In the second week of the Easter holidays, Biocartis will launch its IPO. According to experts it aims at raising 100-125 million euros, double what was raised privately in September. Since its foundation in 2007, the company has already acquired about 250 million euros. Biocartis is the most high profile biotechnology company in Flanders.
Founder Rudi Pauwels was previously at the forefront of HIV-blockers Tibotec and Virco, and underlies the origin of Galagapos and MDxHealth. In 2002 he sold Tibotec and Virco, and Johnson & Johnson bought both businesses. Pauwels founded Biocartis in Switzerland, but Flemish research institutes and venture capital have brought it back to Belgium. Pauwels is grateful for that: “In Switzerland, we could not have done what we have done here.”
