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Three Questions With Gretchen Cook-Anderson of LabCentral Ignite
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By Brian Gormley, WSJ Pro
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Good day. Gretchen Cook-Anderson wants life sciences venture capital to make bigger strides toward diversity goals. She is executive director of LabCentral Ignite, an initiative of LabCentral, a nonprofit biotechnology accelerator in Cambridge, Mass. LabCentral Ignite, which develops programming to improve diversity across life sciences, has launched a new effort specifically for biomedical venture firms. IgniteVC, seeded with donations from Third Rock Ventures, Johnson & Johnson Innovation-JJDC Inc. and Mission BioCapital, plans to launch a fellowship program to cultivate diversity in life sciences venture capital. Here is an excerpt of our conversation with Ms. Cook-Anderson.
WSJ Pro: Discuss the need for IgniteVC.
Ms. Cook-Anderson: Women-led and startups led by professionals of color tend to get less funding than startups led by founders who look more like the investors themselves. Which means women and founders of color often don’t get the funding they need to thrive. It could be purely based on the fact that it's a women-led company or a founder of color and not based on the science or its potential.
WSJ Pro: What are some of the consequences of this for biotechnology venture capital?
Ms. Cook-Anderson: When folks make decisions about who to fund, it also may mean that there are certain health conditions that may overwhelmingly impact a particular community that will continue to not get the attention that those diseases and conditions require. I look at sickle cell anemia [for example]. We need more leaders whose science is addressing those diseases that may overwhelmingly affect a particular population. It ultimately leads to greater health equity.
WSJ Pro: How will you measure success?
Ms. Cook-Anderson: We have the ability through the fellowship program to measure who comes through that program. We also can measure by how many companies are downloading the tools and resources we provide. That will give us a sense of which tools are most useful. And then there's the DEI suite, the survey suite we’ve created in-house where we will be measuring who makes up the startup founder community.
And now on to the news...
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EMIL LENDOF/THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
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Europe to ChatGPT: disclose your sources. Makers of artificial-intelligence tools such as ChatGPT would be required to disclose copyright material used in building their systems, according to a new draft of European Union legislation slated to be the West’s first comprehensive set of rules governing the rollout of AI, The Wall Street Journal reports.
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Such an obligation would give publishers and content creators a new weapon to seek a share of profits when their works are used as source material for AI-generated content by tools like ChatGPT.
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European Parliament negotiators plan to insert the new language in a EU bill that is making its way toward passage, adding measures aimed at regulating a number of aspects of AI.
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1.1%
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The rate of U.S. economic growth in the first quarter, a slowdown amid still-high inflation and rising interest rates, adding to worries about a possible recession.
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Coinbase Armed for Legal Clash Over How Crypto Is Regulated
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Coinbase Global Inc. said Thursday it would fight the Securities and Exchange Commission over the agency’s claim that much of its business is illegal and try to convince a court that Wall Street regulators lack the authority to oversee cryptocurrency markets, WSJ reports. The company outlined its legal strategy in a memorandum that formally responded to the SEC’s earlier notice of a potential enforcement action against the company. The memo, made public by Coinbase along with a video featuring its chief executive, underscores the company’s effort to generate political backing and public support for its confrontation with the SEC.
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Editor’s Note: Each week, we will share selections from WSJ Pro that provide insight and analysis we hope are useful to you. The stories are unlocked for The Wall Street Journal’s subscribers.
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Supply Chains Have Changed Forever
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Nearshoring. Automation. Supplier diversification. Sustainability. WSJ Pro takes a closer look at how companies are reshaping their logistics.
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WSJ Pro Private Equity is launching our latest annual survey of secondary market buyers. Now in its ninth year, our annual report on secondary buyers dives deep into a range of issues that shape secondary transactions, including pricing, deal structures, use of leverage and so much more. If you are a secondary investor you can access the survey at this link.
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Funds
Greycroft said it closed on more than $980 million across its Greycroft Partners VII LP and Greycroft Growth IV LP funds to continue investing in early and growth-stage enterprise and consumer businesses. The firm was founded in 2006 and manages over $3 billion in capital raised.
Smith Point Capital, which was founded by former Salesforce co-Chief Executive Keith Block, has launched with the first close of its inaugural fund. The vehicle has a hard cap of $400 million and will back enterprise software businesses.
People
Dealer Trade Network, which manages the end-to-end trade and fulfillment process for new car dealerships, named Christian Miller as the company’s new chief executive. He joined the Louisville, Ky.-based company as chief financial officer early this year.
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Pinecone, a vector database company providing long-term memory for artificial intelligence, scored $100 million in Series B funding at a $750 million valuation. Andreessen Horowitz led the round, which included participation from Iconiq Growth and Menlo Ventures. Pinecone has offices in New York, Tel Aviv and San Francisco.
Antiva Biosciences, a South San Francisco, Calif.-based developer of novel, topical therapeutics for the treatment of precancerous lesions caused by human papilloma virus, snagged $53 million in Series E funding from investors including GV and Canaan Partners.
Evommune Inc., a Palo Alto, Calif.-based startup developing new ways to treat inflammatory diseases, closed a $50 million Series B round co-led by Arix Bioscience, EQT Life Sciences and SymBiosis.
Energy Dome, an Italy-based provider of long-duration energy storage technology, closed a €40 million (about $44 million) Series B round from investors including Neva SGR.
Adcentrx Therapeutics, a startup developing antibody-drug conjugate therapeutics for cancer and other life-threatening diseases, secured $38 million in Series A+ funding led by Eight Roads. The company has offices in San Diego and Shanghai.
Pattern Bioscience Inc., an Austin, Texas-based startup using single-cell microbiology to rapidly diagnose drug-resistant bacterial infections and identify effective treatments, landed $28.7 million in Series C financing co-led by Illumina Ventures and Omnimed Capital.
Axoni, a New York-based provider of data synchronization technology and financial market infrastructure, picked up a $20 million investment led by EJF Ventures.
Bobsled, a startup building a cross-cloud data sharing platform, raised $17 million in Series A funding co-led by Greycroft and Madrona Venture Group.
Ox, a Bentonville, Ark.-based artificial intelligence-powered technology platform for frontline operations, completed a $12.6 million Series A round co-led by BBG Ventures and MaC Venture Capital.
Radiant Biotherapeutics, a Toronto-based antibody platform startup, emerged from stealth mode with $8 million in seed funding led by Amplitude Ventures.
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Samsung Electronics says demand for memory chips is expected to gradually recover in the second half of the year. PHOTO: SEONGJOON CHO/BLOOMBERG NEWS
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