Good day. Continuing our VC Life series, we spoke this week with John Weaver, chief executive of 22 Ventures, a venture firm he co-founded in 2019 with former National Basketball Association player and Olympian Michael Redd. The firm, based outside Columbus, Ohio, rejects the work-around-the-clock entrepreneurial ethos. Before 22 Ventures, Mr. Weaver, a lawyer, said he advised startups and often observed a disconnect: Companies said they treated workers like family, but expected them to work after hours routinely. That’s counter-productive long term and shouldn’t be the norm, Mr. Weaver said, adding that the firm chooses co-investors carefully and that the earlier it invests, the more influence it can have on a startup’s culture.

WSJ Pro: How do entrepreneurs react when you describe your culture of letting after-work hours be family time?

Mr. Weaver: It depends on whether they’ve been down the block before. A lot have learned these lessons the hard way. With first-time entrepreneurs, there’s a feeling-out process. We demonstrate that we live that motto ourselves and [that] it can be more rewarding than that grind-it-out mindset.

WSJ Pro: What impact does it have for your firm and your portfolio?

Mr. Weaver: It’s very easy to be single-minded, and think, ‘This is a person I’ve given money to, they need to be solely focused on this goal.’ That can work for a short burst, but it can’t be the default state for an individual or organization. Maybe you’re a little slower to market, but over the long term, you’re going to have happier employees, better retention. Ultimately that’s going to lead to better outcomes.

And now on to the news...

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Private-equity deal. Nielsen Holdings PLC agreed to sell itself to a group of private-equity firms in a deal that values the media-measurement company at around $10 billion, resurrecting a deal after talks fell apart last week, The Wall Street Journal reports.

• A consortium led by Elliott Management Corp.’s private-equity arm and Brookfield Asset Management Inc. agreed to pay $28 a share for the company, or $16 billion including debt, Nielsen said Tuesday.
   
• The Journal reported earlier Tuesday that the two sides were close to such a deal.

A cryptocurrency startup that operates a popular online game called “Axie Infinity” said Tuesday that hackers stole more than $500 million worth of cryptocurrency, WSJ reports. “Axie Infinity” publisher Sky Mavis Ltd. said on March 23, hackers infiltrated a part of its Ronin Network, which the game runs on. The infiltrators got access to accounts holding cryptocurrencies and drained 173,600 ether and 25.5 million of the stablecoin USDC. “The breach happened due to social engineering, not technical flaw,” said Aleksander Larsen, operating chief and co-founder of Sky Mavis. While users are now unable to withdraw or deposit funds to Ronin Network, he said Sky Mavis is committed to ensuring that all of the drained funds are recovered or reimbursed.

Accel-KKR, which backs software and technology businesses, has collected $1.765 billion for a new continuation fund that gives the firm more time and money to support seven companies from an earlier buyout fund, WSJ Pro reports. The seven companies were part of Menlo Park, Calif.-based Accel-KKR’s fourth technology buyout fund, an $875 million 2013 vintage-year fund. The deal is Accel-KKR’s second transaction involving multiple assets that is structured through a continuation fund, a fast-growing tool in the market for secondhand private-equity assets.

Robinhood Markets Inc. said it is extending the hours it will let its users trade to between 7 a.m. ET and 8 p.m. ET, an announcement that sent the stock surging Tuesday amid hopes that the investment platform can rebound from slowing growth, WSJ reports. The stock jumped 24%, its third-best trading day since the company went public last summer. The brokerage, which is popular with individual investors, is expanding its trading hours in an attempt to combat slowing growth tied to its trading revenue. The company previously only allowed for a half hour of trading before the market opened and two hours after the market closed.

Correction: Valor Equity Partners is fundraising for its latest flagship fund. The subject line of Tuesday's newsletter incorrectly suggested that Valor had completed the fundraising.

Funds

Next Coast Ventures closed $310 million across three new funds to continue its focus on Texas and other emerging technology hubs. The Austin, Texas-based firm raised $195 million for Next Coast Ventures III LP, its newest early-stage fund, which is $65 million more than was secured for the preceding 2019 vehicle. Next Coast also secured $50 million for NCV Select I LP to continue supporting portfolio companies, and $65 million for Next Coast ETA I LP, which enables entrepreneurs to acquire, manage and eventually exit small and medium-size businesses.

Clean-energy investor Evok Innovations held the first close of its $300 million second fund to make early-stage investments across North America focusing on carbon capture use and storage, low-carbon fuels, clean energy and grid innovations, mobility, and advanced materials and circularity. The fund’s investors include Export Development Canada, Royal Bank of Canada, the Toronto-Dominion Bank, Suncor and Cenovus. Vancouver-based Evok Innovations was founded in 2016 and raised 100 million Canadian dollars for its inaugural fund.

Blockchain-focused gumi Cryptos Capital raised $110 million for its second fund, which is more than five times the size of its debut fund. The new fund will make both equity and token investments of between $500,000 to $5 million per project. The firm has offices in the U.S. and Japan.

