Good day. Some executives in the tech and venture industries took the news of Joe Biden’s decision to drop out of the presidential race as a fresh start, where the Democratic Party might be open to a more tech-friendly agenda.

“The Democratic Party has a clear window to create a superior platform and story that is pro-tech, AI, science, immigration, and entrepreneurship,” wrote Aaron Levie, chief executive at Box on X. “I hope and expect will they take this newfound opportunity seriously,” he added.

Several prominent tech and venture voices recently threw their support behind Donald Trump, notably Elon Musk, as well as Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz.

Clearly that’s not representative of all venture. And the Biden decision may give new vigor to the anti-Trump camp in Silicon Valley.

Vinod Khosla said on Sunday on X that the Biden decision signals “Time to have an open convention and get a more moderate candidate who can easily beat @realDonaldTrump. @GovWhitmer and @GovernorShapiro would be a great thing for America not held hostage between MAGA extremists and DEI extremism. Unique opportunity for a better moderate path. Every socially liberal, climate and fiscal voter should want it to balance our approach.”

Jenny Fielding, co-founder and managing partner of Everywhere Ventures, said she was surprised about the recent pro-Trump turn by many VCs.

“Biden has not been bad for VC despite what some of the big guys like [Peter] Thiel and a16z have been saying. The venture market is in a slump so they are blaming Biden/Dems for things like the crypto and M&A downturn. But in reality, Dems are not bad for business or innovation or startups,” Fielding said. “Many of us think and vote not entirely in our own self interest but because we want to see a better world (pro-women, pro-climate, pro-democracy),” she said Sunday after Biden’s decision.

Some crypto enthusiasts chimed in with a similar note: “With President Biden stepping aside, the Democratic Party has a huge opportunity to win back a big share of the crypto vote,” wrote Jake Chervinsky, on X. Chervinsky, who is a chief legal officer at crypto venture fund Variant, laid out how a new nominee could reassure voters whose livelihoods are tied to crypto.

And now on to the news...

Cybersecurity fiasco. George Kurtz spent more than a decade building CrowdStrike into a cybersecurity powerhouse that helps prevent massive disruptions to computer systems. Now the company he co-founded has caused the kind of massive global outage it was supposed to prevent, The Wall Street Journal reports.

• The outage rippled across the world Friday morning, canceling thousands of flights, upending banking transactions and media broadcasts, and causing widespread global disruption. Because of a CrowdStrike software update to devices running Microsoft’s Windows software, millions of people confronted useless blue computer screens and scrambled to contain the damage.
   
• In an appearance Friday morning on NBC’s “Today” show, a visibly haggard Kurtz said “we’re deeply sorry for the impact we’ve caused to customers, to travelers, to anyone affected by this,” he said.

More: Flight Cancellations Caused by Tech Outage Continue Through Weekend

Global disruption from a faulty update to CrowdStrike’s cybersecurity software highlights the challenges for businesses when speed trumps safety to stay ahead of hackers, WSJ Pro reports. The pace and sophistication of cyberattacks mean security vendors such as CrowdStrike are often pressed to issue updates as soon as possible, while customers must place blind trust in those updates as being safe to install. “Seconds matter at this point,” said Dave DeWalt, managing director at venture-capital firm NightDragon and a board member of Delta Air Lines.

Bregal Sagemount, a private-equity firm tied to Europe’s Brenninkmeijer family, has launched a new strategy to invest in smaller fast-growing companies, WSJ Pro reports. The New York firm closed its inaugural small-cap fund, Bregal Sagemount Basecamp I, at the upper fundraising limit of $500 million, it announced Friday. The capital came predominantly from investors in prior funds, plus a handful of new backers and a significant general-partner commitment. By expanding its strategy, Bregal Sagemount plans to fill a gap at the smaller end of the investment spectrum, said Gene Yoon, the firm’s managing partner. The new vehicle will make investments of $20 million to $75 million in high-growth businesses, while the firm’s flagship growth funds invest in companies above that range.

People

Databook, a startup using artificial intelligence to provide account intelligence for enterprise sales, named Ivan Galea to the post of chief technology officer. He was previously at Speechlab and Atlassian.

Saronic, an Austin, Texas-based defense technology startup that designs and manufactures autonomous surface vessels, landed a $175 million Series B round led by Andreessen Horowitz.

Truvian Health, a San Diego-based developer of an automated blood testing analyzer, scored a $74 million investment co-led by Wittington Ventures and Great Point Ventures.

Slope, a San Francisco-based B2B payments platform for enterprise companies, raised $65 million in equity and debt funding from J.P. Morgan Payments, Y Combinator and others.

GRO Biosciences, a Cambridge, Mass.-based protein therapeutics startup, closed a $60.3 million Series B round co-led by Atlas Venture and Access Biotechnology. Kevin Bitterman of Atlas Venture and Dan Becker of Access Biotechnology joined the company’s board.

Arcee AI, a platform to build and deploy small language models, secured $24 million in Series A financing led by Emergence Capital.

Neuspera Medical, a San Jose, Calif.-based developer of implantable medical devices for patients battling chronic illnesses, completed a $23 million Series D round from investors including Vertex Ventures HC.

Thoughtful AI, a provider of AI agents specializing in healthcare revenue cycle management, collected $20 million in Series A funding led by Drive Capital.

Allium, a New York-based blockchain data platform for enterprises, grabbed a $16.5 million Series A round led by Theory Ventures.

Vitable, a Philadelphia-based primary care health benefit for employers of hourly workers, landed $16 million in Series A funding led by Cherryrock Capital.

Bioniq, a London-based startup offering personalized supplements based on blood biomarker data, closed a $15 million Series B round led by HV Capital and Unbound.

Momento, a Seattle-based real-time data infrastructure startup, raised $15 million in Series A funding led by Bain Capital Ventures.

Legacy, a New York-based digital fertility clinic for men, picked up a $7.5 million funding round from investors including Trac.

• The man in Silicon Valley who’s completely obsessed with failure
   
• How AI brought 11,000 college football players to digital life in three months
   
• Squaring Elon Musk’s EV future with Donald Trump’s EV knocks
   
• Chips and Taiwan are a new cloud for tech earnings
   
• Rivals emerge to Ozempic and Zepbound—but with a lag

• These startups are trying to prevent another CrowdStrike-like outage, according to VCs (TechCrunch)
   
• What to do with startups whose revenue has stalled (The Information)

This newsletter was compiled by Matthew Strozier, Marc Vartabedian 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, Angus Loten and Marc Vartabedian.

Follow us on X: @wsjvc