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

Amacathera, a Canada-based drug release hydrogel developer exploiting University of Toronto research, closed a $3.6m seed round yesterday with a final tranche from Lumira Ventures adding to earlier contributions from Sprout BioVentures and Viva Biotech. Founded in 2016, AmacaThera is working on injectable and biocompatible hydrogels to enhance and refine the release of therapeutic agents. Its lead candidate, AMT-143, is a postoperative analgesic called AMT-143 intended to replace addictive opioids. AmacaThera extends inventions led by its chief scientific officer Molly Shoichet, a former Ontario chief scientist who leads University of Toronto cross-disciplinary research applying engineering, chemistry and biology to drug delivery, regenerative medicine and tissue engineering.