Good day. Last week, we asked when and how might the soaring venture market come back to earth.

"Valuations will fall when public exits become more challenging (in a market pullback, for example), although there will be a time lag because well-funded VCs will continue to compete for hot deals and mark up portfolio companies for a while even after a slowdown in exits," said Oliver Libby, managing partner at Hatzimemos Libby Holdings, which operates as H/L Ventures.

SineWave Ventures Partner Yanev Suissa said that "fear of missing out" is causing nontraditional investors to throw money at startups, which is leading entrepreneurs to chase high valuations and lose sight of financial discipline. "There will be a reckoning eventually -- non-VC investors learning that startup investing is a different beast, and entrepreneurs learning that chasing valuations from 'dumb' money will come back to bite you," Mr. Suissa said.

Cameron Newton, founding partner of Relevance Ventures, said exuberance in the venture market can't go on forever. "When that disposition changes, whether driven by rising rates, nontransitory inflation, a slowing economy or a combination of these factors, then I think you will see investors' approach to risk begin to change," Mr. Newton said.

This week's question: What lessons from previous climate-tech disappointments are investors applying to the renewed surge of interest in the sector?

Please email responses to marc.vartabedian@wsj.com

And now on to the news...

Top News

Competition concerns. U.K. antitrust officials said they could call on Facebook Inc. to unwind its acquisition of Giphy, a provider of popular animated images, after provisionally finding that the deal would harm competition between social-media platforms and in the display advertising market, Joe Hoppe reports for The Wall Street Journal. Facebook bought Giphy last year, saying it planned to integrate its offering into Instagram and other apps. Giphy allows users to search for, create and share animated images known as GIFs.

The U.K.'s Competition and Markets Authority began probing the deal in June 2020 and launched an initial investigation in January. On Thursday it said it would now seek responses from interested parties to its provisional findings and issue a final report on Oct. 6. The CMA added that if its competition concerns are ultimately confirmed, it could require Facebook to sell off Giphy in its entirety.

Facebook said it disagreed with the CMA's preliminary findings and that it would work with the regulator to "address the misconception that the deal harms competition."

Big Number

$6.4 Billion

Roughly the amount invested into space technology startups in the first half of 2021, which is 85% of the amount raised in all of 2020, according to a report by venture firm Seraphim Capital.

Summit Partners Targets $7 Billion for Latest Growth Strategy

Summit Partners has hit the fundraising circuit with its 11th flagship growth strategy barely a year after it collected more than $2.2 billion across vehicles focused on European growth equity investments and venture-capital deals, WSJ Pro Private Equity's Preeti Singh and Laura Cooper report. The veteran growth-equity investor is targeting around $7 billion for its Summit Partners Growth Equity XI strategy, which is focused on backing North American companies, according to people familiar with the fundraising. The target was confirmed in a public pension document seen by WSJ Pro Private Equity.

Reddit Valuation Soars to $10 Billion in New Funding Round

Six months after closing a funding round that doubled its valuation, Reddit Inc. is locking in a roughly 50% increase, driven by money managers hunting for investments and its role in the Wall Street trading frenzy, the Journal's Meghan Bobrowsky reports. Reddit on Thursday said it has raised $410 million from Fidelity Investments Inc. at a valuation of about $10 billion. The company said it expects to secure additional financial commitments from new and existing investors to bring the total raised to as much as $700 million. In February, the company said it had raised about $500 million in late-stage funding at a $6.5 billion valuation.

Industry News

Funds

Chris Sacca's Lowercarbon Capital raised a fresh $800 million to fight climate change. Recent funding rounds the firm has participated in include fusion energy startup Zap Energy and Crusoe Energy Systems Inc., which provides oil-and-gas companies with a solution to natural gas flaring.

Southeast Asian investor AppWorks closed its third fund at its hard cap, which was $50 million above its original target. The new $150 million vehicle is triple the size of the Taiwan-based firm's 2014 second fund. AppWorks Fund III will continue to focus on seed to Series C artificial-intelligence and blockchain investments through roughly 40 deals. To date, the new fund has backed more than 20 startups including Pickone, WeMo Scooter, Omnichat, XREX, Blocto, SoopahGenius and Docosan.

