Good day. The flying taxi field is getting more competitive as both American Airlines Group Inc. and United Airlines Holdings Inc. made moves last week that could impact the sector.

American said it will invest $25 million in Vertical Aerospace, a U.K.-based electric aircraft startup, and buy as many as 250 of its planned flying taxis. United is starting a corporate venture-capital fund to target startups related to travel, which comes after the airline invested $20 million into flying electric taxi startup Archer Aviation Inc. earlier this year.

Meanwhile, venture capitalist and entrepreneur Reid Hoffman said that flying taxi startup Joby Aviation’s decision to become a public company could help it gain credibility as the race to launch flying taxi services heats up.

In February, Joby entered into a transaction with Reinvent Technology Partners, a special-purpose acquisition company formed by Mr. Hoffman and Mark Pincus, who founded videogame developer Zynga Inc. Mr. Hoffman is a partner at venture firm Greylock Partners and co-founded LinkedIn. 

Speaking at TechCrunch’s virtual mobility conference last week, Mr. Hoffman said the transparency that comes with being a public company will help Joby win over public acceptance.

“You’re real and you’re there and you’re accountable by public accounting and public statements and people can participate if they so choose in your economic growth as well,” Mr. Hoffman said. “All of that allows a much better trust build and familiarity build, which I think is very important for the realization of Joby’s mission.”
  
Santa Cruz, Calif.-based Joby is building electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft with a range of roughly 150 miles. The startup is aiming to launch a transport service in North America in 2024.

And now on to the news...

National-security tech. A new venture-capital firm is raising $50 million to invest in technologies that could be used for both civilian and national-security purposes, WSJ Pro’s Brian Gormley reports. Boston-based J2 Ventures formed in 2020 to back healthcare and tech startups and help them expand by pursuing military contracts and funding.

• After raising individual pools of capital to make deals on a one-by-one basis, J2 is now raising a fund to invest in eight to 12 startups with technologies that could benefit the private and military sectors, said Alexander Harstrick, a managing partner of the Boston-based firm and a U.S. Army veteran.
   
• Mr. Harstrick leads J2 along with Dr. Jonathan Bronson, a managing partner who previously was an investor with D.E. Shaw Group and member of the healthcare practice of Boston Consulting Group.

House lawmakers proposed a raft of bipartisan legislation aimed at reining in the power of Big Tech, including a bill that seeks to make Amazon.com Inc. and other large companies effectively split into two companies or shed their private-label products, The Wall Street Journal reports. The House bills, announced Friday, amount to the biggest Congressional broadside yet on a handful of technology companies—including Alphabet Inc.’s Google, Apple Inc. and Facebook Inc. as well as Amazon—whose enormous size and power have drawn growing scrutiny from lawmakers and regulators in the U.S. and Europe. If the bills become law, they could substantially alter the most richly valued companies in America and reshape an industry that has extended its impact into nearly every facet of work and life.

LightBay Capital LLC, a private-equity firm started five years ago by former Ares Management Corp. executives, has begun pitching investors on its second fund, according to people familiar with the matter, WSJ Pro reports. The Los Angeles firm is targeting $800 million for the vehicle and is in the early stages of the fundraising process, the people said. LightBay hasn’t yet set an upper limit for the size of the vehicle.

Stripe Inc. has yet to go public, but investors recently got a chance to acquire sizable stakes in the company from existing shareholders, according to people familiar with the transaction. Only $1 billion of more than $4 billion in bids were filled, one of the people said. Mutual-fund giant Capital Group Cos., venture-capital firm Sequoia Capital, e-commerce company Shopify Inc. and buyout firm Silver Lake were among the largest buyers, WSJ reports.

Grocery courier Boxed Inc. said it would go public through a merger with  SPAC, WSJ reports. Boxed and Seven Oaks Acquisition Corp. said the deal would value the combined company at nearly $900 million and provide money to serve more households and businesses that started ordering groceries online during the pandemic.

Funds

A group of seed-stage investors from venture firms including Reach Capital, Forerunner Ventures, Fika Ventures, Fuel Capital, Precursor Ventures, Cowboy Ventures, Kindred Ventures and Homebrew launched a $50+ million fund to invest in select U.S.-based solo general partners or venture funds with at least one underrepresented general partner. Screendoor will target approximately 15 commitments ranging from $500,000 to $5 million per fund for the debut vehicle.

Toronto-based Synergis Capital launched its flagship Venture Fund I with $50 million in commitments to focus on SaaS, biotech, consumer and crypto/blockchain investments. To date, the vehicle has allocated money to six seed-stage funds and has made one direct investment.

