Life sciences, covering biotech, pharmaceuticals, medical devices, and healthtech, sit at the intersection of technology and academic research, turning scientific discoveries into real-life healthcare solutions. Bringing these innovations to market is costly and complex, making venture capital essential for growth.
Vestbee analyzed the European life science VC landscape, highlighting the most active funds with local offices that are backing the continent’s most promising startups and driving the next wave of healthcare innovation.
AdBio Partners
HQ: Paris, France
Sector focus: life science
Investment stage: early stages
AdBio Partners is a European early-stage life sciences venture capital firm with a strong entrepreneurial focus, specializing in investing in and developing promising startups across biotechnology and medical innovation. The firm works closely with scientific founders, academic institutions, and research organizations to translate breakthrough science into sustainable businesses, providing hands-on support in company formation, development, and growth.
Alta Life Science
HQ: Barcelona, Spain
Sector focus: biotech, healthtech
Investment stage: all stages
Alta backs companies from seed through commercial growth, acting as a bridge between the Spanish and European life sciences ecosystem and Silicon Valley expertise. It invests across biotechnology, biopharma, medical devices, diagnostics, genomics, and digital health, taking a hands-on lead investor approach, supporting management teams to reach key milestones, and plans exits via US public offerings or global M&A. While primarily focused on Spain, Alta LS evaluates opportunities internationally, leveraging its transatlantic network to connect breakthrough science with global markets.
Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund
HQ: Ingelheim am Rhein, Germany
Sector focus: life science, health tech
Investment stage: early stages up to Series A
BIVF is a €350 million evergreen fund investing globally in pre-clinical and early-stage assets, primarily Seed and Series A. The fund focuses on first-in-class, disease-modifying therapeutics across cancer (immuno-oncology and targeted therapies), regenerative medicine, autoimmunity, infectious disease (including AMR), and digital solutions that support the pharma value chain. BIVF typically takes minority stakes with voting board representation, aligning closely with Boehringer Ingelheim’s strategic interests and supporting company growth toward long-term standards-of-care impact.
EQT Life Science
HQ: London, UK
Sector focus: life science
Investment stage: All stages
EQT Life Sciences is one of Europe’s largest life sciences investors, with offices across the continent, America, Asia, and Australia. It manages around €3.5 billion across 12 funds. With a 30-year track record and a team of 30+ medical and scientific professionals, it backs companies in therapeutics, medtech, diagnostics, and healthtech globally. The firm typically invests €10-60 million per deal, from early clinical to late-stage growth.
Forbion
HQ: Naarden, the Netherlands
Sector focus: biotech
Investment stage: all stages
Forbion invests across biotech and BioEconomy sectors, supporting companies from early-stage formation through later-stage growth. The firm manages €5bn across 11 funds, including the Forbion Ventures series for company building and the Growth Opportunities Fund for expansion rounds. Forbion focuses on therapeutics across oncology, CNS, cardiovascular/metabolic, autoimmune, ophthalmology, orphan/rare and respiratory diseases, while its BioEconomy strategy targets sustainable food, agriculture, materials and environmental technologies.
HealthCap
HQ: Stockholm, Sweden
Sector focus: biotech, healthtech
Investment stage: all stages
HealthCap invests globally in companies developing breakthrough therapies for rare diseases, cancers, and genetic conditions. The firm focuses on interventions with high unmet medical need and potential to transform patient care, supporting companies from early-stage development through IPOs or trade sales. HealthCap takes an active role in portfolio companies, often with board representation, and leverages deep scientific, medical, and industrial expertise to accelerate growth and ensure sustainable, responsible management. The firm’s offices are in Stockholm and Lausanne.
i&i Biotech Fund
HQ: Canton of Vieux-Habitants, Luxembourg
Sector focus: life science
Investment stage: early stages
Luxembourg-based VC with strong ties to Prague’s research ecosystem. It supports early-stage life sciences startups across drug discovery, medtech, diagnostics, and AI in healthcare, with a preference for companies in Central and Eastern Europe but open to opportunities throughout the wider EU. The fund invests from seed, starting at around € 150,000, through Series A, typically between €0.5 million and €2 million, with capacity for follow-on investments in later rounds.
Kurma Partners
HQ: Paris, France
Sector focus: life science
Investment stage: all stages
Kurma Partners is a Paris-based VC specialising in life sciences, with a strong track record in company creation alongside leading European research centres. Since 2009, it has helped found or financed more than 40 biotech, diagnostics and healthtech companies, often working directly with academic teams to validate discoveries and spin them out. Its flagship vehicles include Kurma Biofund IV (€158 million, focused on early-stage therapeutics), Kurma Growth Opportunities (€167 million for late-stage and crossover rounds), and Kurma Diagnostics II (€83 million for digital diagnostics).
