# Esperante Ventures

> Esperante Ventures is a VC fund in Hoofddorp backing Biotechnology and Health Care. See 20 investments, check sizes, portfolio. Updated Aug 2026.

- Type: VC Fund
- Location: Hoofddorp, The Netherlands
- Total investments: 20
- Last investment: Dec 2024
- Lead investor: 20%
- Last updated: Aug 2026
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/esperante/
- Website: http://www.esperanteventures.com

Esperante Ventures is a VC fund in Hoofddorp focused on Biotechnology and Health Care. Esperante is a private limited Netherlands-based seed investments company incorporated in January 2004. Esperante brings significant expertise and a human healthcare industry contacts network gained through up to three decades of cross-functional management experience. This background provides investment portfolio companies with extended managementresources, particularly in Business Development, as a complement to Esperante's financial contribution.

## Round sizes

| Stage | Round size |
| --- | --- |
| Series A | $3.3M–$20M |
| Series B | $2.8M–$19M |

## Investment focus

### Industry

| Industry | Investments | Share |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Biotechnology | 13 | 65% |
| Health Care | 10 | 50% |
| Medical | 5 | 25% |
| Therapeutics | 5 | 25% |
| Pharmaceutical | 4 | 20% |

13 industries tracked in total.

### Stage

| Stage | Investments | Share |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Funding Round | 6 | 30% |
| Venture - Series Unknown | 4 | 20% |
| Series A | 3 | 15% |
| Series B | 3 | 15% |
| Seed | 2 | 10% |

6 stages tracked in total.

### Country

| Country | Investments | Share |
| --- | --- | --- |
| United Kingdom | 9 | 45% |
| Switzerland | 2 | 10% |
| United States | 2 | 10% |
| Israel | 1 | 5% |
| Germany | 1 | 5% |

