Susan Warburton will act as innovation business development manager as part of ambitions to connect Manchester universities with local industry.

Viclink has introduced a scheme, supported by 26 international institutions, that gives businesses and non-governmental organisations access to free licences for university research.

The biotech company is seeking up to $45m from an initial public offering that will be conducted in April or May 2017, and is currently raising more funding.

Generali Insurance, Miele and Barmer Gek are among the limited partners that backed the first close of the fund, which is expected to reach $135m in size.

The imaging technology spinout has attracted semiconductor manufacturer Intel as a co-lead for the round and a consortium that also included the European Investment Fund.

Marcos Battisti, who used to oversee Intel Capital's Western Europe and Israel activity, is joining VC firm C5 Capital as it looks to raise a $150m cloud computing fund.

Mozilla has provided an undisclosed amount for strategic partner Cliqz, a search engine technology developer majority owned by Hubert Burda Media.

New investors include hedge fund Winton Ventures, state-backed Oman Investment Fund and fund manager Woodford Investment Management.

General Motors' corporate venturing unit has not replaced European representative Jerneja Loncar, now an entrepreneur-in-residence at GM Entrepreneurs, in lieu of focusing on China, Israel and the US.