Every day, Global University Venturing rounds up the smaller investments from across the university innovation ecosystem in its deal net.
Agnikul, an India-based space launch vehicle developer, has attracted Rs234m ($3.1m) from investors including CIIE.co, the incubation and innovation arm of Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad, VCCircle reported yesterday. The pre series-A round was led by Pi Ventures and also included Artha Ventures, LetsVenture, Globevestor, Speciale Invest and Hari Kumar, founding partner of Lionrock Capital. The capital will fund recruitment and the development of a satellite launch vehicle with 30 to 100 kilogram payload capacity, with the engine manufactured using 3D printing technology.
E25Bio, a US-based rapid diagnostics kit spinout of Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)’s accelerator the Engine, yesterday obtained $2m in funding from venture firm Khosla Ventures. The company is working on nanoparticle-based rapid diagnostic tests with an eye on tackling coronavirus with the support of the US emergency regulatory clearance program. The funding will go to R&D, clinical studies and scale-up activities, also targeting other dangerous infectious viruses such as dengue and zika. E25Bio’s approach was co-invented by Lee Gehrke, Hermann von Helmholtz professor of health sciences and technology at MIT, and Irene Bosch, a research scientist at the institute specialised in infectious diseases, diagnostics and gene expression analysis.
Khalifa University of Science and Technology has licensed United Arab Emirates-based Advanced Research Projects (ARP) to commercialise a phonocardiogram sensor-based product for monitoring the heartbeat of unborn babies, Emirates 24/7 reported today. The sensor is intended to enable portable testing both inside and outside the clinic, serving particular use for fetal healthcare units in remote areas. ARP has set up a subsidiary to manage commercialisation of the technology, which extends research undertaken by Ahsan Khandoker, an associate professor for biomedical engineering.
