News round up 16 April 2018

Big deal: Roche derives MS treatment
Versant’s unusual build-to-buy model has resulted in Roche acquiring a target for MS based on UCSF research and the venture firm launching a new spinout, Pipeline Therapeutics.

Origami powers up $26.3m round
Origami has welcomed a follow-on investment from Cambridge Innovation Capital as it prepares to take its energy management and control platform into international markets.

ITBMed secures $67m equity transplant
The immunomodulation therapy developer has been backed by Pablo Legorreta in the wake of a phase 2 trial of its therapy for organ transplant patients.

Illinois universities lift activity
The number of Illinois university-linked businesses founded in the past five years has more than doubled on the preceding period.

Arvinas balances $55m series C
Yale spinout Arvinas has added cash to its coffers as it prepares oncological treatments for forms of prostate and breast cancer.

Constellation aligns with investors for $100m round
UC Investment Office, an existing Constellation backer, has returned to contribute to a $100m round that took its total equity funding to $229m.

Camras snaps series A picture
Partially based on research at Duke University, Camras Vision is working on a treatment for refractory glaucoma.

Allied Minds leads two rounds with $7.5m
The commercialisation firm has invested $3.5m in Orbital Sidekick and another $4m in TableUp.

Mars Innovation and Pfizer research fund
The pharmaceutical firm has committed $800,000 to launch the Mars Innovation – Pfizer Translational Research Fund.

C-Sats records acquisition
Johnson & Johnson has bought UW spinout C-Sats, which has created a platform to evaluate surgeons and helps them boost their skills.

UC helps allocate $300m to Allogene
UC’s Office of the Chief Investment Officer has backed a new immuno-oncology startup that has licensed 17 assets from Pfizer.

Midlands Innovation launches accelerator network
University of Birmingham will lead a connected system of incubators after Midlands Innovation secured a $7.1m award from Research England.

Frontier IP harvests bigger Fieldwork stake
Frontier IP now owns 27.5% of Plymouth’s Fieldwork Robotics and has agreed to lend extra development and engineering expertise to the soft robotic arm manufacturer.

Promethera prises bond financing from corporates
Université Catholique de Louvain spinout Promethera has sold $11.5m in convertible bonds to investors including Shibuya.

Ceres seals capital
The Ceres Agritech Knowledge Exchange has secured $28m and will exploit research from the universities of Cambridge, East Anglia, Hertfordshire, Lincoln and Reading.

Zapata executes $5.4m round
Zapata, which remains in stealth mode, filed a security filing naming two of its directors as partners from MIT’s the Engine and VC firm Pillar.

GlaxoSmithKline picks stake in Orchard
Orchard Therapeutics has licensed a range of gene therapies from GSK, which will get a 19.9% stake in the UCL spinout as part of the deal.

Spectral Edge refines $5.3m round
Parkwalk Advisors has returned from earlier rounds to help drive the UEA spinout’s bid for additional markets for its image augmentation technology.

Enterprise boldly goes to $41m series B
IP Group has committed a total of $6.6m to a series A round for Enterprise Therapeutics, which had previously attracted capital from Touchstone Innovations.

CMU irons out Chrysalix partnership
Carnegie Mellon has become VC firm Chrysalix’s third university partner after Delft and University of Waterloo.

Flavin heads back to private sector
John Flavin joined University of Chicago in 2013 to head its commercialisation arm and innovation hub Polsky Center, but will now become chief financial officer at Endotronix.

UVC Partners launches $100m fund
The firm, an affiliate of TUM’s tech transfer arm, has attracted investors including KfW and the European Investment Fund for its second vehicle.

Deal net: 9 – 13 April 2018
The Global University Venturing deal net rounds up all the latest smaller deals and tracks emerging companies accessing university funds.