University of Melbourne spinouts 121cast and Venuemob both receive funding from Optus, the Australian subsidiary of telecommunications firm Sing-Tel.

Flat6Labs receives between 10% and 15% equity in exchange for the financing and incubation of start-ups.

Australia's National Science Agency, Csiro (an acronym standing for Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation), has an enviable track record in innovation and working with corporate partners to commercialise and deliver the ideas into something useful for people.

Trevor Mundel, the Gates Foundation's recently appointed head of global health, told news provider Financial Times (FT) he hoped to oversee a series of investments in companies each likely to be worth several million dollars.

Existing shareholder Founders Fund led the round, and was joined by US-based venture capital firms Youniversity Ventures, which primarily backs students and first-time entrepreneurs, Glynn Capital Management, Ulu Ventures, Jeremy Stoppleman and Ben Ling.

InstaMed previously raised $6m in September 2010 to take its then-total to $22m.

Also in the syndicate are venture capital firms Crossroad Fund, Medica Venture Partners, SCP-Vitalife and the Technion Investment Opportunities Fund, the investment fund of the Technion - Israel Institute of Technology.

South Africa-based development agency Industrial Development Corporation reportedly backs a joint venture between the University of Johannesburg's Photovoltaic Technology Intellectual Property company and listed Germany-based renewable energy company Singulus Technologies.

BioMarCare is a portfolio company of Hadasit Bio-Holdings, a publicly traded holding company for businesses using intellectual property developed and owned by Israel's Hadassah University Hospital.

UNSW, which has also set up a Venture Incubator Space in its School of Computer Science and Engineering, is the first Easy Access university in Australia after starting the programme last month so the majority of its IP is available for free.