Good day. Media group Globo is launching a new initiative to help U.S. startups and investors expand on its home turf, Latin America, as it aims to capitalize on growing demand for access to the vast and highly populated region.

The platform, called Globo Partner Program, offers its members services ranging from digital advertising to sales support in Latin America, which includes a large market like Brazil, with a population of over 210 million. The program already enlists 90 partners, having been operating in stealth mode for over a year, Rio de Janeiro-based Globo said in a press release. They include Snowflake Inc. and Palantir Technologies Inc. on the companies side, as well as Samsung Next and Disney Accelerator among investors.

Building these types of bridges could help U.S. players capture some of the success homegrown startups have been experiencing in Latin America as of late. In particular, Brazil is a market where innovation and a consumer-centric approach resonate with a highly digitally engaged population, according to a McKinsey & Co. analysis.

Nu Pagamentos SA, a Brazilian finanical technology startup, was valued at $30 billion in its latest financing round, according to PitchBook Data Inc. CB Insights notes that other well-funded private companies across the region include Rappi Inc., a Colombian digital-commerce app, as well as fintechs dLocal Group Ltd. and Alau Tecnología S.A.U., which are based in Uruguay and Argentina, respectively.

And now on to the news...

New venture funds. Harry Stebbings, the 24-year-old host of a popular podcast about venture capital, has raised $140 million to invest in startups, WSJ Pro’s Yuliya Chernova reports. Mr. Stebbings launched 20VC from London with an $8.3 million first fund last May. His portfolio includes some of the breakout companies of the past year, such as remote-events software provider Hopin Ltd. and social audio app Clubhouse.

• Now he is expanding his firm, officially incorporated as Twenty VC LLP, with a $33 million early-stage fund and a $107 million growth fund, which will be invested primarily in the U.S.
   
• Institutional investors including Massachusetts Institute of Technology Investment Management Co. and RIT Capital Partners PLC invested in the new funds.
   
• Mr. Stebbings is one of several solo managers raising sizable funds. “It’s becoming a phenomenon with more critical mass,” said Ryan Akkina, an investor at MIT Investment Management Co. Mr. Akkina said that he and other institutional investors are becoming more comfortable with larger funds being managed by individual partners.

Wealth-management software provider Addepar Inc. more than doubled its valuation to $2.17 billion from seven months ago in its latest funding round, The Wall Street Journal reports. Addepar said it had raised $150 million from New York hedge-fund manager D1 Capital Partners. It was previously valued at nearly $1 billion after its last funding round in November, according to a person familiar with the deal. Earlier investors in Addepar, founded in 2009 by Palantir Technologies Inc. co-founder and serial entrepreneur Joe Lonsdale, include venture firms Valor Equity Partners and WestCap Group.

Shares of DraftKings Inc. slid as much as 12% on Tuesday after short seller Hindenburg Research said the sports-betting firm’s gambling-technology subsidiary SBTech operates in countries where gambling is banned and said it is positioned for DraftKings shares to fall, the Journal reports. Hindenburg published a report early Tuesday that said DraftKings’s gambling-technology subsidiary, SBTech, makes about half of its revenue in countries where gambling is banned. According to the report, SBTech created an entity for what Hindenburg calls its black-market operations ahead of last year’s merger with DraftKings and a blank-check company that took the combination public. DraftKings shares slid in early trading, then recovered. They ended the day down more than 4%.

“SBTech does not operate in any illegal markets,” a DraftKings spokesman said. “We conducted a thorough review of their business practices and we were comfortable with the findings.”

Funds

G2 Venture Partners closed its second fund with $500 million in commitments to continue the firm’s focus on emerging technologies fostering sustainable transformation across traditional industries. The firm was founded in 2017 and raised $350 million for its inaugural fund. Recent investments by G2 include ProducePay and Fictiv.

Peter Thiel-backed SNÖ Ventures launched a second fund targeting $100 million to make seed and Series A investments in the Nordic region. The Oslo-based firm’s most recent investments include PortalOne, Kitemaker and Confrere.

People

Seed-stage investor MaC Venture Capital named Zhenni Liu as partner, joining the firm from Commerce Ventures.

ForgeRock, an identity-management software provider, appointed David Burden as the company’s chief information officer. He previously worked at companies including Apple, Hitachi, Quantcast, Virgin Media and NetApp. Last year, San Francisco-based ForgeRock raised a $93 million Series E round from investors including Riverwood Capital, Accenture Ventures, Accel, Meritech Capital and Foundation Capital.

