Every day, Global University Venturing rounds up the smaller investments from across the university innovation ecosystem in its deal net.

S4 Medical, a US-based catheter ablation aid developer spun out from Ohio State University (OSU)’s Wexner Medical Center, has raised an undisclosed sum from investors including OSU-backed venture firm Ohio Innovation Fund and non-profit health system ProMedica. The round was filled out by Plug and Play, Valley Growth Ventures, Jumpstart, North Coast Angel Fund and assorted angel investors. S4 Medical’s clinical-stage device inserts into the patient’s mouth to shield their gullet from the thermal impact of catheter ablation surgery, a common treatment for abnormal heart rates, medically termed atrial fibrillation. The device, Esolution, was co-invented by S4’s co-founder Emile Daoud, chief of cardiac electrophysiology at the Wexner Medical Center.  S4 Medical will use the funding to pursue certain development milestones.
Forge Hydrocarbons, a Canada-based spinout of University of Alberta commercialising renewable petrol made from discarded fats and oils, has received an undisclosed sum from Valent Low-Carbon Technologies and Shell Ventures, the corporate venturing arm of oil producer Shell. The funding will go toward building a $30m industrial scale biofuel plant leveraging Forge’s approach, invented by David Bressler, full professor at the university’s Faculty of Agricultural, Life and Environmental Sciences. Bressler’s concept involves heating the lipid feedstock and removing its glycerol byproduct before releasing oxygen from remaining fatty acids, yielding hydrocarbons which can then be differentiated into various biofuels comparable to their petroleum-based equivalents. Forge attracted $4m from aerospace and defence company Lockheed Martin in December 2018, and has a strategic collaboration in place with biodiesel supplier World Energy.