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

Algo Artis, a Japan-based artificial intelligence technology consulting service, has closed a series A extension of undisclosed size – likely to have been ¥100m – which took the round to ¥528m ($4.7m). University of Tokyo’s Edge Capital Partners (UTEC) subsidiary led the tranche, investing alongside electric utility Kansai Electric Power Company’s K4 Ventures unit and Kyoto University’s Miyako Capital vehicle. UTEC had already led a first $3.9m close in July disclosed earlier this month, when it was joined by internet company DeNA. CamGraPhIC, a UK-based graphene-based photonics technology developer spun out of University of Cambridge, has secured £1.6m ($2.2m) in funding. A total of £1.5m was raised through investment platform Wealth Club, and the round included unnamed new and existing backers. Commercialisation firm Frontier IP currently owns a 20.8% stake in the spinout, having previously committed a loan facility. Instalimb, a Japan-based 3D printed prosthesis developer has secured ¥240m ($2.1m) in series A funding from investors including Keio Innovation Initiative (KII), a vehicle for Keio University. The round also featured Deepcore and Mitsubishi UFJ Capital, investing on behalf of telecoms firm SoftBank and financial services firm Mitsubishi UFJ, respectively. Inclusion Japan and Mistletoe Japan filled out the round. KII had already backed a $780,000 round in June 2019, when Deepcore also invested. Acrigen Biosciences, a US-based gene-editing technology developer spun out of University of California (UC), Berkeley, raised an undisclosed amount of seed funding on Tuesday from investors including the university-aligned Berkeley Catalyst Fund. Red Tree Venture Capital led the round, which also attracted Alexandria Venture Investments, Dolby Family Ventures and unnamed individuals. Acrigen had secured $775,000 in convertible note financing in July 2019, according to a regulatory filing. Modium, a France-based muography technology developer focused on applications in civil engineering, industry and geosciences, has been spun out of the Institute of Physics of the 2 Infinities – a joint initiative of University Claude Bernard Lyon 1 and CNRS. Pulsalys, one of the regional tech transfer offices under the Réseau Satt scheme, helped create the spinout having supported the underlying project since 2016. Samsara, an Australia-based developer of plastic recycling technology, has been co-founded by Australian National University, CSIRO-founded venture capital firm Main Sequence Ventures and retailer Woolworths. Samsara’s approach enables the carbon-neutral, environmentally friendly recycling of PET and polyester, commonly used in plastic bottles and fast fashion clothing. It hopes to eventually expand the capabilities of its technology to infinitely recycle any kind of plastic. CarbonLink, a Finland-based carbon…

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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).