Every day, Global University Venturing rounds up the smaller investments from across the university innovation ecosystem in its deal net.

Upstage, a South Korea-based developer of enterprise artificial intelligence technology co-founded by Hong Kong University of Science and Technology faculty, raised KRW31.6bn ($27m) on Wednesday in a series A round featuring telecommunications and internet group SoftBank, which invested through SoftBank Ventures Asia, Pulse News reported. Company K Partners, TBT Premier and Stonebridge Ventures also contributed to the round.
SafelyYou, a US-based developer of artificial intelligence-powered fall detection and prevention technology aimed at dementia patients, has completed a $19.5m series A round backed by the House Fund – a vehicle aligned with University of California (UC), Berkeley, of which SafelyYou was spun out. Eclipse Ventures led the round, with participation from Founders Fund, DCVC, Foundation Capital, TSQ Advisors, Pathbreaker Ventures, Swift Ventures, Pacific Health Ventures, Anorak Ventures and 7Percent Ventures. The spinout emerged out of UC Berkeley’s Artificial Intelligence Research Lab in 2015. Foundation Capital and DCVC reportedly provided early-stage capital, but further details could not be ascertained.
Dream.ink, a China-based developer of liquid metal-based printed electronics spun out of Chinese Academy of Sciences and Tsinghua University, has obtained approximately RMB100m ($15.5m) in series B1 financing led by  China Fortune-Tech Capital, with participation from Riverhead Capital, according to DealStreetAsia. Dream.ink had raised $14m from Maison Capital and China Zhongji Investment in June 2020. Details on the spinout’s earlier financing could not be ascertained.
Axelera AI, a Netherlands-based artificial intelligence semiconductor technology producer, has closed a $12m seed round backed by from Imec and its venture fund Imec.xpand. Blockchain infrastructure services provider Bitfury led the round with additional participation from Innovation Industries. Axelera was incubated by Bitfury in 2019, before being spun off this year. The company had joined forces with Imec in early 2020 to develop computing architecture for high-performance artificial intelligence.
Floating Point, a US-based developer of cryptocurrency software spun out of Massachusetts Institute of Technology, has raised $10m in series A funding from investors including Coinbase Ventures, the corporate venture capital arm of digital currency exchange Coinbase. The round also featured Tribe Capital, Borderless Capital, CapitalX, Formulate Ventures, Gettlylab’s Fast platform and angel investors including Anthony Scaramucci. Floating Point received $2m in seed funding from professional services firm Seabury Group’s Seabury Global Markets subsidiary, BoxOne Ventures, PIF.vc and various angel investors in May 2020.
Previsico, a UK-based flood forecasting platform operator spun out of Loughborough University, has received £1.75m ($2.4m) in a seed round led by private equity firm Foresight Group, with participation from Future Planet Capital subsidiary Midven-managed Midlands Engine Investment Fund and Foresight Williams Technology, an Enterprise Investment Scheme fund operated by engineering group Foresight Williams Technology, according to UKTN. Previsico previously obtained an undisclosed amount from unnamed investors in 2019.
Tanso, a Germany-based developer of software to facilitate sustainability reporting in industrial manufacturing, has closed a $1.9m pre-seed round led by UVC Partners, the venture capital firm aligned with TU Munich’s tech transfer arm UnternehmerTUM, according to TechCrunch. The round also attracted Picus Capital, Possible Ventures and assorted angel investors.
FreshCheck, a UK-based developer of tools to confirm surfaces are hygienic, has secured £625,000 ($865,000) in funding from investors including Imperial College Innovation Fund, a seed investment vehicle for Imperial College London. The round also included private investors Peter Trill and Peter Norris, the latter of which will become FreshCheck’s chairman. Norris had already invested in FreshCheck previously, but details could not be confirmed.
– Additional reporting by Robert Lavine

Thierry Heles

Thierry Heles is the former editor-at-large of Global University Venturing and Global Corporate Venturing, and was the producer and host of the Beyond the Breakthrough podcast until December 2024.