Our team combines a unique mix of deep entrepreneurial and venture capital expertise. We have a history of working together for more than ten years on different types of projects and can present a unique track record in fund-raising, spin-off/venture creation, company growth and successful BD/exit deal making.
Managing Partners
Debbie co-founded Bioqube Ventures in 2015. From 2016-2019, Bioqube Ventures co-managed an investment and incubation model resulting in the set-up and support of a local ecosystem of 10 companies on the Janssen R&D site in Beerse, Belgium. In 2020, Bioqube Ventures launched its first independent fund “Bioqube Factory Fund I”.
Previously, Dumont was head of health and care at LRM, a Belgium-based private equity and venture capital firm. In this position, she served as a board member for several biotech companies and was involved in a series of international venture capital transactions including SEPS Pharma (acquired by Amatsi-Eurofins), Apitope (acquired by Worg Pharma) and XO1 (acquired by Johnson & Johnson).
Debbie is vice chairman at the Limburg Cancer Foundation.
PhD in Biomedical Sciences
Hasselt University
MSc Bioscience Engineering
K.U. Leuven
gastronomy, tennis, traveling
Nico co-founded Bioqube Ventures in 2015. From 2016-2019, Bioqube Ventures co-managed an investment and incubation model resulting in the set-up and support of a local ecosystem of 10 companies on the Janssen R&D site in Beerse, Belgium. In 2020, Bioqube Ventures launched its first independent fund “Bioqube Factory Fund I”.
Nico previously served in a variety of capacities at LRM, a Belgium-based private equity and venture capital firm, including most recently as the funds Chief Operating Officer. Prior to joining LRM, between 1998 and 2007, Nico was a senior executive at Ernst & Young.
Nico served on the board of directors of several public and private life sciences companies and has led several dozen international venture capital transactions and M&A deals including Minerva Neurosciences (Nasdaq: NERV), Tigenix (NYSE Euronext: TIG), SEPS Pharma (acquired by Amatsi) and Apitope.
Nico was nominated for the 2018 Bloomberg50 list.
Master’s degree
Commercial & business engineering
Hasselt University
Master in Accountancy
VLEKHO Business School
biking, gastronomy, sailing, skiing, traveling
Prior to joining Bioqube, Jon was a Managing Director at Red Tree Venture Capital and part of the founding team where he served on the investment committee. He was also a partner and founding team member at Medicxi based in their London office.
Jon began his venture capital career at Index Ventures in Switzerland. Before moving to Europe, Jon was a life sciences strategy consultant at ClearView Healthcare Partners based in Boston.
Jon’s investments at Red Tree included Bicara Therapeutics, Rondo Therapeutics, Excellergy, Biograph55 and Sardona Therapeutics.
His previous investments include Synthorx (acquired by Sanofi), Phathom Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:PHAT), Checkmate Pharmaceuticals (acquired by Regeneron), Impact Biomedicines (acquired by Celgene), Sydnexis, Xenikos and Breakpoint Therapeutics. He has also held board seats on Z-Factor, UltraHuman, and Palladio Biosciences and was a board observer with ApcinteX and Capella Bioscience.
Jon currently serves on the Bicara board as an observer and as a director at Synox Therapeutics. He also acts as a non-executive director at RxCellerate, a U.K. based contract research organization.
Bachelor’s Degree
University of Vermont
PhD, Biochemistry and Biophysics
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Post Doctoral Research
MIT – Department of Biological Engineering
Glass blowing, Gravel cycling, skiing
Dirk has gained deep commercial experience for more than 25 years at 2 leading pharma companies Eli Lilly and Janssen-Cilag (Johnson & Johnson). He was responsible for the launches and international strategic marketing of different products including Prozac (US/Belgium), Pariet (global) and Prepulsid (global). He was selected for streamlining JNJ’s e-business and became VP for new business development in Europe.
In 2006, Dirk co-founded Movetis NV, a JNJ spin-off for GI assets. As CEO, he was instrumental in raising more than EUR €200 million over four years. Movetis had Resolor (prokinetic) approved in 2009 for chronic constipation and launched in four countries with reimbursement. The same year, the company went public on Euronext and in 2010 was acquired by Shire. Dirk worked two years for Shire as Managing director for the GI business in Europe.
