Sixents Technology, a China-based global navigation satellite system subsidiary of technology company NavInfo, picked up RMB620m ($98m) in a series B round on Monday from investors including Tsinghua  University’s asset management arm Tsinghua Holdings Capital, according to DealStreetAsia. The round included CDH Wealth Management, Oriza Holdings’ Oriza Prior, Yufu Holding, Xinding Capital, China CITIC Bank and Pagoda Capital. Sixents previously raised $7m from telecoms firm China Telecom’s corporate venturing unit China Internet Investment Fund and Zhiwei Investment in April 2019. Internet group Tencent subsequently injected $19m in April 2020 in return for a 9.5% stake. Paragraf, a UK-based graphene electronics producer spun out of University of Cambridge, officially closed a $60m series B round yesterday after a report a month ago suggested the spinout had raised the money. New Science Ventures led the round, which also included Parkwalk Advisors, the fund management arm of commercialisation firm IP Group, and IQ Capital. Five other investors – Amadeus Capital Partners, IQ Capital, Molten Ventures, British Patient Capital-managed Future Fund and In-Q-Tel – were also identified as investors in the round, confirming last month’s report. The cash has been allocated to bolstering international growth, research and development capabilities and manufacturing infrastructure. NextRNA Therapeutics, a US-based non-coding RNA biotechnology developer exploiting Dana-Farber Cancer Institute research, launched yesterday with more than $56m in funding – split across a $9.3m seed round and a $46.8m series A round. Cobro Ventures and Lightchain Capital co-led the series A round, with participation from Circle Alternative Investments, Evans Capital, Jefferies, Rival Capital and Willett Advisors. It is unclear who provided the seed funding and no dates for the close of either transaction were given, although NextRNA had secured half of its series A round by January this year, according to a regulatory filing. NextRNA was founded in January 2021 and has so far produced one programme each in oncology and immunology. In addition to Dana-Farber’s Carl Novina and Kenneth Anderson, the founding research team also includes Robert Larger from Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In Ovo, a Netherland-based agtech spinout of Leiden University, obtained €34m ($38.5m) in series B funding yesterday from investors including the university’s investment subsidiary Libertatis Ergo. The round was co-led by the European Investment Bank-backed European Circular Bioeconomy Fund and financial services firm ABN Amro, with additional contributions from venture capital firm VisVires New Protein, engineering consultancy Demcon and speciality chemicals company Evonik. Leiden University had first invested in the spinout in June 2014, supplying $271,000. In…

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Thierry Heles

Thierry Heles is the editor of Global University Venturing, host of the Beyond the Breakthrough interview podcast and responsible for the monthly GUV Gazette (sign up here for free).