Every day, Global University Venturing rounds up investments from across the university innovation ecosystem in its deal net.
Ceptur Therapeutics, a US-based targeted oligonucleotide therapeutics developer based on research at Rutgers University, launched yesterday with $75m in series A capital co-led by Qiming Venture Partners and VenBio Partners, with commitments from pharmaceutical firm Bristol Myers Squibb, Perceptive Advisors’ Xontogeny Venture Fund, Janus Henderson, Affinity Asset Advisors, Boxer Capital and LifeSci Venture Partners. Ceptur had raised $6.2m in seed financing in August 2020, according to a regulatory filing, with Affinity Asset Advisors, Boxer Capital and LifeSci Venture Partners identified as investors in that round in the company’s latest press statement.
ONI, a UK-based microscopy platform developer spun out of University of Oxford, has completed a $75m series B round involving the institution’s investment company Oxford Science Enterprises. The round was co-led by Arch Venture Partners and Casdin Capital, with additional commitments from Section 32, Artis Ventures, Vertical Venture Partners, Axon Ventures and assorted individuals. ONI, incorporated as Oxford Nanoimaging, had previously secured a total of £26.5m ($36m as of current exchange rates).
64x Bio, a US-based cell engineering technology spinout of Harvard University, completed a $55m series A round yesterday led by Lifeforce Capital, with participation from Northpond Ventures, Future Ventures, First Round Capital, Alix Ventures, Fifty Years, SV Angel, BoxGroup, Refactor Capital and individual investors Michael Chambers and Chris Gibson. The company raised an undisclosed amount of seed financing in 2020, according to Endpoints News, with Fifty Years, SV Angel, BoxGroup and Refactor Capital all identified as returning backers for the series A round.
Parallel Systems, a US-based autonomous battery-electric rail vehicles developer, emerged from stealth yesterday with nearly $49.6m in series A financing provided by investors including University of California-backed Congruent Ventures, according to TechCrunch. The round was led by Anthos Capital and also included Riot Ventures, Embark Ventures and unnamed others. Parallel Systems previously obtained $3.8m in a seed round in July 2020, according to a securities document.
Faeth Therapeutics, a US-based precision nutrition therapy developer to improve cancer treatment, closed a $20m seed round on Tuesday co-led by Khosla Ventures and Future Ventures. The round also included S2G Ventures, Digitalis, KdT Ventures, Agfunder, Cantos and Unshackled. Faeth Therapeutics will advance the work of scientific co-founders Lew Cantley, director of the Meyer Cancer Center at Cornell University’s Weill Cornell Medicine, Sid Mukherjee, an oncologist at Columbia University’s Irving Medical Center, and Karen Vousden, chief scientist of Cancer Research UK and group leader at the Francis Crick Institute.
Marisleep, a Japan-based sleep apnoea syndrome digital therapy developer, has received ¥300m ($2.6m) in a series A extension round featuring Kyoto University’s Innovation Capital unit, venture capital firm MedVenture Partners and Kirin Health Innovation Fund, a joint venture between brewery Kirin and venture capital firm Global Brain.
Auxivo, a Switzerland-based developer of exoskeletons for industrial workers spun out of ETH Zürich, has raised an undisclosed amount in a seed extension featuring the university’s ETH Foundation, Serpentine Ventures and industrial conglomerate SpanSet’s holding parent SpanSet Inter, according to StartupTicker. Auxivo had obtained a similarly undisclosed sum in an initial seed tranche in early 2020 led by SpanSet, with participation from Venture Kick and assorted angel investors.
– Additional reporting by Liwen-Edison Fu
