Every Friday, we handpick five spinouts from across the globe; some sound like science fiction, but every one is building the future today.
In this week’s edition of the Friday Five: a fungus-driven process turns factory leftovers into bioplastics and edible polymers; Grenoble engineers power wireless sensors from cable heat; and a Bern team uses VR headsets and AI to spot glaucoma faster.
Interested in having your spinout featured here? Get in touch!
🇩🇪 Biophelion turns industrial waste into new products
A yeast-like black fungus may not sound like an appealing proposition, but Biophelion has figured out how to use it to turn industrial waste into usable compounds.
A joint spinout from the Leibniz Institute for Natural Product Research and Infection Biology and RWTH Aachen University, Biophelion’s technology turns carbon-rich byproducts from bioethanol, sugar, and paper industries into three compounds: a bio-based polyester that could be used as plastic packaging, pullulan (an edible polymer that could have applications in 3D printing), and a novel surfactant.
The spinout says it is “specifically developing applications that are not yet conceivable today”, according to co-founder Till Tiso. One possible application? Producing 3D-printed bioreactors from pullulan, which would enable the microorganism to produce its own culture vessel.
It is early days for the spinout: it made its public debut this week and doesn’t appear to have raised any equity financing yet. But with a market as enormous as industrial waste, that’s bound to change very soon.
🇫🇷 MOÏZ uses thermal energy to power sensors
MOÏZ, based in the French city of Grenoble and spun out of the Institut Néel, is working on a technology that was all the rage a few years ago but that has suffered from the increased attention on AI: the industrial internet of things. Specifically, the company is developing autonomous and wireless sensors for applications like measuring the temperature of high voltage electrical conductors or monitoring cable connections.
What makes MOÏZ’s sensors different is that they’re exploiting the heat generated by the wires they’re attached to — energy that would just be lost to the environment — as a power supply. So there’s no need for expensive batteries or complicated wiring.
Metals and mining giant Rio Tinto has been a customer for a few years, and now it’s backed a €3 million seed round via its corporate VC arm Rio Tinto Ventures. The round was led by Grenoble Angels.
Savoie Mont Blanc Angels – SAMBA and Rhône Vallée Angels also took part, as did BADGE Business Angels des Grandes Ecoles, and Crédit Agricole Alpes Développement – C2AD.
A total of €1.1 million was in the form of equity, while a large part of the round is financing from financial institutions Bpifrance, Caisse d’Epargne Rhone Alpes, Banque Populaire Auvergne Rhône Alpes, and BNP Paribas.
Bpifrance has separately provided capital as part of a deeptech development support programme.
Advertisement
🇨🇭 PeriVision uses VR headsets to diagnose glaucoma
PeriVision, a spinout from the University of Bern and its affiliated hospital Inselspital, has developed an AI-powered virtual reality eye testing platform. The VisionOne tool, which relies on commercial VR headsets and proprietary algorithms, can be used to diagnose retinal diseases such as glaucoma.
Detecting retinal diseases currently requires time and resources (tests include corneal thickness measurement, dilated eye exams, and optic nerve imaging), limiting access to diagnosis.
An estimated 100 million people around the world are thought to suffer from glaucoma, which can lead to blindness if diagnosed too late.
Arya VC, a Turkish fund focused on gender balance in its portfolio, has led a CHF2.4 million seed round for PeriVision, which plans to expand the scope of the VisionOne platform for use in clinics, optometry practices, and biopharma research.
DART Ventures, Zühlke Ventures, MEDKAP, SICTIC, Is Bank’s AI Factory, Venture Kick, InaTec, Juchum Foundation, CADFEM and OOMNIUM also took part in the round.
🇯🇵 Prefab’s software calculates building costs from blueprints
A spinout from the University of Tokyo, Prefab has created an AI-powered software-as-a-service platform that automates the process of figuring out a quote for building costs.
The AI analyses blueprints, identifying components, and generates estimated costs. It’s a process that, currently, has to be done manually and is time-intensive and inefficient.
The spinout has raised ¥41.5 million in a seed round led by local venture capital firm Anobaka, with participation from East Ventures, Mint, and four angel investors.
The money will enable Prefab, which was founded in March 2023, to hire staff across key roles and to accelerate the development of its platform.
🇨🇦 Waste Parrot recycles space junk
This may sound obvious but you’ve probably never thought about it: there is no waste recycling facility in space. One astronaut on the ISS produces as much as 125kg of waste each month, and bringing waste back to Earth is expensive.
But at least you can return it to Earth. As humanity ventures further out into space, starting with the scheduled Artemis II mission to the moon next February, and a planned permanent lunar base in the 2030s, it becomes critical to figure out how to deal with waste.
The best solution is, of course, to recycle it. But how?
Waste Parrot is a spinout from the University of Alberta that’s developed an autonomous, modular recycling technology that exploits AI, a robotic arm, and drones to identify and sort space waste into different categories. The shredded material is fed into a 3D printer that can build tools, gear and hardware that’s useful to astronauts.
The spinout’s one of 17 companies selected to progress to NASA’s LunaRecycle competition‘s next phase. The space agency had received 1,200 applications from 86 countries. The ultimate winner will receive $3 million.
Want us to showcase your spinout in the Friday Five series? Tell us about it!
This list is for informational purposes only. It does not constitute investment advice.
