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

Pickle, a US-based spinout of Massachusetts Institute of Technology developing a logistics robot, has secured $5.6m in seed funding led by Hyperplane, according to TechCrunch. The round also attracted Third Kind Venture Capital, Box Group and Version One Ventures and unnamed others. Exotanium, a US-based cloud optimisation software developer spun out of Cornell University, has closed a $5m seed round co-led by Walden International and Nepenthe Capital. The round will allow Exotanium to scale its business, recruit more staff, expand its offering and sign up additional customers. WarpSpace, a Japan-based small optical relay satellite developer spun out of University of Tsukuba, has secured ¥400m ($3.7m) in a series A first close from financial services firm Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation’s SMBC Venture Capital unit, Space Frontier Fund, a vehicle for asset manager Sparx Innovation for Future, and KSK Angel Fund. Springpod, a UK-based professional social network linking young adults to employers and education providers, has received £2.3m ($3.2m) in series A financing co-led by Cass Entrepreneurship Fund, a vehicle for City University of London’s Cass Business School, according to Insider Media. The round was co-led by Alliance Fund Managers’ MSIF’s Merseyside Loan and Equity Fund and by Triple Point, and also included undisclosed existing backers. Movellus, a US-based developer of technology to enhance chip design for cloud computing and artificial intelligence applications, has raised $3m in bridge financing that included a $150,000 commitment from Accelerate Blue Fund, an evergreen vehicle set up by University of Michigan (U-M). Other investors were not identified. The deal marks the first investment for Accelerate Blue Fund. Spun out of U-M in 2014, Movellus secured $6m in a series A round two years ago from the institution’s Invests in New Technology Startups fund. The series A round was led by Stata Venture Partners and also featured Intel Capital, the corporate venturing arm of chipmaker Intel. Datafluct, a Japan-based data technology developer, has secured ¥300m ($2.8m) in series A funding from University of Tokyo Edge Capital Partners. The company received $420,750 in an angel round backed by assorted individuals in October 2019. Swarm Engineering, a US-based artificial intelligence-powered platform for international agriculture supply chain logistics, has completed a $2.7m seed round backed by Virginia Tech Carilion Innovation Fund, a VC partnership between Virginia Tech Foundation and healthcare provider Carilion Clinic. The round was led by S2G Ventures and also attracted Serra Ventures, Harvard Business School Alumni, Wells Street Capital, Rinvest and angel investor Soren Schroder. Imageens, a…

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Thierry Heles

Thierry Heles is the editor of Global University Venturing, host of the Beyond the Breakthrough interview podcast and responsible for the monthly GUV Gazette (sign up here for free).