In 2012 he founded Progress Pharma, an asset development company, with a team of experienced managers. With this team he supported Lipid Therapeutics in a deal with Nestle and co-founded eTheRNA, a spin-off from the University of Brussels with a breakthrough mRNA based immunotherapy for cancer & infectious diseases. In 2018, he worked with the founders as interim CEO of Spectricity, a spin-off from imec. He is Chairman of Flanders.bio, the organization of > 300 Flemish biotech companies.
MBA commercial & business engineering
Kellogg’s Chicago
MSc Pharmacist
University of Antwerp
biking, old-timer rally’s, organizing music events, president of Moved to Help, president of Rotary, tennis
Investment Team & Entrepreneurs in Residence
Joris currently is the Chief Scientific Director at Bioqube. He joined Bioqube Ventures as an immunology expert in 2018. Joris has over 15 years of experience in academic research and is specialized in the fundamental and translational aspects of human immunology.
He started his career as a postdoctoral fellow at the Maastricht University Medical Center developing cellular immunotherapy for cancer. Later he managed several diagnostic programs in the clinic, including kidney transplantation, autoimmunity, immune deficiencies and hematological malignancies.
Training as medical immunologist
CMI
Training as immunologist
SMBWO
PhD Biomedical sciences/immunology
Hasselt University
MSc Biochemistry
KU Leuven
Bachelor Biology
University center of Limburg
mountain biking, outdoor activities, travel, wine-enthusiast
With a scientific background and 17 years of experience in public markets and as advisor to the representative of the Roche's founding family, Odile is a valuable addition to the Bioqube team.
After earning her Ph.D. in Biochemistry, Odile worked as a sell-side Pharma Analyst for 10 years in various banks and financial institutions in Switzerland and Germany, including Lombard Odier, Vontobel, and Helvea Baader Bank. In this role, she created detailed financial models, conducted pipeline analysis and issued thematic sector reports on major European Pharma companies, providing institutional clients with insights and recommendations. In 2012, she was honored with the N°2 Stock Picker Award in the Pharmaceutical category by Thomson Reuters.
For the past 7 years, Odile has served as the Strategic and Scientific Advisor to André Hoffmann, Vice-Chairman of Roche and representative of the family shareholders' pool, offering scientific and strategic advice for his Vice-Chairman Board role at Roche and Genentech, as well as for various healthcare-related private equity investments. She has also held positions on the boards of two companies: Vandria, a preclinical company focused on mitochondrial-related diseases, and Timeline (formerly Amazentis), a cellular nutritional company that has successfully launched a series of products and signed an in-licensing agreement with Nestlé Health Science.
Odile is currently a member of the Evaluation Board of the Wyss Foundation (Wyss Zurich) and serves as a Healthcare Advisor to the Venture debt Fund Bootstrap Europe.
Diploma in Biochemistry, Fribourg University, Switzerland
Diploma work in Oncology,
The Scripps Institute
PhD in Biochemistry,
Medical Centre University
Family time, golf, Ski, ski-touring, Waterski (Four times Swiss Junior Champion) Ski
Roderick Verhelst is a principal at Bioqube Ventures with strong investment interest in early-stage therapeutics. He obtained a PhD in Bioengineering at the University of Leuven and an MBA at the Solvay Brussels School of Economics & Management. Prior to joining Bioqube Ventures, Roderick was a principal at Participatiemaatschappij Vlaanderen (PMV). Here, he built a successful track record in life science investing and was instrumental in the formation, financing and/or exit of several start-ups, including GST (acquired by Boehringer Ingelheim), Bluebee (acquired by Illumina), Dualyx and Flamingo Therapeutics. He served on the Board of Directors of these companies as well as Confo Therapeutics, miDiagnostics and Aelin Therapeutics.
Before his role at PMV, Roderick was an investment banker (equity research) at Degroof Petercam, where he was responsible for the life science franchise and was involved in the IPOs of argenx, Biocartis, Curetis, and Probiodrug (now Vivoryon), among others.
MBA
Solvay Brussels School of Economics & Management
PhD in Bioengineering
University of Leuven
Alex is an Associate at Bioqube Ventures, and has been part of the investment team since the launch of BFF I. He is involved across the investment process for both portfolio investments as well as venture creation, and actively supports fund operations. He is currently also an Advisor to the BioInnovation Institute Venture House program and is a member of Therapeutics Chapter of the YVC Collective.
Prior to joining the investment team at in BFF I, Alexander was part of the Bioqube Ventures team managing a incubation and investment model launched in collaboration with J&J Innovation where he was responsible for sourcing and venture building activities.
