Theodorus cultivates additional capital

Theodorus, the university venture arm of Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB), has increased the size of its fourth fund to €42m ($47.3m) following commitments from pension fund manager Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ) and Belgian government-owned investment firm SFPI-FPIM, L’Echo reported today.
CDPQ supplied $3.9m through investment fund TFAQ2019, managed by Teralys Capital, while SFPI-FPIM injected $560,000, adding to a $5m it had already provided previously.
Theordous IV will invest $18m in Canada-based and another $29.3m in Belgium-based spinouts over the next five years, aiming to bridge the two countries’ ecosystems. It will provide between $563,000 and $3.4m per spinout, targeting a 20-strong portfolio.
CDPQ is the second limited partner from Quebec to join Theodorus IV, after the province’s trade union-run investment fund Fonds de solidarité FTQ committed $5m in February 2020. As part of that transaction, Theodorus opened a local office and named Théo Risopoulos as partner.
Limited partners also include Belgian state-owned investment vehicle GIMB, as well as BNP Paribas Fortis, a subsidiary of financial services firm BNP Paribas, holding firm Sofina and private investor Roch Doliveux.
Marie Bouillez, managing director of Theodorus, said: “Welcoming an investor of such calibre is an additional assurance of the Canadian ecosystem’s will to provide the Theodorus fund with all the means to realise its ambitions in Quebec.” [translated from French by Global University Venturing]
Theodorus IV has already made six investments, including medical technology developers Kaspard, Moonshot Health and Icentia, as well as biotechnology producers Apaxen, InhaTarget Therapeutics and Gepeceron.
Moonshot and Icentia are based in Quebec, while the others are headquarted in Belgium.