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Question of the Week: How Might the New Administration Shape Crypto Investing?
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By Marc Vartabedian, WSJ Pro
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Good day. Digital currencies are hot again and the crypto camp is restless after broadly cheering the results of the presidential election. This week, we’re asking crypto investors what they see as the key policy issues in their arena and how those might affect startups and investing. Email responses to vcnews@wsj.com.
Last week, we asked what policy matters would readers like to see the new administration tackle. Here are some of the responses, edited for length and clarity:
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Lily Lyman, general partner at Underscore VC: “I’d like to see the new administration prioritize immigration policies that attract and retain global talent. As a Boston-based VC, with the world-class universities and thriving innovation ecosystem here, we know we can attract some of the brightest minds from around the globe, yet too often we lose these talented individuals due to outdated visa policies. By enabling international entrepreneurs and researchers to build their careers in the U.S., we can strengthen the startup ecosystem and drive the next wave of innovation and economic growth nationwide.”
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Liz Hartley, a partner at Red Swan Ventures: “New policies to spur entrepreneurship. We live in the greatest country–one that affords the opportunity for those who work hard and have a vision to build something new that can rapidly succeed. Innovation spurs economic growth and job creation, which can in turn shape broader societal impact. It’s a clear bottoms-up way to drive GDP growth, and is one that aligns across all parties.”
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Brian Rothenberg, a partner at Defy: “The new administration should prioritize a clear, forward-thinking regulatory framework for the cryptocurrency industry. The prior administration’s adversarial stance, focusing more on lawsuits than constructive legislation, has left innovators operating in uncertainty and driven many to seek friendlier jurisdictions.”
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Bob Ackerman, managing director and founder of AllegisCyber Capital: "The incoming administration needs to take a national leadership role in defining what 'good' looks like in terms of cyber security posture and establish a methodology for measuring where an enterprise stands vis-a-vis that definition of 'good.' In the same way we have established standards for best practices and transparency in financial accounting, it an effort to mitigate financial risk, we need to take a similar approach to cyber security.”
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And now on to the news...
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Lasse Louhento co-founded Helsinki-based Bit Odd in 2019. PHOTO: ANNA POLETELI
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‘Clash of Clans’ creator raises money for new game after battle with brain cancer. In “Clash of Clans,” one of the earliest mobile games to explode in popularity, players are chiefs of their own villages and frequently battle each other. Lasse Louhento, who became a multimillionaire by leading the team that made it, is now chief of his own studio and has battled his own enemy—brain cancer, The Wall Street Journal’s Sarah E. Needleman reports.
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Louhento co-founded Helsinki-based Bit Odd in 2019 with Jani Lintunen, another developer he worked with at Supercell, the Tencent-owned company behind “Clash of Clans.”
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This week, Bit Odd announced that it has raised 17 million euros, or about $18 million, in a funding round led by Griffin Gaming Partners, adding to the €5 million it previously raised from Index Ventures.
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Bit Odd is making a free-to-play multiplayer action game and is aiming to launch it early next year on smartphones and tablets.
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Former Coatue Investor Planning New Venture Fund
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Former Coatue Management managing partner Kris Fredrickson is starting to raise a debut fund for his venture firm Verified Capital to invest in startups in various sectors, including in applications of artificial intelligence, according to people familiar with the situation, WSJ Pro reports. San Francisco-based Verified is looking for about $150 million for the fund, the people added. At Coatue, Fredrickson was part of the investment firm’s growth fund. He invested in grocery-delivery company Instacart’s Series E financing, at a $4 billion valuation, according to PitchBook Data. His other deals included banking startup Chime, artificial intelligence company
Scale AI, payments provider Checkout.com, and several crypto deals.
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PE Investors Look for Cash Back Before Committing to New Funds
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Private-equity firms need to get “creative” and find ways to return investors’ capital to overcome what is expected to remain a difficult fundraising market for some time, fund investors said during an industry conference, WSJ Pro reports. “Limited partners are still holding on to a lot of assets on their books and so most of them are at their target or above their target [level] from a private-equity standpoint,” said Mina Pacheco Nazemi, head of diversified alternative equity at asset manager Barings. She spoke Wednesday during a panel discussion at the SuperReturn North America conference in New York. Nazemi, who also serves on the investment committee at Charlotte, N.C.-based Barings, added
that next year will likely be “just as good or bad” as this year for fund sponsors, or general partners, trying to raise money. Generating liquidity for their investors would provide a differentiating factor, she said.
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Funds
Founderful closed an oversubscribed $140 million second fund, which has backed 15 startups to date. The Zurich-based firm raised $90 million for its inaugural fund.
Portal Ventures raised $75 million for its latest pre-seed crypto fund.
Pender Ventures held the final close of its second venture fund, with over 100 million Canadian dollars to continue investing in startups focusing on healthtech and business-to-business information technology.
People
Celesta Capital named James Rothman as a senior advisor, where he will support the firm’s bioconvergence strategy.
Growth equity investor Planven added Eran Westman as a managing partner. Prior to joining the firm, he was a general partner at Viola Growth.
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Metsera, a New York-based startup developing medicines for obesity and metabolic diseases, closed a $215 million Series B round from investors including Venrock.
Chaos Industries, a Los Angeles-based startup building defense and critical industry technologies, scored $145 million in Series B funding led by Accel.
Radiant Industries, an El Segundo, Calif.-based nuclear technology startup, landed $100 million in Series C funding led by DCVC.
Tessl, a London-based software development startup, has collected $125 million in funding, including a $100 million Series A round led by Index Ventures.
SwiftConnect, a Stamford, Conn.-based provider of access control infrastructure for the physical world, snagged $37 million in Series B funding led by Quadri Ventures.
Stepful, a startup offering training programs for healthcare roles, grabbed $31.5 million in Series B funding led by Oak HC/FT.
Conduktor, a New York-headquartered data management platform for streaming, completed a $30 million Series B round led by RTP Global.
Plantible, a maker of plant-based protein derived from duckweed, closed a $30 million Series B round co-led by Piva Capital and Siddhi Capital.
Accelsius, an Austin, Texas-based provider of liquid cooling systems for data centers, secured $24 million in Series A financing from Innventure.
Fleek, a London-based wholesale secondhand fashion marketplace, has raised $20.4 million in funding, including a $14.8 million Series A led by HV Capital.
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Here is our weekly roundup of stories from across WSJ Pro that we think you’ll find useful.
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Disillusioned by progressive politics in San Francisco, Silicon Valley’s venture capitalists spent big this election to pull it to the center, with mixed results.
Venture-capital firms and mature startups are seeking liquidity by selling to private equity, even though the rewards often aren’t nearly as dazzling as in a public offering.
SEC Chair Gary Gensler is on the way out, which could mean the end of some of the commission’s signature agenda items under President Biden.
Data-rich companies such as Bayer are working with Microsoft to develop industry-specific gen AI models—and then licensing them to others.
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First unveiled earlier this year, the Jetson Thor computers are part of Nvidia’s approach to developing humanlike robots. PHOTO: AKIO KON/BLOOMBERG NEWS
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