On this week’s episode of the Talking Tech Transfer podcast, we welcome Jay Schrankler, the associate vice-president and head of the Polsky Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at University of Chicago.

Schrankler spent the first part of his career in industry, working for Honeywell, and he tells us about the transformative experience that convinced him to join the world of university tech transfer.

He also talks about what makes the Polsky Center a unique organisation and why earlier this year it launched the US’s first-ever accelerator focused exclusively on quantum technologies, Duality.

You can subscribe to Talking Tech Transfer on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Soundcloud or wherever you download your podcasts from.

Please be aware our interviews are now on their own feed and you will need to add this to your podcast app even if you are already subscribed to Global Venturing Review.

On this week’s episode of the Talking Tech Transfer podcast, we welcome Christy Wyskiel, the executive director of Johns Hopkins Technology Ventures (JHTV), the tech transfer office of Johns Hopkins University, and the senior adviser to Johns Hopkins’ president for innovation and entrepreneurship.

She reveals why she is so passionate about the Baltimore ecosystem that she goes above and beyond her day job and she talks about why having run her own startups gives her a real appreciation for the hardships of first-time entrepreneurs.

She also discusses what JHTV is doing to support diversity, why the Johns Hopkins Covid Dashboard is a true example of research for the world and why JHTV has a clause in its licensing agreements that requires spinouts to inform the office of every funding round they raise.

On this week’s episode of the Talking Tech Transfer podcast, we welcome Itzik Goldwaser, president and chief executive of Yissum, the tech transfer arm of Hebrew University.

On this week’s episode of the Talking Tech Transfer podcast, we are joined by Thomas Schmidt, head of technology transfer at University of Southern Denmark (SDU), to discuss the importance of time management skills, the challenges – and opportunities! – of being a regional university, and why senior leaders are the ones who really ought to consider becoming RTTP certified.

He also tells us how, with an MA in Marketing and Communication, he ended up in tech transfer, and how the Nordic Innovation Fair has grown from a national pitch event to one also encompassing other Scandinavian countries. The next event takes place on September 21 and you can register here.

You can subscribe to Talking Tech Transfer on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Soundcloud or wherever you download your podcasts from.

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On this week’s episode of the Talking Tech Transfer podcast, we welcome Richard Chylla, the executive director of MSU Technologies, the tech transfer office at Michigan State University.

He discusses the importance of collaboration across institutions and countries, and tells us more about his experience of being a chairman of AUTM, why MSU Foundation plays a crucial role in his job and why “flyover country” is an unfair – if sometimes all too persistent – description of Michigan.

EnerVenue, a US-based battery manufacturer, secured $100m on Wednesday in a series A round backed by Stanford University, according to TechCrunch.

Oil services provider Schlumberger and oil and gas supplier Saudi Aramco co-led the round through New Energy and Saudi Aramco Energy Ventures, respectively. An announcement from EnerVenue noted that “others” had taken part in the round, without offering further details.

EnerVenue is developing nickel-hydrogen batteries for use in grid-scale energy storage systems, a market set for significant growth as renewable energy – which tends to be intermittent in its generation throughout the day – will require increasing amounts of storage assets.

Nickel-hydrogen batteries, which are typically used in aerospace contexts, have certain advantages over the lithium-ion models that many energy storage assets use, including a higher resilience and longevity.

The funding will be used to build a gigafactory in the US to manufacture the company’s batteries, as well as boost research and development efforts and expand its sales and distribution capabilities.

Founded within EEnotech, a foundry focused on energy and environmental companies, EnerVenue then raised $12m in an August 2020 seed round led by Peter Lee, chairman of gas utility Towngas, that also featured Doug Kimmelman, founder of private equity firm Energy Capital Partners.

Jorg Heinemann, chief executive of EnerVenue, said: “With the durability, flexibility, reliability and safety of its batteries, EnerVenue is delivering a unique and future-proof solution for grid-scale energy storage.

“We have proven the advantages that our next-generation nickel-hydrogen battery delivers and are excited to accelerate our journey forward with series A backing and our agreement with Schlumberger.”

