News round up 17 September 2018

Ghent joins Imec to start Sentea
Sentea has been spun out with $1.9m in seed funding to commercialise fibre optic sensor technologies that monitor engineering structures for wear and damage.

Utec helps Locix structure funding
Logistics data analytics platform Locix has emerged from stealth with $20m in funding provided by investors including University of Tokyo Edge Capital.

Twentyeight-Seven counts down to $65m series A
Twentyeight-Seven Therapeutics has officially launched with $65m in series A funding to commercialise oncology treatments based on research at Harvard Medical School.

Barrow to roll onward from UMass
Abigail Barrow will stand down as interim executive director of University of Massachusetts’s office of technology commercialization on September 14 after three and a half years.

OncoResponse answers questions with $40m series B
Helsinn Investment Fund and Alexandria Venture Investments both invested as MD Anderson-backed OncoResponse looks to advance five immuno-oncology drug candidates.

Fujifilm delivers funding to Suono Bio
Suono Bio is based on MIT research and is aiming to use low-frequency ultrasound to bring therapeutic compounds to target cells with greater efficiency.

Merrick captures KiwiNet chairwoman role
Ngaio Merrick has been on the commercialisation initiative’s board since 2016, having previously worked with a municipal development agency.

BennuBio screens $1.5m round
BennuBio has assumed control of an existing UNM licence for cytometer technology, securing commitments from three investors to target a commercial release by next year.

BridgeSat rockets into $10m series B
Allied Minds has backed a series B round for its portfolio company BridgeSat, which also welcomed Boeing HorizonX Ventures as an investor.

UniQuest hits 100 spinouts
University of Queensland revealed it has generated more than 100 spinouts since 1988, with probiotic drink manufacturer Perkii becoming number 100 in 2016.

CIC leads Audiotelligence’s $1.7m round
Audiotelligence also counts Cambridge Enterprise among its investors, having spun out of from 1988 Cambridge spinout Cedar Audio last year.

Exotrail finds path to $4.1m
Small satellite propulsion technology developer Exotrail has been backed by Satt Paris-Saclay as it prepares for a 2019-2020 market launch.

Atreca carries on funding streak with $125m
The immunotherapy developer, co-founded by Stanford professor Lawrence Steinman, closed an oversubscribed round that took its total funding to approximately $226m.

Elevian energises $5.5m seed round
Elevian will commercialise research from Harvard and Stanford indicating young blood cells could be used to restore tissues in older patients.

Avid rates $6m series A
4490 Ventures, the VC firm co-founded by Warf in 2013, has joined Beringea for customer experience software provider Avid Ratings’ series A round.

Imec expands to $135m
The research institute has achieved a $135m close for its Imec.xpand fund, breaking through its target of $116m just over a year after launching fundraising efforts.

HawkEye 360 locks in $14.9m series A-3
HawkEye 360 has raised $5.3m in a series A-3 extension to take the round’s total to $14.9m, with the cash going towards the launch of its first commercial satellites.

Francis Crick secures $520,000 for KQ Labs
Ten businesses will receive $52,000 in grant funding for participating in a Francis Crick-operated accelerator for data science-powered biomedical interfaces.

Growers reaps $5m series A
VTC Innovation Fund is among the investors in agricultural management software developer Growers’ latest round.

DyeMansion polishes $5m series A
3D finishing technology developer DyeMansion has been backed by UVC Partners, AM Ventures and BtoV Partners.

Main Sequence rearranges fund to $167m
University of Melbourne and Lockheed Martin have contributed to an additional $94.8m tranche for the Csiro Innovation Fund, bringing its total to $167m.

Corporates get on AutoGrid in $32m series D
AutoGrid, the distributed energy management platform backed by Stanford, will use the capital from the Eon, CLP, Innogy, Total, Ørsted and Tenaska-backed round to boost hiring.

Corelight spots $25m series B
UC Berkeley cybersecurity spinout Corelight has added General Catalyst to earlier investors including Accel Partners to bring its total funding to $34.2m.

IU reveals 2017-18 results
Indiana University has marked a successful three-year period during which it reported 154 licensing agreements and $17.1m in tech transfer revenue.

Akili treats itself to new UC licence
UCSF digital therapy spinout Akili Interactive Labs previously disclosed $97.4m in funding from investors including Amgen and Merck Group.

SkyDeck extends beyond Berkeley
UC Berkeley’s SkyDeck accelerator is now open to founders from any University of California campus as well as foreign nationals applying through its global acceleration stream.

Seven Peaks culminates in $28m fund
OSU Foundation has become a limited partner in Seven Peaks Ventures’ second fund, which has already backed seven companies, including University of Washington’s Owl City.

Boehringer revisits ViraT for $245m acquisition
Medical University of Innsbruck immunotherapy spinout ViraTherapeutics has been bought for $245m by its existing shareholder Boehringer Ingelheim, enabling EMBL to exit.