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

Cardlay, a Denmark-based corporate credit card and expenses management platform, has raised €8m ($9.7m) from venture capital firm Global PayTech Ventures. Cardlay secured $10m in funding from Seed Capital, a strategic affiliate of Technical University of Denmark-owned PreSeed Ventures, financial services firm SEB Bank’s SEB Venture Capital and unnamed backers in November 2019. Seed Capital and SEB Venture Capital injected $5m in January 2018, after Seed Capital had invested in August 2016. Cardlay identified both PreSeed Ventures and Seed Capital as shareholders in its latest announcement. Thrilling, a US-based second-hand marketplace, has raised $8.5m in a series A round backed by Congruent Ventures, the venture capital firm aligned with University of California. The round was led by Prelude Ventures and also included DLA Piper Venture, a vehicle for law firm DLA Piper, Defy, Urban Us, Closed Loop and Phoenix Rising. Backer, a US-based social savings platform, has procured $8.4m in funding led by Crosslink Capital with participation from Princeton University, Dartmouth College and University of Southern California. The round also attracted Rally Ventures, Correlation Ventures, Expansion Ventures, Reach Capital, Ulu Ventures, Great Oaks Venture Capital and assorted private investors. Jim Feuille has joined the board of directors of Backer, which rebranded from CollegeBacker in conjunction with the round. OnLume Surgical, a US-based medical device spinout of University of Wisconsin–Madison working on imaging systems for use during surgery, closed a $7m series A round today backed by Warf Ventures, a vehicle for the institution’s tech transfer organisation Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation. The round was led by Cambridge Investment Group and also included Wisconsin Investment Partners. OnLume received $749,000 from an unnamed investor in 2019. Dispelix, a Finland-based augmented reality technology spinout of VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, has raised €5m ($6m) in equity funding from unnamed investors, according to Tech.eu. Flashpoint Venture Debt Fund provided an additional $6m in venture debt at the same time. Dispelix will use the money accelerate the development of its full-colour laser beam scanning projection technology, which enables augmented reality glasses. The cash will also go towards customer acquisition and support. VTT Ventures, the investment arm of VTT, backed a $13.7m series A round in 2018, when manufacturing group 3M’s corporate venturing arm 3M Ventures, Finnish Industry Investment, Lifeline Ventures and an unnamed investor also took part. Dispelix had already received $1.9m in seed funding from VTT Ventures and Lifeline Ventures in 2016. Mablink Bioscience, a France-based developer of antibody-drug conjugates, has obtained €4m ($4.8m)…

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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).