About

Patrick joined Aescap when it was founded in 2005 as an investment partner of the Aescap Venture Fund. In 2009, he was appointed managing and general partner. In 2013, a study comparing the returns of two types of biotech funds – investing in private versus listed biotech companies – showed that investing in listed companies yields a better return on average. Consequently, he decided to make the transition to the public market with Aescap and achieved a return of 130% over two years (2014–2015) during the run-in period of the Aescap Life Sciences Fund. Consequently, the Aescap Life Sciences fund was launched in 2016, to which a second biotech fund, Aescap Genetics, was added in 2022.

Patrick has served as a non-executive director at 10 biotech and medical diagnostics companies and is currently a non-executive director at the oncology company Sairopa B.V. From 1995 to 2004, Patrick was managing director of Firm United Healthcare B.V., a consultancy firm in the biotech/life sciences sector. Over these 10 years, he built the company into a market leader in Europe and, with a team of over 30, advised around 60% of the top 50 companies in the industry. The focus was on bringing specific medicines to market and growing their turnover. Today, he uses his experience and expertise to successfully select and mentor Aescap’s portfolio companies. Patrick studied physiotherapy, followed by business administration. Later in his career, he completed an Executive MBA at LMS, followed by courses in genetics and patents.

Victor Bakker holds a Master’s degree in Entrepreneurship in Life Sciences from VU University Amsterdam and subsequently gained over six years’ experience at a boutique consultancy specialising in strategic financing for life sciences companies. There, he set up a specialist department that assisted dozens of biotech and medtech start-ups in raising capital, including financial modelling, market analysis and matching investors.

As Head of Investor Relations at Aescap, Victor is responsible for all investor relations activities: from transparent reporting to fund investors to the onboarding of new investors.

Paolo joined Aescap as an Analyst in 2018 to become an investment manager in 2023. He obtained a Bachelor’s degree in Chemistry at La Sapienza University of Rome after which he completed two Master tracks at Leiden University, one in Chemical Biology Research and one in Science Based Business. Throughout his academic research career he had a keen eye on medicinal chemistry. During his business studies, he learned to combine his scientific background with business aspects, such as finance, with a focus on valuation and investing.

Pien studied College of Pharmaceutical Sciences at Utrecht University. During her studies, she performed academic research on allergies and followed a minor in entrepreneurship. Following her bachelor, she completed a master in business and research at Leiden University. As part of the research program she conducted research at the Leiden Academic Centre for Drug Research, where she focused on aging and atherosclerosis. Additionally, she investigated a medicine candidate for Alzheimer’s disease at Harvard Medical School in Boston.

Ludovico obtained a Bachelor’s degree in Biotechnology and a Master’s degree in Medical Biotechnology with a specialization in Bioengineering at La Sapienza University of Rome. Following his academic training, he gained four years of professional experience in consulting, working with pharmaceutical companies on strategic and operational projects. In parallel, he co-founded Hibernium, a biotech startup, contributing to its early development and strategic direction. To further strengthen his financial and investment expertise, he completed an Advanced Master in Financial Markets and Corporate Finance at Solvay Brussels School of Economics and Management. He subsequently worked at Newton Biocapital, one of the leading biotech venture capital funds in Brussels, where he was exposed to biotech investment analysis and deal evaluation.

Since joining Aescap, Lincoln has developed various AI-powered tools to support due diligence, company valuation, measuring a company’s momentum among investors, and ESG reporting. He holds a Master’s degree in Bioinformatics and Systems Biology from the University of Manchester and a Bachelor’s degree in Biomedical Technology. He then studied artificial intelligence in healthcare at MIT. Lincoln is a specialist in automating workflows in the investment sector and combines in-depth technical expertise with a passion for practical innovation, with the aim of significantly improving the efficiency and accuracy of the investment process.

Sam holds a BSc in Medicine from Leiden University, earned his Master’s from Cornell University (US), where he specialized in applying machine learning to financial businesses, and completed the CEMS Master’s in International Management with a Finance specialization at the London School of Economics.

At Aescap, he develops proprietary investment strategies combining his medical, finance and AI background.

