Partners of the Qbic I team, managing the Qbic I portfolio are:

• Marc Zabeau

Marc Zabeau obtained an MS in biology and obtained his PhD in genetics in 1974 both at the University of Gent, Belgium. After having worked for 10 years in renowned international molecular biology research institutes, he moved to the biotech industry, first as a research director at PGS and later as an entrepreneur. During this period he maintained strong ties with academia by holding part-time university professorships, and by later on returning to academia. The final stage of his career, is dedicated to a large unmet need in innovation, namely bridging the culture gap between academia and industry. He spent a few years managing the Technology Transfer Office at the university of Gent. In 2012 he founded the inter-university seed fund Qbic supporting innovative technology companies emerging from Belgian universities.

• Martin De Prycker

Martin De Prycker had several positions at Alcatel-Lucent: from 1982 to 1996 he held a number of technology innovation management positions, from 1993 to 2000 he was founder and president of the Internet Access Division and between 1999 and 2002 he was CTO of Alcatel. Between 2002 and 2009, he was CEO of Barco, a public company with world leading visualisation technology with over 1 B€ revenues worldwide. Between 2009 and 2013 he was founder and CEO of Caliopa, a technology startup in silicon photonics He was involved in venture capital as an advisor to GIMV and Waterland between 2000 and 2012. He joined Qbic I as a managing partner in 2012. Martin holds a Ph.D. in computer sciences and an M.Sc. in Electronics all from the university of Ghent as well as an MBA from the University of Antwerp.

• Danny Gonnissen

Between 2009 and 2012, Danny lead the venturing activities of Bekaert. In this position, he was actively participating in the board of directors of different portfolio companies and in the advisory boards of strategic venture capital funds in Europe, North-America and China. Prior to that, Danny held a number of R&D and new product development positions at Bekaert. Danny holds a Ph.D. in Applied Sciences and an M.Sc. in Metallurgy from the Free University of Brussels

• Guy Huylebroeck

After a short academic career as a professor at the University of Bujumbura and head of the University of Ghent’s Technology Transfer Office, Guy Huylebroeck has held several international positions in business development, product and general management in telecommunications and IT security companies, before joining Qbic I as an investment partner. Guy holds a PhD in Physics and a Master degree in Computer Science from the University of Ghent, and an MBA from the Vlerick Business School.

AgroSavfe develops innovative formulations of crop protection products based on Agrobodies agents (antibody fragments from camel antibodies). These products can be used at lower dosages or have a longer lasting effect without repeat applications and thereby contribute to improved and more sustainable agricultural production. AgroSavfe is a spin-off of the Vrije Universiteit Brussel and VIB.

Multiplicom was created in 2011 as a spin-off of the University of Antwerp and VIB. Multiplicom develops, manufactures and commercializes leading-edge and easy-to-use genetic test kits based on the latest molecular diagnostic technologies. Multiplicom produces molecular diagnostic kits that enable clinical laboratories to perform affordable testing for personalized medicine.
acquired by Agilent Technologies

Track4c delivers unique, affordable and effective solutions for transparent supply chains and green/secure trade lanes. Using its capability to interface existing ICT systems directly results in slashed administrative burden and operational cost. Track4c is a spin-off of the University of Ghent.
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CoScale provides swift and accessible visual intelligence for web-applications through smart correlations of any application and infrastructure metric. This enables companies to maximize the return of their commercial online applications while drastically reducing the cost of their infrastructure. CoScale is a spin-off of the University of Ghent.

PharmaFluidics is a spin-off company of the Vrije Universiteit Brussel, aiming at developing integrated milli- to nano-engineered solutions for mixing, separation and reaction processes. Rooted in chemical engineering with an advanced know-how in micro-fabrication technology, Pharmafluidics specializes in developing high quality and tailor-made solutions for any problem in the chemical and life sciences industry potentially benefiting from miniaturization or fine material structuring.

Biogazelle is a Ghent University spin-off founded in 2007 by Jo Vandesompele and Jan Hellemans from the Center for Medical Genetics. Since 2010, Biogazelle offers expert laboratory services in the area of gene expression analysis. To this purpose, several state-of-the-art laboratory methods such as RNA sequencing and digital PCR are being used, complemented with custom developed unique software tools, including qbase+.

Sentiance uses ambient intelligence to enable contextual and situational experiences to smart-phones, wearables and connected devices. Sentiance successfully unlocks the power of contextualization through its sensor and mobile platform, and enables industries worldwide to tap into a new level of personalization and engagement. From mobile data to smart life. Sentiance implements technology developed at the VUB and Ghent University.