## Investments

| Company | Description | Amount | Stage | Date | Website |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Amlo Biosciences | AMLo Biosciences has identified two proteins (AMBLor™) in the skin overlying the primary tumour that are lost in high-risk melanoma. | $2M | Venture - Series Unknown | Dec 03, 2024 |  |
| Acousia Therapeutics | Acousia Therapeutics GmbH is a privately held biotech company based in Tübingen, Germany. Acousia has experience and expertise in identifying and developing small molecule drug candidates for the treatment of hearing loss.Sensory hair cells are the key cells for hearing in the inner ear. Acousia`s approach will help to replace lost hair cells bycellular regeneration originating from supporting cells.ASpherecousia is developing drugs for local application, which will restore hearing in patients who have lost their hearing ability induced by various reasons, e.g. noise trauma, treatment with ototoxic drugs or sudden deafness. In addition, these therapies will have the potential to treat the age-related decrease in hearing capacity. |  | Venture - Series Unknown | Jan 09, 2024 |  |
| Spiral Therapeutics | Spiral Therapeutics is a clinical stage pharmaceutical company delivering novel therapies for hearing loss. Through the use proprietary therapeutics and drug delivery technologies, Spiral is building a pipeline of advanced therapies in a field with large unmet needs and no approved therapies. Spiral’s lead candidate, LPT99, reached the clinic inDecember 2018. Spiral was launched in early 2016 and is headquartered in Brisbane, CA. |  | Venture - Series Unknown | Aug 30, 2023 |  |
| Pneumagen | Pneumagen focuses on developing glycan targeted carbohydrate-binding modules (CBMs) as a new universal therapeutic modality for the treatment of respiratory tract infections (RTIs) and cancer. Founded in 2016, the Company is a spin-out from the University of St Andrews in Scotland and has access to world-class scientific expertise and capabilitiesin glycobiology. | $10M | Venture - Series Unknown | Jun 01, 2023 |  |
| Amlo Biosciences | AMLo Biosciences has identified two proteins (AMBLor™) in the skin overlying the primary tumour that are lost in high-risk melanoma. | $3.2M |  | Apr 21, 2022 |  |
| Versantis | Versantis is a Swiss pharmaceutical company, Spin-off of ETH Zurich, developing a new generation of medicines and diagnostics to revolutionize the care of patients with liver disease. Embracing lifesaving and preventive therapies, Versantis aims to answer the unmet medical need of millions of people worldwide. Its lead candidate, VS-01, iscurrently at preclinical stage and has the potential to be the first drug for acute liver disease simultaneously supporting multiple failing organs. VS-01 targets 3 rare indications and received an Orphan Drug Designation in ALF. In addition, Versantis’ pipeline promises to improve patients’ outcome in other medical fields; VS-02 and VS-03 are developed for chronic liver diseases and for the treatment of drug intoxications, both representing large market opportunities and significant upsides for Versantis. | $18.7M | Series B | Sep 18, 2019 |  |
| Arquer Diagnostics | UroSens Ltd is based at the Babraham Research Campus, Cambridge, UK, and on the North East Business and Innovation Centre, Sunderland, UK. | $2.8M | Series B | Oct 03, 2017 |  |
| Oxford Cancer Biomarkers | Oxford Cancer Biomarkers is developing and commercializing a suite of colorectal cancer biomarker tests to improve the current treatment pathway. Oxford Cancer Biomarkers is closely affiliated with Institute of Cancer Medicine at Oxford University, where its founders lead translational cancer science research groups. Oxford Cancer Biomarkers hasalso partnered with pharmaceutical companies to use its discovery platforms CancerNav® and ToxNavTM to develop companion diagnostic tests for pipeline drugs. |  |  | Dec 14, 2015 |  |
| Arquer Diagnostics | UroSens Ltd is based at the Babraham Research Campus, Cambridge, UK, and on the North East Business and Innovation Centre, Sunderland, UK. | $2.6M |  | Jan 16, 2015 |  |
| Arquer Diagnostics | UroSens Ltd is based at the Babraham Research Campus, Cambridge, UK, and on the North East Business and Innovation Centre, Sunderland, UK. | $523K | Seed | Feb 14, 2014 |  |

10 of 20 investments shown.

## Co-investors
- [Longwall Venture](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/longwall-venture-partners) — VC Fund, 3 deals together
- [Northstar Ventures](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/northstar-ventures) — VC Fund, 3 deals together
- [Catapult Ventures](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/catapult-venture-managers) — VC Fund, 2 deals together
- [Nesta Ventures](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/nesta-investments) — VC Fund, 2 deals together
- [Scottish Enterprise](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/scottish-enterprise) — VC Fund, 2 deals together
- [Spark Ventures](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/spark-ventures) — VC Fund, 2 deals together

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## FAQ

### What does Esperante Ventures invest in?

Esperante Ventures invests primarily in Biotechnology, Health Care and Medical startups, most often at Funding Round and Venture - Series Unknown stage. Most of the 20 investments tracked by Shizune back companies in United Kingdom. The Investment Focus section breaks down every industry, stage and country in the portfolio.

### What is Esperante Ventures's check size?

Esperante Ventures typically joins rounds of $3.3M–$20M at Series A and $2.8M–$19M at Series B. These ranges are 10th–90th percentile round sizes calculated from confirmed public funding rounds, so they are a realistic guide to the rounds Esperante Ventures participates in.

### When did Esperante Ventures last invest?

The most recent investment recorded for Esperante Ventures closed in Dec 2024. Shizune tracks 20 investments in total for this profile, including round sizes, stages and portfolio companies, all sourced from confirmed public funding rounds and refreshed monthly.

### Is Shizune's investor data accurate?

Yes — every stat on this profile is calculated from confirmed public funding rounds monitored across hundreds of sources since 2020. This profile was last refreshed in Aug 2026 and is updated monthly. Spotted something off? Use the “Suggest an edit” link near the top of the page.

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