Good day. Antitrust activity by regulators and judges against Big Tech companies made news this week. The Federal Trade Commission’s antitrust trial against Facebook owner Meta Platforms kicked off. Meanwhile, a federal judge ruled that Alphabet’s Google is an illegal monopoly in online ad tech. What are the implications of such antitrust actions for the startup and venture market? Email responses to vcnews@wsj.com.

Last week, we asked what it’s like to go from being a founder to an investor. Here are excerpts from the responses we received.

Benjamin Nye, managing partner, Venture Guides: Startup operators who have dealt with constraints—from balance sheets to employee count—and were still able to deliver strong outcomes, are well positioned to be successful investors because they understand the importance of context and trade-offs. The danger in making the transition from startup founder to investor is not actively respecting the boundaries between a role in governance as a board member and calling the shots as the CEO.

Stephen Stokols, co-founder, CEO and managing partner, Tru Skye Ventures: The hardest part of making the transition is saying no. Founders are wired for optimism, but investing requires constant skepticism. You have to hunt for flaws and reject entrepreneurs whose hustle reminds you of your own.

Amber Atherton, partner, Patron: When you’ve been a founder, that identity doesn’t really change. So I find you get insider access to founder-only spaces and networks that career VCs wouldn’t get. Bigger firms can get political, which is not a game most former founders want to play and tend to struggle with.

Anu Duggal, founding partner, Female Founders Fund: The biggest challenge is the feedback loops and the patience required to see results. As a founder, you’re used to fast iterations and real-time data. In venture, it can take years—sometimes over a decade—to know whether you made the right call. That shift can be uncomfortable, especially for people wired for execution.

Sunny Kumar, partner, Informed Ventures: My experience as a physician and entrepreneur provides me with the perspective on how to sell into enterprise healthcare, the experience managing important considerations such as regulation, privacy, safety and costs, and the empathy to recognize the grit needed to succeed in this industry.

And now on to the news ...

FDA Misses Deadlines. Biotech companies developing drugs for hard-to-treat diseases and other ailments are being forced to push back clinical trials and drug testing in the wake of mass layoffs at the Food and Drug Administration, The Wall Street Journal reports.

• Significant delays in the FDA’s core functions—such as approving amendments to clinical trials and guiding companies through processes for drug approval—are hindering the ability to develop drugs, say industry officials. Those setbacks are contributing to drugs taking longer to get through clinical trials and ultimately reach patients—and straining dollars for testing new possible treatments, say people familiar with the matter.

The Energy Department is preparing dramatic cuts that could halt nearly $10 billion in federal funding for clean-energy projects—and some of its highest profile partnerships with Exxon Mobil and Occidental Petroleum are at stake, WSJ reports.

• The proposed cuts would upend government contracts with energy companies working on hydrogen, carbon capture, long-duration energy storage and other technologies, according to department memos reviewed by The Wall Street Journal. Thousands of DOE jobs are expected to be eliminated.

Exaforce, a cybersecurity startup launched two years ago, has raised $75 million to develop artificial intelligence that spots and silences false alarms in cybersecurity detection alerts, WSJ Pro's Angus Loten reports. 

• The outsize early-stage investment was led by Khosla Ventures and Mayfield Fund, with significant funding from Thomvest Ventures. The company didn’t disclose its valuation.

Funds

Equitage Ventures, a Denver-based investor focusing on senior care and aging, held the final close of its first fund with $47.3 million in commitments.

People

Greylock appointed Shreya Shekhar as its newest investor, where she will focus on early-stage investments in AI, cybersecurity, infrastructure and developer tooling. She was most recently the founding engineer at Bedrock Security.

Early-stage investor Overlap Holdings said former Department of Defense official Elizabeth Stockton is joining the firm to lead its new government solutions advisory practice.

Biotechnology-focused investor Scion Life Sciences appointed Lalo Flores, Huw Nash and Romesh Subramanian as venture partners.

Deals

Autonomous security operations provider Torq acquired Revrod, a stealth Israeli AI startup.

Auradine, a Santa Clara, Calif.-based blockchain and AI infrastructure startup, added $153 million in Series C funding. StepStone Group led the investment, which included participation from Mayfield and several others.

Luma Financial Technologies, a Cincinnati, Ohio-based startup offering a platform used by banks and financial advisers to build complex, structured investment products for clients, closed a $63 million Series C round. Sixth Street Partners led the funding, and Alex Goodman will join the company’s board.

Crux, a New York-based clean energy finance platform, scored $50 million in Series B funding led by Lowercarbon Capital.

Toku, a Chile-based fintech startup providing payment orchestration and automated collections technology to Latin American enterprises, raised $48 million in Series A funding led by Oak HC/FT.

hellocare.ai, a Clearwater, Fla.-based virtual care delivery platform, picked up a $47 million investment led by HealthQuest Capital.

HepaRegeniX, a Germany-based startup developing treatments for acute and chronic liver diseases, added Wellington Partners as an investor with the second closing of a funding round totalling €21.5 million.

Cy4Data Labs, a San Jose, Calif.-based data protection startup, secured a $10 million first round of funding led by Pelion Venture Partners.

Pillar Security, a startup helping enterprises build and run secure AI software, was seeded with a $9 million investment led by Shield Capital. The company is based in Miami and Tel Aviv.

President Trump wants to rapidly revive the U.S.’s commercial shipping fleet as a matter of national security. America doesn’t have enough sailors to do it.

Nuclear energy is hot again. Can AI help manage the power plants?

U.S. private-equity exits and their total value rose in the first quarter from a year ago, but recent market volatility puts that momentum at risk.

J.M. Smucker, the owner of Hostess baked goods like Twinkies and Ding Dongs, is courting a new group of snackers: stoners.

• Judge rules Google operates illegal ad monopoly
   
• U.S. tries to crush China’s AI ambitions with chips crackdown
   
• Price hikes and subscription growth help Netflix beat forecasts
   
• The chip industry has too many eggs in the AI basket
   
• Chinese tech giants help exporters’ efforts at domestic expansion
   
• Chinese investors pile into big tech even as tariffs jolt markets
   
• Nvidia's H20 chip at the heart of the U.S. and China tech showdown (Video) 
   
• Marketers are putting more content and quality control in the hands of AI
   
• TSMC maintains solid 2025 outlook despite tariff worries
   
• What is an AI supercomputer and why is Trump talking about it? 
   
• Trump Media asks SEC to probe alleged suspicious trading activity

• OpenAI looked at buying Cursor creator before turning to AI coding rival Windsurf (CNBC)
   
• As ‘bot’ students continue to flood in, community colleges struggle to respond (Voice of San Diego)

This newsletter was compiled by Yuliya Chernova, Zachary Cole and Marc Vartabedian.

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, Angus Loten and Marc Vartabedian.

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