People

Alto Solutions Inc., which helps individuals access and invest in alternative assets using their retirement funds, appointed Amin Dabit as chief operating officer. He was most recently vice president of advisory service at Personal Capital. Nashville, Tenn.-based Alto Solutions recently closed a $17 million Series A round led by Unusual Ventures.

ScyllaDB named Wayne Ariola as chief marketing officer. He was previously CMO at Tricentis. Palo Alto, Calif.-based ScyllaDB is backed by Bessemer Venture Partners, Eight Roads Ventures, Innovation Endeavors, Wing Venture Capital, Qualcomm Ventures, Samsung Ventures and others.

Exits

Commercial property firm Jones Lang LaSalle Inc. will acquire artificial-intelligence startup Skyline AI Inc. for an undisclosed sum. JLL said it plans to use Skyline AI's technology to help clients predict future property values, identify new investment opportunities and decide when to raise rent, renovate or sell, among other business decisions. Founded in 2017, New York-based Skyline AI has raised $24.5 million in funding from investors including JLL Spark, the global venture-capital fund of JLL Technologies, as well as Sequoia Capital and TLV Partners.

On-demand household goods delivery provider Gopuff agreed to acquire European delivery platform Dija for an undisclosed amount. Philadelphia-based Gopuff recently landed $1 billion in new funding from investors including SoftBank Vision Fund 1, which gave the company a $15 billion valuation. Dija, which was founded just this past December, raised a $20 million seed round from Blossom Capital, Index Ventures and Creandum.

Spruce, a provider of lifestyle services to the multifamily sector, acquired The Minte, which offers hotel-style housekeeping to luxury apartment residences. Terms weren't disclosed. Austin, Texas-based Spruce raised an $8 million Series A round in November 2020 from investors including Mercury Fund and Sweat Equity Partners. The Minte, based in Chicago, was backed by Dundee Venture Capital, MATH Venture Partners, Revolution's Rise of the Rest Seed Fund, Firebrand Ventures and others.

New Money

Emeritus, which partners with universities to provide online professional education services, scored $650 million in Series E funding, bringing the company's valuation up to $3.2 billion. Accel and SoftBank Vision Fund 2 led the round, which included participation from existing investors Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, Sequoia India, Prosus, Bertelsmann and Leeds Illuminate. Emeritus recently expanded into the K-12 space with its acquisition of iD Tech for $200 million.

Gusto, a San Francisco- and Denver-based benefits, payroll and HR services provider for small-and-medium-size businesses, raised $175 million in Series E funding. T. Rowe Price Associates Inc. led the investment, which included contributions from Sands Capital, Durable Capital Partners, Cross Creek, General Catalyst, Emergence Capital and others. Lori Dickerson Fouché and Vicki Fuller will join the board.

TaxBit, a Salt Lake City- and Seattle-based cryptocurrency tax and accounting automation software provider, secured $130 million in Series B financing at a $1.3 billion valuation. IVP and Insight Partners led the round, which included additional support from Tiger Global Management, Paradigm, 9Yards Capital, Sapphire Ventures and Madrona Venture Group. Tom Loverro, general partner at IVP, joined TaxBit's board.

Chrono24, a German digital marketplace for new and preowned luxury watches, secured more than EUR100 million ($118 million) in Series C financing. General Atlantic led the investment, which included support from Aglaé Ventures, Insight Partners and Sprints Capital.

Helium Inc., a San Francisco-based peer-to-peer wireless network provider, picked up a $111 million investment led by Andreessen Horowitz. Additional participants in the round included Ribbit Capital, 10T Holdings, Alameda Research and Multicoin Capital.

Upgrade Inc., a San Francisco-based personal lender, closed a $105 million Series E round led by Koch Disruptive Technologies at a $3.3 billion premoney valuation.

People.ai Inc., a Redwood City, Calif.-based revenue operations and intelligence platform, landed $100 million in Series D funding at a $1.1 billion postmoney valuation. Co-lead investors Akkadian Ventures and Mubadala Capital were joined by Iconiq Capital and Lightspeed Venture Partners in the round.

Cart.com Inc., a Houston-based end-to-end e-commerce services provider, completed a $98 million Series B round. Oak HC/FT led the funding, which saw participation from PayPal Ventures, Raven One Ventures, G9 Ventures, Mercury Fund, Moonshots Capital, Valedor Partners, Arsenal Growth and others.

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