News roundup 22 October 2018

Garrison rallies for $30m
Cybersecurity technology developer Garrison has received $5m from IP Group after being backed by Touchstone in 2015 and 2017.
Turnitin marks Gradescope for acquisition
UC Berkeley’s SkyDeck accelerator has secured an exit as schoolwork assessment technology developer Gradescope was acquired by Turnitin.
Cardialen jumpstarts $17m series B
The George Washington spinout had previously raised $4.1m in equity for its low-voltage implantable cardiac defibrillator.
Breethe inhales $3.5m
University of Maryland-founded artificial lung developer Breethe is targeting $5m for its latest round after previously raising approximately $7.8m.
Ecovia clears up $500,000 seed round
Michigan materials spinout Ecovia Renewables has secured capital from the university’s Mints fund to take its total to $1.6m.
Edison Partners welcomes Rutgers to $365m fund
Rutgers University was among a string of limited partners for the growth equity firm’s ninth fund, which was oversubscribed from its $300m target.
Notre Dame’s Idea sparks $22m fund
The Notre Dame Pit Road Fund will provide an early funding platform to technologies and businesses accredited by the university’s Idea Center.
Indiana duo meet BioCrossroads for $9m fund
University of Notre Dame and Indiana University have both backed a $9m seed fund aimed at supporting local businesses in life sciences, health IT and agricultural biosciences.
Kentucky to lead commercialisation hub
University of Kentucky will lead a consortium of academic institutions participating in a US government-funded commercialisation hub intended to accelerate biomedical research.
UBEF II carries funding to Vitamica
University of Bristol Enterprise Fund II has backed antibiotic diagnostics developer Vitamica, which spun out of the university’s school of physics in January 2018.
Kahoot loots funding at $300m valuation
Datum Invest has led a $15.3m round for educational game platform Kahoot, which is the result of research at Norwegian University of Technology and Science.
Locate Bio pinpoints $660,000 round
Mercia Technologies has returned to back Locate Bio’s pursuit of orthopaedic therapies based on research at University of Nottingham.
Palette adds colour with Nestlé partnership
Karolinska Institute spinout Palette Life Sciences will add three medical products based on Nestlé’s intellectual property to its existing program targeting pain suffered during gynaecological procedures.
Berkeley Lights attracts Nikon for $95m round
The cell biology technology developer, based on UC Berkeley research, took its total funding to almost $220m in a Nikon-led round that included fellow strategic backer Varian.
Amgen inserts $66m into Oxford Nanopore
Oxford Nanopore has secured $66m from Amgen, after the latter’s subsidiary Decode Genetics used the spinout’s technology to sequence hundreds of human genomes.
Oh My Green tosses together $20m
Stanford-Start X Fund has put its weight behind Oh My Green’s seed round, which also attracted a host of venture capital firms.
NovoEd passes acquisition test
Occupational learning tool developer NovoEd, based on research at Stanford, has been bought by Devonshire Investors after raising $4.8m of series A capital in 2014.
Washington credits fintech incubator
University of Washington’s CoMotion has formed a fintech incubator with nonprofit credit union Becu called the Becu Fintech Incubator.
RapidAim hits funding target
The Csiro Innovation Fund has invested $890,000 in RapidAim, co-founded by three Csiro researchers, to support a trial of a fruit fly monitoring system.