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…