– A version of this article first appeared on our sister site, Global Corporate Venturing.

Main Sequence Ventures, the Australia-based venture capital firm founded by Commonwealth Scientific Research Organisation (CSIRO), added investment manager Australian Ethical to the limited partners for its Fund 2 today.

The fund launched in April this year with $194m in capital and while Main Sequence partner Mike Zimmerman told GUV he was unable to disclose the current size, he confirmed the firm was looking to achieve a final close this autumn and would provide an updated figure then.

John Woods, head of asset allocation at Australian Ethical, told the Australian Financial Review that the amount represented a significant portion of his employer’s VC allocation.

Main Sequence Ventures was founded in 2017 to manage CSIRO Innovation Fund 1, established by CSIRO and the Australian federal government. It focuses on commercialising academic research and on setting up startups in partnership with corporates.

Limited partners in Fund 2 already include aerospace and defence manufacturer Lockheed Martin, superannuation fund HostPlus, Temasek, Horizons Ventures, family offices and individual investors represented by Morgan Stanley Wealth Management and Mutual Trust.

Zimmerman said in a prepared statement: “Australian Ethical is an ideal partner for us given our alignment in tackling global challenges and desire for a long term relationship. Australian Ethical is a leader in a broader trend emerging in both the institutional investor and corporate sector.

“Not only are we seeing a growing number of institutional investors focusing on sustainable and ethical investment opportunities, we are also seeing them bring these principles to the boardrooms of mainstream corporations they invest in, helping drive operational targets, reporting and even executive remuneration tied to achievement of environmental, social and governance goals.”

Zimmerman previously spoke with Global University Venturing about Main Sequence’s mission on the Talking Tech Transfer podcast. The interview is available for free.

– This article was updated on September 20, 2021 to include information provided by Mike Zimmerman to GUV.

• Axelys
• Edinburgh Innovations
• University of Manchester Innovation Factory
• UnternehmerTUM
• University of Michigan Office of Technology Transfer

• Alexis Dormandy, Oxford Sciences Innovation
• Brian McCaul, Qubis
• Sara Wallin, Chalmers Ventures
• Markus Wanko, IST Austria
• Moray Wright, Parkwalk Advisors

• Keio Innovation Initiative
• Main Sequence Ventures
• The Engine
• University Bridge Fund
• V-Bio Ventures

• Cambridge Innovation Capital
• Osage University Partners
• The Engine
• Uniseed
• UTokyo Innovation Platform

• Artios, $153m series C (M Ventures, Novartis Venture Fund and Pfizer Ventures)
• Century Therapeutics, $160m series C (Leaps by Bayer)
• Deep Genomics, $180m series C (SoftBank Vision Fund 2, Alexandria Venture Investments)
• Prime Medicine, $200m series B (GV)
• PsiQuantum, $450m series D (Microsoft’s M12)

• Centessa Pharmaceuticals, $250m series A
• Exscientia, $225m series D
• Form Energy, $240m series D
• Graphcore, $222m series E
• Paige, $100m series C

• Atalanta Therapeutics, University of Massachusetts
• DNAnudge, Imperial College London
• Ensoma, University of Washington and Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center
• Nuvectis, Institute of Cancer Research
• Stablix Therapeutics, Columbia University

• Base Genomics, University of Oxford ($410m acquisition by Exact Sciences)
• Evolv, Duke University (reverse merger at $1.25bn valuation)
• Farapulse, University of Iowa ($295m acquisition by Boston Scientific)
• Oatly, Lund University ($1.43bn IPO)
• Sana Biotechnology, Harvard University ($588m IPO)

NowPow, a US-based care referral platform spun out of University of Chicago, was purchased by social care network operator Unite Us for an undisclosed sum yesterday.

The combined companies hope to eliminate fragmentation between health and social care providers, tackling societal challenges such as caregiver support, counselling, food and housing assistance.

Founded in 2015, NowPow runs a referral platform that connects people to the care they need. The spinout has expanded across 14 US states and Washington DC, with a client range covering health systems to community health centres.

