Every day, Global University Venturing rounds up the smaller investments from across the university innovation ecosystem in its deal net.
University of Tokyo Innovation Platform (UTokyo IPC), the university’s open innovation unit, has supplied ¥500m ($4.6m) to its Japan-based children’s entertainment spinout Onedot, a carveout of household product maker Unicharm. The investment comes through UTokyo IPC’s AOI I Fund. Onedot publishes video content for children and parents with an emphasis on building healthy habits such as nutritious meals and maternity yoga.
AOI I Fund also invested ¥200m ($1.9m) in Fimecs, a University of Tokyo spinout working on a pharmaceutical compound discovery platform leveraging assets from drugmaker Takeda Pharmaceutical. Fimecs is targeting compounds that induce the production of proteolytic enzymes in the body. While proteolytic enzymes are capable of various biological functions, research has struggled to find trigger compounds.
Sarissa Biomedical, a UK-based handheld stroke diagnostics technology spinout of Warwick University, has secured £1.2m ($1.5m) from government-backed MEIF Proof of Concept and Early Stage Fund and private-sector investors including…
