Belgium’s economy is projected to grow by 4.7% in 2021 and 3.5% in 2022. As the vaccination campaign accelerates, uncertainties about the epidemic situation are expected to recede. Along with improved global economic prospects, business investment is set to be unleashed and pent-up demand is expected to boost household consumption. The country is home to a vibrant, active and fast growing startup ecosystem. The Belgium startup ecosystem has been developing fast over the past few years. With its international population and small size, it offers excellent test conditions for multi-lingual startups. With many different locations for internationalization, Belgium is a leader when it comes to entering foreign markets outside Europe. With highly-level innovation and highly developed entrepreneurship, it is no surprise that the startup ecosystem in Belgium is thriving.
The Belgium government has been supporting startups in many ways. The government creates a Superfund for tech scale-ups. This Superfund will be backed by insurance companies, banks and the Government of Belgium itself. Apart from capital, a strong network is essential to take Belgium-based scale-ups to the top. That’s why Scale-ups.eu: a platform that unites entrepreneurs, governments and large businesses has been setup. Angel investors play a critical role in expanding the pipeline of investible businesses by providing early-stage ventures with essential resources including capital to bridge the funding gap and by sharing their expertise and networks to unlock business opportunities that facilitate growth.
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Top Angel Investors in Belgium
1. Barend Van den Brande:
Barend Van den Brande is the Founding Partner at Hummingbird Ventures, a venture capital fund for high-growth digital media and software companies. In addition to funding, Hummingbird Ventures leverages its extensive operational experience and worldwide network to actively help startups accelerate their growth. Barend holds a Master of Science degree in Economics from the University of Louvain, Belgium.
Sector: Healthcare, Big Data, Fin-Tech, Consumer Internet.
Portfolio: Anima, Automata, Deliveroo, Elder.
Connect With Him: LinkedIn
2. Frederic de Mevius:
Frederic de Mevius is the CEO at Verlinvest, Verlinvest is a private holding company with investments in branded consumer goods, digital and care companies in Europe and The USA, where it holds minority or majority positions. From 1993 to June 2000, he was also a member of the Board of Directors of Spadel (Belgium). He holds a BA degree in economics from the University of Louvain-la-Neuve (Belgium).
Sector: Marketplace, E-Commerce, Healthcare, Consumer Internet.
Portfolio: Polymateria, Brandtone, Everli, Purplle.
Connect With Him: LinkedIn
3. Marcel Van Poecke:
Marcel Van Poecke is the CEO of Atlas Invest, a private investment company focusing on both conventional oil & gas and renewable energy sectors. Having more than 25 years of experience in the energy sector, Marcel van Poecke is primarily an Entrepreneur, Investor and Executive Manager. He is also leading Carlyle International Energy Partners (CIEP), the first international energy fund of the Carlyle Group to be invested globally (outside North America) in oil & gas investment opportunities.
Sector: Clean Technology, Renewable Energy, Social Media,
Portfolio: Spotzer, Cepsa, Magna Energy, Kayrros.
Connect With Him: LinkedIn
4. Frank Maene:
Frank Maene is the Managing Partner at Volta Ventures. He has been working with software startups for the past 25 years, both as investor, coach and board member, and as an operational executive. Prior to joining Hummingbird Ventures, Frank was CEO of ExpertEyes in Mountain View, CA, where he helped US software companies to expand into Europe. Frank holds a Master’s degree in Applied Economics and Accountancy from the University of Gent, Belgium.
Sectors: Big Data, Cloud Computing, Artificial Intelligence.
Portfolio: NannyML, Nodal View, Keyrock, Sentiance.
Connect With Him: LinkedIn
5. Bart Houben:
Bart Houben is the General Partner at 9.5 Ventures, a pre-seed corporate venturing investment fund. He was an investment manager at Gimv, where he was co-responsible for the investment in Viabuild and as an entrepreneur, where he helped in the strong growth of a young SME. He guided Viabuild through their acquisitions and investments. He combines a pragmatic, no-nonsense approach with financial knowledge from studies and work experience.