It was founded by chief innovation officer Stacy Lindau, the Catherine Lindsay Dobson professor of obstetrics and gynaecology and professor of medicine-geriatrics.

NowPow raised a total of $4m in friends and family funding and loans, according to ChicagoInno, but further details could not be ascertained.

Lindau said: “NowPow’s roots are on the south side of Chicago where residents, leaders, caregivers and scientists have collaborated to ensure everyone seeking support can find the resources they need for independence, wellness, living with illness and caring for others.

“Needs are rising fast and our partnership with Unite Us accelerates our shared vision to ensure everyone, everywhere knows where to go for resources in their community.”

Omnidian, a US-based solar energy asset servicing company, secured $33m in a series B round backed by Congruent Ventures, the sustainability-focused fund backed by University of California, yesterday.

Activate Capital led the round, which additionally attracted insurer Liberty Mutual Insurance and Wind Ventures, the corporate venture capital unit of energy firm Copec.

National Grid Partners (NGP), Evergy Ventures and Avista Development, respective investment units of utilities National Grid, Evergy and Avista, also joined the round, as did energy supplier Centrica

City Light Capital, IA Capital, Energy Foundry and Blue Bear Capital completed the investor line-up.

Founded in 2015, Omnidian markets a machine learning-powered monitoring platform for residential and commercial solar energy systems. The software provides features such as system diagnostics and maintenance alerts.

The money will allow Omnidian to hire more staff as it seeks to bolster its solar assets under management, expand internationally and explore the monitoring of other internet-of-things-equipped energy products.

Congruent Ventures took part in a $15m series A round in 2019 that was led by IA Capital and also backed by NGP, Evergy Ventures, Avista Development, Blue Bear Capital and City Light Capital.

NGP had already invested in Omnidian as part of a round of undisclosed size in late 2018, but it is unclear whether this marked its contribution to the series A round.

Omnidian had earlier raised $5.1m in a 2017 funding round led by Congruent Ventures and featuring City Light Capital, Blue Bear Capital, Energy Foundry, Ekistic Ventures and Avista Development.

Oxford Science Enterprises (OSE), the investment company founded to invest in University of Oxford spinouts, has relaunched with a new name and brand identity.

Founded in 2015 as Oxford Sciences Innovation, Oxford Science Enterprise’s mission has been to increase the number of spinouts generated from university research.

OSE has a contractual right for a minimum of 15 years to receive shares in spinouts based on research in Oxford’s mathematical, physical and life sciences and medical sciences divisions.

It has actively supported the creation of more than 60 spinouts, and now owns stakes in more than 100 spinouts with a combined value of more than £2bn.

The rebrand follows an expansion of OSE’s team and the appointment of Alexis Dormandy as chief executive in January this year.

Dormandy wrote in an article announcing the rebrand: “I joined OSI in January 2021, clear on its mission, inspired by its achievements and motivated by the opportunity to make a real difference to the world.”

He added: “We are science business builders. And to reflect more clearly who and what we are, we have chosen to rebrand. We are excited to now be starting the next chapter in our story, as Oxford Science Enterprises.”

Dormandy is a nominee for the GUV Personality of the Year award. The awards ceremony will be held as part of the GCV Symposium 2021, tickets for which are available now either for physical or virtual attendance.

On this week’s episode of the Talking Tech Transfer podcast, we are joined by Christina Takke, managing partner at V-Bio Ventures, a venture capital firm she co-founded to invest in spinouts from research institute VIB and other promising companies across Europe.

She tells us why she helped set up V-Bio Ventures, why it is qualitative money that is missing in continental Europe and what can be done to improve the gender ratio in venture capital.

She also discusses what it was like to start raising a fund during the pandemic and why the large amount of due diligence required by the European Investment Fund enabled V-Bio Ventures to attract more limited partners.

Garuda Therapeutics, a US-based developer of therapeutics based on blood stem cells advancing Harvard University research, launched yesterday with $72m in series A funding co-led by Aisling Capital, Northpond Ventures and Orbimed.

