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

Synfioo, a Germany-based supply chain monitoring platform spun out of University of Potsdam’s Hasso-Plattner Institute, attracted €2.5m ($2.9m) in series A funding on Monday from investors including HPI Seed Fund, the early-stage investment arm of Hasso-Plattner Institute. The round also featured BFB Brandenburg Kapital, BtoV’s Industrial Tech Fund, Senovo and assorted angel investors. Founded in 2015, Synfioo operates a cloud-based platform for the real-time monitoring of rail, air and road transport to detect potential sources of disruption to the supply chain. The funding will support sales activities and help Synfioo further develop its brand. Synfioo previously obtained a seven-figure amount (€1m = $1.17m) of seed capital from HPI Seed Fund, BFB and angel investors in June 2017.
Junten Bio, a Japan-based regenerative medicine spinout of Juntendo University, yesterday collected ¥200m ($1.77m) in funding from photography and imaging company Fujifilm. In conjunction with the investment, Fujifilm’s subsidiary Japan Tissue Engineering to co-develop therapies that induce immune tolerance in recipients of organ transplants. Junten Bio is currently focusing on liver and kidney transplant patients, hoping to reduce or eliminate the need for immunosuppressants. The spinout will use the funding to accelerate its product research and development, and expand its outsourcing business.
Txture, an Austria-based cloud platform to manage complex IT systems that was spun out of University of Innsbruck, has collected a seven-figure euro sum (€1m = $1.17m) from investment firm Red-Stars, Der Brutkasten reported yesterday. The deal valued Txture at more than $7m and provided an exit to University of Innsbruck, which had previously invested in the spinout but has now sold its shares to Red-Stars. The cash injection and support from Red-Stars will allow Txture to further strengthen its market position and accelerate the development of its platform.

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).