The news roundup for the week ending 27 May 2016.
South Africa to launch technology fund
The fund is set to boost investments in early-stage companies, which have had so far had to rely primarily on public money.
All G1’s existing investors, including MedImmune, returned for a $47m funding round that boosted the cancer drug developer’s total funding to $92.5m.
Stanford University’s StartX fund has backed teaching app developer Nearpod in a $9.2m funding round.
Investors plant $30m into Orchard
UCL Business and the UCL Technology Fund have both contributed to a series A round for biotech company Orchard Therapeutics.
Victoria University of Wellington’s tech transfer office partners Powerhouse Ventures to support startups.
Sheffield research leads to Consequential Robotics
IP Group has invested in Consequential Robotics as the company is spun out of Sheffield University.
Newlands travels to Imperial Innovations
David Newlands is set to replace current non-executive chairman Martin Knight in August 2016.
Oxford Sciences Innovation takes part in Oxstem’s $24.4m round as it begins to develop pre-clinical small molecule drug candidates for its stem cell drugs.
Vaccitech benefits from $14.5m injection
A universal flu vaccine developed by Oxford spinout Vaccitech shows promising results in trials as the firm launches with a $14.5m seed round.
Australia energises renewables research
The country’s government has made an initial $12.5m investment into joint university-industry renewable energy projects.
Astrobotic shoots for the moon
Carnegie Mellon University spinout and Google Lunar Xprize competitor Astrobotic raises $2.5m as it plans to take personal mementos to the moon to claim Google’s award.
France’s regional tech transfer network SATT boasts of its achievements with the creation of 106 spinouts to date and the licensing of 349 pieces of intellectual property.
Rutgers helps take $23m to Newark
Rutgers University Business School contributed to the $23m first close of Newark Venture Partners, founded by Audible CEO Tom Katz.
Zegami targets $10m investment
Oxford spinout Zegami aims for a $10m funding round to commercialise its data discovery platform.
Abingdon Health joins forces with Sumitomo Chemical
Abingdon Health enters into a partnership with Sumitomo Chemical to build on the rapid diagnostic test platform developed by Sumitomo and Abingdon Health subsidiary Molecular Vision.
