imec, a Leuven, Belgium-based research and innovation hub for nanoelectronics and digital technology, closed its first fund, at €117m.
Imec.xpand is an independent early-stage and growth fund which aims to turn hardware driven nanotechnology innovation into global companies.
Managed by Peter Vanbekbergen, Frank Bulens, Cyril Vančura and Tom Vanhoutte, the fund targets tech startups for whom imec knowledge, expertise and infrastructure can play a determining role in their success. It engages with companies at an early stage, reserving sufficient financial resources to support the selected ventures from the early stages of development all the way through the commercialization of their product.
This will enable startups to focus on developing a technology and on building a business, rather than spending all their time and energy on securing the next round of financing, even getting access to a combination of independent management, corporate as well as financially driven investors, universities and imec.
The fund was launched in 2017 with the support of imec and the Flemish government. Since then, imec.xpand has attracted international strategic and institutional investors like Samsung Electronics, BNP Paribas Fortis, Applied Materials, SK Hynix, Philips, the Brabant development company BOM, KBC Insurance, the Belgian federal investment company SFPI-FPIM and several high net worth individuals and universities.
Belfius Insurance, the Flemish investment company PMV and KPN Ventures joined recently.
FinSMEs
12/09/2018