News round up 16 July 2018

Cayuga Venture Fund targets $100m
The firm’s sixth fund has a target size of $100m and will tap into the Cornell University ecosystem for its pipeline.

Purdue unveils SMK Diagnostics
SMK Diagnostics is developing a sensor that can detect mosquito-borne diseases more quickly and cheaply than alternative methods.

Nextbiotix digests $8.2m series A
Inra spinout Nextbiotix has attracted capital from the institute itself as well as Biocodex and other institutional investors.

Regulonix regulates $2m seed round
UAVenture Capital Fund’s commitment, which was revealed three weeks ago, formed part of Regulonix’s seed round.

KU Leuven computes Tusk IC
Chip developer Tusk IC has been spun out from KU Leuven with capital provided by the Gemma Frisius Fund.

Investors take another slice of Lime
The Stanford-StartX Fund-backed electric scooter and bike rental service has raised $335m in a GV-led round that also included Uber.

Binance discovers Oasis in $45m round
Cryptocurrency exchange platform Binance has invested in a first round for Oasis Labs, based on research by Dawn Song at UC Berkeley.

Antiva adds $15m series C1
Osage University Partners has returned to back a series C1 round for Antiva, which is developing treatments for HPV and is based on research at UC San Diego.

Pure Battery charges towards markets
University of Queensland has taken the wraps off Pure Battery Technologies, which will commercialise technology to extract nickel and cobalt from low grade ores.

Dekel and Cohen begin HUStart job
Amnon Dekel and Ayelet Cohen will lead the Hebrew University Entrepreneurship Centre and drive more collaboration across the Jerusalem ecosystem.

UVC secures AMW exit
Unternehmertum Venture Capital Partners has agreed to sell its shares in AMW as part of an acquisition led by Hybio Pharmaceutical and Yunfeng Capital.

Lundmark to lead UU Holding
Gunilla Lundmark has been hired as managing director of Uppsala University Holding, succeeding founding chief executive Lars Jonsson.

Loci grabs $3.2m in seed funding
Spun out from NUI Galway and KU Leuven, Loci Orthopaedics has raised seed funding from investors including Leuven’s Gemma Frisius Fund.

Wellcome Trust takes $330m leap
The Leap Fund will back early-stage, risky research that would not be able to secure funding through other channels.

Dynacure collects $55m
Andera Partners has led a $55m funding round for Dynacure, co-founded by Satt Conectus to commercialise research from the Institute of Genetic and Molecular and Cellular Biology.

Akasol plugs into public markets
Akasol has floated on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, with proceeds set to go towards an expansion of the TU Darmstadt spinout’s second manufacturing facility.

Newcells seizes $2.6m
Northstar has returned to back Newcells Biotech’s latest round, after leading a six-figure round for the Newcastle stem cell spinout in 2015.