GUV Powerlist 2018: #9 Peter Vanbekbergen, Tom Vanhoutte, Frank Bulens, Cyril Vančura

Imec.xpand, the investment fund of nanoelectronics research institute Imec, was already an ambitious project when it was launched in June 2017 with a fundraising target of $114m, so it is notable that the fund achieved a final close of $135m in September.

The fund is led by four partners – Peter Vanbekbergen, Tom Vanhoutte, Frank Bulens and Cyril Vančura – who joined Imec.xpand in that order, each bringing a wealth of knowledge to the table.

Vanbekbergen (second from left) is a serial entrepreneur who has also been innovation manager at Imec since September 2015. As part of those duties he oversees the full gamut of technology transfer activities, from structuring business ideas and assembling management teams to attracting outside actors, including investors, and guiding spinouts towards exits.

He has worked at Imec once before, as assistant vice-president at the systems division from 2003 to 2007, before spending eight years as co-founder and vice-president of engineering at radiofrequency transceiver producer M4S, which was acquired by consumer electronics producer Huawei for $10m in 2010.

Vanhoutte (far right) joined Imec.xpand in March 2017. He was previously chief financial officer at VC firm Capricorn Venture Partners for nearly six years and before that spent more than 12 years as senior manager at professional services company PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Bulens (third from left) also came from Capricorn, where he was a partner from 2009 until December 2017 before joining Imec.xpand in January. He remains as an external adviser to the firm and has also retained his position as managing partner of consultancy Lynx Consulting since 2009. Bulens’ experience lies squarely with healthcare technology.

Vančura (far left) moved to Imec.xpand in January this year from industrial group Robert Bosch. He joined the corporate as a post-doctoral fellow in 2006, becoming a senior engineer the following year and then climbed the ladder at corporate venturing arm Robert Bosch Venture Capital from 2009 to become investment principal in January 2017.

Imec.xpand invests in spinouts from the research institute and companies where Imec’s expertise and resources can have a considerable impact. Apart from Imec itself, limited partners include several unnamed universities, the Flemish government and its investment company PMV, state-owned regional development agency BOM, government-owned investment firm SFPI-FPIM, consumer products company Samsung Electronics, manufacturing company Applied Materials, semiconductor supplier SK Hynix, technology group Philips, insurance providers KBC Insurance and Belfius Insurance, mobile telecoms firm KPN, financial services firm BNP Paribas Fortis and assorted angel investors.

Despite the recent close of the fund, it has been investing already, with portfolio companies including Onera, a wearable sleep-tracking device spinout from Imec and R&D organisation Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research.

With Imec.xpand setting out to support companies from early stage to later rounds, the fund is taking a page out of Oxford Sciences Innovation’s book, so it will be interesting to see its impact on future Powerlists.