Sector: Virtual Reality, Consumer Internet, E-Commerce.
Portfolio: Future Kitchens, Avail, Routinely.
Connect With Him: LinkedIn
6. Harold Boel:
Harold Boel is the Chief Executive Officer of Sofina, a Belgium-based investment company listed on the Brussels stock exchange and a supportive partner of entrepreneurs and families managing growing companies. Sofina invests both directly and through Private Equity funds. Harold actively invests in Europe, United States and the Asian markets. He is also the Non Executive Director of Cognita Schools.
Sector: E-Mobility, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Consumer Internet.
Portfolio: Oviva, dott, Mamaearth, Graphcore.
Connect With Him: LinkedIn
7. Michel Akkermans:
Michel Akkermans is the Chairman and CEO of PAMICA NV. He is an experienced Chairman, Board Member and Investor with a demonstrated history of working in the global fin-tech industry. Michel holds an M.Sc. in electronic engineering and computer sciences and a degree in economics & finance from the University of Leuven in Belgium.
Sector: Big Data, Artificial Intelligence, Internet of Things.
Portfolio: Cashforce, Connective, Rombit, Sentiance.
Connect With Him: LinkedIn
8. Koen De Waele:
Koen De Waele is the Venture Partner at Volta Ventures, a firm providing seed & early stage venture capital for internet & software companies in the Benelux region. The fund’s team, with active support from its network, expects to make a substantial impact by working with the founders and management to identify new markets and customers. He is also a Board Member of Apicbase.
Sector: Enterprise Software, Big Data, Artificial Intelligence, Consumer Internet.
Portfolio: Responsum, Kwarts, Apicbase, Wizata.
Connect With Him: LinkedIn
9. Yves Petit:
Yves Petit is the Co-founder, Investor and CEO at Meet Roger, it facilitates internal communication in many ways. First of all, Roger allows users to compose attractive messages in no time, secondly, Roger makes targeting your audience a piece of cake. Yves is also a Board Member of Yields.io.
Sector: B2B, SaaS, Consumer Internet, Healthcare.
Portfolio: MeetRoger, Yields.io, FibriCheck.
Connect With Him: LinkedIn
10. Thibaud Elziere:
Thibaud Elziere is the Founder of eFounders, a startup studio. eFounders partners up with founders and brings them their operational expertise to build the first version of the product and acquire the first customers. Thibaud is also an active business angel investor, with over 100 investments in seed stage startups including Algolia, Payfit, Notion, Meero, and Virtuo.
Sector: SaaS, Logistics, Enterprise Software.
Portfolio: Algolia, Payfit, Notion, Meero.
Connect With Him: LinkedIn
11. Damien Lourtie:
Damien Lourtie is the Chief Financial Officer of SRIW, a venture capital and private equity firm based in Belgium. He is also a Board Member of several companies, such as Odoo, Elium and Leansquare. Damien earned his MBA from Vlerick Business School. He is an active angel investor.
Sector: Healthcare, Biotechnology, Consumer Internet.
Portfolio: Qualifo, Univercells, OncoDNA, Imcyse.
Connect With Him: LinkedIn
12. Ralphael Halberthal:
Raphael Halberthal is the Managing Partner at Startup Factory Brussels, a start-up platform based at the heart of Europe in Brussels. With a strong network of companies, it builds businesses solving real problems from the ground up. Raphael Halberthal is also a Founding Board Member at Colive, Foodiz and FRESHR.
Sector: Virtual Reality, CRM, Healthcare, Enterprise Software.
Portfolio: Carfixer, Colive, Foodiz, Freel.
Connect With Him: LinkedIn
13. Tom Van de Voorde:
Tom Van de Voorde is the Managing Partner at Gimv, a European investment company with 40 years’ experience in private equity. Tom has all round corporate finance experience ranging from being actively involved in capital market transactions, multiple m&a transactions and private equity advisory mandates. Tom Voorde holds a Master’s degree in Commercial Engineering from Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (Belgium) and an MBA from the University of Chicago.
