Roel Bulthuis (pictured), senior vice-president and managing director at M Ventures, the corporate venturing unit of Germany-based drugs group Merck, has joined Netherlands-based venture capital fund Inkef Capital as head of healthcare.
Bulthuis will co-manage the Inkef fund alongside Robert Jan Galema, head of the technology team. At M Ventures, he will be succeeded by Jasper Bos as new managing director and senior vice-president.
Bos said: “What excites me most about my work for M Ventures is the active role we play in our portfolio companies, which is all about supporting our entrepreneurs in realizing their ambitions and dreams.”
Bos joined Merck’s previous biopharmaceutical fund of M Ventures in 2009 and transitioned to vice-president leading the healthcare team for the current fund in 2016.
At M Ventures, Bos supported, among others, the early successful investments and exits in ObsEva, which listed on Nasdaq and EpiTherapeutics, which was acquired by Gilead. He was also an initiator of Prexton Therapeutics, which was acquired early 2018 by Lundbeck for close to $1.1bn.
Bulthuis said: “The translation of visionary ideas into sustainable companies that can have a lasting impact on the world we live in requires patient and committed capital. Inkef’s ambition is to build a leading platform to help establish innovative new global healthcare and tech companies from Europe. That ambition comes with a level of resources and a fund structure that is geared towards building world class, sustainable companies.”
Dutch pension fund ABP founded Inkef with €500m ($660m) in 2010.
Bulthuis, a serial winner of the GCV Powerlist 100 awards, had originally set up what was then called MS Ventures in 2009 and in 2016 saw the evergreen strategic venture fund double to €300m and broaden from a focus as one of the leading early-stage investors in the healthcare field to all areas of interest for the parent company.
Each of the business sectors in Merck have dedicated funds. These funds have a starting capital of €50m and a target size of €100m evergreen, which, along with an existing fund, would take the total under management to €450m.
M Ventures also includes the Bioaccelerator Fund in Israel and the €30m Entrepreneur Partnership Program to fund spinouts from the parent company.
Bulthuis has celebrated more than a decade at Merck, as prior to establishing its venture fund he was responsible for negotiating a range of licensing deals for subsidiary Merck Serono. Previously, he was director in the biotech investment banking team at Fortis Bank.
Before joining Fortis, Bulthuis worked at Devgen in Belgium as a business analyst. He has an MSc in biopharmaceutical sciences from Leiden University and an MBA in finance from Helsinki School of Economics.
– This article was updated on December 3 2018 to include information about Jasper Bos as the Bulthuis’ successor.
