A round up of all the latest news on www.globaluniversityventuring.com for our subscribers.
Contrary Capital boots up fund
The fund, which has already made its first investments, will offer between $50,000 and $200,000 to both spinouts and student startups.
Medaphor picks up Intelligent Ultrasound
Ultrasound simulator developer Medaphor will pay up to $4.9m in shares to acquire University of Oxford spinout Intelligent Ultrasound.
Interface Polymers has secured funding as it prepares to shape its materials adhesive concept into a commercial product.
Cardihab nudges investors for $1.35m
Multi-university venturing fund Uniseed has invested $500,000 in smartphone cardiac monitoring developer Cardihab.
Disarm persuades investors for series A
AbbVie Ventures is among the backers of a $30m series A round for Disarm Therapeutics, a biotechnology spinout from Washington University in St Louis.
The Engine accelerates to $200m
The Engine has already made seven investments in a bid to commercialise technologies that require a longer-term view than most.
IP Group secures 96.5% of Touchstone support
The commercialisation firm has secured support for a takeover from shareholders who hold 96.5% between them in its peer Touchstone Innovations.
LifeMine hatches $55m series A
WuXi Healthcare Ventures has led a first funding round for LifeMine Therapeutics, based on research by Harvard University profressor Gregory Verdine.
Immunocore takes in up to $40m
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation will invest up to $40m in the biological drug developer, which raised $320m in an Eli Lilly-backed round two years ago.
Matroid meets Intel in $10m round
Intel and New Enterprise Associates have co-led a series A round for computer vision startup Matroid, based on research by Stanford professor Reza Zadeh.
Ovensa scores $1.38m in capital
Uqar spinout Ovensa has obtained $1.38m of additional funding from investors including commercialisation firm Aligo Innovation.
Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf spinout Numaferm has secured seed capital for its pepside production process.
MIT and IBM target AI research
IBM and MIT have inked a $240m research venture aimed at developing artificial intelligence technologies over a 10-year term.
Grid establishes series A framework
Grid Therapeutics, an oncology spinout from Duke University, has closed a series A round backed by the institution’s TTO and venture capital firm Longview International.
Piper lures $7.6m in series A funding
Edtech company Piper has closed a $7.6m series A round that included Stanford University’s StartX fund.
Lancaster University spinout Relative Insight has received an undisclosed sum from a government-backed investment vehicle for its linguistics-based market research product.
Imstem secures patent for stem cell therapies
Imstem Biotechnology, a spinout from Connecticut, has won a patent for its stem cell-based treatment of autoimmune diseases such as multiple sclerosis.
Tabula Rasa Healthcare sweeps up SinfoníaRx
Healthcare systems provider Tabula Rasa Healthcare has snapped up SinfoníaRx, giving an exit to University of Arizona’s commercialisation arm.
Cambridge Medical Robotics clears $46m series A
The surgery robotics developer has added $26m from investors including Cambridge Innovation Capital to complete its series A round, 14 months after closing the first tranche.
Technology transfer is all grown up – from obscurity to sought-after career
Kirsten Leute, of Osage University Partners, takes a look at how the path to a career in technology transfer has changed over the years.
