BioStrand

01 / WHAT IT BUILT

What the company did

BioStrand was a Belgian bioinformatics startup founded in February 2019 by husband-and-wife duo Dr. Dirk Van Hyfte and Dr. Ingrid Brands (CEO), with their two sons playing active roles. It developed the HYFTs information model: a methodology for encoding and analysing biological sequences - DNA, RNA and proteins - that combined with AI delivers high-speed omics analysis with high accuracy and a smaller computational footprint, integrating 3D structural information into pattern and profile detection. Applications ranged from molecular diagnostics and point-of-care testing to drug-development analysis and prediction of protein-protein interactions. It raised about EUR 2 million (2020) from K&E, the investment fund of Globachem founders Koen Quaghebeur and Els Paesmans. In 2022 ImmunoPrecise Antibodies (IPA) acquired BioStrand and its sister companies BioKey and BioClue for EUR 20 million (cash, equity and earn-outs); the Belgian companies became IPA's AI-driven analytics arm.

03 / EVENT HISTORY

Events in the structured record

1. 2019
   Founded

   Dr. Dirk Van Hyfte and Dr. Ingrid Brands founded BioStrand in February 2019, developing the HYFT methodology for omics data analysis.

2. 2020
   Funding

   BioStrand raised EUR 2 million from K&E to continue developing its genetic data analysis technology.

3. 2022
   Acquired by ImmunoPrecise Antibodies

   IPA acquired BioStrand, BioKey and BioClue for EUR 20 million (cash, shares and earn-outs), adding AI-driven omics analytics to its antibody-discovery platform.