Lisbon, Portugal · Venture Capital Armilar Venture Partners is a Lisbon-based venture capital firm that spun out from Portugal's Novabase group in 2016, building on a venture investment track record dating back to 2001. The firm invests from seed through growth stage in deep tech, enterprise IT, and healthcare, with a focus on Portuguese and Iberian founders with global ambitions. Armilar manages over EUR 200M and has backed companies including Feedzai (AI fraud detection unicorn), Outsystems, Sword Health, and Codacy. The team provides strategic support in US market entry and international scaling.
Nicosia, Cyprus · Person Dr. Artemis Kontou is a Senior Researcher and Entrepreneur at KIOS Center of Excellence at the University of Cyprus, where she applies deep learning methodologies to healthcare diagnostics and monitoring challenges. She is the founder of Tseepor and co-founder of Malloc, a cybersecurity startup, demonstrating her trajectory from academic research to technology entrepreneurship. She is a confirmed speaker at the Cyprus AI Expo 2026, representing the intersection of AI research and startup building within the Cyprus innovation ecosystem.
Mainz, Germany · Startup BioNTech is a Mainz-based biotechnology company founded in 2008 by Ugur Sahin and Ozlem Tureci, a husband-and-wife team of immunologists, alongside Christoph Huber. Originally focused on individualized mRNA cancer immunotherapies, BioNTech gained global prominence through its partnership with Pfizer to develop one of the first approved COVID-19 vaccines (Comirnaty), which generated tens of billions in revenue. The company is publicly traded on NASDAQ and continues to invest heavily in its oncology pipeline, infectious disease vaccines, and next-generation mRNA therapeutics.
Paris, France · Startup Bioptimus is the self-proclaimed "Mistral of Biology," spun out in early 2024 by a team of alumni from Google DeepMind and Owkin, including CEO Jean-Philippe Vert. The company is building what it calls the first universal foundation model for biology. Where large language models were trained on text to learn human language, Bioptimus trains on biological data—DNA sequences, protein structures, cellular imagery, and clinical phenotypes—to infer the underlying rules of life. The ambition is not just better predictions but a unified biological reasoning layer that can simulate outcomes before expensive lab work happens.
By 2026, Bioptimus has moved from a research thesis to early commercial traction. After a $41M Series A in 2025, the company released its first commercial model that can predict how a specific molecule will interact with a human cell with unusually high accuracy. This enables in-silico screening that reduces wet-lab costs and improves hit rates for drug discovery. French pharma leaders such as Sanofi have begun using these models to prioritize compounds and compress early-stage discovery timelines. The product value is immediate: fewer failed experiments, faster candidate selection, and deeper mechanistic insight.
Bioptimus' roadmap focuses on "multi-scale biology," connecting the micro level (genomics and proteomics) to the macro level (patient outcomes and clinical data). Rather than being limited to protein folding, the models aim to bridge across data modalities so a genetic mutation can be linked to disease pathways, tissue behavior, and potential therapeutic interventions. This requires data breadth and regulatory trust, and Bioptimus is building a defensive moat through European data sovereignty. It leverages partnerships with European research hospitals and biobanks to access high-quality patient data that is difficult for US competitors to acquire under GDPR constraints. That compliance burden becomes a competitive advantage: safer access, better provenance, and stronger alignment with European health data governance.
The company remains deeply embedded in the Paris ecosystem. It was incubated inside Owkin before spinning out, maintains a presence around Station F, and benefits from the cross-pollination between French AI and biotech communities. Its investor base reflects that positioning: Sofinnova Partners, Bpifrance, Cathay Innovation, Xavier Niel, and Frst provide a blend of life-science expertise, sovereign capital, and deep-tech conviction. In 2026, Bioptimus is the clearest European bet that foundation models can unlock biology at scale—and a contender to become the default AI layer for drug discovery in Europe.
Vilnius, Lithuania · Venture Capital Coinvest Capital is a state-backed co-investment fund established in 2018 as a 100% subsidiary of the National Development Bank ILTE, itself owned by Lithuania's Ministry of Finance, and co-funded by the European Union. The fund's model requires all investments to be made alongside accredited business angels or other VC funds, splitting upside in favour of private co-investors to grow Lithuania's angel ecosystem. With €44.3 million in committed capital, it has deployed over €25.9 million into 51 portfolio companies spanning AI, climate, biotech, defence, and frontier tech. Since 2023 it has earmarked roughly €6.8 million specifically for aerospace, defence, and dual-use startups, making it one of the earliest European sovereign funds to lean into defence tech.
