Every day, Global University Venturing rounds up investments from across the university innovation ecosystem in its deal net.
Soul Machines, a US-based developer of software which autonomously creates digital people, has secured $70m in a series B1 round led by telecoms and internet group SoftBank’s Vision Fund 2. The round included Salesforce Ventures, the investment arm of enterprise software producer Salesforce, as well as Cleveland Avenue, Liberty City Ventures, Solasta Ventures, Temasek and Horizons Ventures. Soul Machines confirmed it had now raised a total of $135m since being spun out of University of Auckland in 2016. Its existing shareholders include the institution’s Inventors Fund, which most recently backed a $40m series B round in early 2020.
SpliceBio, a Spain-based gene therapy developer co-founded by Princeton University and University of Barcelona researchers, closed a €50m ($55.8m) series A round today co-led by UCB Ventures, the corporate venturing arm of biopharmaceutical firm UCB, and Ysios Capital. The round also included Novartis Venture Fund on behalf of pharmaceutical company Novartis, as well as New Enterprise Associates, Gilde Healthcare and Asabys Partners. The money has been allocated to the further development of SpliceBio’s lead asset, aimed at genetic eye condition Stargardt disease. Ysios Capital previously led a funding round of undisclosed size in September 2020, when Asabys Partners also took part. Caixa Capital Risc, the investment arm of investment holding firm CriteriaCaixa – which manages the foundation of financial services provider La Caixa – injected €1.7m ($2m) in February 2018. It was identified as an existing shareholder at the time, but details about SpliceBio’s earlier financing could not be ascertained.
Scrona, a Switzerland-based additive manufacturing spinout of ETH Zurich, completed a $6.7m series A round yesterday led by AM Ventures, with participation from Trumpf Venture, the corporate venturing division of industrial machine manufacturer Trumpf, as well as Verve Ventures and Manz GmbH Management Consulting and Investment. The company concurrently secured a $2.9m grant from the Swiss Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation.
OxDX, a UK-based artificial intelligence-powered instant pathogen tests developer spun out of University of Oxford, has secured £2.6m ($3.5m) in pre-seed financing co-led by Ahren Innovation Capital, the venture fund co-founded by Cambridge, UK researchers, and IQ Capital. The round also included Science Creates Ventures, the venture fund attached to University of Bristol-backed incubator Science Creates. OxDX’s technology is based on work by doctoral candidate Nicolas Shiaelis and is able to detect and identify specific species and strains of viruses, bacteria and other pathogens within seconds.
DataLabs, a Japan-based automatic 3D modelling tool developer, has secured ¥130m ($1.1m) in seed funding from University of Tokyo’s venture capital subsidiary UTokyo Innovation Platform and telecoms group SoftBank’s Deepcore unit.
– Additional reporting by Robert Lavine and Liwen-Edison Fu
