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

Pili, a France-based maker of biobased dyes and pigments, has procured $4m from PSL Innovation Fund, the venture fund of Université PSL, as well as the French government and its investment bank Bpifrance, venture fund SOSV and unnamed angel investors. Founded in 2015, Pili manufactures microbe-based dyes and pigments using an enzymatic fermentation process intended to reduce the adverse environmental consequences of petroleum-dependent textile production. Bpifrance supplied Pili with $1.9m in April 2018 through its Global Innovation Challenge program, as part of a $3m round that also featured accelerator Fashion for Good, equity crowdfunding platform Wiseed, SOSV and several angel investors.
Voxel51, a US-based video data extraction software tool developer spun out of University of Michigan, has raised $2m in funding led by eLab Ventures, according to TechCrunch. Founded in 2016, Voxel51 has built a machine learning-powered software product that tags objects in video footage using information held in the spinout’s open source library. The software would facilitate the creation of perception algorithms for self-driving vehicles, which are trained to spot obstacles such as pedestrians from existing video footage of roads.
France-based collaborative media creation software developer PocketStudio has secured €800,000 ($900,000) of seed funding from investors co-led by PSL Innovation Fund , the deep tech-focused vehicle affiliated to Université PSL. 360 Capital co-led the round, which was backed by assorted angel investors. Founded in 2017, PocketStudio has created a cloud-hosted software tool that lets creative professionals collaborate on media content for platforms including TV, film, augmented reality and virtual reality. PocketStudio plans to expand its headcount from four to 10 later in 2019, and will devote a portion of the seed proceeds to business expansion and the commercial launch of its products.
Synaptec, a UK-based energy tech spinout of University of Strathclyde, has obtained an undisclosed sum of funding from law firm Anderson Strathern’s corporate venturing arm AS Capital and investment firm Equity Gap, according to Insider. Founded in 2015, Synaptec produces power grid monitoring systems that work through existing optical fibre networks. The company received £2.9m ($3.6m) in a May 2019 round led by Foresight Williams Technology EIS Fund and backed by University of Strathclyde, state-owned Scottish Investment Bank, Equity Gap and Foresight Scottish Growth Fund, a Foresight-managed vehicle financed by the EU and the Scottish government. The university had already joined Scottish Investment Bank and Equity Gap to provide $493,000 in funding in 2016.
Erganeo, the regional tech transfer organisation formerly known as Satt IDF Innov, has launched France-based cardiac arrest ventilation developer Orixha with an undisclosed amount of seed funding to commercialise inventions from University of Sherbrooke and research institutes Inserm, EnvA and Institut Mondor. Orixha is working on a liquid ventilation system that induces therapeutic hypothermia of vital organs in patients suffering cardiac arrest. In addition to capital, Erganeo has signed a licence agreement with Orixha to advance patents originating from University of Sherbrooke’s TTO, TransferTech Sherbrooke.
Indiana University has spun out US-based medical diagnostics developer MindX Sciences to create objective tests for a number of mental health and pain-related conditions. MindX Sciences will produce blood tests and software apps that act as an accurate barometer for the severity of pain as well as suicide risk, post-traumatic stress disorder and depression. The company exploits more than 15 years of research led by Alexander Niculescu, professor of psychiatry at the School of Medicine, which unearthed blood biomarkers for a number of mental health and pain indications.
University of Michigan has spun out US-based Inheret to provide digital risk assessments for hereditary cancers. Inheret’s software uses the medical history of a patient’s family to estimate the heritable risk of developing cancer. It estimates more than 90% of people at higher risk of inherited cancer in the US remain unidentified until a formal cancer diagnosis. Inheret commercialises research by members of University of Michigan’s medical school and Rogel Cancer Center – David Keren, clinical professor of pathology, Sofia Merajver, professor of internal medicine, Lee Schroeder, assistant professor of pathology, Lynn McCain, senior project manager in pathology and Kara Milliron, a genetic counsellor.
University of Antwerp and nanoelectronics research institute Imec have spun out Belgium-based logistics technology business DigiTrans. Founded earlier in 2019, DigiTrans develops software products that help logistics providers aggregate data from disparate sources and sensors. The aim is to make data collection for logistics more cost efficient, in areas where the industry currently depends on manual checks and operations. DigiTrans was co-founded by Thierry Vanelslanden, assistant professor at Antwerp’s Department of Transport and Regional Economics, and Peter Hellinckx, head of the Department of Electronics-ICT.
Hearables 3D, an Australia-based spinout of Swinburne University of Technology, has emerged from stealth with plans to use 3D printers to produce customised earphones and hearing aids. Founded in January 2018, the company relies on the iPhone’s 3D scanning technology and advanced statistical modelling to design products that precisely fit the customer’s ear shape. Phillip Kinsella, a PhD graduate of Swinburne, acts as Hearables’ chief technology officer.
– This article was updated on August 13 to include eLab’s lead investment in Voxel51. Investors in the round had previously been undisclosed.