Every day, Global University Venturing rounds up the smaller investments from across the university innovation ecosystem in its deal net.
US-based patient monitoring technology developer BioIntelliSense received $45m last month in a series B round featuring University of Colorado healthcare system UCHealth as well as its CU Healthcare Innovation Fund. They were joined by Philips, Fresenius Medical Care, Pendrell Corporation, TripleTree Holdings and CU Healthcare Innovation Fund. The round followed a $25m series A featuring UCHealth, CU Healthcare Innovation Fund, Fresenius and TripleTree Holdings that closed in September 2020 together with a newer $12m round.
Canada-based vascular stent developer Fluid Biotech closed a $4.7m seed round yesterday that included University of Calgary’s UCeed Health Fund and UCeed Child Health and Wellness Fund. The round was co-led by Metis Innovative and ShangBay Capital and also featured Thin Air Labs, Wharton Alumni Angels, Amino Capital, Bluesky Equities, ThresholdImpact, Alabaster Capital and undisclosed pre-seed investors. Fluid had secured $840,000 in pre-seed funding from unnamed backers in February 2020.
Forefront RF, a UK-based startup developing fabless semiconductor technology based on research by co-founder Dr Leo Laughlin at University of Bristol, emerged from stealth yesterday with £1.5m ($2.1m) in funding from investors including Foresight Williams Technology, the VC fund backed by engineering services provider Williams Advanced Engineering. The round was led by Science Creates Ventures and also featured BGF and The Cambridge Angels.
Chromacity, a UK-headquartered Heriot-Watt University spinout developing ultrafast fibre lasers, closed a £1.2m ($1.7m) growth round yesterday that included Kelvin Capital, EOS Technology Investment Syndicate, ESM Investments and Scottish Enterprise. The company had raised over $760,000 from Kelvin Capital EOS and Investing Women in November 2015, adding $510,000 from EOS, Kelvin Capital, Scottish Investment Bank and the Chromacity management team in June 2017.
Metrica, a Japan-based dialysis monitoring system developer founded by a Keio University student, secured ¥100m ($900,000) yesterday from investors including Keio University Shonan-Fujisawa Campus’s SFC Forum Fund. The round also featured financial services firm Yamaguchi Financial Group’s Yamaguchi Capital unit, D4V, Skyland Ventures, Incubate Fund and Lifetime Ventures. The last two had joined unnamed angel investors to provide $720,000 for the company in May 2019.
Additional reporting by Liwen-Edison Fu.