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

Axial Therapeutics, a US-based neurological disease therapy developer linked to University of Tokyo, has closed a $37.3m series C round co-led by University of Tokyo’s Innovation Platform and OneVentures. The round included Taiho Ventures, the investment arm of pharmaceutical firm Taiho, as well as Autism Impact Fund, Corundum Systems Biology, Longwood Fund, Seventure Partners and Domain Associates. Axial has now raised $91.5m in total, Taiho Ventures having put up $10m to close a series B round featuring care provider Heritage Medical Systems, Health for Life Capital, Longwood Fund and Domain Associates at $35m in 2019. Leap, the US-based operator of a system that connects energy providers to customers, received $33.5m in series B equity and debt financing yesterday from investors including Congruent Ventures, the venture capital firm backed by University of California. The round featured National Grid Partners (NGP), a subsidiary of energy provider National Grid and the equity portion was led by Park West Asset Management. Climate Capital, My Climate Journey, Union Square Ventures (USV) and angel investor David Helgason also contributed. The debt portion was provided by Silicon Valley Bank (SVB). The company had raised $11m as of an $8.2m series A round in January 2020 led by USV and backed by Congruent Ventures, NGP, Powerhouse Ventures, Elemental Excelerator, FJ Labs and SVB. Akadeum Life Sciences, a US-based developer of biological sample separation technology, completed a $17.5m series B round on Tuesday featuring Berkeley Catalyst Fund, a vehicle for University of California (UC), Berkeley, and University of Michigan. The round was led by Arboretum Ventures and included analytical instrument producer Agilent Technologies, Beringea, Lifespan Ventures, BlueStone Venture Partners, Michigan Capital Network and Michigan Rise. Akadeum had previously raised a total of $3.9m in financing between 2014 and 2018 according to securities filings, including $1.5m from University of Michigan’s Mints programme, BioInflexion 5 Prime Ventures, eLab Ventures and Invest Detroit in 2017. OneProjects, an Ireland-based heart arrhythmia imaging technology developer, has raised an $8m series A extension led by Imec.xpand, the venture capital fund launched by Imec, with participation from Atlantic Bridge, European Innovation Council and LSP. University Bridge Fund and LSP had co-led the initial $12.4m tranche last year, when Enterprise Ireland and private investors also participated. Studio Unbuilt, the Japan-based operator of architectural design crowdsourcing platform Studio Unbuilt and customised housing floor plan app Madree, has raised ¥130m ($1.2m) from University of Tokyo’s Edge Capital Partners unit and Hirac Fund, a vehicle for accounting software provider Money…

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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).