Sector: Biotechnology, Healthcare, Education, Consumer Internet.
Portfolio: Klotter, AME, General Fusion, Sofa Tutor.
Connect With Him: LinkedIn
14. Katrin Geyskens:
Katrin Geyskens is a Partner at Capricon Partners. The firm is an independent European manager of venture capital and equity funds, investing in innovative companies with technology as competitive advantage. Katrin is a commercial engineer from the KULeuven (Belgium) and has obtained an MBA degree from the Chicago Booth School of Business (USA). Katrin has banking experience from CERA Bank and Merrill Lynch.
Sector: Artificial Intelligence, Cloud Computing, Consumer Internet.
Portfolio: Sensolus, Innovium, Gradyent.
Connect With Her: LinkedIn
15. Oliver de Duve:
Oliver de Duve is the Managing Partner at Inventures Investment Partners, a European venture capital fund that builds a better world by investing in fast-growing companies in sustainable businesses, led by ambitious and visionary founders. He is also a board member and private investor in various startups and is active in the Steering Committee of the “de Duve Institute”, a multidisciplinary biomedical research institute.
Sector: Ed-Tech, Mobility, Healthcare, Consumer Internet.
Portfolio: CitizenLab, OncoDNA, ZenCar, Elysia.
Connect With Him: LinkedIn
16. Charles Albert de Radzitzky:
Charles Albert de Radzitzky is the CEO of Spreads, a SaaS platform for the digital management of stakeholders. He has 10 years of experience in venture capital and corporate finance. Charles-Albert is a board member in various start-ups.
Sector: Enterprise Software, Consumer Internet, Social Media.
Portfolio: YouScribe, Eventer, Helpigo, Barnaby.
Connect With Him: LinkedIn
17. Anne Caron:
Anne Caron is a Partner at Gimv, a European investment company with 40 years’ experience in private equity. Before working at Gimv, she was an investment manager and partner in CDC Capital Investment a Direct Private Equity Subsidiary of Caisse des Dépôts Group. Anne Caron graduated from Sciences Po Paris and holds a Master’s degree from the University of Kent (United Kingdom).
Sector: Ed-Tech, Healthcare, Consumer Internet.
Portfolio: Klotter, SofaTutor, Topas Therapeutics, AME.
Connect With Her: LinkedIn
18. Jos B. Peeters:
Jos B. Peeters is the Managing Partner at Capricorn Partners, an independent European manager of venture capital and equity funds, investing in innovative companies with technology as a competitive advantage. The investment team of Capricorn is composed of experienced investment managers with deep technology expertise and a broad industrial experience. Jos Peeters Has a PhD in Solid State Physics from the University of Leuven.
Sector: Biotechnology, Artificial Intelligence, Consumer Internet.
Portfolio: Equiduct, Sensolus, Gradyent, Virovet.
Connect With Him: Crunchbase
19. Lucas Decoster:
Lucas Decoster is the CFO at Hummingbird Ventures, a venture capital fund for high-growth digital media and software companies. In addition to funding, Hummingbird Ventures leverages its extensive operational experience and worldwide network to actively help startups accelerate their growth. Prior to joining Hummingbird in 2016, Lukas gained experience as a corporate/M&A lawyer working for several venture firms and start-ups.
Sector: Artificial Intelligence, Healthcare, Consumer Internet, Enterprise Software.
Portfolio: InVideo, Soda, Billion ToOne, Jupiter.
Connect With Him: LinkedIn
20. Ekaterina Smirnyagina:
Ekaterina Smirnyagina is a Partner at Capricorn Partners, a Belgium-based manager of project capital and equity funds which invests in technology companies. She also worked with Alta Partners, a healthcare focused venture capital fund in San Francisco, CA. Ekaterina completed her scientific training at the Stanford University School of Medicine. She is an active angel investor and mentor.
Sector: Healthcare, Biotechnology, Consumer Internet, Enterprise Software.
Portfolio: iSTAR Medical, Arkite NV, FEops, Black Bear Carbon.
Connect With Her: Crunchbase