Dutch haul comes despite European drugmakers and investors warning the region is losing ground
By Xavier Martinez
Forbion, a Netherlands-based venture firm that is one of Europe's largest biotech investors, has raised 2.3 billion euros, or about $2.6 billion, in the largest life-sciences venture raise in Europe this year.
About 60% of the money came from European investors and 40% from North American ones, Forbion said. Backers include Dutch pension managers MN and PGGM, Germany's KfW Capital and Eli Lilly. The new raise brings Forbion's total assets under management to about 7.5 billion euros, or $8.5 billion, up 50% from two years ago.
Forbion invests in life-sciences companies primarily in Europe and North America across a range of therapeutic areas.
The raise comes as Europe's drug industry leaders are sounding an alarm. Last month, the chairs of nine drugmakers, including AstraZeneca, GSK, Novartis, Roche Holding and Sanofi, published an open letter warning that Europe is losing the race for pharmaceutical investment. Europe's share of global drug research has fallen to 31% from 43% in 1990, they said, as China, for one, is aggressively building up its biotech muscle. The signatories are pushing for European governments to spend more on medicines.
Venture capital shows a much larger gap. European funds hold 7% of the global life-sciences venture market, compared with 63% for the U.S., according to the European Life Sciences Coalition, of which Forbion is a member. Of 67 European Union-based biotech companies that went public in the past six years, nearly all listed outside the EU, the group says.
"There's a lot of debate about making available more capital [in Europe]," said Sander Slootweg, Forbion's co-founder and managing partner. "What we're seeing here are the first signs of that."
Other European deals are happening. Paris-based, biotech-focused Jeito Capital closed a $1.2 billion fund in March, the largest European venture raise through the second quarter, according to PitchBook. London-based Isomorphic Labs, which uses AI to design drugs, raised $2.1 billion in May.
Still, European venture fundraising overall posted its weakest annual total in a decade in 2025, PitchBook said, and this year's recovery is favoring established players such as Forbion instead of helping seed a new crop of investors.