Every day, Global University Venturing rounds up the smaller investments from across the university innovation ecosystem in its deal net.
Voxpopme, a UK-based customer feedback analytics provider, raised £7.5m ($9.3m) on Monday in a round backed by regional-focused investment firm Mercia Asset Management, Origin Ventures and NVM Private Equity. Mercia contributed $2m to the round and now owns a 23.7% stake. Voxpopme offers a cloud-based service that connects brands to customers who provide video clips giving their impression of products which are then evaluated with Voxpopme’s video analytics technology. The cash will help Voxpopme scale its team and fuel product development. Mercia supplied Voxpopme with $2m in October 2018, having also invested $1.4m in March 2018 and an undisclosed sum from its EIS funds in October 2017.
MBX Biosciences, a US-based drug developer exploiting Indiana University research, has raised $2.5m in its inaugural round, including $500,000 from the university’s Philanthropic Venture Fund plus contributions from VC funds Twilight Venture Partners II and Indiana Seed Fund III. The company is conducting discovery-stage research to identify drug candidates for rare endocrine disorders, diseases with significant unmet medical needs caused by hormone imbalances or lesions in the body’s endocrine network. MBX Biosciences was co-founded by Richard DiMarchi, a professor of chemistry and chairman of biomolecular sciences at Indiana University. MBX is a sponsor of DiMarchi’s lab research at the university.
Venture builder Miraki Innovation has publicly unveiled US-based Boa Biomedical, to commercialise an infectious disease treatment device invented at Harvard University’s Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering. Boa Biomedical has received regulatory approvals ahead of initial clinical trials of the device, a small tank which contains the blood sample for rapid diagnosis before applying a dialysis-like process to the patient’s blood supply if infectious disease is detected. Boa Biomedical will focus on treating sepsis – harmful blood-borne bacteria that cause organ malfunction and potentially death – in addition to antibiotic-resistant bacteria which lead to sepsis due to their intractability.
