8 European VC firms to watch in 2026

The numbers tell part of the story. In the UK, still Europe’s leading biotech financing market, companies raised £1.9 billion in equity financing in 2025, down 49% from 2024 according to the UK Biolndustry Association (BIA). The BIA described a difficult year, but also one where capital continued to flow into companies with convincing clinical progress and clear development plans. Across the wider venture market, 2025 was a year of recalibration for European VC, with non-AI sectors fighting harder for attention and capital.

For biotech, this reset has changed the meaning of “fundable.” Platform promises are no longer enough. Investors are looking for sharper asset strategies, cleaner routes to human proof-of-concept, and management teams that can survive a longer road to exit. The strongest rounds are increasingly built around companies that combine European science with a global financing story: differentiated biology, credible translational plans, and syndicates able to support the company beyond the first splashy announcement.

This is the backdrop against which Europe’s biotech VCs matter more than ever. In a market where capital is scarcer, the identity of the investor becomes part of the company’s strategy. The best firms are not simply writing cheques. They are helping shape assets, recruit executives, build syndicates, open doors to pharma and decide when a company should stay independent, partner or sell.

That makes 2026 a defining year. European biotech does not need another hype cycle. It needs investors with conviction, patience and the ability to turn world-class science into durable companies. 

The following eight VC firms are worth watching because they are not just responding to this new market. They are helping define it.

Methodology: Our list focuses on European venture firms that closed a new biotech fund in the last 12 months. We prioritised fund size, stage focus and demonstrated exit performance to select eight VCs that are shaping the continent’s investment landscape and are most likely to influence biotech in the year ahead.

Jeito Capital

• Headquarters: Paris, France
• Latest fund size: Jeito II – $1.2 billion (Mar 2026)
• Funding stage focus: Clinical stage to market access
• Recent exit: EyeBio, acquired by MSD for 1.3 billion upfront (2024)

Founded in 2018, Jeito Capital is a Paris-based investment firm dedicated to clinical-stage biopharma. Jeito II closed in April 2026 at roughly US$1.2 billion (more than €1 billion) and tripled the firm’s assets under management to about €1.6 billion. The fund will invest up to €150 million per company in 15–20 clinical-stage biotechs developing therapies for obesity, reproductive medicine, oncology, autoimmune disorders, neurology and cardio-metabolic diseases. Jeito has already delivered several substantial exits: EyeBio was acquired by MSD in 2024 for up to $3 billion, including $1.3 B upfront, and Hi Bio was bought by Biogen for up to $1.8 billion with $1 billion upfront. Neogene Therapeutics – Jeito’s first investment – was sold to AstraZeneca in 2022 for up to $320 million with $200 million upfront. Jeito’s ability to write large checks and shepherd companies through late clinical stages has made it a powerhouse in European biopharma investing.

Sofinnova Partners

• Headquarters: Paris, France with offices in London and Milan
• Latest fund size: Sofinnova Capital XI – €650 million (Nov 2025)
• Funding stage focus: Seed to later-stage biotech and medtech
• Recent exit: Amolyt Pharma acquired by AstraZeneca for up to $1.05 billion (2024)

Sofinnova Partners is one of Europe’s longest-standing life sciences venture firms. Headquartered in Paris with offices in London and Milan, the 50-year-old investor announced in March 2025 that it had raised €1.2 billion across its seven investment strategies in the preceding year, boosting assets under management above €4 billion and allowing it to support 50–60 new companies. Later, in November 2025, Sofinnova closed its flagship early-stage vehicle, Sofinnova Capital XI, at €650 million, bringing total fundraising across the platform to about €1.5 billion. Capital XI invests in early-stage biotech and medtech deals across Europe and North America and was oversubscribed, exceeding its €500 million target. The firm’s long track record is illustrated by recent exits such as Amolyt Pharma, acquired by AstraZeneca in 2024 for up to $1.05 billion, and earlier successes like Abynx, sold to ­Sofinova in 2018 for €3.9 billion.

Medicxi

• Headquarters: London & Geneva (offices also in Jersey)
• Latest fund size: Medicxi V – €500 million (Nov 2025)
• Funding stage focus: Discovery to pivotal studies
• Recent exit: Vicebio, acquired by Sanofi for up to $1.6 billion (2025)

Medicxi emerged from the life sciences team at Index Ventures and now operates as an independent VC with offices in London, Geneva and Jersey. Over the past decade the firm has closed six funds totalling more than €2 billion. Its latest vehicle, Medicxi V, raised €500 million in November 2025 and invests along the full drug development continuum from discovery through pivotal trials. Medicxi’s early funds produced a string of high-profile exits: Oncoethix was sold to MSD in 2014, PanGenetics went to AbbVie in 2009, and Funxional Therapeutics was acquired by Boehringer Ingelheim in 2012. More recently, ViceBio – a prophylactic RSV vaccine developer created by Medicxi – agreed to be acquired by Sanofi in July 2025 for up to $1.6 billion, including $1.15 billion upfront. By concentrating capital around clearly defined drug assets, Medicxi has become one of Europe’s clearest examples of a venture firm built less around broad platform bets and more around focused, pharma-ready programs.