Healthcare provider Mass General Brigham took part in the round through strategic investment vehicle Mass General Brigham Ventures, while Cormorant Asset Management, Ridgeback Capital Investments, Monashee Investment Management, Sectoral Asset Management and National Resilience also invested.

Garuda is working on technology intended to generate blood stem cells without requiring external donors, and it is intended to form the basis of treatments for haematologic malignancies, sickle cell disease, β-thalassemia and diseases caused by bone marrow failure.

The technology was developed by Dhvanit Shah while he was principal faculty of Harvard Stem Cell Institute, an associate member of the Broad Institute and principal investigator at Harvard teaching hospital Brigham and Women’s Hospital – one of the members of Mass General Brigham.

Shah co-founded Garuda with David Scadden, co-director of Harvard Stem Cell Institute and the Gerald and Darlene Jordan professor of medicine at Harvard, and Sean Morrison, an investigator in the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and director of the Children’s Research Institute at University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center.

Shah, who now serves as president and chief executive of Garuda, said: “Our technology has the potential to transform blood stem cell transplants, revolutionising the landscape of medicine.

“Eliminating the need for donor or patient cells while gaining the ability to exploit stem cell engineering would democratise blood stem cell transplants, ensuring this vital, and often curative, therapy can be made accessible to any bone marrow transplant eligible patient in need.

“Today, we are thrilled to launch Garuda with the support of our incredible investors and management team, comprised of industry experts in blood stem cell and bone marrow transplants.”

– A version of this article first appeared on our sister site, Global Corporate Venturing.

On this week’s episode of the Talking Tech Transfer podcast, we welcome Tim Boyle, director of innovation and commercialisation at nuclear research institute ANSTO and the chair of ATTP, the global body responsible for RTTP accreditation.

He reveals what makes ANSTO different and how a chance encounter on Imperial College London’s campus pushed him into a career in tech transfer.

He also talks about why RTTP is so important to the tech transfer profession, why candidate RTTP and a leadership track were introduced, and why offices with a high number of RTTP-accredited staff are the ones who receive more job applications.

Applications for the current cycle of RTTP and candidate RTTP applications are open until October 14 and can be made on ATTP’s website.

Lucid Diagnostics, a US-based developer of a diagnostic test for oesophageal cancer, has filed for an initial public offering on the Nasdaq Global Market that could result in up to $57.5m in proceeds.

The company has not yet set any terms for the offering.

Lucid Diagnostics was established in 2018 as a subsidiary of medical device manufacturer PAVmed to commercialise research originating at Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) and will be spun out as an independent company through the flotation.

The company currently markets a system consisting of two products: EsoCheck – approved in the US and the EU – is a capsule-sized swab that can be swallowed to collect samples from a patient’s oesophagus, and EsoGuard – approved in the EU – serves as the diagnostic test to analyse those samples.

Lucid is pursuing regulatory clearance in the US for EsoGuard and will use some of the IPO proceeds to complete clinical trials towards this goal.

The money will also allow Lucid to market the EsoGuard to primary care doctors, bolster its telemedicine programme with a direct-to-consumer campaign, expand regionally and across the US, and expand its manufacturing and laboratory capacity.

Lucid does not appear to have disclosed any external funding. CWRU currently holds an 8.4% stake in Lucid, while PAVmed is the majority owner with a 72.6% shareholding.

Cantor Fitzgerald, Canaccord Genuity, BTIG and Needham & Company have been hired as underwriters for the proposed offering.

Austria, the Czech Republic, Germany, Poland and Slovakia are among the central European countries that will benefit from the €50m ($59m) i&I Biotech Fund I, set up to invest in biomedical spinouts.

The European Investment Fund (EIF), part of the EU-owned European Investment Bank, will provide €25m towards the fund’s target size.

The i&I Biotech Fund I will operate out of the Czech Republic, working in close collaboration with the Czech Institute of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry (ICOB) at Czech Academy of Sciences, and will invest in pre-seed, seed and series A rounds.

The fund will the first of its kind in central Europe and will aim to help central European universities to catch up with their peers in western Europe and the US.