Lundbeckfonden BioCapital
HQ: Copenhagen, Denmark
Sector focus: life science
Investment stage: all stages
This Copenhagen-based VC arm of the Lundbeck Foundation, focused on biotech, manages over DKK 2bn across 20 portfolio companies and plans to double its Danish holdings by 2030. New investments are primarily in Danish biotech startups and spinouts, with a strong link to the local research ecosystem.
M Ventures
HQ: Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Sector focus: biotech
Investment stage: all stages
The corporate VC arm of Darmstadt, M Ventures invests in biotechnology, healthcare R&D tools, electronics, frontier technology and sustainability. The fund focuses on early- to growth-stage companies that develop novel therapeutics, advanced life science tools, transformative computing and digital solutions, and sustainable technologies. M Ventures combines strategic and financial objectives, taking an active, hands-on role with founders and co-investors to translate innovation into commercial success.
Northstar Ventures
HQ: Newcastle, UK
Sector focus: life science, healthtech, climate tech
Investment stage: all stages
Based in Newcastle, Northstar is a venture capital firm investing in early and later-stage businesses with a focus on climate tech, healthy ageing and life sciences. It manages a range of funds, including an Innovation Fund for startups and scaleups with global ambitions, an EIS Growth Fund for scaling businesses, and a Social Investment Fund aimed at impact-driven organisations. Northstar concentrates its activity in the north of England but looks for companies with potential to address global challenges. Alongside capital, it provides operational support and networks to help founders scale.
Novartis Venture Fund
HQ: Basel, Switzerland
Sector focus: biotech
Investment stage: all stages
The corporate VC arm of Novartis, NVF invests in biotechnology and biopharmaceutical companies across early and later stages. With over $750 million in committed capital and offices in Basel, Switzerland, and Cambridge, Massachusetts, NVF focuses on developing novel therapeutics and platforms that address unmet patient needs. The fund takes a hands-on approach, partnering with management teams and boards to support clinical development and business growth across global markets.
Octopus Ventures
HQ: London, UK
Sector focus: B2B Software, Bio, Climate, Consumer, Deep Tech, Fintech and Health
Investment stage: from pre-seed to Series B
Octopus has been backing founders since 2008 across seven core areas: bio, health, climate, eeptech, B2B software, Fintech and Consumer. Its Bio strategy spans advanced therapeutics, diagnostics, biomanufacturing, AI/ML drug discovery, life science tools and industrial biotech. The firm invests from pre-seed through Series A, with capacity to support later growth rounds, and is structured to provide founders with sector-specific expertise (from NHS doctors to PhDs in deep tech). Headquartered in London with offices in the US, Octopus takes a pan-European approach.
Oxford Science Ventures
HQ: Oxford, UK
Sector focus: life science, deep tech, healthtech
Investment stage: all stages
Founded in 2015 as a joint venture with the University of Oxford, OSE is a billion-pound investment company dedicated to creating transformational businesses from Oxford’s leading scientific research. Its strategy spans three sectors: deep tech, life sciences, and healthtech, focusing on foundational technologies, novel therapeutics, vaccines, and digital health solutions. OSE invests early, often taking the first cheque, and remains involved from company formation through Series A and beyond.
Seventure Partners
HQ: Paris, France
Sector focus: life science and digital technology
Investment stage: all stages
Paris-based VC investing across life sciences and digital technologies. Within life sciences, the firm focuses on microbiome applications, medtech, diagnostics, biotech & pharmaceuticals, industrial biotech, agtech, foodtech, connected/digital health, and the Blue Economy. Seventure invests at multiple stages, from early ventures to growth, and takes a hands-on approach to support management teams. Its strategy emphasizes bridging scientific innovation with market adoption, particularly in areas with high societal impact.
Seroba
HQ: Dublin, Ireland
Sector focus: life science
Investment stage: all stages
Focusing on medtech and biotech, Seroba backs innovative companies with the potential to transform patient care, particularly in rare diseases and advanced medical technologies. The firm invests in both therapeutics and medical devices, emphasizing companies with extraordinary science and strong growth potential. Its portfolio includes clinical-stage therapeutics companies addressing rare lysosomal storage disorders, as well as medtech innovators developing catheter technologies for interventional stroke care.
