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

Velabs Therapeutics, a Germany-based biotechnology spinout of European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL), secured €3m ($3.5m) in series B funding yesterday from undisclosed backers. The spinout uses microfluidic technology to test millions of antibodies for their therapeutics effects, working both in partnership with pharmaceutical firms and building its own pipeline of assets. Velabs will use the money to advance its antibody screening program and support its pipeline of preclinical candidates for a range of diseases with limited treatment options. Velabs has not released historical funding details. OnLume, a US-based medical device spinout of University of Wisconsin–Madison, has received $749,000 in a first funding round backed by an unnamed investor, according to Silicon Praire News. The round was raised on May 17, 2019, but had remained undisclosed until now. Founded in 2015, OnLume is working on a system that synchronises the light in an operating theatre with fluorescence detection technology to help surgeons identify cancerous tissue that needs to be removed. Surgeons currently struggle with properly seeing tissue labeled with fluorescent marker under the bright lights in the room. Preserve Health, an Australia-based sports hydration drink supplier based on research at Flinders University and Yale University, has obtained more than A$950,000 ($661,000) in pre-series A funding from unnamed, existing shareholders and new, private investors, the Lead reported on Wednesday. Preserve Health’s underlying research was initially aimed at fighting severe dehydration in children living in developing nations, but it was eventually reformulated into a sports drink aimed at endurance athletes. The funding comes as Preserver Health gears up for the launch of a powder version of its product and plans an expansion into the US next year. Preserve Health previously collected $500,000 in seed funding in June 2018. Quix, a Netherlands-based photonic chip developer spun out of University of Twente, has received an undisclosed amount of funding from the university’s Holding Technopolis, regional development agency Oost NL and assorted private investors. Founded in January 2019, Quix is working on a chip that uses light to process calculations. The technology has applications in quantum computing. Quix previously obtained an undisclosed amount of pre-seed funding from Raph2Invest when it launched seven months ago.

Subscribe to go deeper

GCV subscribers get access to all our proprietary data and deep-dive articles, as well as the global directory of CVC investors.



Not sure if you have a subscription?
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).