The EIF’s commitment comes from its InnovFin initiative, part of Horizon 2020, and the European Guarantee Fund, a €25bn programme to accelerate the EU’s economic recovery following the pandemic.

Zdeněk Hostomský, director of ICOB, said: “Czech science is proud of outstanding fundamental research in a number of fields, but it cannot be done without an active transfer of results into practice.

“We know it pays off thanks to the extraordinary example of Antonín Holý and Gilead Sciences, whose drugs changed the treatment of Aids throughout the world, saved millions of patients, and not only turned a small business into one of the biggest pharma companies in the world, but also transformed our institute into a thriving research centre.

“If we want to see more stories like that, we must constantly develop tools to promote tech transfer and facilitate the founding of new companies capable of seeing the development of groundbreaking discoveries and technologies through to completion and making headway in competitive international markets.

“That is something our institute has been working on for a long time, and by establishing this fund we want to motivate others to do the same.”

Kytopen, a US-based engineered cell therapies technology spinout of Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), picked up $30m in a series A round featuring Harvard University and MIT-backed incubator and venture fund The Engine.

Northpond Ventures led the oversubscribed round, which additionally attracted Horizons Ventures, Mass Ventures and Alexandria Venture Investments, a unit of life sciences real estate investment trust Alexandria Real Estate Equities, as well as private investors Michael Chambers and John Ballantyne.

Founded in 2017, Kytopen is working on scalable technology that enables the non-viral manufacturing of cell therapies in a matter of days rather than the weeks required by current methods.

The series A capital has been allocated to accelerating partnerships that will allow Kytopen to enter the clinic and speeding up commercialisation activities.

Adam Wieschhaus, director at Northpond Ventures, will join the Kytopen board of directors, joining Theresa Tribble, venture partner at The Engine, and Kytopen co-founders Paulo Garcia and Cullen Buie.

Kytopen previously raised $3.1m towards a $4m target in November 2020, according to a regulatory filing.

The Engine participated in a seed round in 2019, which a press release said was worth $3.6m but a concurrent securities document indicated the figure was almost $4.4m. Horizons Ventures and unnamed angel investors also took part in that round.

Kytopen was one of the first seven spinouts to receive money from The Engine in 2017, although the size of the investment remains undisclosed.

Harl Tolbert, assistant vice-president for research and director of the Office of Technology Management at Pennsylvania State University (PSU), will move to University of Rochester next month.

Tolbert will take up the position of associate vice-president of URVentures, the university’s technology transfer office, on October 8.

The appointment marks a return to the office for Tolbert, who had been associate director of the University of Rochester Medical Center’s Office of Technology Transfer, the original name of URVentures, from 2006 to 2011.

He left University of Rochester in 2013 to join Roswell Park Cancer Institute as director of its Office of Technology Transfer and Commercial Development before moving on to PSU in 2018.

Tolbert said: “At Roswell Park, I was able to focus almost exclusively on cancer research. Penn State, as a much larger institution, gave me opportunities in very diverse areas, including medical licensing, biomedical technologies, chemistry and engineering.”

– Photograph courtesy of PSU

Humboldt State University (HSU)’s Northern California Small Business Development Center (NorCal SBDC) and University of California (UC), Davis have partnered to launch an incubator focused on early-stage businesses in the region.

Dubbed SBDCtech @ UCDavis Venture Catalyst, it will focus on agtech and biotech, helping faculty and rural entrepreneurs launch spinouts.

NorCal SBDC serves 36 counties across northern California, where almost 45,000 small businesses are located. UC Davis’ Venture Catalyst programme supports companies launched by faculty, staff, students and alumni, and it will manage the new centre.

Kristin Johnson, executive director of NorCal SBDC, said: “We are excited to partner with UC Davis and the Venture Catalyst team.

“By combining our expertise in rural economic development, and UC Davis’ broad partnerships with industry stakeholders, this tech centre will be a cutting-edge resource for HSU and the northern California business community.”

The EU-owned European Investment Fund (EIF) and Italian state-owned national promotional institution Cassa depositi e prestiti’s CDP Venture Capital unit renewed their partnership this week, committing €260m ($305m) to tech transfer in Italy.

