The University of Maryland’s technology transfer office (TTO) UM Ventures has joined the $3.6m series A into life sciences firm Harpoon Medical, marking its first such investment.
The TTO provided $100,000 to Harpoon Medical’s series A, and was the only named investor. UM Ventures now has a pool of $1m to invest, provided by the institution’s Baltimore and College Park campuses, which both provided $500,000 each towards the fund.
Harpoon is commercialising research from University of Maryland, Baltimore, and is working on heart valve repair technology, for which it has just been granted a patent by the US Patent and Trademark Office.
Bill Niland, CEO of Harpoon Medical, said: “We have been working with UM Ventures since Harpoon was formed and are honoured that they chose to make their inaugural investment in our company. In just over a year we have formed a company, licensed innovative technology from UMB, secured the first of what will hopefully be many patents, and raised the funds necessary to demonstrate the efficacy of the device in the clinic. The support we received from UM Ventures and UMB has been instrumental in that process and we would not be where we are today without their assistance.”
