Princeton Gets New Vice Dean Of Innovation, Handspring And NuEnergy Get Funding; Synchronous Sells Business Units

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Craig B. Arnold has been named the next vice dean for innovation at Princeton University.
He succeeds Rodney Priestley, who will become dean of the Graduate School on June 1.
The role of the vice dean for innovation includes strengthening the university’s capacity to engage with technology investors, industry, entrepreneurs, alumni and other potential partners.
In 2017, Arnold received a Thomas Edison Patent Award from the Research & Development Council of New Jersey for the creation of an adjustable lens that focuses light in response to sound waves.
He holds 13 patents, and is the cofounder of two companies based on research conducted at Princeton.
They are TAG Optics Inc., which as been sold, and Invictis Technologies, which is working to create a safer and less painful automated intravenous injection device.

Handspring Health, a hybrid in-person and technology-driven company with a mission to make quality mental healthcare accessible to all families and children, officially launched this week.
Concurrently, the Newark-based startup announced that it had completed a $6.2 million seed round co-led by Newark Venture Partners and NextView Ventures (New York), with participation from 25madison (New York), Arkitekt Ventures (New York), Quantum Angels (Boston), among others.
The company says it is “virtual-first, but not virtual-only” because many young children need more hands-on care.
Handspring Health was founded in 2021 by Sahil Choudhry and Kwasi Kyei, who were previously digital health investors,

Princeton NuEnergy (Bordentown), a Princeton University spinout focusing on direct recycling of lithium-ion batteries from electric vehicles and consumer electronics, revealed that it had successfully closed a seed funding round at $7 million in Q4 2021.
The round was led by Wistron Corporation (Taiwan), an industry leader in electronics recycling services.
Other investors includedShell Ventures (London, UK), Greenland Technologies (East Windsor), Cleantech Open (Los Angeles), AIBasis Fund, WorldQuant Ventures (Old Greenwich, Conn.), and investors that had funded the company’s angel round.

Synchronoss (Bridgewater) announced the successful completion of the sale of its Digital Experience Platform (DXP) and Activation Solutions to iQmetrix (Davidson, NC), a provider of telecom retail management software.
“The sale of DXP and Activation is part of our strategic plan to create a leaner business model that focuses on our core growth areas for the future,” said Jeff Miller, president and CEO.

Esther is the Founder and Editor in Chief of NJ Tech Weekly