The eligibility requirements for the best venture capital deal in Belgium's life sciences sector, as announced at the 2026 M&A Awards Gala.
When Belgium established the Flemish Institute for Biotechnology (VIB) in the mid-1990s, it laid the groundwork for a world-class life sciences ecosystem. By consolidating IP control under a single entity, VIB offers investors and pharma partners a simple, transparent process that eliminates friction in multi-university negotiations and long timelines, allowing academic projects to transition far more quickly into independent, investment-ready companies that venture capital funds can scale.
This impact is still visible today, with various deals in the life sciences space aimed at advancing pivotal clinical trials, raising growth capital, or executing strategic consolidation across the therapy lifecycle.
Leuven-based Coultreon Biopharma closed an oversubscribed $125 million Series A funding round – led by Sofinnova Investments alongside Novo Holdings, Forbion and Galapagos – to propel its oral SIK3 inhibitor into Phase 2 trials for psoriasis and ulcerative colitis. Meanwhile, Augustine Therapeutics celebrated an oversubscribed €78 million Series A funding round co-led by Novo Holdings and Jeito Capital to advance its lead HDAC6 inhibitor into clinical trials for Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease.
In Ghent, Confo Therapeutics raised €60 million in Series B financing led by Ackermans & van Haaren to bring its GPCR-modulating pipeline into Phase 1 trials and target GPR75 for obesity. ATB Therapeutics raised €54 million in Series A funding co-led by EQT Life Sciences and Merck's MRL Ventures Fund to scale its proprietary ATBioFarm platform for cytotoxic antibodies.
In the medtech space, Gosselies-based Endo Tools Therapeutics secured $23 million in Series C funding to accelerate the commercialisation of its endomina® EZFuse platform for incisionless gastric surgery. In agri-tech, Ghent-based Rainbow Crops closed a €9.7 million funding round led by LIFTT – alongside VIB, Corteva, and the Agri Investment Fund – combining AI and gene editing to scale climate-resilient crop development following a $7 million Gates Foundation grant.
Indicating the market’s current maturity, specialist fund Droia Ventures demonstrated Belgium's outbound investment reach by participating in a $152 million Series B round for Swiss-US biopharma company Vaderis Therapeutics to fund global Phase 3 clinical trials. On the domestic front, Cascador Health and moveUP completed a strategic merger to form Cascador/moveUP.
Against this backdrop of rapid innovation and international capital deployment, preparations are underway for the 9th annual M&A Belgium Awards on 26 November 2026, at Brussels’ Palais 10. In addition to the Best Venture Capital Deal - Technology award, the night also features the Best Venture Capital Deal – Life Sciences award, which recognises the founders, investors and dealmakers making similar biotech deals this year.
Eligibility requirements for nominations
Established in collaboration with Knowledge Partner Vlerick Business School, this category recognises venture capital transactions involving Belgian-based start-ups or scale-ups and venture capital firms.
The category encompasses both growth capital investment rounds and transactions allowing venture capitalists to successfully exit their stakes. There is no floor or cap on deal size or on the acquired fraction of shares.
A panel of judges evaluates submitted deals according to strategic rationale (vision, market thesis and alignment with overarching growth trajectories), long-term value creation and returns, execution complexity (overcoming regulatory or technical hurdles, for example) and broader cultural or ESG impact.
For more information about the framework and procedure for judging, visit: M&A Awards 2026 Regulations
Previous winners that met most or all of these criteria include AstraZeneca’s $1 billion acquisition of EsoBiotec in 2025 to expand access to innovative cancer treatments, PanTera’s €134 million funding round in 2024 to lead the next generation of cancer therapies, Aphea.Bio’s €70 million capital raise in 2023 supporting biological innovations in sustainable agriculture, and Precirix’s €80 million Series B funding round in 2022 (the largest investment round in the Belgian biotech landscape at the time).
Like these winners, deals must have Belgian origin (whether the target, buyer, or seller) and be completed within the review window from 1 October 2025 to 30 September 2026 to qualify for nomination. Deals must be submitted by M&A-, private equity- or venture capital professionals before 1 October 2026 to guarantee consideration by the Vlerick research team and jury.
Nominate your deals now and join over 1,000 senior dealmakers at Palais 10 in celebrating the very best of Belgian M&A.
Or reserve a table to literally rub elbows with the best deal teams dedicated to life science in the country.