EIF and CDP are each contributing €130m, with the latter allocating the money through its existing Technology Transfer Fund. The renewed partnership builds on ItaTech, an investment platform launched by the two with up to €200m in 2016.

The Technology Transfer Fund will primarily aim to form national technology transfer hubs across Italy and back highly specialised venture capital funds in the applied agriculture, foodtech, environmental sustainability, robotics, life sciences and aerospace sectors.

Funds that received capital from ItaTech previously include the $70m Poli360 and successor funds to those backed through ItaTech will be eligible for capital through the Technology Transfer Fund.

Enrico Resmini, chief executive and general manager of CDP Venture Capital, said: “Technology transfer is a key step in fostering technology skills, creativity and talent born from research centres and universities, promoting entrepreneurial growth and cooperation with established industry.

“We are extremely proud of this co-investment partnership with the EIF, which will enable the Technology Transfer Fund to substantially increase the resources directed towards the expansion of an ecosystem of venture capital funds dedicated to ensuring these businesses are sustainable, as there is fertile ground for developing the market potential including at international level.”

Li-S Energy, an Australia-based developer of a lithium-sulphur battery co-founded by Deakin University, has floated on the Australian Stock Exchange after securing A$34m ($25m) in its initial public offering.

The company issued 40 million shares priced at A$0.85 each, securing a market cap of A$544m at the offering price. Shares are trading at A$2.07 as of the time of writing, having been listed under the ticker symbol LIS.

Founded in 2019, Li-S Energy is working on lithium-sulphur battery technology that incorporates a nanomaterial called boron nitride nanotubes (BNNTs) to offer improved capacity, stability and cycle life.

BNNTs are similar to carbon nanotubes but have a range of unique properties, such as being able to withstand temperatures more than twice as hot – up to 900 degrees Celsius. They can also withstand high levels of stress and are extremely lightweight.

The material – discovered in the mid-1990s – has historically been difficult and expensive to produce but using Deakin University’s patented approach can now be manufactured at a commercially viable cost.

Compared to lithium-ion batteries commonly in use today, Li-S Energy’s product promises to offer a fivefold increase in energy density, boast faster charging and reduce the risk of fires.

Li-S Energy was formed as a joint venture between Deakin University and its nanotechnology spinout BNNT Technology – the licensee of the BNNT manufacturing process – and diversified holding firm PKK Group.

Proceeds from the IPO, together with existing cash reserves, have been earmarked for project expenditure, a potential expansion or acceleration of existing projects, new development projects and pursuing collaborations with partners such as original equipment manufacturers.

PPK Group owns a 45.4% stake in Li-S Energy following the IPO, while Deakin University has a 13% stake and BNNT Technology retains 4.7%.

Blue Ocean Equities acted as the sole lead manager for the offering.

Oxford Nanopore, the UK-based DNA sequencing technology spinout of University of Oxford, went public yesterday after issuing 82.4 million shares priced at £4.25 ($5.81) each for $478m in proceeds.

The initial public offering valued Oxford Nanopore at $4.7bn and existing shareholders, including commercialisation firm IP Group, offloaded $238m worth of stock.

Software producer Oracle had already committed to being a cornerstone investor for the IPO, putting aside $205m last week.

Shares soared 45% on the first day of trading on the London Stock Exchange, where the spinout has listed under the ticker symbol ONT. As of the time of publication, shares are worth more than £6.22 each.

Founded in 2005, Oxford Nanopore sells DNA and RNA sequencing technology that provides real-time analytics. The technology has been applied to a wide range of products ranging from hand-held devices to population-scale platforms.

Proceeds have been allocated to research and development activities, doubling the size of the commercial team within 18 months, manufacturing automation and customer acquisition, as well as pursuing in-licensing opportunities and potentially exploring acquisitions.

Oxford Nanopore had secured more than $1bn in funding prior to the offering. It was valued at $3.4bn as of a $270m round in May this year, when IP Group, imaging technology producer Nikon, Temasek, Wellington Management and M&G Investment all injected capital, as did unnamed existing backers.

