CI's investment was part of a $6.6m series A round also involving venture capital firms EJ Funds (affiliated with EJ Financial Enterprises), Kuzari Group and Advantage Capital Partners, Yale University, and angel investors.

FundersClub selects start-ups and then lets its members, who have an annual salary of more than $200,000 or net worth of over $1m, invest online.

Alongside Statoil Technology Invest in the round are venture capital firms Investinor and ProVenture Management.

Google Ventures has participated in a $6m Series A for social e-commerce website TopFloor.

Novartis Venture Fund has led the series A round for drug company Neurovance to develop their non-addictive ADHD combating drug.

Bertelsmann and others invest in startup clothing line Frank & Oak as the Montreal firm seeks to bring vertical integration to the fashion industry.

Big Pharma backed Bio-tech firm Synovex has reached the halfway mark for a planned $7m Series C round.

Venture capital firm Aster Capital, which is sponsored by Schneider, Alstom and Solvay, has invested $5.2m in clean-energy company SolarFuel.