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Belgian Capricorn Ventures to raise up to E60m for IMEC spin-offs

Belgian private equity firm Capricorn Venture Partners is to raise between E40m and E60m to support spin-offs from IMEC research centre. The IMEC Technology fund (ITF) expects to hold a first close in the third quarter of this year.

IMEC is a Belgium-based research centre focusing on nanoelectronics and nanotechnology. Under the agreement, IMEC will identify new spin-off initiatives internally and coach these through the pre-seed phase. Once a management team is in place the spin-off will be presented to ITF for investment consideration.

'The current economic situation has almost completely eroded the supply of venture capital, a state of affairs that is significantly slowing down technological entrepreneurship in Flanders,' says Gilbert Declerck, CEO of IMEC. 'IMEC develops technologies with high market potential on an ongoing basis. We are confident that with the help of the ITF seed fund, the number of strong spin-off companies that spring from IMEC will increase considerably in the coming years.'

'IMEC is an abundant source of world-class and state of the art technology,' said Dr. Joss Peeters, managing partner of Capricorn Venture Partners. 'We see ITF as an effective platform that will help young growth companies in bringing IMEC's technology to the market and in contributing to the economic prosperity of our region.'

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