Strategy & partners

Qbic is a sector-agnostic seed and early-stage venture capital fund, supporting spin-offs and start-ups that valorize research from Qbic's knowledge partners. We typically participate in the first external investment round of a company, and continue to support and fund these companies throughout their growth.

More specifically, we invest in start-ups that fall into one of the below categories.

Knowledge partner spin-off

A company that was founded based on technological innovations originating at Qbic's partner universities, research institutes or hospitals.

Start-up linked to knowledge partner

A start-up with a strong R&D collaboration with one of Qbic's knowledge partners. This collaboration can be structured through joint development contracts, clinical studies, IP license agreements, etc.

Our knowledge partners

The first Qbic fund, Qbic I, was founded in 2012 by bringing together the dedicated spin-off funds from VUB, Ghent University and University of Antwerp. Qbic I has a fund size of € 40M and ended its investment period in December 2016.
‍
Qbic II was launched in 2017 and collaborates with a larger network of Belgian universities, research institutes and hospitals. Qbic II also broadened its investor base, bringing the fund size up to almost € 60M. The investment period of Qbic II ended in 2022.

The most recent fund, Qbic III, was launched in 2022 and constitutes an even greater network of Belgian knowledge partners. The fund had a final close of almost € 90M. For its third fund, Qbic can count on the support of the European Investment Fund, previous shareholders and a number of new private investors.