RPMI Railpen, International Holdings Company, internet group Tencent, pharmaceutical firm Amgen, genomics technology provider Illumina, China Construction Bank, GIC, GT Healthcare, Hostplus, Invesco Perpetual, Lansdowne Partners, Odey Asset Management and Top Technology Ventures and Amadeus Capital Partners are all investors.

WCM Partners Healthcare, the Cayman Islands-based fund managed by Neil Woodford, is also a shareholder. Woodford had owned shares through the since-collapsed Woodford Investment Management but it is unclear how WCM acquired the shares in Oxford Nanopore.

IP Group remains the largest shareholder in the spinout, with 10.3% post-IPO (down from 14.5%). Tencent now owns 7.9%, followed by cloud computing firm Group 42’s Investments AI Holdings (5.6%), patent litigation firm Acacia Research (4.4%) and Lansdowne (4.8%) – the latter having bought 501,000 shares in the offering.

The spinout has committed 18.5 million additional shares to the over-allotment option, which could boost proceeds by as much as $107m.

BofASecurities, Citigroup Global Markets, and JP Morgan Securities served as the joint global coordinators for the offering, while Barclays, Berenberg, Guggenheim Securities, Numis Securities and RBC Europe acted as joint bookrunners.

University of Tokyo (UTokyo) is launching a ¥60bn ($536m) fund to invest in its companies, Nikkei reported yesterday.

The university itself is putting up $89m to start the fund and it will seek contributions from external investors to grow it to its target size over a period of 10 years. If it reaches its target, it would be the largest university venture fund in the country as things currently stand.

The fund will support companies emerging from the institution, aiming to launch 300 new ventures and increase the number of unicorns in UTokyo’s ecosystem.

Successful portfolio companies may also receive direct investment from UTokyo, once a legal amendment in April 2022 takes effect that will allow universities in Japan to do just this.

The university is set to form a financial management department to handle investment decisions and is currently consulting undisclosed experts to finalise details.

UTokyo has already backed more than 110 companies through its venture capital affiliate University of Tokyo Edge Capital Partners (UTEC).

UTokyo had formed 323 companies as of 323, leading the pack and followed by Kyoto University with 222, according to the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry.

In addition to launching the fund, the university will aim to turn the Hongo district around its campus into an innovation hub akin to Silicon Valley.

Micreos, a Netherlands-based endolysin platform developer using research from ETH Zurich, raised €32m ($37.5m) in funding from undisclosed investors yesterday.

Micreos is working on technology that enables the targeted killing of unwanted bacteria only. The approach relies on endolysins – hydrolytic enzymes that can attack specific bacteria while leaving the remainder of the microbiome intact and thus present an advantage over antibiotics.

The technology was developed together with ETH Zurich, although Micreos is not a spinout of the institute.

It will use the money to accelerate the development of its lead assets targeting atopic dermatitis, diabetic wounds and bloodstream infections.

Altria Ventures, the investment arm of cigarette producer Altria, acquired a 5% stake in Micreos in May 2012 in return for an undisclosed amount of money. Micreos subsequently obtained $13.3m from unnamed backers in February 2016.

Zylotech, a US-based business-to-business customer data platform spun out of Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), was bought by account-based engagement platform Terminus yesterday.

Financial terms were not disclosed.

Founded in 2014, Zylotech has built a customer data platform with features such as artificial intelligence-powered predictive analytics. It has been rebranded to Terminus Customer Data Platform following the acquisition.

Zylotech raised $5.5m in funding in October 2018. The round was led by Glasswing Ventures, with contributions from Geekdom Fund, Revel Partners and Rubicon.

Abi Yadav, founder and chief technology officer of Zylotech, is joining Terminus as head of platform innovation. He said: “Since our early days as an MIT spinout, Zylotech has been focused on delivering the data and intelligence go-to-market teams can trust and take action on.

“Upon meeting Terminus, it was obvious that we shared a common vision. We are proud to join Terminus and this incredible team to jointly improve the accuracy of B2B data.”