Ricardo Perdigão Henriques, PhD

Managing Partner

Ricardo Perdigão Henriques is the Managing Partner of Biovance Capital. 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 17 years of experience in the biomedical sector in USA and Portugal. Prior to co-founding 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 six biotech companies and scouted for new deals. Portugal Ventures is the largest venture capital firm in Portugal with 100+ portfolio companies.
Ricardo holds a B.Sc. in Biochemistry and a Ph.D. in Molecular Biology, both approved with the Highest Honors.

João Incio, MD, PhD

Incoming General Partner

João Incio brings over 15 years of multidisciplinary experience in the biomedical sector across the USA, UK, and Portugal to his role as General Partner at Biovance Capital. He trained as a physician at Porto Medical School / Hospital S. João in the foggy, but beatiful city of Porto, and later on as a research fellow at Harvard Medical School / Massachusetts General Hospital, where he conducted his doctoral research in immuno-oncology. Following his PhD, João worked in medical start-ups, and developed a background in life sciences management consulting and business strategy at L.E.K. Consulting in London. Prior to joining Biovance, João held the positions of Associate Medical Director for Global Strategy at Vertex Pharmaceuticals, Principal at Sensyne Health, an Oxford-based life sciences AI company, Sector Lead at ramarketing, an agency proving strategic support to the biopharma outsourcing space, and was a fellow at London-based SR One ($500M biotech VC) under the FutureVC program.

Peter Villax

Partner

Peter Villax is a Partner at Biovance Capital. Peter has over 40 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry in IT, sales, R&D and business administration. He joined Hovione in 1982 as a computer programmer and led Hovione’s computerization. He then switched to pharmaceutical development in 1990 and soon became interested in pulmonary delivery. His disposable dry-powder inhaler TwinCaps, licensed to Daiichi Sankyo for the delivery of Influenza drug Inavir®, continues to be the only commercial device of its kind in the world, and has helped Daiichi Sankyo become the market leader in influenza products in Japan. He acquired significant experience as an inventor of devices, as a patentholder and as a licensor of technology patents. Peter founded Bionova Capital in 2015, having been its CEO from 2015 to 2019. In 2019, he became the Chairman of Bionova Capital. Peter is the President of the Portuguese Family Business Association and Board member of civic and academic bodies.

João Botelho

CFO

João Botelho is the CFO of Biovance Capital. João has over 15 years of experience in Auditing, Finance and Private Equity. Prior to joining Biovance, João was the Finance Director of Bionova Capital. Previously, he was Financial and Business Controller at ECS Capital, overseeing a € 1bn private equity fund. He previously was Senior Auditor at Ernst & Young. João holds a Master’s Degree in Advanced Financial Accounting.

Luisa Vaz Pinto

Head of Compliance & Sustainability

Luisa Vaz Pinto is the Head of Compliance & Sustainability at Biovance Capital. Luisa is a lawyer and a certified compliance officer by the “International Compliance Association”. She has over 10 years of experience in leading compliance and anti-money laundering initiatives within the financial and non-financial services industry implementing robust compliance programs, policies, and procedures to ensure regulatory adherence and mitigate risk exposure. She also led the development and implementation of comprehensive compliance programs to ensure adherence to regulatory requirements, including KYC (Know Your Customer), AML, CFT (Combating the Financing of Terrorism), and sanctions screening. Skilled in managing data privacy compliance initiatives to safeguard sensitive information and enhance data protection measures. Proficient in integrating financial sustainability principles and ESG initiatives into compliance frameworks to promote responsible business practices and long-term value creation.
Adept at fostering a culture of compliance excellence while driving operational efficiency and business growth.
Luisa´s experience involves renowned entities such as Accenture, JP Morgan, Banco Santander, BNP Paribas and PLMJ law firm.