Investment Team

Patrick Krol, Portfolio Manager

Patrick has been an investor in public biotech companies for over 30 years. He started at Aescap as a General Partner in 2005, at the time it was still a venture capital fund, to become its managing partner in 2009. When in 2013 research across biotech investment fund globally showed that investing in listed biotech companies generates better returns than investing in private companies, he decided the next Aescap fund would invest in listed companies. After a two-year run-in period (2014-2015), during which he achieved a 130% return, he launched the Aescap Life Sciences fund in 2016. Followed in 2022 by a second biotech fund, Aescap Genetics.

Patrick has acted as a board director of 10 biotech and medical diagnostics companies and today is on the board of onology cpompany Sairopa B.V. From 1995 to 2004 Patrick was the co-founder and managing director of Firm United Healthcare B.V., a consultancy company that provided consultancy services to the biotech / life sciences industry. During the 9 years Patrick led the company, it became a market leader on the European continent advising over 35 public pharma and biotech companies on how to successfully market products and grow sales. He currently applies this expertise to successfully select and guide Aescap’s investments.

Patrick studied physiotherapy, followed by business administration. Later in his career he completed an executive MBA from LMS.

Victor Bakker, Head of Investor Relations

Paolo del Bufalo, Investment Manager

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 focused 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 Kiliaan, Analyst

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 Dragoni, Analyst

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.

Lincoln Lukose, AI & data science specialist

Lincoln holds a Master’s in Bioinformatics and Systems Biology at the University of Manchester and a Bachelor’s in Biomedical Engineering. His academic work was complemented by specialized training in Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare at MIT. He has since developed AI-powered solutions in ESG reporting, financial trading, and digital pathology, and is a specialist in automating workflows in the investment sector. Lincoln blends deep technical expertise with a passion for practical innovation, leading AI integration projects that significantly improve efficiency and accuracy.

Sam Frenay, AI-Finance Specialist

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 and automated trading systems.

Undisclosed, AI Engineer

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. By the way, he is a fanatic tennis player.

Undisclosed, Data Scientist

Given the hunt for AI specialists we do not disclose the name of this person. Having studied computer science, applied statistics and data science he has all the skills to develop software to enhance the investment team’s public equity trading capabilities. He has done so before for the Bank of New York Mellon. 

Bo Jesper Hansen, Portfolio Advisor

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.

Bo Jesper has an extensive knowledge within clinical study design, regulatory, pharmacovigilance, and business development. He has an M.D. in Urology and a PhD from the University of Copenhagen. Patrick and Bo Jesper first met in 2012 as members of the supervisory board of biotech company Orphazyme S.p.A.

Gert Hoogland, Portfolio Advisor

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.