Every day, Global University Venturing rounds up the smaller investments from across the university innovation ecosystem in its deal net.
Bramble Energy, a UK-based hydrogen fuel cell technology spinout of University College London (UCL) and Imperial College London, has received £5m ($6.5m) in a series A round featuring the UCL Technology Fund. The round was led by BGF and also included commercialisation firm IP Group and the latter’s fund management unit Parkwalk Advisors. Founded in 2015, Bramble Energy has designed a hydrogen fuel cell that relies on an electrochemical reaction to generate electricity in manufacturing plants in order to reduce carbon emissions associated with combustion-based alternatives such as diesel generators. The funding will aid its growth plans, building on research undertaken by Dan Brett, a professor at UCL’s Department of Chemical Engineering, and Anthony Kucernak, a professor at Imperial’s chemistry department specialised in electrochemical diagnostic technologies for applications including fuel cells.
Rapid Novor, a Canada-based antibody research spinout of University of Waterloo, has secured $5m of series A funding led by Co-Win Venture. Founded in 2015, Rapid Novor applies DNA sequencing to protein samples in a bid to uncover antibodies that could help diagnose and treat disease. The company’s pipeline includes a Covid-19 antibody study funded by the Canadian government’s National Research Council’s Industrial Research Assistance Program. Rapid Novor will invest the series A funding to develop its core technology and progress its clinical research. The spinout was co-founded by Bin Ma, a professor and university research chairman at University of Waterloo’s David R. Cheriton School of Computer Science.
