
GU Ventures
Erik Dahlbergsgatan 11A, Göteborg, Västra Götaland, 411 26, Sweden
Overview
Since 1995, GU Ventures has supported projects and companies spawned by the University of Gothenburg. The company is wholly owned by the Swedish state and managed since 1998 by the University of Gothenburg. They are located at Erik Dahlbergsgatan at Vasaplatsen in Gothenburg on the same street as the University of Gothenburg Research and Innovation Office, Företagarna and Nyföretagarcentrumand, within walking distance to the University of Gothenburg's main building and several faculties. In close collaboration with the Research and Innovation Office at GU, Innovationskontor Väst and the Gothenburg innovation system with partners such as Encubator, Chalmers Innovation, Framtidens Företag and Sahlgrenska Science Park, they contribute to the renewal of industry through commercialization of research and expertise. All business ideas must have commercial viability and solve a problem for a customer. The companies shall strive to become profitable and successful by satisfying a market need. The aim is to create successful businesses to generate good knowledge- and capital repayment to the University of Gothenburg. Furthermore, they intend to increase growth in the region and contribute to the utilization of research for a better life and society with new products and services.
- Total investments
- 8
- Lead investments
- 1
- Investments · 12mo
- 3
- Active investors
- 5
Sector focus
- Business Development
Investment portfolio
- GraphAI
Participated · Series A · Aug 2026
GraphAI builds enterprise AI data infrastructure and operates the Akasic platform, which covers data connection, collection, transformation, AI inference, and agentic AI execution environments. The company is engaged in partnerships and proofs-of-concept with large customers in the financial and telecommunications sectors. GraphAI recently closed a $12 million Series A, bringing total funding to 20.6 billion won (about $14.7 million). It plans to use the new funding to introduce new product lines, expand into global markets, and strengthen its core R&D team. No revenue or user metrics were disclosed in the provided article.
- TileBio
Participated · Seed · Mar 2026
TileBio has created a self-learning AI platform that ingests millions of unlabelled whole-slide pathology images and extracts clinically relevant patterns without the need for manual annotation. By leveraging large-scale real-world data from NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, the system aims to generalise across cancer types, detect disease earlier, and uncover novel biomarkers useful for drug development. The company’s technology hinges on foundation-model-style representation learning, which promises faster, more accurate, and more interpretable results than traditional medical AI approaches that rely on expensive ground-truth labels. Near-term plans include large-scale model training, extensive clinical validation studies, and the recruitment of deep-learning engineers, data managers, regulatory specialists, and commercial leads. Longer term, TileBio intends to build one of the world’s largest pathology foundation models spanning more than two million whole-slide images and to deploy it population-wide for cancer triage. Financially, the company has raised £1.6 million in seed capital, providing runway to hit key technical and regulatory milestones. No revenue or user metrics have yet been disclosed.
- Hydroc Energy
Led · Equity · Nov 2025
Hydroc Energy has engineered a patented system that circulates groundwater through fracture planes between a limited number of boreholes, multiplying the contact surface with the rock and sharply increasing thermal efficiency. The installation charges the bedrock with excess heat during summer and discharges it in winter, creating a key component for future flexible, low-carbon district-heating networks. The technology, originally researched in the 1980s–1990s at Chalmers, SGU and the University of Gothenburg, has now been fully validated and is ready for commercial rollout. With the new funding, the company plans to expand its team, hire critical talent and begin delivering its first large-scale commercial installations. Hydroc also envisions pairing its storage with chillers and heat pumps to reduce wasted heat and support increased local electricity production. Ownership is shared among entrepreneurs, researchers and GU Ventures, which has supported the firm with business development and strategy. The latest SEK 3.7 million raise positions Hydroc to become a leading provider of large-scale thermal storage solutions in Sweden.
- Thioredoxin Systems
Participated · Series A · Oct 2024
TXN Systems is developing EbsArgent™, a patented, first-in-class bactericidal antibiotic targeted at multidrug-resistant urinary tract infections. EbsArgent is a combination drug of ebselen and silver ions that disables the bacterial thioredoxin enzyme system while silver synergistically enhances ebselen uptake. Preclinical data described in the announcement report safety, low toxicity and strong efficacy in mouse models against multidrug-resistant gram-negative infections and UTIs, and activity against biofilm formation. The company plans to use Series A proceeds to complete preclinical studies and initiate Phase I clinical trials in UTIs. TXN Systems was founded by the late Professor Arne Holmgren and is based in Solna, Sweden. The company positions EbsArgent as a novel mechanism with no observed cross-resistance to existing antibiotics.
- OlsAro
Participated · Seed · Apr 2024
OlsAros is an AI-enabled crop-breeding platform that is initially focused on developing climate-resilient wheat. The company leverages a proprietary tech platform to accelerate discovery of crops that can thrive in challenging climate conditions. Management says the product work is intended to boost food security and resilience in the global food system. The €2.5 million seed financing will be used to expand the company’s geographical reach and to further refine its platform. The announcement was made on LinkedIn by CEO Elén Faxö; no operating metrics were disclosed in the post.