Catch up with the week's past university commercialisation news.
Editor-at-large Gregg Bayes-Brown is back from his holidays, and so its the weekly news roundup.
Big news this past week comes from University Ventures, which topped up its second fund to $136m.
Bionema gets go-ahead to make food safer
Swansea spinout Bionema has received watchdog approval to test its biopesticides that could stop pests from destroying crops.
AgBiome crops up with $34.5m series B
Utimco and Arch Venture Partners were part of a consortium that also featured corporates Monsanto and Syngenta, as well as other backers.
Agrivida harvests $23m series D
The agricultural biotechnology company has closed its series D round, having closed a $12m first tranche in January this year.
NeurXstem heads out for funding
OSU has spun out NeurXstem to further develop and commercialise research that is able to create a human brain in a dish.
Xerion stays healthy with Isis Fund investment
University of Oxford Isis Fund II has invested an undisclosed amount in the institution’s spinout Xerion Healthcare.
Cytocybernetics secures $291,000
Buffalo spinout Cytocybernetics hopes its technology will help stop drug candidates failing clinical trials for causing heart attacks.
Edinburgh spinout FanDuel has acquired sports analytics company NumberFire for an undisclosed amount.
The solar module manufacturer has now raised more than $200m, after King Saud University joined investors including SunPower, Spirox and GAF.
Madras spinout HyperVerge has secured seed funding from a range of venture capital firms to expand into the US.
University Ventures puts $136m in its coffers
The venture firm appears to have downsized its second fund, which has secured Bertelsmann as an anchor investor, to $136m.
Stanford moves into Hillhouse with $200m
Stanford joins five other US universities to have invested in Hillhouse, which has more than $18bn under management.
Force Over Mass to strengthen portfolio
The startup fund has already backed Cambridge spinout BMLL and hopes to fundraise more money and add other spinouts to its portfolio.
Evolve to grow with $9m series A
Existing investor Tate and Lyle returned to back the UC Davis spinout’s latest round, which will fund pre-commercialisation activities for its probiotics products.
Last week, Ortho licensed technology to repair damaged joints from Polytechnique Montréal.
CXR likes concept of acquisition
Concept Life Sciences Group has acquired Dundee spinout CXR Biosciences.
GE helps to switch on Robotics Hub
GE Ventures has become the founding sponsor of a $20m Pittsburgh-based accelerator aimed at startups developing robotics technologies.
NSF energises fuel cell technology
Umit Koylu has secured a grant from the US National Science Foundation to support the spinning out of his fuel cell technology.
