Every day, Global University Venturing rounds up the smaller investments from across the university innovation ecosystem in its deal net.
Quasar Satellite Technologies, an Australia-based satellite communication technology developer, launched yesterday with A$12m ($9.3m) in funding, technology and industry expertise from CSIRO, Main Sequence Ventures, the office of the New South Wales chief scientist and engineer, and corporates Vocus, Saber Astronautics, Fleet Space Technologies, and Clearbox Systems. It is unclear how much of the $9.3m was provided as equity funding and which backer contributed to this capital. Quasar has developed technology that enables ground stations to communicate with hundreds of satellites at once.
Accelleran, a Belgium-based mobile telecoms software developer, has obtained €6.8m ($8.2m) in series B funding round led by Cogito Capital Partners, with participation from multi-university venture fund Qbic II, Capital-E and Ark Angels Activator Fund. The latter two investors supplied $3.4m in series A funding in April 2016.
Pulsify Medical, a Belgium-based developer of wearable ultrasound patches, has secured €3.8m ($4.6m) in a series A extension that brought the round to $7.8m. Imec.xpand, the venture fund of Imec, KU Leuven and University Hospitals Leuven returned for the second close and were joined by KU Leuven’s Gemma Frisius Fund, Imec and PMV. Imec.xpand, KU Leuven and University Hospitals Leuven had supplied an initial $2.9m in series A financing in 2019.
Astrocyte Pharmaceuticals, a US-based drug discovery and development company fosued on neurodegenerative brain injuries, has closed a $6m series A round led by Boston Harbor Angels, with participation from Clinical Research Ventures, DeepWork Capital, Life Science Angels, Trend Investment Group, Dreamers Startup Ventures, Zhi Gao Holdings, Mass Medical Angels, Mid Atlantic Bio Angels, Kyto Technology and Life Science, SideCar Angels, and unnamed others. Astrocyte is commercialising research conducted at University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio.
HeartBeat.bio, an Austria-based developer of a high-throughput 3D screening platform for heart failure and cardiomyopathies, has secured €1.5m ($1.8m) in seed capital from Red-Stars.com Data, according to FinSMEs. HeartBeat.bio is a spinout from the Institute of Molecular Biotechnology at Austrian Academy of Sciences. The money has been allocated to recruitment, technology development and establishing business operations.
Emvolon, a US-based developer of a platform to convert natural gas at flare sites into usable chemicals such as methanol, has secured $1.5m in a seed round led by The Engine, the venture fund and incubator backed by Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Harvard University. Launched out of MIT, Emvolon will use the money to drive recruitment and built lab space.
EarlyBird Education, a US-based developer of a game-based early literacy assessment, has picked up $1.5m in seed capital from investors including MIT Solve Innovation Future, Amplify Capital and Flare Captial Partners. The money will support continued product development and EarlyBird’s commercial launch in autumn 2021.
QCoat, a Germany-based developer of water filtration technology spun out of Leibniz Institute of Surface Engineering, has secured an undisclosed sum from TGFS Technologiegründerfonds Sachsen and Mittelständische Beteiligungsgesellschaft Sachsen. QCoat has developed a coating for membranes used in drinking, process and waste water purification. It claims its technology offers a higher filtration performance and significantly reduces membrane fouling
Thierry Heles
Thierry Heles is the editor of Global University Venturing, host of the Beyond the Breakthrough interview podcast and responsible for the monthly GUV Gazette (sign up here for free).
