Every day, Global University Venturing rounds up the smaller investments from across the university innovation ecosystem in its deal net.
Krisp Technologies, a US-based voice processing technology spinout from Yerevan State University that graduated from University of California, Berkeley’s SkyDeck accelerator, has received $5m in a series A round backed by Storm Ventures, Sierra Ventures, TechNexus and Hive Ventures, TechCrunch reported yesterday. Founded in 2017 as 2Hz, Krisp has developed software to remove background noise from calls in real time, enabling users both to clean up their own sound and silence background noise coming from callers. The spinout previously raised $1.5m in funding from Sierra Ventures, Granatus Ventures, Shanda Group and IronFire Ventures in 2018.
Adriakaim, a Japan-based myocardial infarction prevention therapy developer, has raised ¥300m ($2.8m) from University of Tokyo’s venture fund UTokyo Innovation Platform (UTokyo IPC). The spinout had secured $1.5m from Capital Medica Ventures, the corporate venturing subsidiary of care provider Capital Medica, KSP and Mitsubishi UFJ Capital, the venture capital arm of financial services firm Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, in November 2019, which came nine months after an undisclosed amount of funding from undisclosed investors.
Spectronix, a Japan-based developer of fine processing lasers based on research at University of Tokyo, has raised ¥300m ($2.7m) from UTokyo IPC. Spectronix previously obtained $4.6m in funding in January 2017 from investors including the Innovative Venture Fund, a vehicle of IT services firm NEC’s unit NEC Capital Solutions. That round also featured Mitsubishi UFJ Capital, investment bank Daiwa Securities’ Daiwa Corporate Investment, incubator operator KSP’s Fund IV, financial services firm Bank of Kyoto’s Kyogin Lease & Capital subsidiary and public-private partnership Innovation Network Corporation of Japan.
Corpy, a Japan-based artificial intelligence technology developer spun out of University of Tokyo and French National Institute for Research in Computer Science and Automation, has raised ¥100m ($948,000) from telecoms and internet group SoftBank’s artificial intelligence-focused Deepcore fund, venture capital firm Deep30 and unnamed financial institutions. The company has added Osaka University professor Satoshi Hara and National Institute of Informatics associate professor Fuyuki Ishikawa as technical advisers and pre-launched a quality control platform dubbed Confide in conjunction with the deal. Corpy was included in graphics chipmaker Nvidia’s Inception Program in mid-2018.
NextStep Robotics, a US-based robotic stroke rehabilitation device developer based on research from several University of Maryland (UM) campuses, has raised $500,000 in a funding round featuring Maryland Momentum Fund, the University System of Maryland’s venture fund, Technical.ly reported on Tuesday. Abell Foundation and University of Maryland Global Campus also took part in the round. The capital will help NextStep to move towards a commercial launch of its wearable robotic device that aids stroke survivors with the management of foot drop, a condition that makes it difficult to lift a toe while walking. NextStep previously raised $600,000 in a round led by Abell, with participation from UM Ventures, the commercialisation partnership for UM Baltimore and UM College Park, in May 2019. The spinout had secured $750,000 in funding in February 2018 from Maryland Momentum Fund and assorted investors linked to investment banking consultancy Fort Capital.
– Additional reporting by Thierry Heles