Imec.xpand II reaches an important milestone on its way to become one of world’s most impactful, early-stage funds dedicated to semiconductor innovation

LEUVEN (Belgium), March 22, 2022 - Imec.xpand, the early-stage deep tech investor who leverages the knowledge, expertise, infrastructure, and network of imec, the world-leading research and innovation hub in nanoelectronics and digital technology, today announced the first closing of its second fund at EUR 150 million in committed capital.

Together with imec, imec.xpand has transformed the global early stage, deep tech venture capital landscape. The independently managed imec.xpand fund invests in ambitious startups that benefit significantly from imec’s knowledge, expertise, network and/or infrastructure in the development of their innovative, technology roadmap. All imec.xpand portfolio companies are deeply rooted in unique technology that gives them a worldwide competitive advantage in the domains they are active in.

The investments of imec.xpand are often a catalyst for start-ups to raise additional funding from investors. The first imec.xpand fund invested in 16 companies that, so far, raised close to EUR 350 million in additional financing. The fund is ranked amongst the top 5 percent most promising early-stage funds in the world. Today the portfolio counts one unicorn, PsiQuantum, and several minicorns. Recent successful capital rounds in PsiQuantum, Spectricity, Celestial AI, Fabric8labs and Axelera AI all highlighted the enormous potential of those innovative semiconductor companies.

Tom Vanhoutte of imec.xpand is very excited about the success of the fundraising: “It shows that our unique partnership with imec, our outspoken international approach and our ability to raise large rounds of financing in the early stages of development are widely recognized as success drivers for ambitious semiconductor start-ups. This is the first step towards our target of EUR 250 million which will solidify imec.xpand as a major player in the deep tech venture capital ecosystem. We are grateful for the vote of confidence by our existing investors and by the new investors who joined the imec.xpand II fund.”

“Our partnership with imec.xpand helps us to bring breakthrough imec innovations to the market through venturing”, says Luc Van den hove, CEO of imec.  “To turn a revolutionary idea into a commercial success, entrepreneurs need access to advanced infrastructure, expertise, and growth capital. With imec.xpand, we bring these ingredients together to create a breeding ground for the unicorns of tomorrow. The successful first closing of imec.xpand II demonstrates the value of our unique approach.”