Every day, Global University Venturing rounds up the smaller investments from across the university innovation ecosystem in its deal net.
Pando, a US-based income pooling service, has obtained more than $8m of series A capital from investors including Stanford-StartX Fund, the investment vehicle operated by Stanford University. VC firm Core Innovation Capital led the round, which also featured Pear VC, Avalon Ventures, Ulu Ventures, Nimble Ventures, Western Technology Investment and Slow VC. Pando’s service allows groups of professionals to pay into a funding pot to spread the risk of future career outcomes across each participant. It currently targets professional athletes but will in future be adapted for business professionals, MBA students and entrepreneurs. Pando, officially incorporated as 303 Holdings, previously secured $11.7m of equity funding from two rounds in early 2018 and June 2019, according to regulatory filings.
Pathotrak, a US-based food safety test developer based on University of Maryland research, has raised $1.2m of seed funding from the university’s Maryland Momentum Fund and Dingman Center Angels syndicate, along with an unnamed life sciences firm, BioBuzz reported yesterday. Founded in 2016, Pathotrak is working on a food safety test to detect traces of poisonous bacteria such as salmonella and E.coli in as little as four hours. The seed capital will go toward progressing Pathotrak’s lead product closer to market. Pathotrak extends research by its founder Javier Atencia, a research assistant professor at University of Maryland’s Fischell Department of Bioengineering.
