Heran Partners

Herman Verrelst is a serial entrepreneur with over 25 years in high-tech companies. He founded and exited several University of Leuven spin-offs, including Cartagenia, which was acquired by Agilent, after which he led Agilent's Genomics & Clinical Applications division in California. He later served as CEO of Biocartis, a molecular diagnostics company focused on personalized medicine.

Joris Mortelmans advises HERAN on financial matters and fund operations, and serves as CEO of Opdorp Finance, the family office of Annie Vereecken. He previously worked as CFO of Laboratoria Wolfs, Finance Director at Euphony, and as an auditor at EY, gaining experience in healthcare, M&A, and fundraising. He holds a Master's degree in Applied Economics from the University of Antwerp.

Raf Roelands has around ten years of operational experience in biotech. He holds an M.Sc. in Biochemistry and Biotechnology and an MBA from Vlerick Business School, along with postgraduate certificates from Guberna. Before joining HERAN, he spent over five years at Korys working on life science investments and advised European and US-based investment funds.

Flore Belmans joined Heran in May 2026 as part of the investment team, where she works on deal flow screening and assessment, due diligence, market analysis, and technological evaluation. She holds a BSc in Bioscience Engineering and an MSc in Biomedical Engineering from KU Leuven and pursued a PhD there developing AI-powered imaging biomarkers for pulmonary disease. She also worked as a Research Scientist at radiomics.bio, with expertise spanning AI, medical imaging, and healthcare.

Margot Huysmans joined HERAN Partners in April 2025 after completing an internship at the firm, working at the intersection of life sciences and venture capital. On the investment team, she works on deal flow screening and assessment, and due diligence including market analysis and technical evaluation. She holds an MSc in Bioscience Engineering (Cellular and Genetic Engineering) from KU Leuven and an MSc in Entrepreneurship and Innovation from Lund University, where she also worked on her own startup, Stride.

Wim Van Looveren joined HERAN in February 2024, where he handles finance and administrative matters for the fund and the GP and supports portfolio companies on finance topics. He previously worked for 3 years as Finance Director at Astanor Ventures and spent 11 years in various roles at Incofin Investment Management. He holds a Master's degree in Applied Economic Sciences and in International Relations & Diplomacy from the University of Antwerp.