History

2007
July – Biocartis was founded by Dr. Rudi Pauwels (Co-founder of Tibotec, Virco and Galapagos Genomics), Prof. Philippe Renaud (Professor Microsystems at EPFL), and Nader Donzel (Co-founder of Scitec laboratory Automation). Its mission is to develop new technologies to accelerate the advent of personalized medicine.
Biocartis establishes its R&D facilities at the EPFL (École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne)' Science Park. The EPFL is renowned for its expertise in micro and nanotechnologies
November – Biocartis completes the technology transfer of acquired patent rights from the University of Ghent (Belgium) and Tibotec-Virco (a Johnson and Johnson company) to its facilities in Lausanne and initiates the development of its multiplex detection platform.
2008
July – Biocartis secures EUR 1.25 M in seed funding from its founders.
September – Biocartis achieves first proof of concept implementing multiplexed immunoassays on its first generation multiplex detection platform using its proprietary digitally encoded microparticle technology.
2009
October – Biocartis completes an EUR 10 M series A financing round. The deal was led by Aescap Venture (Amsterdam, The Netherlands). Other members of the syndicate are Biovest (Belgium), KBC Private Equity (Belgium), Advent Venture Partners (United Kingdom), and existing shareholder Benaruca (Luxemburg).
December – Biocartis establishes a subsidiary in The Netherlands, located at the High Tech Campus in Eindhoven. The High Tech Campus offers a top class R&D ecosystem. In 2011, the Eindhoven region was elected as the world’s most intelligent community of the year by the Intelligent Community Forum.
2010
February – Biocartis completes the Acquisition of Philips' technology platform for rapid fully-automated DNA/RNA molecular diagnostic testing. The platform has been designed for applications in a wide range of patient sample testing, including oncology and infectious diseases. Biocartis intends to complete the development of the platform and bring it to the market together with a range of clinical applications.
April – Biocartis completes an EUR 30 M series B financing round. Most of Biocartis’ existing investors participated in this round as well as the Debiopharm Group (Lausanne, Switzerland) and two new strategic investors, bioMérieux and JJDC (Johnson and Johnson Development Corporation),
June – Biocartis establishes a Belgium subsidiary. The subsidiary will focus on production and R&D. An appropriate location in Flanders will be selected.
Biocartis obtains a EUR 10 M strategic loan from PMV (Participatiemaatschappij Vlaanderen).
September – Biocartis expands its series B round with EUR 5 M via a Johnson & Johnson Development Corporation investment.
November – Biocartis and bioMérieux sign a strategic partnership in molecular diagnostics. Under the agreement, bioMérieux will have worldwide exclusive rights to develop and commercialize microbiology assays on the Biocartis platform. bioMérieux has taken an EUR 9 M equity stake in Biocartis.
2011
January – Biocartis and Janssen Pharmaceutica, a Johnson and Johnson company, enter into a strategic partnership in molecular diagnostics. Under the collaboration, Janssen will develop and commercialize diagnostic assays on the Biocartis platform in the fields of neurological disease and certain viral infectious diseases.
April – Biocartis elects Mechelen as the location for its Belgian subsidiary. This new site, located at the Intercity Business Park in Mechelen, will house Biocartis’ lead R&D center as well as a production facility.
May – Biocartis Lausanne headquarters expands into its new facilities at the Innovation Square of the EPFL campus, where it is co-located with Nestlé Health Sciences and Debiopharm.
June – Biocartis establishes a pilot cartridge manufacturing line at its Mechelen facility. This pilot production line will be used for production of R&D lots. A high volume cartridge manufacturing line is under construction.
July – Biocartis and bioMérieux expand the scope of their strategic partnership to include molecular diagnostics applications for immunocompromised patients. The expansion will enable bioMérieux to bring the diagnostic applications it accessed via its acquisition of Argene onto the Biocartis Molecular Diagnostics platform.
September – Biocartis named as a Technology Pioneer 2012 by the World Economic Forum. The Technology Pioneers program recognizes companies whose cutting-edge technologies are transforming business and society.
November – Biocartis completes an EUR 71.35 M series C round. This allows Biocartis to further strengthen its manufacturing operations and develop its proprietary diagnostics menu. Key investors in the round include Debiopharm, Philips, JJDC, the Wellcome Trust, several family offices with strong industrial roots including Colruyt, Biovest, the family office of Dr. Paul Janssen and Luc Verelst, government backed organizations such as PMV (Participatiemaatschappij Vlaanderen) and the founder Benaruca. Certain members of the Biocartis senior management team also participated.