TA Associates is taking a majority stake in MedEnvision, with Smile Invest, the founders and management all reinvesting.
Smile Invest beat several well-known investors to a stake in MedEnvision two years ago (in 2024), when Merodis’ Dirk Marckx and Victor Boes helped Prof. Kristoff Corten and Wouter Foulon, CEO Dries Goyens and the rest of the management (Medenvision International BV) sell roughly half of the medtech company in search of a new growth partner.
“We secured this deal based on our track record, our experience in the healthcare sector, as well as the strong fit with the management team and founders,” reveals Smile Invest managing partner Bart Cauberghe.
“From the start, we felt the click between our teams,” echoes Dries “Their proven track record in nurturing high-potential healthcare innovations aligns with our vision.”
The “Flemish gem from Westerlo” – as Bart calls MedEnvision – grew out of a problem in the operating theatre. Hip surgeon Prof. Kristoff pioneered an anterior approach to hip replacement that needed assistants to hold retractors for hours. Together with Wouter’s Leuven design and engineering firm Comate, he developed the Gripper, a table-mounted system that holds the retractors in place. This resulted in MedEnvision’s founding in 2012.
Today, the company develops and commercialises products that make orthopaedic surgeries simpler, more efficient and safer in more than 25 countries. “This is a fantastic story of how a relatively simple yet innovative concept has grown into a company that unburdens orthopaedic surgeons and nursing staff and improves efficiency and safety in the operating room,” Bart explains. The past two years have been about scaling that story.
“It has been a privilege to support MedEnvision's founders and management team since 2024, a period in which the company strengthened its international footprint, diversified its product and professionalised its organisation,” adds Nicolas Costers, partner at Smile Invest. Between 2024 and 2026, revenue doubled and operating profit tripled, and the company is only at the beginning of its market penetration plan.
TA tags in
MedEnvision is growing particularly rapidly in the large United States market, where insurers and private healthcare providers focus more on efficiency. To accelerate that growth further, Smile Invest has brought on board TA Associates, a globally renowned growth investor that has raised $65 billion since 1968 and backed more than 560 companies.
The US-based investor is no stranger to Belgium, having previously backed Antwerp image-sensor maker CMOSIS and intraocular lens specialist PhysIOL. “MedEnvision addresses a real need for hospitals, performing more procedures with the same teams, while improving ergonomics and infection control,” says Birker Bahnsen, head of TA’s European healthcare investment team, who led the MedEnvision deal team – including Lovisa Lander and Alexander Cicetti, supported by Florent-Louis Coin and Riccardo Locatelli.
“We are impressed by the company’s clinically driven innovation and strong international traction to date.”
The show of confidence does not go lost on Dries. “Our new partnership with TA Associates marks a major milestone, and we are grateful for the trust and commitment that made it possible,” he shares. “Our founders’ clinical insight and the trust of our customers and distribution partners have been key to our growth. With TA's healthcare expertise and international reach, we can bring our solutions to many more operating theatres worldwide.”
Smile returns for a second stretch
Dries adds that they will continue on the growth path MedEnvision is already on, with Smile staying on as a minority shareholder thanks to its evergreen investment structure. “We can effortlessly evolve from a substantial stake to a minority stake when that benefits the company and is a good deal for Smile Invest, thereby initiating a second investment period,” Bart explains. The firm has done it before, reinvesting alongside Cobepa in SmartSD and together with BC Partners in IGS.
“This allows us to continue building these companies, offer management teams a certain continuity in their shareholder structure, bring on board strong partners with experience for the next growth phase and, simultaneously, realise added value within Smile Invest. We then reinvest that added value in other ambitious, innovative companies.”
Smile Invest has already been particularly active this year with three new platform investments: Varel Security, BAP Medical, and Alphatron Medical, as well as seven add-ons to our portfolio companies.
Read also: Smile Invest’s first seven exits are no lucky feat – only strategy
MedEnvision and its shareholders were advised by Trent Law. TA was advised by Goodwin Law, Stibbe and PwC. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed. The transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2026, subject to closing conditions.