Confo Therapeutics, a spin-off of the Vrije Universiteit Brussel and VIB, is a drug discovery company building internal drug discovery programs on GPCRs addressing unmet medical need. Confo Therapeutics employs its proprietary CONFO® technology to lock inherent unstable functional conformations of GPCRs as a superior starting point for drug discovery. CONFO® body-stabilized active state conformations of these receptors disclose previously inaccessible structural features empowering the discovery of novel agonists for better therapeutic intervention.

Mind4Energy – a Ghent University spin-off – develops dedicated monitoring soft- and hardware for rooftop solar installations and utility scale solar parks (photovoltaics). Owners of solar energy production facilities are becoming increasingly aware of the value and need of monitoring crucial, operational parameters (capacity, currents, voltages, efficiency, availability, etc). Mind4Energy NV is a turnkey provider in this field and has already built a portfolio of international customers.

Ubidata is an innovative leading provider of complete fleet management, vehicle tracking and mobile logistic task automation solutions with more than 100 customers in Belgium, The Netherlands, France, Danmark and Luxemburg. Ubidata is currently working on a further expansion through Europe. Ubidata implements technology that was developed at Ghent University and iMinds.

Ovizio is an innovative Belgian company developing efficient quantitative microscopy solutions for life science applications. Ovizio’s microscopes offer easy-to-use, label-free and non-invasive tools for real-time 3D imaging of living cells. Validated with
almost every type of transparent cell culture vessel, Ovizio’s devices can track cell density, cell morphology and cell viability with the highest reproducibility at a single cell level. Applicable from R&D to manufacturing processes and enabling significant
cost reductions and quality improvement, Ovizio’s microscopes are particularly convenient and robust for automated cell culture monitoring, analysis and quality control. Ovizio is a spinoff of the Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB) and implements technology developed at Ghent University.

MOLECUBES is a Ghent University spin-off, made possible by research valorization grants from iMinds, IWT and UGent-IOF. MOLECUBES builds preclinical imaging cubes, allowing SPECT, PET and CT imaging in almost any lab space. Its modular systems leave full flexibility while ensuring full mice and full rat imaging. Intuitive wireless acquisition and reconstruction software allow the systems to be used almost anywhere by anyone.

UniFly, an award-winning Spin-off company of VITO (Flemish institute for technological research), is specialized in aviation software development for Unmanned Aircraft Systems or drones. The primary goal of UniFly is to facilitate the safe integration of drones into the aviation system via its unique UTM (Unmanned air Traffic Management) platform. The usage of drones in our airspace is expanding rapidly; in many applications such as inspection, mapping and security, drones become a standard tool. A completely new industry is emerging worldwide. Drones are however too small to be detected by traditional air traffic control radar systems that currently safeguard our airspace. THE challenge for the industry is to ensure cohabitation of manned and unmanned in a safe manner. UniFly has designed an open, cloud-based, software platform that can be used stand-alone or can be connected to the (inter)national ATM (Air Traffic Management) systems and other applications.

Inbiose was founded mid 2013 as a spin-off from Ghent University, Belgium. Inbiose is located at the University’s Technology Park, and develops a versatile fermentation-based production platform for the supply of specialty carbohydrates addressing wellness, nutrition, AgBio and BioMed needs. Specialty carbohydrates are high value added, rare and complex carbohydrates that are extremely hard to produce with conventional technologies (extraction, chemical or enzymatic synthesis). Though these powerful ingredients have been found to be essential for improving health in many areas, applications were hampered until today by the production cost and very limited availability. Inbiose can now tackle these technological issues, giving strong and reliable market perspectives.

EYEco eyeCO is a spin-off of the University of Ghent and imec with a mission to develop and commercialize glasses that allow people with presbyopia to see as if they were twenty years younger, and to transform glasses in a more fun experience.

Indigo Diabetes, a spin-off from Ghent University and imec, develops a needle-free glucose sensor to measure and manage blood glucose levels without the need for blood droplets or finger pricks.

SmartNodes, a spin-off of the University of Liège (ULg), is a provider of smart street lighting solutions. The SmartNodes solution provides energy savings without compromising on road users’ safety and comfort by creating a light bubble around the road users. At the core of the SmartNodes technology is a network of communicating control nodes that are attached to the LED luminaires. This network is perfectly reusable for other Smart Cities applications such as pollution control, surveillance, parking management etc.

HySopt, a spin off of UAntwerpen, has developed a software platform for hydronic simulations in HVAC engineering projects.  This platform allows installers of HVAC infrastructure to optimize the configuration of installations in a very cost effective manner.