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New Bill Would Expand Venture Access to Secondaries Deals
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By Yuliya Chernova, WSJ Pro
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Good day. A new bill wending its way through Congress would make it easier for venture firms to invest in secondaries.
The secondaries market has been growing lately as some venture firms want to continue accruing shares in quickly growing companies, while others seek to sell via secondary transactions to generate returns.
The Developing and Empowering our Aspiring Leaders Act of 2025, or DEAL Act, addresses what type of investments count under exemption rules that allow most venture firms to avoid registration as investment advisers, a costly and burdensome status that many firms try to avoid.
Under current law, a venture fund that invests more than 20% of its capital in secondary shares would trigger registration with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Under the DEAL Act, however, venture funds could hold as much as 49% of capital commitments in secondaries and other venture fund investments and still be exempt from registration.
“This would provide much-needed flexibility for VC firms that want to double down on their highest-conviction portfolio companies,” said Stacey Song, a partner at the Cooley law firm.
The DEAL Act would help the market at a time when demand for secondary investments is on the rise. About $60 billion of venture-backed company stakes were traded via secondary transactions in the 12 months ended March 31, 2025, up from about $50 billion in the 2024 calendar year, according to an estimate by PitchBook Data.
The DEAL Act moved out of the U.S. House Financial Services Committee in late July with strong bipartisan support, Song wrote in a recent note.
However, the DEAL Act doesn’t address related issues in the venture market, Song said. For instance, more venture firms have been creating continuation funds, which buy assets from an older fund of the same firm. In the process, LPs in the older fund can cash out, providing much-needed liquidity.
The new bill leaves the status quo unchanged: Continuation funds might still force a venture firm to register as an investment adviser. That’s because the majority of those funds’ holdings are secondary, Song said, since the assets are bought from another in-house venture fund rather than from the startup directly.
“For some firms, the sole reason for considering registration these days is to be able to run a continuation vehicle in a commercially viable way,” she said.
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And now on to the news...
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Perplexity recently released its own web browser, called Comet. PHOTO: CAROLYN FONG FOR WSJ
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Perplexity's Longshot Offer. Artificial-intelligence startup Perplexity on Tuesday offered to purchase Google’s Chrome browser for $34.5 billion as it works to challenge the tech giant’s web-search dominance.
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Perplexity’s offer is significantly more than its own valuation, which is estimated at $18 billion. The company told The Wall Street Journal that several investors including large venture-capital funds had agreed to back the transaction in full.
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100.3
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The National Federation of Independent Business said Tuesday that its optimism index, a gauge of sentiment among small firms, improved to 100.3 in July from 98.6 in June, taking it further above the 98 point that marks the index’s long-term average.
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General Catalyst’s Latest AI Bet Is in IT
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In its latest play aimed at infusing artificial intelligence into services businesses, venture-capital firm General Catalyst is setting its sights on the ho-hum aspects of information technology.
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General Catalyst is leading a $74 million investment in Titan, a holding company that says it aims to transform the mundane aspects of IT services with AI.
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Titan, which has about 10 employees, has already made its first acquisition and plans to purchase more IT services firms as it grows, say co-founders Saurin Patel and David Heffernan.
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Trump Order May Not Achieve Private Equity’s 401(k) Dreams
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President Trump’s executive order intended to get more Americans to invest their retirement savings in private funds may not be enough to move the market, many industry observers say. Trump last week handed the private-equity industry a huge policy win by ordering federal agencies to make it easier for 401(k) plans to offer private assets to retirement savers. But some doubt Trump’s order will make the slow-to-change, risk-averse 401(k) industry embrace private equity. The first Trump administration also tried to open 401(k) to private markets, but had virtually no effect.
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People
Autonomous trucking technology provider Waabi appointed Lior Ron as chief operating officer. He was previously founder and chief executive at Uber Freight.
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Appcharge, a Tel Aviv-based direct-to-consumer platform for mobile games, scored $58 million in Series B funding led by IVP.
Squint, a San Francisco-based manufacturing intelligence platform, raised $40 million in Series B funding led by the Westly Group and TCV.
Profound, a New York-based startup that helps businesses control how they appear in AI responses, landed $35 million in Series B funding. Sequoia Capital led the investment, which included participation from Kleiner Perkins, Khosla Ventures and others.
GoodShip, a Bellevue, Wash.-based operating system provider for the freight industry, secured $25 million in Series B financing. Greenfield Partners led the round, which included participation from Bessemer Venture Partners, Ironspring Ventures and others.
Ultraviolette, an India-based electric motorcycle startup, said TDK Ventures invested in the company’s latest $21 million funding round.
Neon Machine, a Seattle-based game studio, collected $19.5 million across two funding rounds from investors including Gala Games, Griffin Gaming Partners and Polychain Capital.
Evertune, a New York-based generative engine optimization and AI marketing platform, raised a $15 million Series A round led by Felicis Ventures.
Mako, a New York-based AI infrastructure startup, grabbed $8.5 million in seed funding led by M13.
Continua, a startup bringing AI to group conversations and collaboration, was seeded with an $8 million investment led by GV.
Refold AI, a startup building an AI-native system integrator for enterprises, emerged from stealth with $6.5 million in seed funding led by Eniac Ventures and Tidal Ventures. The company has offices in San Mateo, Calif., and India.
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Google has started using in-person interviews again for some jobs. PHOTO: GINA M RANDAZZO/ZUMA PRESS
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AI is forcing the return of the in-person job interview
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With billions at risk, Nvidia CEO buys his way out of the trade battle
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Musk takes fight with OpenAI to Apple over its App Store
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Crypto entrepreneur Do Kwon pleads guilty to fraud charges stemming from crypto crash
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Big Tech pledged billions for new housing. The results aren’t living up to the hype.
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Crypto firm Circle posts loss in first earnings report after IPO
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Meet neurosymbolic AI, Amazon’s method for enhancing neural networks
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With Musk gone, former a16z executive puts mark on civil service (Bloomberg)
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AI companion apps on track to pull in $120M in 2025 (TechCrunch)
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