News roundup 4 March 2019

Corporates champion $113m NordicNinja VC
Honda, Panasonic and Omron are among the limited partners of NordicNinja VC’s inaugural fund, which has identified several university ecosystems in northern Europe as offering opportunities.
Centogene scents IPO
Rare disease diagnosis technology developer Centogene is gearing up for an IPO having spun out from Rostock in 2006 and raised $28.5m of equity funding in 2017.
Mapúa University registers tech licensing office
Mapúa University has secured Philippine government support to set up the second of the Technology Licensing Office, the second of three planned tech transfer and innovation departments.
Michigan’s endowment hunts more cryptocurrency
Michigan’s endowment fund is to expand its contribution to Andreessen Horowitz’s cryptocurrency fund, which launched in last June.
Eyelevel.ai markets $2m seed round
Conversational marketing tool developer Eyelevel.ai graduated from UC Berkeley’s SkyDeck in 2018 and has now secured a follow-on investment from the accelerator.
Roche finds Spark in $4.3bn acquisition
Spark Therapeutics publicly listed in 2015 and is set to net Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia up to $458m following its acquisition by Roche.
NovaUCD companies bank $864m in 15 years
NovaUCD has helped spawn 45 spinouts since 2003 and offered innovation support to companies which generated more than $128m of combined turnover during 2018.
Pellucere absorbs funding
Based on OSU research, Pellucere Technologies is to begin selling its soil resistant solar panel coating having previously disclosed a $3m equity investment in November last year.
SK Capital secures endowment contribution
The private equity firm’s latest fund has closed with $2.1bn from backers including endowments for specialty materials, chemicals and pharmaceuticals investments.
Motif Ingredients structures $90m series A
MIT spinout Ginkgo Bioworks has set up Motif Ingredients with $90m in series A funding provided by investors including Louis Dreyfus Company and Fonterra.
VoiceAI listens closely for pre-series A capital
VoiceAI Technologies collected funding from investors including Hong Kong X Technology Fund after launching a research collaboration with Hong Kong University of Science Technology.
Northeastern US research grabs NIH funding
NIH will provide $3.5m to establish a human health-focused accelerator in five US states, with space for five biotech projects in its initial cohort.
Tulip flourishes for $18.4m series B
The MIT-founded manufacturing app development spinout has now received more than $31m from investors including Vertex Ventures US, Pitango, NEA and C4 Ventures.
PM&HM inhales $4.6m
Russian Academy of Sciences spinout PM&HM has signed up a second government-owned vehicle to help commercialise its digitally-enabled inhaler for tuberculosis, cancer and HIV.
Anaveon validates Novartis for series A
Zurich immuno-oncology spinout Anaveon raised $35.1m from Novartis Venture Fund and Syncona in addition to seed-stage notes converted by the UZH Life Sciences Fund.
OSI welcomes Conn and Pichette
Charles Conn and Patrick Pichette will join Oxford Sciences Innovation to become chief executive and chairman, respectively, with founder Dave Norwood retiring.
Birmingham unis call angel network
University of Birmingham and Aston University have deepened their relationship with Warwick-operated Minerva to start a syndicate targeting businesses in the West Midlands.
CCS connects to Adtran for $10m
Touchstone Innovations-backed Cambridge Communication System has received $10m in a funding round that included a $5m commitment from Adtran.
i2x identifies UVC Partners for $11.4m round
Unternehmertum’s VC affiliate co-led the deal for i2x, which offers an enhanced speech recognition product that provides automated coaching tips to improve business phone calls.
Aprea prolongs series C to $62.8m
Karolinska Institute’s oncology spinout Aprea Therapeutics has received a $5.7m series C extension adding to an initial $56.8m close in November 2018 that featured Karolinska Development.
InkSpace Imaging scans funding
The UC Berkeley-founded MRI scanner technology spinout graduated from the SkyDeck accelerator in 2018 and has now announced its inaugural round of funding.
GV sees Lightmatter for series A extension
Alphabet’s venturing unit has led a $22m series A extension for MIT spinout Lightmatter, which increased the round’s total to $33m.
Fraunhofer befriends EIF for $68m fund
EU-owned institutions including the EIF are pouring capital and assistance into an early-stage tech transfer vehicle for the Fraunhofer network of applied research institutes.
UW-Madison sets target to Warf Therapeutics
Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation has set up a pre-clinical drug discovery operation called Warf Therapeutics to help support biomedical projects.
PetMedix paddles to $10.6m series A
Sanger Institute-founded PetMedix is working on antibodies for dogs and cats based on an immune system discovery model that will adapt and extend earlier human health research.
St Thomas signs up with Gener8tor
University of St Thomas has teamed up with Gener8tor to launch two accelerators for students and startups affiliated with the university.
Maze finds its way to $191m
GV and Alexandria have taken part in a $191m round to launch Maze Therapeutics with scientific co-founders from multiple universities such as Harvard and Stanford.
Axial Biotherapeutics takes in $25m series B
Heritage Medical Systems has backed a $25m series B round for the Caltech spinout, which is developing therapies for Parkinson’s and Autism spectrum disorder.