Good day. Biotechnology startup Volastra Therapeutics Inc. has increased its seed financing round by $24 million and teamed up with tech giant Microsoft Corp. to tackle the problem of cancers spreading throughout the body.

Most cancer deaths occur because tumors metastasize and form secondary tumors, according to the National Cancer Institute. Current drugs are unable to prevent tumors from spreading or stop metastasis after it has begun, Volastra Chief Executive Charles Hugh-Jones said.

New York-based Volastra aims to stop cancer from spreading by harnessing new insights into how instability in the chromosomes of cancer cells can lead to metastasis. With its initial drugs moving toward clinical trials, expected to start by early 2023, Volastra has increased its seed financing from $20 million to $44 million, and brought new investors Vida Ventures and Catalio Capital Management into a syndicate that included Polaris Partners.

Through its partnership with Microsoft, Volastra will use artificial intelligence to try to learn more about how to stop cancer metastasis. The goal is to develop AI algorithms to analyze tissue samples and predict metastasis. That could enable Volastrate to identify targets for additional new cancer drugs.

And now on to the news...

Game On. Professional tennis player Sloane Stephens has joined the ranks of professional athletes investing in startups, backing caffeine-infused energy bar maker Quantum Energy Squares. She discussed her investment approach with WSJ Pro's Isaac Taylor. 

• In February, Ms. Stephens invested in Quantum Energy parent Curated Healthy Energy Foods Inc., alongside a small group of other angel investors, including her fiancé Jozy Altidore, a Major League Soccer player, according to PitchBook Data Inc. Michael Bryan and Sam Querrey, both professional tennis players, also allocated capital to the company, the data provider said.
   
• Ms. Stephens, winner of the 2017 U.S. Open tennis championship, said the investment is an extension of her personal interest in certain products.

Energy infrastructure investor ECP is seeking $500 million to $1 billion for a new fund to buy stock in clean energy-focused blank-check companies through private investment in public equity deals, said a person familiar with the matter, as reported by WSJ Pro’s Luis Garcia. The Summit, N.J.-based firm, formerly called Energy Capital Partners, began raising ECP Energy Transition Opportunity Fund about six weeks ago, the person said. The person added that the firm has already secured investor commitments but declined to provide details.

Intel Capital, the investment arm of Intel Corp., has led a new $18 million Series B investment round in Iris.TV Inc., a data technology company that provides tools to help marketers and others understand the content of individual videos for the purposes of ad targeting and measurement, CMO Today’s Sahil Patel reports. The investment comes as ad spending in streaming TV continues to rise, driven by the continuing shift in viewership away from traditional television and toward streaming services. Advertisers are seeking improvements in their ability to target viewers on streaming TV platforms and apps, particularly as increasingly strict privacy rules limit the ad industry’s ability to track and target users based on their identities.

Funds

Sozo Ventures seeks to raise $500 million for its third fund, according to a regulatory filing. The Redwood City, Calif.- and Tokyo-based firm recently participated in funding rounds for gene editing startup Metagenomi and logistics technology provider project44.

People

YL Ventures, which invests in Israeli cybersecurity startups, named Andy Ellis as operating partner. He was previously CSO of Akamai Technologies. Last month, the firm invested in Vulcan Cyber’s $21 million Series B round.

Artist Capital LLC appointed Ramesh Parameswar as managing director and Patrick Neuman as director. The firm also named Denise Sadowski, Evan Kerr and Brett Kasner as partners. Mr. Parameswar most recently led business development and sat on the management committee of Trend Capital Management. Mr. Neuman joins Artist Capital from Trailmark Inc., where he advised fund sponsors and investors across private equity, private credit and real assets.

Mobile business communications platform Dialpad Inc. appointed Morgan Norman as chief marketing officer. He was previously global vice president of corporate and growth marketing at RingCentral. San Francisco-based Dialpad recently raised a $126 million Series E round from Omers Growth Equity and T-Mobile Ventures, giving the company a $1.2 billion valuation.

Cloudleaf Inc., a provider of digital supply chain services, added Alok Bhanot as executive vice president and chief technology officer. He previously held positions at eBay, PayPal, Verifone, Visa, Inkiru and Qopper. Cloudleaf is backed by investors including Intel Capital, WRVI Capital, BluePointe Ventures, Bold Capital Partners, Mahindra Partners and Tandem Capital.

