Newco Vacv Biotherapeutics Ltd. has raised $3 million in a seed round to complete preclinical development of next-generation oncolytic viruses that are engineered to overcome previous shortcomings of this modality.

Axoft Inc. emerged from stealth mode with an $8 million seed round led by The Engine, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s venture spinout for early-stage tech startups. The funds will be used to conduct preclinical studies and scale up prototypes of its supple brain implant technology.

Cleara Biotech BV has closed a $2.5 million seed financing round, the proceeds of which will be used to progress its compounds toward clinical development and build the company's developmental pipeline.

Carver Biosciences Inc., a company focused on the development of CRISPR/Cas13 antivirals, has closed a seed round of funding.

Startup Curimeta Inc. emerged from stealth with $6 million in seed financing led by Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and BJC Healthcare, a St. Louis-based nonprofit health care system. Cultivation Capital Healthcare Innovation Fund also participated in the round.

Astrivax BV has raised €30 million (US$30.1 million) in a seed round to take forward the development of a novel vaccine technology that combines a plasmid vector with a replication-competent virus.

Antegenes OÜ raised $2.4 million in seed funding to deploy its genomic testing for personalized cancer prevention in new markets across Europe.

Monod Bio Inc. raised a $25 million seed financing round to advance its protein-based biosensor technology. The round was led by Matrix Capital, with participation from the Global Health Investment Corp., Cercano Management, the Washington Research Foundation, Boom Capital Ventures, Sahsen Ventures, and Pack Ventures. The funds will be used to create protein biosensors for rapid point-of-care medical diagnostics and biotechnology applications.