Global University Venturing

Ajay Chowdhury has been named chairman of the board at Cambridge Enterprise following Sir Keith O'Nions's five-year tenure.

Paula Sorrell will join George Mason University as associate vice-president of innovation and economic development in May.

Electric skateboard producer Boosted, backed by Stanford-StartX Fund, has laid off employees after its business model succumbed amid the US-China tariff war.

Linnéa Lindau has left her position as chief executive of Chalmers Ventures after four and a half years, with Gunnar Fernström becoming interim CEO.

Biotalys, a bio-fungicide and pesticide developer based on VIB technology previously known as AgroSavfe, has added $11m to its series C round.

The wearable defibrillator developer, founded by Stanford adjunct professor Uday Kumar, has raised more than $145m that will support the launch of its lead product.

Every day, Global University Venturing rounds up the smaller investments from across the university innovation ecosystem in its deal net.

The UC Santa Barbara-founded semiconductor technology producer has gone public through a reverse merger with penny stock company Peninsula Acquisition and received $21.5m from investors including Marelli.

Northern Illinois University has appointed Luke Sebby as director for innovation partnerships and tech transfer.

QUB-founded cybersecurity business Titan IC is set to become part of Mellanox Technologies, having previously raised funds in 2015.

Pliant Therapeutics has attracted $100m in a series C round led by Novartis, four years after it was founded to commercialise UC San Francisco research into fibrosis treatment.