Sofinnova Partners
HQ: Paris, France
Sector focus: life science
Investment stage: all stages
Sofinnova Partners is one of Europe’s oldest and largest life sciences venture firms, managing over €4 billion across seven investment strategies. Founded in 1972 and headquartered in Paris with offices in London and Milan, the firm backs companies from seed to late-stage growth in biotech, medtech, industrial biotech and digital medicine. Over the past five decades, Sofinnova has invested in more than 500 startups, often acting as a lead or cornerstone investor. Its latest raise, €1.2 billion across multiple funds in 2025, will support 50-60 new companies.
SOSV
HQ: Cork, UK
Sector focus: life science, deep tech, healthtech
Investment stage: all stages
SOSV is a global, multi-stage venture capital firm that specializes in deep tech and life sciences, with a strong emphasis on startups addressing human and planetary health. With $1.5 billion in assets under management, SOSV is one of the most active investors in climate tech and health tech worldwide. SOSV’s strategy centers on pre-seed “first check” investing, providing up to $550,000 per company, while offering founders intensive support through its IndieBio (life sciences/health) and HAX (hardware, industrial automation, climate tech) startup programs. These programs combine funding with hands-on guidance, laboratory and engineering facilities, mentorship, and access to a global network of investors and corporate partners. The firm operates globally, with core locations in San Francisco, New York, Newark, Shenzhen, Pune, Tokyo, and Cork.
SR One
HQ: London, UK
Sector focus: biotech
Investment stage: early stages
A transatlantic biotech-focused VC with teams in London and the US, backs early-stage companies developing novel therapeutics, with a “back-and-build” strategy centred on strong science, clear development pathways and differentiated approaches to disease. SR One typically invests at the seed and Series A stages, supporting startups with capital, biotech expertise and access to networks across major innovation hubs.
Sunstone Life Science Ventures
HQ: Copenhagen, Denmark
Sector focus: life science, therapeutics
Investment stage: early stages
Sunstone Life Science Ventures is a Copenhagen-based VC focused on early-stage biotech developing novel therapeutics for human use. Founded in 2007, it invests mainly at the pre-clinical and Phase I stages, with an emphasis on European hubs including the UK. The firm has backed more than 45 life science companies, several of which have exited through IPOs or acquisitions. Sunstone prioritises opportunities targeting unmet medical needs in areas such as oncology, specialty pharma, and orphan diseases, with business models suited to M&A exits. Its latest vehicle, Fund IV, is dedicated solely to therapeutics.
TVM Capital Life Science
HQ: Munich, Germany
Sector focus: life science, healthtech
Investment stage: all stages
TVM Capital Life Science is a transatlantic venture firm with offices in Europe and North America. It runs a dual strategy: backing early-stage therapeutics through single-asset, project-focused companies created in partnership with Eli Lilly, and investing in commercial-stage medtech, diagnostics, digital health and late-stage therapeutics. The early-stage model is designed to be capital-efficient, outsourcing much of development and building lean vehicles aimed at trade-sale exits once clinical proof of concept is reached. Therapeutic focus spans oncology, immunology, diabetes and metabolic diseases, neurodegeneration, pain, cardiovascular conditions and rare diseases
V-Bio Ventures
HQ: Gent, Belgium
Sector focus: life science
Investment stage: from early to mid stages
V-Bio Ventures is a European life sciences VC that co-creates and invests in early- to mid-stage therapeutics companies. The firm manages €186 million across two funds and emphasizes transformational science with societal impact, particularly in drug discovery and development. It sources opportunities primarily through partnerships with leading research institutions, including Belgium-based VIB, but also evaluates spinouts from other universities, entrepreneurial initiatives, and corporate R&D units across Europe. V-Bio invests in companies with differentiated technologies addressing unmet medical needs, often taking an active role in company formation and strategic guidance.
Wren Capital
HQ: London, UK
Sector focus: science, engineering, and software
Investment stage: early stages
London-based angel investor active since 2011, backing early-stage science, engineering, and software companies. The firm typically invests £50,000-£200,000 per round and has built a portfolio of over 60 companies, often co-investing alongside other angels and institutional funds. Wren looks for technically strong founders tackling complex problems in fields ranging from genome editing and medical devices to semiconductors and satellites, and takes a patient, pragmatic approach to scaling.
Ysios Capital
HQ: San Sebastián, Spain
Sector focus: life science
Investment stage: early stages
Ysios Capital is Spain’s largest dedicated life sciences VC, managing more than €375 million across offices in San Sebastián and Barcelona. Founded in 2008, the firm invests globally in biotech companies developing novel therapeutic drugs, with a focus on indications of high unmet medical need. It has backed over 40 companies to date, contributing to 19 products reaching the market and more than 60 advancing through clinical stages. The team combines scientific and financial expertise and maintains close links with European research institutions.
