Every day, Global University Venturing rounds up the smaller investments from across the university innovation ecosystem in its deal net.
Selva Therapeutics, a US-based coronavirus drug developer exploiting University of California, San Diego research, attracted $3m on Tuesday in a series A round backed by unnamed private investors. Selva’s lead candidate, SLV213, would treat Covid-19 by inhibiting host cell cysteine proteases, in addition to addressing multiple other viral diseases. Selva will use the funding to ease SLV213’s path to clinical testing, starting with an oral formulation of the drug.
Novai, a UK-based biotechnology spinout of University College London, has raised £500,000 ($581,000) in a seed round led by SFC Capital. The money will allow Novai to continue development of its artificial intelligence-equipped software to detect ocular diseases up to 18 months earlier than current gold-standard processes, all while using standard medical imaging equipment. In conjunction with the round, Novai has appointed Gordon Bethwaite as acting CEO and added Karl Keegan, Rob Thornhill and Berwyn Clarke to its board.
Indiana University (IU)’s Angel Network on Tuesday led the $75,000 inaugural funding round for Scalero, a US-based email marketing template provider founded by IU alumnus Will Pearson. Founded in August 2019, Scalero has built a software product that helps marketing managers organise email campaigns while utilising a number of strategies, templates and coding scripts. The funding will support the runway to Scalero’s full launch later this year, allowing it to hire a customer success manager to assist existing and new clients.
