inc., a San Diego-based startup initiating clinical trials of a drug to treat cholestatic and uremic pruritus, secured a $77.5 million Series B round led by Sanofi Ventures and Cowen Healthcare Investments. New investors Redmile Group and Perceptive Advisors also joined in the funding, in addition to previous backers including The Column Group, 5AM Ventures and Osage University Partners. Jason Hafler of Sanofi Ventures and Kevin Raidy of Cowen Healthcare Investments joined Escient’s board.

Xometry Inc., a Gaithersburg, Md.-based on-demand manufacturing marketplace, collected a $75 million investment. Funds and accounts advised by T. Rowe Price Associates led the round, with participation from Durable Capital Partners, ArrowMark Partners, BMW i Ventures, Greenspring Associates, Dell Technologies Capital, Robert Bosch Venture Capital, Foundry Group, Highland Capital Partners and Almaz Capital. In addition to the funding, Xometry appointed Jim Rallo as chief financial officer. He was previously CFO and president of Liquidity Services.

Escape Bio, a South San Francisco, Calif.-based developer of therapeutics for genetic neurodegenerative diseases, closed a $73 million funding round led by Wellington Management. Additional new investors Avidity Partners, CAM Capital, New Leaf Ventures, Rock Springs Capital, Surveyor Capital and Sphera Funds Management also participated in the financing, along with existing backers OrbiMed, Novo Holdings, Johnson & Johnson Innovation, Novartis Venture Fund, Osage University Partners and Sutter Hill Ventures.

Devo Technology, a Cambridge, Mass.-based cloud-native data analytics and security provider, landed a $60 million Series D investment and appointed Marc van Zadelhoff as the company’s new chief executive. Georgian Partners led the round, with Bessemer Venture Partners and existing investor Insight Partners also participating. Justin LaFayette, managing partner at Georgian, joined the board. Mr. van Zadelhoff was previously chief operating officer of LogMeIn and co-founder and leader of IBM’s security business unit.

MDLive Inc., a Miramar, Fla.-based telehealth services provider, fetched a $50 million investment from Sixth Street Growth, along with $25 million in debt financing from unnamed investors. MDLive is also backed by investors including Cigna Ventures, Health Velocity Capital, Novo Holdings, Industry Ventures and Bedford Funding.

nTopology, a New York-based 3D printing software startup, picked up a $40 million Series C investment. Insight Partners led the round, with participation from Root, Canaan Partners, DCVC and Haystack. Insight’s Josh Fredberg will join the company’s board.

Ubicquia, a Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based smart city technology provider, nabbed $30 million in Series C funding from investors including Fuel Venture Capital.

Replicant Inc., a San Francisco-based autonomous contact center provider, completed a $27 million Series A round. Norwest Venture Partners led the investment, which included contributions from Bloomberg Beta, Costanoa Ventures, Atomic and State Farm Ventures. Norwest Partner Scott Beechuk will join the board.

Hasura Inc., a San Francisco- and India-based app development technology provider, secured $25 million in Series B financing. Lightspeed Venture Partners led the round, with additional support from Vertex Ventures US, Nexus Venture Partners, Strive VC, SAP.iO Fund and others.

BrandTotal Inc., a New York- and Tel Aviv-based brand marketing analytics provider, raised $12 million in Series B financing. INcapital Ventures led the round, with support from Maor Investments, Glilot Capital Partners, Flint Capital, KDC Media Fund and FJ Labs.

Courier, a San Francisco-based API platform that enables no-code design for multi-channel user notifications, completed a $10.1 million Series A round. Bessemer Venture Partners led the investment, with participation from Matrix Partners, Twilio and Slack Fund. Byron Deeter of Bessemer and Patrick Malatack of Matrix will join Courier’s board.

• Microsoft seeks startup partnerships in battle with Amazon over cloud
   
• Oracle deal with TikTok to undergo U.S. national security review
   
• Highflying Nvidia’s deal for Arm signals loftier chip ambition
   
• Amazon to hire 100,000 in U.S. and Canada
   
• Trucking firms grapple with cybersecurity amid new regulation and risks

• GoodRx offers founders $500 million, nets $100 million investment from Silver Lake, and makes quiet acquisition before IPO (TechCrunch)
   
• A Whistleblower says Facebook ignored global political manipulation (BuzzFeed News)
   
• Pandemic may permanently replace some human jobs with machines (Bloomberg)

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.