HERAN Partners raises €90 million for second healthtech fund

Additional investors include a group of entrepreneurs, as well as several founders and management teams from portfolio companies of the first fund, HHTF I. BNP Paribas Fortis, Finance&Invest Brussels and KU Leuven Research & Development are also participating, alongside a number of academic and life 
sciences entrepreneurs. 

“The next efficiency leap in healthcare will not come from simply generating more data, but from better insights,” says Katleen Vandersmissen, Managing Partner at HERAN Partners. “Technology should support clinicians and researchers – not overload them.”

“The challenge of providing care to a growing number of patients with an ever‑shrinking pool of healthcare professionals can be addressed to a significant extent through technology,” says Filip Goossens, Senior Investment Manager Fund Investments at PMV. “In a difficult financing climate, where many investors opt for safer and more traditional funds and sectors, we want to equip promising medtech and healthtech funds with the means to develop impact‑driven solutions for the healthcare of tomorrow.”

HERAN: a hands-on investor with proven results

With four successful exits already achieved – BlueBee, PharmaFluidics, UgenTec and, most recently, icometrix – HERAN’s first fund has delivered an IRR of over 30%. This track record demonstrates how a focused approach to innovation, entrepreneurship and impact can build highly successful companies in a sector with strong global demand.

That impact is also reflected in portfolio companies such as icometrix, whose AI-driven imaging analysis helps physicians monitor neurological conditions and treatment pathways more quickly and objectively. Or Thirona, which uses advanced imaging to analyse lung disease with greater precision – reducing the need for invasive procedures and enabling more targeted patient care. Today, this technology is already used in more than 1,200 hospitals worldwide.

HERAN Partners was founded in 2020 by Annie Vereecken, Katleen Vandersmissen, Joris Mortelmans and Herman Verrelst, based on a shared conviction: investing in healthcare requires far more than capital alone. It demands deep understanding of science, technology, entrepreneurship and the realities of healthcare systems. HERAN HealthTech Fund I closed at €75.5 million and invested in 15 companies across Belgium, the Netherlands and the UK.

“Healthtech is not a sprint – it’s a marathon,” concludes Founding Partner Herman Verrelst. “We want to support companies throughout that entire journey: from promising technology to tangible impact for businesses and patients alike.”

From the outset, HERAN has positioned itself as a hands-on medtech and healthtech investor, working closely with entrepreneurs. With Fund II, HERAN intends to extend both its performance and its active engagement.

HERAN HealthTech Fund II: European focus and enabling technologies

Building on the success of its first fund, HERAN’s second vehicle again targets European medtech and healthtech companies at seed and Series A stage. To support this ambition, the senior team has been strengthened with Raf Roelands, who progressed to Partner after being involved since Fund I, and Mercedes Tuin, who joined in late 2025 from the Dutch investor BOM (Brabant Development Agency). Together, they complete the Partner team alongside Founders Katleen Vandersmissen and Herman Verrelst.

Under the leadership of Managing Partner Katleen Vandersmissen, HERAN has evolved from a young fund into an organisation with a clear European ambition. Not only has the fund size grown – the team and internal capabilities have also been systematically strengthened.

HERAN’s investment scope focuses on so-called enabling technologies: solutions that make existing processes and technologies smarter, more consistent and more scalable – from biotech to the hospital floor. HERAN invests across software, hardware and services, with a strong emphasis on the intersection of technology, unmet clinical need and a focused go-to-market strategy. As medicine and technology increasingly converge, the opportunities to create meaningful impact continue to expand.

“The true value of AI in healthcare is not complexity, but clarity,” adds Katleen Vandersmissen. “Good technology reduces cognitive and administrative burden for clinicians, while simultaneously improving the quality of care for patients.”

First investment of HERAN HealthTech Fund II in Spain

Alongside fundraising, HERAN HealthTech Fund II has completed its first investment in Pharmacelera. The Spanish company applies artificial intelligence and quantum mechanics to accelerate and sharpen drug discovery.

The investment underlines the fund’s pan-European strategy.

Sustainable value creation in a regulated healthtech market

Global healthcare is shifting from a growth market to an efficiency market. In Europe, healthcare spending continues to rise structurally faster than GDP, while budgetary headroom is tightening. This fuels demand for technologies that optimise processes, reduce errors and support healthcare professionals. Although Europe is regulatory complex, in healthtech this increasingly acts as a quality filter: companies that master MDR, GDPR and clinical validation build strong barriers to entry and increase their strategic value for investors.

The capital gap with the US can even be an advantage. European funds with focus and active support, such as HERAN, help startups grow in a disciplined way toward product–market fit and clinical adoption – resulting in more sustainable growth and highly attractive returns.

The involvement of European institutions such as the European Investment Fund highlights both the strategic importance of healthcare and life sciences in Europe, and HERAN’s role as a key partner in this ecosystem.

More information: www.heranpartners.com 
Contact: emke.goijens@heranpartners.com

About HERAN Partners

HERAN Partners is a specialised venture capital investor dedicated to creating transformative impact in the life sciences and healthcare sectors. Based in Belgium, HERAN is backed by a committed team with strong scientific and entrepreneurial backgrounds. The firm provides venture and growth capital, complemented by an extensive network, deep expertise and hands-on mentorship, to startups and scale-ups with robust technology platforms and strong market potential.

HERAN’s investment philosophy centres on addressing emerging healthcare challenges such as population ageing, the rise of chronic disease and the associated increase in healthcare costs. The firm believes in harnessing the transformative power of technology, science and data to tackle these challenges directly, with a focus on solutions that respond to clear unmet needs in the market.