James Posada, chief executive of Resolve, said: "We are very pleased to close this initial $2m of our series A financing and expect to complete the round with a third, corporate investor in the near future."

Eva Jack's move comes after the transition of the US-based team's other managing directors, Maggie LeFlore and Frank Top, to become venture partners.

Merchant bank Burrill & Company and venture capital firms Clarus Ventures and Healthcap Ventures also invested in FerroKin BioSciences alongside MP Healthcare Venture Management.

Covagen spun out of technology university ETH Zurich in 2007 with local drugs group Novartis' backing and previously raised an undisclosed amount from Novartis Venture Fund and MPH, the corporate venturing unit of Japan's Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma (MTP) and Mitsubishi Chemical, in October 2009.

Mukohira was previously vice-president of MP Healthcare Venture Management, which he started in 2006 as the corporate venturing group of Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma (MTP) and Mitsubishi Chemical.

Great Hill Partners and Primus Capital Funds bought SterilMed, which was also backed by First Analysis, Prism Capital and Sterling Partners as well as Ascension's corporate venturing unit, for an undisclosed sum.

Roche subsidiary Ventana Medical Systems will pay $100m for BioImagene on a debt-free basis.

Quro is the third company to get backing from Novartis' Get Armed To Explore Global Market II (GATE II) Project, which was launched last year with Korean peers.

Philips and NeuroNexus Technologies became minority shareholders in Sapiens as a result of their contribution to the development of the Sapiens' system and underlying technologies that stimulate the brain to treat epilepsy and other problems from Parkinson's Disease.