imec iStart launches €75m Future Fund
The imec Research Centre in Belgium has launched a five year investment fund for Seed and Series A funding of start-ups in digital technology.
The imec.istart future fund is managed by an independent fund management and aims to provide follow-on support to the companies in the imec.istart portfolio on their path to venture capital. The fund can count on investments from both institutional and private investors. In the first phase, 25 million euros of capital was already raised.
imec.istart provides start-ups with a starting capital of 100,000 to 250,000 euros. Fast growers need follow-up financing quickly, but this has become more difficult in the current investment climate. To bridge this financing gap, the imec.istart future fund was established. The fund allows longer-term and larger amounts to be invested in a number of companies from the imec.istart programmes.
“With the creation of this new fund, we can help the most promising digital start-ups from the imec.istart family grow even faster into fully-fledged growth companies,” says Sven De Cleyn , director of imec.istart. “In this challenging financial and socio-economic climate, we continue to build solutions to stimulate entrepreneurship and grow young companies.”
The future fund is independently managed by managing partners Ruth Janssens and Kris Vandenberk and strives for a diverse portfolio across Belgium, the Netherlands and Italy. In addition to providing seed capital, the fund also has the option to participate in larger financing rounds (Series A and B) in co-investment with other funds.
The future fund will also be able to invest to a limited extent in other promising digital companies that do not come from the imec.istart portfolio, but that fit within the same scope.
The fund can count on investments from institutional parties such as PMV, Finance&invest.brussels, Noshaq and ING Belgium and private parties such as COI, imec, the family office of the Clarebout family, as well as some business angels.
It also has backing from successful tech entrepreneurs and founders of alumni companies from the imec.istart program, such as Ewout Meyns and Mattias Putman (ex-PieSync), also invest. This is a fund with a limited duration and an active investment period of 5 years. After this first closing of 25 million euros, the fund can raise further capital in a second round up to a total of €50m.
“We see a strong interest among both institutional parties and private investors to participate in this new fund initiative. Due to the unique market position linked to imec.istart, we are convinced that we will get the most promising early-stage digital companies on our radar,” said Fund manager Kris Vandenberk.
Fund manager Ruth Janssens adds: “Our goal is to support these companies in addition to financing, also strategically through a broad network, including the imec and imec.istart network, in order to maximize the fund’s return on investment. In the coming months we will offer the opportunity for other investors, business angels and family offices to also participate.”
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