Exits

Automattic Inc., the parent company of web publishing and ecommerce platforms such as WordPress.com and Tumblr, is acquiring journaling app Day One for an undisclosed sum. San Francisco-based Automattic is backed by Salesforce Ventures, Insight Partners and Tiger Global Management.

OSF Digital, a provider of services to business-to-business and business-to-consumer companies, will bolster its Salesforce Cloud offerings in Latin America with the purchase of Brazilian company Werise. Terms weren’t disclosed. Last month, Quebec City-based OSF Digital bought Adept Group and raised a new $43 million funding round from investors including Delta-v Capital and Salesforce Ventures.

Carro, a Singapore-based online automobile marketplace, scored $360 million in Series C financing, bringing the company’s valuation up to more than $1 billion. SoftBank Vision Fund 2 led the round, and was joined by EV Growth.

ApplyBoard, a Canadian startup whose technology simplifies the study abroad search, application and acceptance process, raised a 375 million Canadian dollar ($307 million) Series D round. Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board led the investment, which included additional support from Fidelity Management & Research Co., BDC Capital, Harmonic Growth Partners, Index Ventures, Garage Capital and Blue Cloud Ventures.

Thumbtack Inc., a San Francisco-based home-management platform, secured a $275 million investment at a $3.2 billion valuation. Qatar Investment Authority led the funding, which included participation from Blackstone Alternative Asset Management, G Squared, Baillie Gifford, CapitalG, Founders Circle Capital, Sequoia Capital and Tiger Global Management.

Motif FoodWorks, a Boston-based plant-based food technology startup, raised $226 million in Series B funding led by Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board and funds and accounts managed by BlackRock Inc.. New investors AiiM Partners, Wittington Ventures, Rethink Food, Rage Capital and Rellevant Partners also participated in the round, in addition to returning backers Breakthrough Energy Ventures, CPT Capital, General Atlantic, Louis Dreyfus Co. and Viking Global Investors.

IRL (In Real Life), a San Francisco-based social calendar and event discovery platform, scored a $170 million Series C round led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2, giving the company a $1.17 billion valuation. New investor Dragoneer Investment Group also joined in the funding, along with existing backers Goodwater Capital, Founders Fund, Floodgate and Owl Capital.

Moonshot Brands, a Miami-based startup that acquires Amazon third-party sellers and direct-to-consumer businesses on Shopify and WooCommerce, emerged from stealth with $160 million in new funding from Y Combinator, Victory Park Capital, Liquid 2 Ventures, Garage Capital, FoundersX Ventures, Outbound Ventures, N49P, KSK Group and others.

PayCargo, a Coral Gables, Fla.-based freight payment platform, snagged $125 million in Series B funding from Insight Partners.

Bringg, a last-mile delivery and fulfillment technology provider, closed a $100 million Series E round, increasing the company’s valuation to $1 billion. Insight Partners led the new funding, which saw participation from Cambridge Capital, Next 47, Pereg Ventures, Salesforce Ventures and Viola Growth. The company has offices in Tel Aviv, Chicago and London.

Heliogen Inc., a Pasadena, Calif.-based renewable energy technology startup, raised $108 million in two funding rounds, including a recently closed $83 million investment. The company’s investors include ArcelorMittal, Edison International, Prime Movers Lab, Ocgrow Ventures, Nant Capital, Revolution’s Rise of the Rest Seed Fund and Neotribe Ventures.

Bitwise Asset Management, a San Francisco-based cryptocurrency index fund manager, completed a $70 million Series B round led by tech investor Elad Gil and Electric Capital. New investors including Third Point, Willoughby Capital, Moore Strategic Ventures, Vetamer Capital and Coinbase Ventures also contributed to the funding, alongside existing backers Highland Capital, Khosla Ventures, Blockchain Capital, Castle Island Ventures and others. The new round values Bitwise at more than $500 million.

Formative, a platform enabling teachers to see student work in real-time, give feedback, track student success and collaborate with fellow teachers, landed a $70 million minority growth investment. Lead investor Summit Partners was joined by Emerson Collective, Fika Ventures, Mac Ventures and Rethink Education in the round. Tom Jennings, a managing director at Summit Partners, will join Formative’s board.

Gloat, a New York-based talent marketplace platform, fetched a $57 million Series C round. Accel led the investment, which included support from existing investors Eight Roads, Intel Capital, Magma Venture Partners and PICO Partners.

• Lina Khan, critic of large tech firms, to lead Federal Trade Commission
   
• Why Express, Urban Outfitters and J.Crew now sell items from all over online
   
• PwC to spend $12 billion on hiring, expanding expertise in AI, cybersecurity
   
• Hackers target videogame publishers for ransom, source code

This newsletter was compiled by David Carnevali, 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
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