News round up 25 March 2019

Big deal: Oxford PV begins capturing series D
Goldwind, Legal & General and Equinor have all taken part in a series D that achieved a $41m first close and boosted the Oxford spinout’s total equity and debt to more than $118m.
Respirion inhales $14.2m
Cystic fibrosis drug developer Respirion Pharmaceuticals has spun out from Telethon Kids Institute with capital from an Australian government-backed initiative.
NervGen Pharma holds nerve for $7.5m IPO
CWRU-licensed NervGen Pharma floated at the top of its range on the TSX Venture Exchange, with the proceeds earmarked to push its lead candidate for spinal cord injury into the clinic.
CDL reaches Oxford
Toronto’s Creative Destruction Lab accelerator network will open its first UK-based location through a partnership with University of Oxford after expanding into the US with NYU in 2018.
Scottish universities sign up to Converge
Converge is now affiliated to all 18 Scottish universities, offering a prize fund of $305,000 through four competition-orientated programs.
Ku climbs aboard new role
Katherine Ku has become a chief licensing adviser at law firm Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati after calling time on more than 27 years at Stanford’s OTL in June 2018.
Wanda and Vortex to vacate stage
Embattled commercialisation firm NetScientific is closing two medical diagnostics spinouts from UCLA after both failed to attract external funding.
Saarland moulds Mac Panther Materials
Mac Panther Materials will operate as a subsidiary of manufacturing machinery supplier Mac Panther on the back of a spinout agreement with Saarland University.
Whispr negotiates $750,000
DTU-owned PreSeed Ventures joined Bose Ventures in occupational voice guidance technology developer Whispr’s round, which will help the startup double its headcount.
Mojo Vision sets $58m series B scene
Stanford-StartX has contributed to a $58m series B for AR platform Mojo Vision, which also attracted Google, HP, Motorola Solutions, LG and Kakao.
Startbahn verifies $2.8m
Utec joined Dentsu in the fine art providence blockchain creator’s latest round, after supplying $900,000 of seed capital in July 2018.
Sapien Cyber locks down funding
Oil and gas exploration company Woodside Energy was sufficiently intrigued in its earlier development pact with ECU-founded Sapien Cyber to purchase a 10% stake.
Datagrid idolises $135,000
Datagrid has lured capital from University of Tokyo’s VC spinout Deep 30 as it prepares for the imminent launch of a game based on its deep learning-powered technology.
ISU plots business incubator
Plans have emerged for an Illinois State University-run incubator offering broader entrepreneurial supports than a previous scheme closed in 2016.
Exscientia and Celgene sign $25m collaboration
University of Dundee intelligent drug design spinout Exscientia has struck a business deal with Celgene after raising series B funding from the corporate in January.
CU Boulder makes $1.9bn impact
Venture Partners at CU Boulder’s efforts provided a significant boost for the national economy, generating nearly $721m of economic income for tech-transfer related activity.
Purdue handles Penguin Innovations
Penguin Innovations has spun out of Purdue’s College of Pharmacy with a virtual cleanroom training program for pharmacy students.
MoBagel moseys ahead with $5m
The series A funding comes after predictive data analytics companies MoBagel went through a resources-only edition of the SkyDeck accelerator last year.
Sherlock deduces $17.5m series A
Sherlock Biosciences will develop molecular diagnostics tools co-developed by researchers at Harvard University and Broad Institute, including Crispr inventor Feng Zhang.
Weizmann Institute duo nab $12m
The funding will be funnelled into an unnamed p53 suppressor-focused oncology Weizmann spinout and ultrasound guidance device maker On-Sight Medical.
Graphine combines with Unity
Ghent University-founded texture streaming technology creator Graphine has been picked up by Unity Technologies, providing an exit to research institute Imec’s iStart accelerator.
KU Leuven tops Flemish spinout league
KU Leuven has generated 60 spinouts since 2000, the most of any Flemish region university, while digital-focused research centre IMinds topped the bill for Flemish strategic institutes.
Forward Capital marches towards spinouts
The industry-focused VC vehicle is targeting $10m to make seed investments in companies including spinouts across technologies including robotics, internet-of-things and electronics.
Surrozen generates $50m series B
Based on Stanford research, Surrozen is working on regenerative treatments for a wide range of conditions, with a first focus on liver disease.