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

Macomics, a UK-based cancer immune therapy spinout of University of Edinburgh, has formally launched with $4m of seed funding led by Epidarex Capital with support from Scottish Investment Bank, a subsidiary of government-owned economic development agency Scottish Enterprise. Proceeds from the round will help identify immuno-oncological leads based on the concepts of Jeffrey Pollard, professor and director of the MRC Centre for Reproductive Health at University of Edinburgh, and Luca Cassetta, a principal investigator in the same department. Macomics’ platform aims to circumvent tumour-driven suppression of the immune system by reaching target proteins that are expressed in greater numbers within tumour-associated macrophages compared with normal cells. Shuuumatu-Worker, a Japan-based moonlighting job matching, has raised a ¥400m ($3.7m) pre-series B round from Tokyo University of Science Innovation Capital and VC firm Energy and Environment Investment. Shuuumatu-Worker raised an undisclosed sum of funding from recruitment services provider En-Japan and VC firm KLab Venture Partners (KVP) in April 2019. KVP had already backed the company’s $365,000 round in May 2018, investing alongside internet company CyberAgent’s corporate venturing arm, CyberAgent Ventures, and two angel investors. Estie, a Japan-based real estate data platform operator, has raised ¥250m ($2.3m) in a pre-series A round featuring University of Tokyo Edge Capital (Utec) and education services provider Globis’s corporate venturing arm, Globis Capital Partners (GCP). The round was closed last month but only unveiled now. Utec had already invested an undisclosed amount in the company’s seed round in March 2019. X-Locations, a Japan-based developer of an artificial intelligence-powered location information data analysis technology, has raised ¥220m ($2.1m) from Tokyo University of Science Investment Management. Perpetual Gratitude & Voyage (PGV), a Japan-based artificial intelligence-equipped electroencephalography technology spinout of Osaka University’s Institute of Scientific and Industrial Research, has collected ¥151m ($1.4m) from Osaka University Venture Capital (OUVC). OUVC had already participated in a $1.2m round in January 2020, investing together with mechanical parts producer Nok and electronic parts maker Nikkan Industries. SMBC Venture Capital, Mizuho Capital and Mitsubishi UFJ Capital, respective subsidiaries of financial services firms Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, Mizuho Bank and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, provided $799,000 in September 2017. OUVC invested in a $2.4m round in August 2017 alongside automotive sensor manufacturer Mektron and Senshu Ikeda Capital, subsidiary of financial services firm Senshu Ikeda Bank. OUVC had already backed a $459,000 round in November 2016, before the company’s official launch in March 2017. Brinja, a Sweden-based construction site security technology developer backed by Chalmers University of Technology’s…

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Edison Fu

Edison Fu is a reporter and Asia liaison at Global Corporate Venturing.