Tuebingen, Germany · Startup CureVac is a biopharmaceutical company based in Tuebingen, Germany, founded in 2000 as a pioneer in mRNA technology. The company was one of the earliest to explore messenger RNA as a therapeutic platform, long before mRNA became a household term during the COVID-19 pandemic. While its first-generation COVID vaccine candidate underperformed in clinical trials, CureVac pivoted to next-generation mRNA technologies and partnered with GSK on a second-generation COVID vaccine and other infectious disease programs. The company is publicly traded on NASDAQ and continues developing its proprietary mRNA optimization platform.
Stockholm, Sweden · Angel Investor Daniel Ek is the co-founder and CEO of Spotify, the world's largest music streaming platform, which he launched in 2006 and took public on the NYSE in 2018. Outside Spotify, Ek is an active angel investor and a key figure in Stockholm's thriving tech ecosystem. Through his personal investments and Prima Materia, his private investment firm, Ek backs early-stage European startups across healthcare, AI, defense tech, and consumer technology. He invested EUR 100M into Prima Materia to support moonshot companies working on some of Europe's hardest problems. Ek has also backed several Nordic startups directly as an angel, and his presence in the ecosystem has helped attract global attention and talent to Sweden's startup scene. He is widely regarded as one of the most successful European tech founders of his generation.
Sofia, Bulgaria · Venture Capital Founded in 2012 by Daniel Tomov, Dilyan Dimitrov, Ivaylo Simov, and Jon Bradford, Eleven Ventures is one of Bulgaria's oldest and most active pre-seed and seed funds, with 170+ investments across South-Eastern Europe over 13 years. Its third fund (Eleven Fund III) closed at €60M in January 2022 backed by the EIF and 60+ individual LPs, targeting fintech, healthcare, future of work, sustainable food, and ecomtech. Notable exits and portfolio names include Payhawk, Quantive (formerly Gtmhub), SMSBump (acquired by Yotpo), Dronamics, and NitroPack. The first fund was listed on the Bulgarian Stock Exchange in 2020 via a spin-out called Eleven Capital.
Zagreb, Croatia · Venture Capital Feelsgood Capital was founded in 2019 and officially licensed by the Croatian Financial Services Supervisory Agency on June 10, 2020, making it the first social impact investment fund in Croatia and the third VC to launch in the country with an entirely Croatian team. Led by Managing Partners Renata Brkić, Domagoj Oreb, Vedran Blagus, and Dinko Novoselec, the fund manages approximately €30 million targeting Croatian and Slovenian ventures. It backs pre-seed through Series A companies delivering measurable social impact in financial inclusion, agriculture, circular economy, education, and healthcare. Portfolio companies include GameBoost and VIDI X, with roughly 12 investments to date.
Reykjavik, Iceland · Venture Capital Frumtak Ventures is Iceland's oldest active venture capital firm, founded in 2008 with a mandate to back local innovation with global potential. The firm takes a concentrated, high-conviction approach from seed through later growth stages, partnering closely with founders across AI, healthcare, logistics, energy, climate, and ocean-tech. Its fourth fund, closed in July 2024 at $87 million and oversubscribed, is primarily backed by Icelandic pension funds. The portfolio of 34 companies includes notable companies such as Controlant (pharma cold-chain) and Sidekick Health (digital therapeutics).
Lisbon, Portugal · Accelerator Launched 2017. Corporate venture program connecting startups with the Jose de Mello Group in healthcare, energy, and infrastructure. Support: pilot agreements, corporate guidance, and potential customer contracts. Scope: National.
Stockholm, Sweden · Person Gunilla Osswald is CEO of BioArctic AB, a Swedish biotechnology company focused on neurodegenerative diseases including Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease. BioArctic co-developed lecanemab, marketed as Leqembi, a groundbreaking amyloid-targeting antibody therapy approved for early Alzheimer's disease in partnership with Eisai. She is one of the most prominent biotech executives in the Nordic region, leading a company that achieved a major therapeutic milestone.
Goldach, Switzerland · Support Organization Health Tech Cluster Switzerland (HTCS) is a Swiss networking organization that unites health technology manufacturers, suppliers, research institutions, service providers, and investors on a shared platform, with 192 network members. The cluster facilitates innovation and knowledge exchange across Switzerland's health tech ecosystem through events, publications, and member networking, led by Chairman Dr. iur. Christian Wind. Stefan Leuthold serves as Cluster Manager and represents HTCS on the Swiss Medtech Expo trade fair committee as an official industry partner.
Amsterdam, Netherlands · Venture Capital INKEF Capital is an Amsterdam-based venture capital firm launched in 2010 with backing from APG, one of the world's largest pension fund asset managers. The firm manages over EUR 500M and invests at Series A in healthcare, enterprise software, and fintech companies across Europe. INKEF typically writes checks of EUR 3-10M and takes board seats, providing patient institutional capital with a long-term investment horizon. The portfolio includes companies like Adyen (early investor), Meatable, and MessageBird. INKEF's unique LP structure gives it the ability to support companies through extended growth cycles without typical fund-life pressure.