CRED, an Indian startup that rewards people for paying their credit card bills, closed a $215 million Series D round at a valuation of $2.2 billion. Falcon Edge Capital and Coatue Management led the round, with participation from Insight Partners, DST Global, RTP Global, Tiger Global Management, Greenoaks Capital, Dragoneer Investment Group and Sofina.

OneStream Software LLC, a Rochester, Mich.-based corporate performance management startup, scored $200 million in Series B funding at a $6 billion valuation. D1 Capital Partners led the round, which included participation from Tiger Global and Investment Group of Santa Barbara.

MPB, a U.K.-based photo and video kit reseller platform, raised £49.8 million ($68.8 million) in new funding. Vitruvian Partners led the round, which included additional support from Acton Capital, Mobeus Equity Partners, Beringea and FJ Labs.

Fyllo, a Chicago-based digital marketing and compliance platform for cannabis and other highly regulated industries, completed a $30 million Series B round. JW Asset Management and Sol Global co-led the investment, which included contributions from K2 & Associates, Entourage Effect Capital, Arcadian Capital Management and Salveo Capital. Peter S. Kraus, chief executive of Aperture Investors, joined the board.

Cora, a Brazilian fintech startup providing services to small businesses, landed $26.7 million in Series A funding. Ribbit Capital led the investment, which included Kaszek Ventures and Greenoaks Capital.

Prosimo, a Santa Clara, Calif.-based provider of application delivery for the multi-cloud world, emerged from stealth with $25 million in seed and Series A financing. General Catalyst and WRVI Capital co-led the round, with participation from Nepenthe Capital. General Catalyst’s Steve Herrod and WRVI’s Lip-Bu Tan joined the board.

Syzygy Plasmonics, a Houston-based startup that is developing a photocatalytic reactor to electrify chemical production, landed $23 million in Series B financing. Horizons Ventures led the round, which included participation from Equinor Ventures, The Engine, Goose Capital and Evok Innovations.

Glints, a Singapore-based talent platform for career development and recruitment, nabbed $22.5 million in Series C funding. Lead investor Persol Holdings was joined by Monk’s Hill Ventures, Fresco Capital, Mindworks Ventures, Wavemaker Partners and others in the round.

ThreatQuotient Inc., a Reston, Va.-based threat intelligence platform, closed a $22.5 million equity and debt financing from investors including New Enterprise Associates, Adams Street Partners, Escalate Capital, Blu Ventures, Cisco Investments and Gaingels.

Endless West, a San Francisco-based creator of environmentally-friendly alcoholic beverages with greater efficiency and speed compared to traditional production methods, fetched $21 million in Series B financing from investors including Horizons Ventures, Litani Ventures, North East Family Office and SOSV.

Pica8, a Palo Alto, Calif.-based open networking software provider, raised more than $20 million in Series C funding. WI Harper Group and Aspiro Capital Management led the round, which included participation from Vantage Point Ventures and others. Brad Bullington from Q6 Capital, Ming Hsu of Aspiro Capital and Joyce Lee from WI Harper will join the company’s board.

Rapid Robotics, a San Francisco startup that automates common machine operator tasks, picked up $12 million in Series A financing. New Enterprise Associates led the round, which included support from Greycroft, Bee Partners and 468 Capital.

• Fidelity Investments, Square Inc., Paradigm, and several other financial firms are forming a new trade group that aims to shape the way bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are regulated.
   
• Tech companies are accelerating their development of computerized glasses for consumers, in a competition between Facebook Inc., Apple Inc. and others that proponents say will usher in a new way for consumers to use technology.
   
• Merchant groups are forming a national coalition to campaign for stricter antitrust laws, including measures they hope could force Amazon.com Inc. to spin off some of its business lines.
   

• Inside Tiger Global’s deal machine (The Information)
   
• Research: adding women to the C-suite changes how companies think (Harvard Business Review)
   
• Big talk on big tech—but little action (Foreign Policy)
   

This newsletter was compiled by Yuliya Chernova 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, Yuliya Chernova, Brian Gormley and Marc Vartabedian.

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