Every day, Global University Venturing rounds up the smaller investments from across the university innovation ecosystem in its deal net.
EditForce, a Japan-based creator of DNA and RNA drug development technology, raised $4.5m in funding yesterday from structural wood members manufacturer Yoshimei, MP Healthcare Venture Management and FFG Venture Investment. The commitment is an extension to the $7.3m round led by Newton Biocapital in May 2021, when University of Tokyo Edge Capital (UTEC), Itochu Technology Ventures, a subsidiary of trading group Itochu, telecoms firm KDDI and Global Brain also invested. UTEC and Itochu Technology Ventures contributed to an $7.8m series B2 round in 2019 together with energy utility Kansai Electric Power’s K4 Ventures unit, QB Capital, Newton Biocapital and Japan’s Science and Technology Agency. UTEC and chemical producer Kisco had invested $1.5m in the company in 2016.
Epigno, a Japan-based developer of a hospital staff management tool, has raised ¥250m ($2.2m) from medical information provider M3. The company previously raised $929,000 in funding from Tohoku University Venture Partners, Capital Medica Ventures and Colopl Next, respective investments arms of Tohoku University, care provider Capital Medica and mobile games developer Colopl, as well as Future Venture Capital and unnamed investors in April 2020.
Physiologas Technologies, a Japan-based dialysis treatment developer spun out of Kitasato University, has secured ¥140m ($1.3m) in seed funding from an entity known as Green Core, accelerator KSP and multiple angel investors.
Alia Therapeutics, an Italy-based developer of gene therapies retinal degeneration that was spun out of University of Trento, has collected seed capital from Sofinnova Partners, BiovelocITA, Indaco Venture Partners and private investors. The size of the investment was undisclosed, though Sofinnova announced it concurrently with two other seed commitments that totalled €6m ($7.3m).
AAVantgarde Bio, an Italy-based developer of gene therapies for inherited retinal disorders spun out of Telethon Institute of Genetics and Medicine (TIGEM), also secured seed financing from Sofinnova Partners as part of the aforementioned three deals. The precise amount invested in AAVantgarde was similarly unspecified.
EneCoat Technologies, a Japan-based perovskite solar cell developer spun out of Kyoto University, secured an undisclosed amount from Green Science Alliance, developer of electrode materials for solar cells, on Tuesday. The two will cooperate on research and development going forward and collaborate on sales activities outside of Japan. EneCoat previously raised an undisclosed amount of funding from Kyoto University Innovation Capital (KU-iCap) and MMC Innovation – a corporate VC vehicle co-founded by diversified materials company Mitsubishi Materials Corporation and advanced materials manufacturer Japan Material Technologies Corporation’s JMTC Capital unit – in May 2020. The spinout had already raised an undisclosed sum from KU-iCap in 2019.
– Additional reporting by Liwen-Edison Fu