People

Financial technology startup Stavvy appointed Amy Huchthausen as chief impact and culture officer and Kara Banosian as chief marketing officer. Ms. Huchthausen is stepping down from her role as commissioner of the NCAA’s America East Conference to take up the new post. Ms. Banosian previously held several roles at LogMeIn. In March, Boston-based Stavvy secured more than $40 million in Series A funding led by Morningside Technology Ventures.

Cloud-security specialist vArmour added Niels Jensen as chief revenue officer. He previously led global-scale sales teams for companies such as C3.ai and Forescout Technologies. Los Altos, Calif.-based vArmour in February raised a $58 million investment from investors including AllegisCyber Capital, NightDragon and Highland Capital Partners.

Exits

Restaurant-management platform Restaurant365 acquired Compeat, a restaurant back-office, workforce and business intelligence software provider, for an undisclosed amount. Irvine, Calif.-based Restaurant365 is backed by Bessemer Venture Partners, Iconiq Capital and Tiger Global Management. Compeat is a portfolio company of private-equity firm Serent Capital.

Nvidia agreed to acquire DeepMap Inc., a mapping startup for autonomous vehicles, for an undisclosed amount. DeepMap is backed by investors including Robert Bosch Venture Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, Accel and GSR Ventures.

Buser, a São Paulo-based intercity bus transport services provider, landed a 700 million Brazilian real ($137 million) investment. LGT Lightrock led the funding, which included participation from Softbank, Monashees, Valor Capital Group, Globo Ventures, Canary and Iporanga Ventures.

Fresha, a London-based beauty and wellness software platform, grabbed a $100 million Series C investment. General Atlantic led the round, which also included contributions from Huda Kattan of HB Investments, Michael Zeisser of FMZ Ventures and Jonathan Green of Lugard Road Capital. Existing investors Partech, Target Global and FJ Labs also participated.

Immersive Labs, a U.K.- and Boston-based cyber readiness and skills platform, completed a $75 million Series C funding round. Insight Partners led the investment, which included additional support from Menlo Ventures, Citi Ventures and Goldman Sachs Asset Management.

Popmenu, an Atlanta-based digital marketing and ordering SaaS platform for restaurants, landed $65 million in Series C funding. Tiger Global Management led the round, which saw participation from Salesforce Ventures, Bedrock Capital, Base10 Partners and Felicis Ventures.

Transcarent, a San Francisco-based provider of healthcare services for employees of self-insured employers, secured $58 million in Series B financing led by General Catalyst and 7wireVentures. New investors Merck Global Health Innovation Fund, Kleiner Perkins, Leaps by Bayer, GreatPoint Ventures and Threshold Ventures also joined in the round, along with previous backers Alta Partners and Jove Equity Partners.

Branch Insurance, a Columbus, Ohio-based bundled home and auto insurance provider, snagged $50 million in Series B funding. Lead investor Anthemis Group was joined by Acrew Capital, Greycroft, American Family Ventures, SignalFire, SCOR P&C Ventures, Foundation Capital and others in the round.

MaintainX, a San Francisco-based workflow-management platform for industrial and frontline workers, nabbed a $39 million Series B investment. Bessemer Venture Partners led the round, which included participation from Amity Ventures, Vulcan Capital, August Capital, Ridge Ventures and OldSlip Group. Lobby Capital’s David Hornik, Amity Ventures’ CJ Reim, angel investor Peter Yared and Bessemer’s Byron Deeter have joined the company’s board.

Phase Four, an El Segundo, Calif.-based creator of a radio-frequency thruster for satellite propulsion, closed a $26 million Series B round led by New Science Ventures.

SupPlant, a precision agriculture startup, snagged $10 million in funding from investors including Boresight Capital, Menomadin Foundation and Smart Agro Fund.

Poised Inc., a personalized digital communications coach, was seeded with a $4.5 million investment. Wing Venture Capital led the round, which included support from Next Play Ventures, Slack Fund, Hyphen Capital and Concrete Rose Capital.

Framework, a New York-based platform designed to help health and wellness businesses create branded virtual wellness programs, emerged from stealth with $3 million in seed funding led by True Ventures.

• Airbnb adapts to the post-pandemic traveler—and host
   
• Fake reviews and inflated ratings are still a problem for Amazon
   
• Chip shortage brings frustration but more business to industry’s middlemen
   
• Ransomware attack roiled meat giant JBS, then spilled over to farmers and restaurants
   
• How to make workplace technology accessible to everyone
   
• Google proposes U.K. oversight role in retirement of web cookies
   
• Germany shuts door on patent trolls

• Is Sand Hill Road over? No. But Zoom deals are here to stay (The Information)
   
• New $200 million Bentonville venture-capital fund to invest in K-12 education (Axios)

This newsletter was compiled by Marc Vartabedian, Matthew Strozier 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, David Carnevali, Yuliya Chernova, Brian Gormley and Marc Vartabedian.

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