Brightlands Venture Partners will be the new name for the team managing Limburg Ventures, Chemelot Ventures and Brightlands Agrifood Fund. Using the new umbrella name, the team reflects the ambition to launch new funds in the future, all under the same successful fund management structure. Brightlands Venture Partners consists of seven professionals with a successful track record in venture capital and so-called ecosystem investing. While it is a private initiative, it aims to bring together private and public funding to make venture capital available and help create a thriving Brightlands ecosystem with sustainability and health as its themes.
In 2004, when Limburg Ventures was set up as a fund, the team focused on attracting startups to Chemelot Campus and Maastricht Health Campus. When Chemelot Ventures was set up in 2014 and the scope of investment was broadened, Chemelot Ventures Management BV was established to manage both funds. More recently, in 2017, this management vehicle started the Brightlands Agrifood Fund, with a focus on startup activity on or around Brightlands Campus Greenport Venlo. The broadened Brightlands-wide scope triggered the name change from Chemelot Ventures Management BV into Brightlands Venture Partners BV, the new umbrella brand.
Limburg Ventures (2004) was originally set up by DSM Nederland and NV LIOF. It made investments in 20 startups – of which it co-founded five. The most recent exit is PharmaCell (sold to Lonza),
Chemelot Ventures (2014) is funded by DSM, LIOF, Rabobank and the Province of Limburg. It is still in its active investment stage, with recent investments in Corporis Medical (diagnostics) and Vertoro (biobased chemistry). The fund includes recycling in its focus, with participations in leading companies such as Ioniqa Technologies, Black Bear Carbon and QC Polymers, being the global benchmarks in achieving near virgin quality from smart recycling processes. In 2017, Chemelot Ventures exited its participation in QC Polymers via a sale to Lyondell-Basell, creating a strong Suez-LyondellBasell joint venture. The portfolio also includes a number of innovative medical startups for indications such as chemotherapy, sepsis, aneurysmas, dialysis, arthrosis and innovative surgery. The current portfolio totals 14 minority participations.
Brightlands Agrifood Fund (2017) is funded by Rabobank, LIOF, Province of Limburg, Van Herk Ventures, LLTB and a private investor. It also benefits from the Dutch so-called Seedcapitalregeling. In the next years, the fund will invest in approximately 10 startups in the agrifood domain.
Combined, the team of Brightlands Venture Partners are seasoned professionals with a track record in venture capital investing, supporting startups through the hard times and successful exiting participations. The team has a specific edge in using venture capital to help develop an innovation ecosystem and have startups benefit from such ecosystem and in this way increase chances of success and shorten time to market. The team consists of Casper Bruens (Director), Marcel Kloosterman (Director), Patrick Claessen (Sr. Investment Manager), Kim de Boer (Fund Manager), Vincent van Buul (Investment Analyst), Jeffrey Williams (Jr. Investment Manager), and Ina van Veldhuisen (Executive Assistant).
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