Every day, Global University Venturing rounds up the smaller investments from across the university innovation ecosystem in its deal net.
Cirqle Biomedical, a Sweden-based non-hormonal contraceptive developer exploiting Royal Institute of Technology research, obtained $1.8m yesterday in a round co-led by Rhia Ventures and BioInnovation Institute, a life sciences incubator launched by biopharma firm Novo Nordisk. Cirqle Biomedical has devised a biopolymer material that could be applied topically to make a woman’s cervical mucus impenetrable to sperm cells, as such preventing pregnancy. Unlike the oral contraceptive pill, Cirqle’s proposal would avoid the need for synthetic hormones. The capital will help undertake pre-clinical testing and validate the biopolymer’s properties, as it works towards its first in-human clinical trial. Cirqle will make use of BioInnovation Institute’s lab facilities and mentoring for the next 18 months.
Spectroplast, a Switzerland-based 3D printing services provider spun out of ETH Zurich, has received almost €1.4m ($1.6m) in seed funding from investors led by AM Ventures, an affiliate of industrial 3D printing services provider Eos. Founded in 2018, Spectroplast is working on a stereolithography-based additive manufacturing technology that would facilitate 3D printing of silicone parts for applications including medical products and soft robotics. The funding will go to scaling up its printing process, while AM Ventures’ involvement could help achieve growth by enabling expansion into more verticals and building out manufacturing capacity.
Vesicode, a Sweden-based exosome biomarker diagnostics spinout of Uppsala University, provided extensive details of its technology for the first time on Monday. Founded in March 2017, the spinout hopes to commercialise diagnostic tests for diseases such as cancer and neurodegenerative disorders that identify biomarkers contained by exosomes, a byproduct of all cells. While it is difficult to specify which cell an individual exosome has come from, Vesicode believes its approach will solve the problem by distinguishing the exosome’s specific surface protein complements. Exosomes carry protein and nucleic acids between cells, making them well-suited for spotting circulating tumours, metastasis and neurodegenerative biomarkers.
University of Birmingham today formally launched UK-based spinout NitroPep to commercialise antimicrobial sterilisation coatings for steel surfaces. The approach, identified through research at Birmingham’s Institute of Microbiology and Infection, its School of Chemistry and a number of external partners, could rapidly kill bacteria in hospital settings to prevent infections which frequently affect in-patients. During clinical testing, NitroPep’s coating was shown to destroy five infection-bearing strains of bacteria within 45 minutes when swabbed on target surfaces on a weekly basis.
