Every day, Global University Venturing rounds up the smaller investments from across the university innovation ecosystem in its deal net.
Sofant, a UK-based 5G satellite communications technology spinout of University of Edinburgh, has obtained £2.3m ($3m) in a series A round backed by Old College Capital, the university’s VC arm. The round was led by EMV Capital, the investment firm set to merge with NetScientific, and also included Scottish Investment Bank, part of government-owned development agency Scottish Enterprise, in addition to Kelvin Capital and Wealth Club. Sofant hopes to deliver radiofrequency microelectromechanical systems to reduce the power consumption of antenna arrays in satellite communications and 5G settings. The funding will go to building an initial product using its technology with a view to courting business with satellite operators and equipment manufacturers.
Mattrix Technologies, a US-based display Amoled backplane technology developer incubated at University of Florida (UF), secured $1.5m of a targeted $2.8m round on Monday from materials supplier JSR Corporation. Founded in 2018, Mattrix builds flat-panel displays using an organic light-emitting translator intended to facilitate cost-efficient manufacturing. The funding will go to partnerships aimed at delivering electricity conductive inks for Mattrix’s displays. Mattrix’s existing investors include UF Innovate Ventures, the university venturing unit for UF, and Samsung Venture Investment, a corporate venturing arm of consumer electronics firm Samsung.
Bee Corp, a US-based bee farm management technology developer aligned to Indiana University, received $1m yesterday in a round featuring IU Ventures, the university’s innovation support arm, Inside Indiana Business reported yesterday. IU Ventures supplied its share of the cash in April 2020, but has now been joined by Elevate Ventures and Thrive. The company’s technology measures beehive populations using infrared to help bee farmers strike deals with buyers. Bee Corp will use the funding in a bid to drive sales and marketing growth. Elevate Ventures backed a series A round of undisclosed size for Bee Corp in 2017 that was led by Jane Martin with contributions from fellow angel investors including Scott Dorsey and an unnamed client of Bee Corp’s, according to AgFunderNews.
BibliU, a UK-based digital academic library service backed by university venture fund Oxford Sciences Innovation (OSI), has collected more than €550,000 ($650,000) from affiliates of Angel Investment Network to extend its series A round to $10.7m, EU-Startups reported today. The series A extension will fund additions to BibliU’s technical staff, and follows the initial $10m tranche in April 2020 led by Nesta Impact Investments, an impact fund sponsored by innovation charity Nesta. BibliU’s subscription platform allows universities to offer students digital versions of the textbooks on their syllabuses, accessed through a search algorithm attuned to finding relevant texts. BibliU received $4.2m in seed funding in 2018 backed by OSI and its co-investment vehicle University of Oxford Innovation Fund (UOIF). Paul Forster’s family office led the round, which also included private investor Fritz Demopoulos.