Given the hunt for AI specialists we do not disclose the name of this person. Having a background in applied mathematics, data science and the banking sector he is constantly improving our AI Agents to speed up and improve internal processes and investment decisions.

Given the high demand for AI specialists, we are not disclosing this person’s name. With a background in computer science, applied statistics and data science, he possesses all the skills required to develop software to enhance the investment team’s trading activities. He has previously done this for the Bank of New York Mellon.

Bo Jesper, M.D., Ph.D. was the Executive Chairman of the Board of SOBI AB (Swedish Orphan Biovitrum AB) until 2016 and was appointed Deputy Chairman of the Board in 2022. SOBI is a biotech company listed on the Swedish stock exchange and had a market capitalization of around € 6 billion as the end of 2022. He is Chairman of Karolinska Development AB and also Chairman of the biotech company Orphazyme ApS. Bo Jesper served as CEO and President to the Board of Swedish Orphan International (1998-2010) until the merger with Biovitrum, forming Swedish Orphan Biovitrum. He then became the company’s executive chairman. He also was non-executive Director of Gambro until its acquisition by Baxter, as well as of Zymenex, until its acquisition by Chiesi. Bo Jesper was the Executive Chairman of Ablynx until its acquisition by Sanofi, as well as of Topotarget and in this role led the merger with BioAlliance forming OnXeo. He founded Scandinavian Medical Research during which he served as Medical Advisor for the multinationals Synthélabo, Pfizer, Pharmacia and Yamanouchi Pharmaceutical. He has also been a board member with the companies TopoTarget A/S, CMC AB, MipSalus Aps, Kontrast AB, Hyperion Therapeutics, Inc. Newron Pharmaceuticals S.p.A, Novagali Pharma S.A. and Vivolution A/S.

Dr Hansen has extensive expertise in the design of clinical trials, regulatory affairs, pharmacovigilance and business development. He holds an M.D. in urology and obtained his PhD from the University of Copenhagen. Mr Krol and Dr Hansen met in 2012 whilst serving as non-executive directors at the biotech company Orphazyme SpA and have been working together ever since.

Gert, M.D., MBA (INSEAD) is a pharmaceutical executive with deep operational experience. He began his career in 1982 as Medical Advisor to Organon NV in Oss, The Netherlands, followed by CEO positions for Schering AG in New Zealand and South Africa. He then founded Pharmaplan Pty Ltd in Johannesburg, which became the leading specialty pharma distributor in Africa representing biotech companies like Biogen, Bracco, Recordati, Ipsen, Genzyme and Shire. After the sale of this company to the Canadian Specialty Pharma company Paladin Inc. Gert relocated to Zurich to start HealthCrest AG, a healthcare investment and consulting company. He has initiated investments in many private and public healthcare companies, geographically encompassing Europe, India, China, the US and Africa and is Board Member of many of these portfolio companies. Patrick and Gert first met in 2013 as investors in i-Optics BV.

Maarten Hendriks has worked for over twenty years in the medical department of the pharmaceutical multinational Boehringer Ingelheim. Most recently, based at the head office in Germany, he was responsible for regional management of the European markets. Prior to that, he was Medical Director for China, Taiwan and Hong Kong, based in Shanghai, and before that Head of Medical Affairs / Medical Director for emerging markets, based in Singapore and Dubai.

Maarten began his career at Boehringer Ingelheim in the Netherlands, where he led the medical team, Compliance and Legal Affairs, as well as Health Economics. Prior to that, he worked for Roche in the Netherlands for five years and held short-term positions at AstraZeneca and Pharma Bio Research.
Maarten studied pharmacy in Utrecht and obtained a PhD in cardiovascular pharmacology from the University of Amsterdam.

Peter Hintzen trained as a surgeon at the University Medical Centre Utrecht and subsequently specialised in gastrointestinal surgery at the Amsterdam Medical Centre. He also completed further training as a thoracic surgeon.

Peter has gained extensive experience in lung and gastrointestinal conditions and also acquired expertise in venous vascular surgery at various private clinics. He subsequently spent three years as CEO of Surgis, an initiative focused on establishing private clinics in collaboration with hospitals. Over the past ten years, he has once again been working as a surgeon in France and the Netherlands.