Kurma Partners

• Headquarters: Paris, France
• Latest fund size: Biofund V – €215 million (Apr 2026)
• Funding stage focus: Company creation & early stage
• Recent exit: ImCheck, acquired by Ipsen for €350 million upfront (2025)

Kurma Partners is one of Europe’s most active early-stage biotech investors. Founded in 2009, it invests from company creation through later venture rounds and company growth. After closing its €215 million Biofund IV in April 2026, Kurma’s assets under management exceed €1 billion; the new fund is expected to back 16–20 companies and will deploy roughly 80 % of its capital into therapeutics. Biofund IV attracted backing from Eurazeo, CSL, the European Investment Fund and Bpifrance. Kurma’s previous funds have produced a string of high-profile exits: Amolyt Pharma was sold to AstraZeneca for up to $1.05 billion in 2024; Emergence Therapeutics was acquired by Eli Lilly in 2023 and Corlieve Therapeutics by uniQure in 2021. In October 2025, portfolio company ImCheck Therapeutics (co-owned by Kurma Biofund II and Kurma Growth Fund) agreed to be acquired by Ipsen for €350 million upfront plus contingent milestones that could lift the deal value toward €1 billion.

Forbion

• Headquarters: Naarden, Netherlands with offices in Munich (GER) and Boston (USA)
• Latest fund size: BioEconomy Fund I – €200 million (Nov 2025)
• Funding stage focus: Early to late stage
• Recent exit: RAPT Therapeutics, acquired by GSK for $2.2 billion (2026)

Netherlands-based Forbion has evolved into one of Europe’s largest life sciences investors. From its headquarters in Naarden and offices in Munich and Boston, Forbion manages roughly €5 billion across 11 funds and has invested in 129 companies spanning early-stage ventures, later-stage growth capital and its new BioEconomy strategy, focusing specifically on industrial biotech and green chemistry innovation. The firm’s recent fundraising spree included Forbion Growth Opportunities Fund III (€1.2 billion) and Ventures Fund VII (€890 million), both closed in October 2024, and BioEconomy Fund I (€200 million) closed in November 2025. Forbion’s reputation is bolstered by a string of billion-dollar exits: GSK agreed to buy RAPT Therapeutics for $2.2 billion in January 2026 and ­Capstan Therapeutics was sold to AbbVie in June 2025 for $2.1 billion, the largest payment ever for a preclinical biotech.

Ysios Capital

• Headquarters: San Sebastian and Barcelona (Spain)
• Latest fund size: InceptionBio – €100 million, not final (Mar 2026)
• Funding stage focus: Early- and mid-stage
• Recent exit: Neurona Therapeutics, acquired by UCB for up to $1.15 billion/€1 billion (2026)

Ysios Capital is a leading Spanish life sciences investor with offices in Barcelona and San Sebastián. Founded in 2008, it manages more than €400 million across its funds. In March 2026, the firm launched InceptionBio, a €100 million target fund aimed at creating biotech companies; the fund has completed a first closing and plans to build at least three new companies in 2026. InceptionBio focuses on identifying, developing and spinning out high-quality science, particularly within Spain. This company creation strategy complements Ysios’ existing early and mid-stage investing. The firm has backed more than 40 biotech companies, achieved six NASDAQ exits and ten M&A transactions. Notable exits include Prexton Therapeutics (sold to Lundbeck for up to €905 million) and Neurona Therapeutics, which UCB agreed to acquire in April 2026 for up to $1.15 billion.

Vi Partners

• Headquarters: Altendorf, Switzerland
• Latest fund size: Vi-26 – CHF 150 million (Jan 2026)
• Funding stage focus: Early stage & Series A
• Recent exit: Araris, acquired by Taiho Pharma for up to $1.14 billion (2025)

Vi Partners is Switzerland’s longest-established venture capital firm and has backed healthcare and technology companies for more than 25 years. The firm announced the first close of its new flagship fund in January 2026, targeting CHF 150 million and focused on early- stage and Series A investments. While broader than pure biotech, its healthcare strategy covers biotech, medtech and digital health, making it relevant to Europe’s life sciences investment landscape. Since 2001, Vi Partners has invested CHF 400 million in 72 startups and is backed by major Swiss institutions and companies including ETH Zurich, ABB, UBS, Nestlé and ZKB. Its healthcare track record includes AMAL Therapeutics, Kuros Biosciences, Oculis and Araris Biotech.

HealthCap

• Headquarters: Stockholm, Sweden, with an office in Lausanne, Switzerland
• Latest fund size: HealthCap IX – Not disclosed (Aug 25)
• Funding stage focus: Early to mid-stage
• Recent exit: Fusion Pharma, acquired by AstraZeneca for up to $2.4bn (2024)

HealthCap is one of Europe’s longest-running specialist life sciences venture firms. Founded in 1996, the firm has raised nine funds since inception. HealthCap IX held its final close in August 2025, with commitments exceeding the fund’s target, and earlier in the year Novo Holdings and EIFO committed €48 million to the vehicle to strengthen the Nordic life sciences ecosystem. The firm has backed and built more than 130 companies, taken more than 45 public and completed numerous trade sales. Its investment strategy focuses on diseases with high unmet medical need. A recent standout exit was Fusion Pharmaceuticals, a radiopharmaceuticals company acquired by AstraZeneca in 2024 for up to $2.4bn.