Ricardo is co-founder and Managing Partner of Biovance Capital, a new € 51M fund to invest in early-stage biotech companies across Europe developing innovative therapeutics in all disease areas and drug modalities (small and large molecules, vaccines, cell, and gene therapies). Ricardo is a Harvard and MIT-educated scientist turned investor with experience in scientific research, drug development, venture capital licensing, business development and market analysis.
Ricardo has over 18 years of experience in the biomedical sector in USA and Portugal. Prior to Biovance Capital, he was the CEO of Bionova Capital, a venture capital firm that invested in health startups across Europe. At Bionova, he invested in the oncology startup CellmAbs that was sold to BioNTech potentially for more than € 1 billion, the largest-ever biotech deal in Portugal.
Ricardo was previously an international business analyst at BIAL, an international R&D-based pharmaceutical company headquartered in Portugal that has developed two proprietary CNS drugs currently in the global market. Ricardo was an investment manager at Portugal Ventures where he managed a portfolio of dix biotech companies and scouted for new deals. Portugal Ventures is the largest venture capital firm in Portugal with 100+ portfolio companies.
Ricardo performed his PhD work at the Harvard Medical School (Prof. Judy Lieberman's laboratory). There, he studied the process of breast cancer metastasis and discovered hundreds of previously unknown genes regulated by the microRNA-200 family that are involved in the metastatic process. His research has been published in prestigious journals such as Nature Publishing Group's Oncogene, Journal of Clinical Investigation and Biotechnology Progress. Ricardo was also a researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology where he developed a new tool (micro-bioreactors) to identify high-producing cells for antibody manufacturing.
Ricardo holds a B.Sc. in Biochemistry and a Ph.D. in Molecular Biology, both approved with the Highest Honors.