Every day, Global University Venturing rounds up the smaller investments from across the university innovation ecosystem in its deal net.
Time by Ping, a US-based time management software developer, recorded a $36.5m series B round on Tuesday backed by The House Fund, the venture capital firm linked to University of California, Berkeley. The round was co-led by Acme Capital and Anthos Capital, with additional participation from Upfront Ventures, Initialized Capital, Time Ventures and Gokul Rajaram. Time by Ping has now collected more than $55m altogether, it confirmed. The company obtained $13.2m in series A round in November 2019 led by Upfront Ventures, when BoxGroup, Ulu Ventures, First Round and Initialized Ventures also took part. The latter two had co-led a $3.7m seed round in 2018, after a commitment of undisclosed size from MDR Lab, the legal technology-focused accelerator and investment arm of law firm Mishcon de Reya in 2017.
ArrePath, a US-based anti-infective drug discovery spinout of Princeton University, pocketed $20m in its seed round yesterday from a consortium co-led by Insight Partners, Innospark Ventures and Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund, the corporate venturing arm of pharmaceutical firm Boehringer Ingelheim. The round also attracted Viva BioInnovator, Arimed Capital, PTX Capital and Nor’easter Ventures. ArrePath advances work pioneered by Zemer Gitai, the Edwin Grant Conklin professor of biology at Princeton University, and aims to solve challenges around drug resistant infections.
CancerIQ, a US-based early cancer detection spinout of University of Chicago, closed a $14m series B round yesterday co-led by Merck Global Health Innovation Fund and Amgen Ventures, respective vehicles for pharmaceutical companies Merck & Co and Amgen. The deal also attracted McKesson Ventures and OSF Ventures, representing pharmaceuticals distributor McKesson and health system OSF HealthCare, as well as HealthX Ventures. The latter had led CancerIQ’s $4.8m series A round in 2020, when Impact Engine and Lightbank also injected capital.
Helio Display Materials, a UK-based developer of materials for low-energy displays spun out of University of Cambridge and University of Oxford, has raised $4.75m in a series A round co-led by Longwall Venture Partners and BGF. Helio Display’s shareholders also include commercialisation firm IP Group, which has held a stake since at least May 2017, but further details could not be ascertained.
Bonnet, a UK-based developer of a mobile app that helps drivers find and use charging points, has secured £4m ($5.3m) in a funding round involving GV, an early-stage investment subsidiary of technology conglomerate Alphabet, Lightspeed, 20VC and assorted angel investors. Bonnet will use the money to expand its coverage to a majority of charging points throughout Europe by the end of this year. Bonnet previously raised $1.3m in a pre-seed round backed by the Parkwalk Advisors-managed Imperial College Innovation Fund I last year.
