Every day, Global University Venturing rounds up the smaller investments from across the university innovation ecosystem in its deal net.
HQS Quantum Simulations, a fault-corrected quantum computing algorithm developer spun out of Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), closed a €2.3m ($2.6m) seed round on Monday backed by Unternehmertum Venture Capital Partners, the early-stage VC affiliate of Technical University of Munich’s tech transfer arm. Public-private partnership High-Tech Gründerfonds and venture capital firm Btov Partners also contributed to the round, which will help HQS develop quantum algorithm-based simulators for designing new materials, leveraging the implications of quantum mechanics and its expertise in tackling quantum decoherence. The company was founded in 2017 by four researchers from KIT – Iris Schwenk, Sebastian Zanker, Jan Reiner and Michael Marthaler. It previously raised a round of undisclosed size from angel investors Friedrich Hoepfner and Manfred Ziegler at an unspecified date.
Multi-institution tech transfer office Satt Aquitaine Science Transfert has debuted France-based spinout Kromatiz to commercialise colour-adjustable faces for analogue watches. The watches contain electrochromic materials where oxidation and reduction within the metal counter electrode yield colour changes, while a robust liquid electrolyte conducts electrical currents. The idea grew from the research of Aline Rougier, a senior scientist within the Institute of Chemistry of Condensed Matter of Bordeaux, a collaboration between research institute CNRS, University of Bordeaux and Bordeaux INP. Satt Aquitaine has equipped Kromatiz with €71,500 ($79,500) through its Fast-Track Innovation call for demonstrations scheme, though it is unclear whether this represents grant funding.