MSc Medical Biotechnology and Business Management
University of Warwick
Bachelor Biomedical Sciences
Antwerp University
football, furniture design & woodworking, kitesurfing, roadcycling, snowboarding, tennis
Clement joined Bioqube Ventures in February 2022 and is an Associate in the investment team.
Previously, Clement plunged into the world of Venture Capital by working as an analyst at Inkef Capital (Amsterdam), evaluating opportunities and supporting due diligence of companies, particularly in oncology, kidney, and neurovascular fields.
Clement is a Pharmacist by training, having studied at Paris Descartes University and with a Msc from ESCP Europe in Biopharmaceutical Management. While previously working at Ipsen on a musculoskeletal rare disease drug, he obtained hands-on experience on the ups and downs and regulatory challenges that developing a drug to market can entail.
Outside of work, Clement enjoys discovering new food and restaurants, sustaining this hobby through some physical activity provided by rock-climbing.
PharmD
Paris Descartes University
MSc in Biopharmaceutical Management
ESCP Europe
Krishna is an Executive in Residence at Bioqube. He brings a wealth of operating experience to the team with a track record of pipeline advancement and drug approvals across multiple therapeutics areas. Most recently, Krishna served as a Principal at Red Tree Venture Capital, a life sciences focused venture capital firm, where he was part of the founding team and supported a number of the firm’s investments (Bicara Therapeutics, Sardona Therapeutics, Magnus Medical). Prior to Red Tree, Krishna served as a clinical development executive at numerous public companies including Equillium (NASDAQ:EQ), Raptor Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:RPTP), CytomX Therapeutics (NASDAQ:CTMX), Affymax (OTCMKTS:AFFY), and Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN).
In addition, he has worked in varying capacities for leading venture capital firms such as Frazier Healthcare, a leading US based venture capital firm, and Catalys Pacific, a venture capital firm focused on new company creation. He founded the renal immunology search company, Expedition Therapeutics and served as interim CEO of Scout Bio, an animal health gene therapy company. More recently he served as a board member at Frazier Lifesciences Acquisition Corporation (NASDAQ:FLACU), a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) organized by Frazier Healthcare, which led a successful business combination with New Amsterdam Pharma (NASDAQ:NAMS). He has also served as an advisor to, helping to found two clinical stage companies, Mineralys Therapeutics (NASDAQ: MLYS) and Pathalys Pharma.
Krishna is currently CEO at Commit Bio and serves as a board director at Sardona Therapeutics.
B.A. in human biology Stanford University M.D.,
University of Texas Health Science Center
Residency in internal medicine,
University of Colorado
Fellowship in nephrology,
Harvard Medical School at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Massachusetts General Hospital
family, gastronomy, soccer
Joris is an Executive in Residence at Bioqube Ventures. He joined Bioqube in 2016, providing strategic advice to the investment team and portfolio companies.
Joris has over 20 years' experience in the pharma-biotech sector, shaping and directing novel and innovative R&D programs. Joris has created and shaped new companies and lead them to value creation in different management & leadership positions, most recently as CEO/CSO at Facio Therapies. Previously, he had various roles of increasing responsibility in start-ups as well as in large international companies such as Johnson & Johnson, Movetis and Shire Pharmaceuticals, where he served as Director Discovery.
PhD Medical Sciences
Ghent University
MSc Bio engineering
Applied Biological sciences
University of Leuven
University of Pretoria, South Africa
cooking, jogging, playing jazz guitar, soccer
Partners & Advisors
Sandy provides strategic advice to the fund as well as supports the team on current and potential portfolio companies, as a part of due diligence and post-investment value creation processes. Sandy is an executive with over 30 years of experience in the life sciences industry, where he has extensive and deep relationships with pharma senior R&D and business management executives, as well as the investment community. He currently serves as the President and board member of IMIDomics, Inc as well as Chair of Carisma and non-executive board member of Essa and Compugen (public companies). He has been the CEO or President of five companies (four private, one public), Chair/board member of many public and private companies and has raised over $750 million in capital, and led numerous M&A and licensing transactions.
MS in Human Physiology
University of California Davis
BA in Biology
University of California San Diego
Peter Verhaeghe is the Chairman of the LPAC of BFFI. He has served as Director and Chairman of the argenx Board of Directors since July 2014. Since 1999, he has been the managing partner of VVGB Advocaten-Avocats, an international corporate finance law and tax law firm in Belgium. He also serves as lead counsel to a series of Belgian, Dutch, French, US and Swiss biotechnology and diagnostics companies.
