Every day, Global University Venturing rounds up the smaller investments from across the university innovation ecosystem in its deal net.
Panther Therapeutics, a US-based cancer treatment developer, has raised more than $7.3m in combined equity and other securities, according to a regulatory filing uncovered by the Boston Business Journal. The company was co-founded by chief executive Laura Indolfi while she was a postdoc research associate at the Harvard-MIT Institute for Medical Engineering and Science. She has previously also served as an entrepreneur-in-residence at Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center.
Gaia Biomedicine, a Japan-based cancer immuno-cell therapy developer spun out of Kyushu University, has raised ¥100m ($908,000) in funding from Osaka University Venture Capital’s Fund 2 (OUVC2), the investment arm of Osaka University. The deal represents OUVC2’s first investment in a spinout from another university.
AntennaWare, a UK-based wearable technology developer spun out of Queen’s University Belfast, has pocketed a six-figure sum in a seed round led by the university’s tech transfer subsidiary Qubis, with participation from Techstart Ventures, according to Silicon Republic. Founded in 2020, AntennaWare is working on high-performance antennas to enable wireless wearable devices in the medical and sports areas.
RheaVita, a Belgium-based developer of an end-to-end continuous freeze-drying technology for the biopharmaceutical industry, has secured an undisclosed amount of series A funding from Novalis Biotech Acceleration and Participatie Maatschappij Vlaanderen. RheaVita was spun out of Ghent University in 2018. The series A capital will allow the spinout to complete its good manufacturing practices-compliant production line by the end of the year.
iSee, a US-based developer of an artificial intelligence-powered autonomous driving system based on research at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, has raised an undisclosed amount of funding from Maersk Growth, the investment arm of logistics company Maersk. Founders Fund led a $15m series A round for iSee in November 2019, following $2.7m seed round in September 2017 backed by The Engine.
Realyze Intelligence, a US-based digital health company, has been established by UPMC Enterprises, the tech transfer office of University of Pittsburgh-affiliated health system UPMC. Realyze will exploit artificial intelligence and natural language processing technologies to identify patient populations with chronic conditions and cancer to make sure they receive optimal care. The spinout’s platform processes clinical notes and structured data from electronic health records to surface patients who are potentially at high risk of poor health outcomes.
– Additional reporting by Liwen-Edison Fu
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).
