Every day, Global University Venturing rounds up the smaller investments from across the university innovation ecosystem in its deal net.

Protealis, a Belgium-based sustainable plant protein development spinout of VIB and Flanders Research Institute for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (ILVO), has launched with €6m ($7.3m) in seed funding led by V-Bio Ventures. The round also included VIB itself and KU Leuven’s Gemma Frisius Fund, as well as state-owned PMV, agrichemical company Globachem, investment firm Estari and Agri Investment Fund. Protealis has developed technology to breed and coat legume seeds in an effort to create high yielding, high protein soybean varieties. Arkane Network, a Belgium-based blockchain technology provider, has completed a €1.6m ($1.9m) seed round led by High-Tech Gründerfonds, with participation from Imec.istart Fund, a vehicle for research institute Imec’s accelerator, DM-BB and Palentine Ventures. Arkane will use the money to bolster its headcount and open an office in Berlin, Germany. Cogo, a Denmark-based shared mobility aggregation platform, has obtained €1m ($1.2m) in funding from PreSeed Ventures, the venture capital firm owned by Technical University of Denmark, and assorted angel investors, according to EU-Startups. Cogo has built a mobile app that shows all third-party shared electric scooters, bikes, e-bikes, electric cars and mopeds near the user. ExpressCells, a US-based gene editing technology spinout Temple University, has raised $590,500 in a series A2 round from Rowan University’s Rowan Innovation Venture Fund, MIT Alumni Angels of Northern California, the Orange County Chapter of Tech Coast Angels, Berkeley Angel Network, Central Texas Angel Network, Robin Hood Ventures and Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Southeastern Pennsylvania, according to the Philadelphia Business Journal. ExpressCells previously secured $800,000 in a series A round backed by the university’s Temple Ventures in July 2019.

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Thierry Heles

Thierry Heles is the editor of Global University Venturing, host of the Beyond the Breakthrough interview podcast and responsible for the monthly GUV Gazette (sign up here for free).