TLDR:
– Imec.xpand, a venture capital fund in Belgium, partners with Belgian research giant imec to find investments in deep tech and health tech globally.
– The fund invests in transformative semiconductor and nanotechnology innovations, as well as in mobility, energy, and healthcare industries.
An independent fund, imec.xpand, partners with Belgian research giant imec to find global deep tech investments. Since its inception in 2017, imec.xpand has closed its second fund of €300m to invest in groundbreaking semiconductor and nanotechnology innovations. The fund invested in Celestial AI in 2020, a US company developing optical interconnects in silicon. This partnership allows imec.xpand to make early-stage bets with a high degree of confidence and minimize technological risks for startups.
Europe’s position in deep tech is precarious due to a lack of financial support for European startups compared to the US. Imec.xpand aims to bridge this gap by investing globally and creating exposure for European companies in North American and Asian markets. The fund focuses on high barrier entry, defensible IP, and large market potential, with a particular emphasis on technology timing. Imec.xpand differentiates itself by leveraging imec’s expertise in manufacturing and global deep tech supply chains to prevent startups from encountering scalability issues.
