LipoCoat celebrates its 10th anniversary and breaks ground on a new production lab in Enschede.

The Enschede-based company makes coatings for medical devices. The expansion is needed to support its growth.

From University Lab to In-House Production

LipoCoat started in 2016 as a spin-off of the University of Twente, out of the doctoral research of founder Jasper van Weerd. The coating technology is inspired by the structure of the human cell membrane. The LipoCoat coating mimics that membrane and creates a surface that bacteria have difficulty adhering to, without antibiotics, PFAS, or silicones.

The technology closely matched what medical device manufacturers were looking for, and it has been recognized several times, including as European Biotech Startup of the Year and Best Medical Device Coatings Company in 2020.

In 2024, LipoCoat expanded its portfolio with the acquisition of the coating technology behind SonoCoat®, which makes medical instruments more clearly visible under ultrasound. That helps physicians during procedures where the position of a needle tip has to be determined precisely, such as taking a biopsy or placing a nerve block.

“Ten years ago, LipoCoat was an idea in a university lab. Today our coating is on products that physicians use in the clinic. With this lab we are building the capacity to do that at scale, and we are deliberately doing it here, directly across from the place where it started,” says founder and CEO Jasper van Weerd.

A Coating Service for Manufacturers

LipoCoat expects the expanded production space to be fully operational in the first quarter of 2027. Alongside additional production capacity, the company is launching a coating service: medical device manufacturers send their products to Enschede and receive them back coated. That puts the technology within reach of companies that cannot set up a coating line of their own. The expansion is expected to create additional jobs over the coming years, primarily for technicians, lab analysts, and process operators.

Constantijn van Oranje Marks the Start of Construction

Constantijn van Oranje, who has followed LipoCoat for years through his role at Techleap, congratulated the company on its tenth anniversary and on the expansion. “You started off as a scientist, and you go from science into becoming an entrepreneur, and then you have to learn not only about building a business, but also about finance, about all of the other things that are important to sustain and to become a sustainable business. And we just take it for granted.”

On the region he was outspoken: “You don’t have to be in Amsterdam or in Eindhoven to build really, really cool tech companies.”

Enschede alderman Barry Overink also spoke with pride about the milestone. “The technology was developed barely a stone’s throw from here, and it is going all over the world.”

Jasper van Weerd, founder of LipoCoat, adds: “I am proud that we can take this next step. It was only possible because of our excellent team, and thanks to our partners, who were patient and believed in us.”

Together they marked the start of construction on the production lab of more than 500 square meters at LipoCoat, which turns ten this week.

A Collaboration with MST in Preparation

LipoCoat also announced on Friday that it is entering into a collaboration with Medisch Spectrum Twente. Together with physicians at the hospital, the company intends to develop the coating further for applications in intensive care, where infections associated with catheters are a known risk. Both parties will set out their plans in October.

“The fact that we are taking this step with the hospital here in the city says something about what is possible in Twente. Research at the university, production on Hengelosestraat, and physicians working with the result a few kilometers down the road,” says Van Weerd.

About The Lipocoat Company

The Lipocoat Company is a spin-off of the University of Twente, founded in 2016 and based in Enschede, the Netherlands. The company develops coating technology for medical devices and works with around 20 employees across two platforms: LipoCoat, which reduces bacterial adhesion and friction on surfaces, and SonoCoat, which makes instruments more clearly visible under ultrasound. Its customers are medical device manufacturers.