People

Automation-focused venture firm Base10 hired Iñigo Garcia Gordobil as head of investor relations. He was previously with QIC’s global private capital team.

Pipefy, a low-code workflow-management software platform, promoted Daniele Gemignani to chief technology officer. Before joining the company in 2020, she was at C6 Bank, UOL and 99. In October, San Francisco-based Pipefy said it raised a $75 million Series C round from SoftBank Latin American Fund, Steadfast Capital Management, Insight Partners, Redpoint eventures and others.

Investigation and litigation platform Everlaw appointed Rich Liu to the position of chief revenue officer. He was previously CRO at TripActions. Oakland, Calif.-based Everlaw is backed by TPG Growth, CapitalG, Menlo Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz, H.I.G. Growth Partners and K9 Ventures.

Exits

Business-software maker Celonis acquired Process Analytics Factory GmbH, a provider of process mining insights for Microsoft Power BI. Terms weren’t disclosed. Last year, Munich- and New York-based Celonis scored a $1 billion investment, pushing its valuation to more than $11 billion. Investors included Durable Capital Partners, funds advised by T. Rowe Price Associates Inc., Franklin Templeton, Splunk Ventures and others.

People analytics platform ChartHop acquired Gather, a people operations workflow builder, for an undisclosed amount. ChartHop is backed by Andreessen Horowitz, Cowboy Ventures and SemperVirens Venture Capital. Gather had raised funding from Y Combinator and SB Opportunity Fund.

Yokoy Group AG, a Zurich-based enterprise spend-management platform, raised $80 million in Series B funding. Sequoia Capital led the round, which included participation from Balderton Capital, Six FinTech Ventures, Left Lane, Swisscom Ventures, Speedinvest, Visionaries Club, Zinal Growth and others.

Cyera, a cloud data security startup, emerged from stealth with $60 million in funding. Sequoia Capital led the investment, which included contributions from Accel and Cyberstarts.

HackerRank, a Mountain View, Calif.-based developer skills and tech hiring platform, landed a $60 million Series D investment led by Susquehanna Growth Equity. Additional investors in the company include JMI, Khosla Ventures, Randstad Innovation Fund and Recruit Holdings.

Nreal, a Beijing-based maker of augmented reality glasses, completed a $60 million Series C+ round led by Alibaba Group. Investors including Yunfeng Capital, Sequoia Capital China, NIO Capital, CICC Capital, Shunwei Capital and China Growth Capital previously backed the company.

LambdaTest, a San Francisco cloud-based test orchestration platform, secured a $45 million investment. Premji Invest led the round, which included participation from Sequoia Capital India, Telstra Ventures, Blume Ventures and Leo Capital.

Pinecone Systems Inc., a San Mateo, Calif.-based startup whose technology enables companies to power search applications with artificial intelligence, closed a $28 million Series A round. Menlo Ventures led the investment, which saw support from Tiger Global Management and Wing Venture Capital. Tim Tully, partner at Menlo Ventures, will join the board.

Cyberpion, an external attack surface-management provider with offices in Kirkland, Wash., and Tel Aviv, picked up a $27 million Series A investment. U.S. Venture Partners led the round, with General Partner Jacques Benkoski joining the company’s board. Existing investors Team8 and Hyperwise Ventures also contributed to the round.

Home365, a San Jose, Calif.-based real estate investing and property-management platform, snagged $26 million in Series B financing led by Viola Growth. Previous investors in the company include Greensoil PropTech Ventures, O.G. Tech, Verizon Ventures, Samsung Next, lool Ventures and North First Ventures.

Cloaked, a Lowell, Mass.-based startup that enables individuals to safely share personal data with people or companies based on their level of comfort, collected $25 million in Series A funding co-led by Lux Capital and Human Capital. Bilal Zuberi, partner at Lux Capital, will join the board.

Electric, a New York-based provider of IT technology for small and medium-size businesses, raised $20 million in Series D-1 funding from Harmonic Growth Partners, giving the company a valuation of $1 billion. GGV Capital, Bessemer Venture Partners, Greenspring Associates and others invested in the company’s Series D round last year.

Impulse Space Propulsion Inc., an El Segundo, Calif.-based developer of in-space transportation services for the inner solar system, nabbed a $20 million seed investment led by Founders Fund.

Sourceful, a U.K.-based startup bringing more sustainability to the supply chain starting with packaging, grabbed a $20 million Series A round from investors including Index Ventures, Coatue Management and Eka Ventures.

• Antitrust bill targeting Amazon, Google, Apple gets support from DOJ
   
• Sony’s expanded PlayStation Plus subscription aims to take on Xbox Game Pass
   
• Environmental groups pressure bitcoin community to lower energy use
   
• NASA’s moon-landing plans get boost from Biden budget

• Q&A with Harj Taggar, fintech and crypto lead at Y Combinator (The Block)

This newsletter was compiled by 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 and Marc Vartabedian.

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