He serves as Chairman of the Board of Directors of Haretis S.A. and as a Director of the Board of PMV. Mr. Verhaeghe holds a law degree from the University of Leuven and an LLM degree from Harvard Law School.
Janine’s career centers around the antibody molecule: as a biological source of inspiration and as a therapeutic modality.
Inspired to study biological mechanisms at the molecular level, she entered the antibody research domain during her Ph.D. After several post-doc positions, she decided to join Genmab’s R&D team in 2000 as one of the first scientists. For over two decades, she passionately worked to develop innovative antibody therapeutics at Genmab, with her most recent position being Senior Vice President heading Genmab’s Antibody Research and Technologies.
She is a co-inventor of many therapeutic antibodies and of the DuoBody®, HexaBody® and HexElect® technologies, which enable the generation of bispecific and effector-function enhanced antibodies and have have resulted in FDA-approved therapies such as RYBREVANT® (amivantamab), EPKINLY® (epcoritamab), TECVAYLY® (teclistamab) and TALVEY® (talquatamab).
Furthermore, she championed many successful academic and industry partnerships in the field of antibody therapeutics and complementary fields of research.
Janine is frequently invited to serve as speaker, as well as chair, at scientific conferences around the world due to her vision, impactful scientific publication track record and dynamic presentations.
Janine is currently an independent biotech consultant (Lust for Life Science B.V.) and collaborates with many organizations, including Bioqube Ventures and Cartography Biosciences. She also serves as the Vice President of The Antibody Society.
MSc in Medical Biology,
University of Amsterdam
PhD in Molecular Immunology
University of Amsterdam
Going to concerts with friends, Playing guitar and ukulele, Speed Skating
Tom Heyman strengthens the Bioqube team leveraging a highly successful track-record gained during his 37 years at Johnson & Johnson. Most recently, Tom served as President of Johnson & Johnson Innovation – JJDC, Inc. (JJDC), leading the corporate venture arm of Johnson & Johnson. In this capacity and chairing the JJDC board, he represented the longest-standing corporate venture fund in the life science industry making strategic investments in healthcare for nearly 46 years. Tom has also engaged in hundreds of transactions involving both early and late stage pharmaceutical products spanning his 25 years in business development. He was responsible for acquiring several key companies for Johnson & Johnson and from 2008 through 2016 he was the CEO of Janssen Pharmaceutica NV in Belgium.
Currently, Tom is Member of the Board of imec vzw (Belgium) and Akero Tx (US).
Post-graduate in Business Management
University of Antwerp
Post-graduate in International Law
Geneva, Switzerland
Master of Law
K.U. Leuven
Jacques Mizrahi spent the past twenty-five years in drug discovery and translational medicine in several Big Pharma such as GSK, Eli Lilly and Roche where he developed programs in diabetes, renal diseases and cardiovascular diseases. At his last appointment at Roche, he directed the Global Therapy Area of metabolic and cardiovascular diseases focusing on translational medicine programs which included the clinical research on biomarkers and personalized medicine.
Jacques has been a consultant for Aravis Ventures, INSERM Transfer Initiative and ICAN foundation in France. From 2016-2018, Jacques was an Advisor to the Bioqube Ventures team as a member of the Scientific Advisory Committee.
PhD in Physiology-Pharmacology
Medical School of the University of Sherbrooke (Canada)
Post-doctoral fellow
INSERM U36
Géry started his career at Janssen in 1990 as a scientist in the department of Bacteriology & Mycology. In 1998, Géry joined Tibotec in the role of team-leader cellular biology. After Tibotec was acquired by Johnson and Johnson, Géry became Associate Director e-Biology, Associate Director Target Validation & Engagement and finally Associate Director hit-to-lead and lead optimization within different discovery capability organizations at Janssen. In October 2017, Géry’s hit-to-lead and Lead optimization team was acquired by Charles River labs.
Géry joined Bioqube Ventures in 2017 as Facility Manager and remains on board as an Advisor to support portfolio companies of the Bioqube Factory Fund.
MSc Biochemistry
Hogeschool West-Brabant
Burotica – Lab computers and operating system
Hoger Instituut Der Kempen
Bachelor in Scientific Informatics
Hoger Instituut Der Kempen
Bachelor in Clinical Chemistry
Hoger Instituut Der Kempen
foodie, getting together with friends, Maastricht breakfast, outdoor activities, soccer (scout)
