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

Ambi Robotics, a US-based picking robots technology developer spun out of University of California, Berkeley, completed a $26m series A round yesterday led by Tiger Global Management, with participation from the House Fund, backed by the university, as well as Bow Capital and Vertex Ventures US. Ambi Robotics emerged from stealth in March 2021 with $6.1m in seed financing co-led by the House Fund, Bow Capital and Vertex Ventures. Zhipu.AI, a China-based artificial intelligence-powered knowledge graph platform developer, has closed a RMB100m ($15.5m) series A round backed by Tsinghua Holdings Capital, the private equity arm of Tsinghua University’s asset management subsidiary Tsinghua Holdings, according to China Money Network. The round was also backed by optics technology producer Luster LightTech as well as Shenzhen Fortune Caizhi Venture, Jiangmen Ventures and Turing Ventures. The report also identified TH Capital as a participant, but it is unclear whether that was the Malaysia-based investment firm or an erroneous repetition of Tsinghua Holdings Capital, which also operates under that name. Babyscripts, a US-based virtual maternity care provider, has secured $12m in a series B round backed by CU Healthcare Innovation Fund, an affiliate of University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, TechCrunch reported on Monday. The round was led by healthcare provider MemorialCare Health System’s MemorialCare Innovation and also included electronics and medical technology producer Philips. Babyscripts obtained an undisclosed amount from UH Ventures, the commercialisation arm of hospital system University Hospitals, in July 2021 as part of a strategic partnership. The company had raised a total of $13.6m as of a $500,000 investment by health system Inova in early 2019 and its earlier backers include pharmaceutical company Chemo Group and healthcare provider Aurora Health Care. Algo Arts, a Japan-based artificial intelligence algorithm consulting service and technology provider spun out of University of Tokyo, revealed today it raised ¥428m ($3.9m) last month in a series A round led by University of Tokyo Edge Capital Partners and backed by internet company DeNA. The company intends to close a series A extension later this month. Solar Vaccines, a US-based vaccine development platform focused on pathogens capable of causing pandemics, has been spun out of Colorado State University. The company was set up by commercialisation firm VIC Technology Venture Development, with the licence secured through tech transfer organisation Colorado State University Research Foundation. – Additional reporting by Robert Lavine and Liwen-Edison Fu

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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).