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

Rna Diagnostics, a Canada-based cancer diagnostic technology developer spun out of Laurentian University, has received $8m in a series A round featuring BDC Capital and iGan Partners. The latter had led a $5m round, also billed as a series A, in November 2018 when it was joined by unnamed new and existing backers. Assorted angel investors supplied $800,000 in funding in September 2015, following a $925,000 angel round in 2012 featuring members of angel syndicates York Angels, Golden Triangle Angel Network, Georgian Angel Network and Niagara Angel Network. Loft Labs, a US-based software development tools provider, raised $4.6m in a seed round backed by Berkeley SkyDeck Fund, a vehicle for University of California (UC), Berkeley’s accelerator SkyDeck, yesterday. The round was led by Fusion Fund, with further participation from RTP Seed, Emergent Ventures and angel investor Abby Kearns, who recently joined the company’s advisory board. PATS, a Netherlands-based spinout of TU Delft that uses artificial intelligence technology and drones to fight insect pests, has attracted an undisclosed amount from private investors Jaap Korteweg and Kees van Geest, HortiPoint reported yesterday. PATS previously secured €250,000 ($275,000) from Uniiq in October 2019. Tech transfer office Delft Enterprises has also invested in the spinout, but details could not be ascertained. Aleph Farms, an Israel-based cultured meat technology developer based on research at Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, and Mosa Meat, a Netherlands-based artificial meat producer spun out of Maastricht University, both secured undisclosed amounts from actor and environmental activist Leonardo DiCaprio yesterday. Aleph Farms previously raised $105m in a series B round in July 2021 co-led by L Catterton and DisruptAD, while Mosa Meat secured a series B extension in February 2021 that brought the round to $85m. Evolito, a UK-based developer of electric motors and power electronics for aerospace applications, made its public debut yesterday. The company was incorporated by Yasa, the electric motor supplier spun out of University of Oxford, before its acquisition by carmaker Mercedes-Benz in July this year. Scintam Engineering, a UK-based developer of technology to provide faster and safer disassembly of airplane systems for maintenance or parts decommissioning, has been spun out of University of Nottingham. Scintam’s FastEDR technology can remove metallic fasteners, such as bolts, even if they are seized or damaged. The university has invested £50,000 ($68,000) in the spinout and committed the same sum again.

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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).