Turin & Milan, Italy · Accelerator Founded in 2007, Innogest Capital is a Turin and Milan-based early-stage VC managing over EUR 150M across funds focused on technology and life sciences. The firm invests EUR 0.5-5M at Series A in digital platforms, IoT, healthcare, and industrial tech. Notable portfolio companies include Genenta Science (IPO on Nasdaq), Musement (acquired by TUI), and Pharmacell. Innogest is one of Italy's pioneer independent VC firms with deep networks in the Piedmont and Lombardy tech ecosystems.
Sofia, Bulgaria · Venture Capital Innovation Capital is a Sofia-based venture capital fund with €21.1 million under management, established in 2019. The fund provides equity and quasi-equity funding to Bulgarian startups at acceleration, pre-seed, and seed stages. It is sector-agnostic with particular interest in enterprise software, e-commerce, fintech, healthcare, logistics, and cybersecurity. Innovation Capital is co-funded through EU structural funds and focuses on disruptive, scalable Bulgarian-founded businesses.
Paris, France · Person Co-founder and CEO of Alan, the French digital health insurer he started in 2016 to rebuild health cover around a simple app and preventive care. Under him Alan became one of France's most valuable fintechs, backed by Index, Coatue and Temasek.
Stockholm, Sweden · Person Jessica Martinsson is Director General and CEO of SwedenBIO, Sweden's national trade association for the life science sector representing biotech, pharmaceutical, and medtech companies. She leads the organization that owns and produces Nordic Life Science Days, the largest partnering event in the Nordic life science industry. She advocates for Swedish life science competitiveness and innovation policy at national and EU levels.
Stockholm, Sweden · Venture Capital Kinnevik is a Stockholm-based growth-stage investment company listed on Nasdaq Stockholm that backs innovative digital businesses in healthcare, software, consumer, and climate sectors. Originally a traditional Swedish industrial conglomerate founded in 1936, Kinnevik transformed into a focused growth investor and was an early backer of companies like Zalando, Tele2, and Millicom. The firm manages a portfolio valued at several billion euros and takes concentrated positions in companies it believes can become category leaders. Kinnevik provides patient capital with a long-term orientation unusual among European growth investors.
Stockholm, Sweden · Startup Kry is a Stockholm-based digital healthcare company founded in 2014 that connects patients with doctors, nurses and psychologists through video and app-based consultations, and also runs physical clinics in some markets. Known as Livi outside the Nordics, it operates in Sweden, Norway, France, Germany and the United Kingdom and became one of Europe's most funded digital health companies.
Zurich, Switzerland · Person Chief Digital and Information Officer at Sandoz, a global generics and biosimilars company, with a career leading large-scale digital transformation across pharmaceutical and technology organizations. She is an announced keynote speaker at the 2026 #wetechtogether Conference in Zurich.
Porto, Portugal · Person President and CEO of Portugal Ventures for the 2025–2027 term, leading Portugal's state-backed early-stage venture firm within the Banco Português de Fomento group. He oversees the firm's pre-seed to Series A investments across technology, health and tourism startups nationwide.
Warsaw, Poland · Person Partner at Inovo Venture Partners, one of Poland's leading early-stage funds. Before venture capital he was COO at Booksy and held roles at foodpanda and Rocket Internet, giving him operational depth in marketplaces and e-commerce; his investment focus includes B2B and healthcare.
Zagreb, Croatia · Startup Mindsmiths is a Zagreb-based AI company developing an Autonomous Support System (ASS) platform that enables digital products to make independent decisions and engage users proactively. The platform has been deployed in healthcare (chronic patient support) and banking (financial advisory). Mindsmiths raised EUR 1.2 million in 2021 from Feelsgood Capital, with CEO Mislav Malenica also serving as president of the Croatian AI Association.
Berlin, Germany · Event Dedicated summit in Berlin for mRNA-based therapeutics, bringing together pharma executives, biotech researchers, and clinical development leaders. Covers R&D breakthroughs, manufacturing scale-up, and regulatory pathways for mRNA technologies in Europe. Relevant for biotech startups working on next-generation mRNA platforms and delivery systems.
Brussels, Belgium · Person Niklas Blomberg is Executive Director of the Innovative Health Initiative (IHI), a major public-private partnership joint undertaking established by the European Union and EFPIA with approximately €2 billion in funding for health research and innovation. He oversees one of Europe's most significant health R&D programmes, bridging academia, industry, regulators, and patient organisations. He is a key figure in European health innovation policy and ecosystem building.
Hellerup, Denmark · Venture Capital Novo Holdings is the investment arm of the Novo Nordisk Foundation and the largest life science investor in Denmark. It backs biotech, medtech, and health innovation across seed, venture, and growth stages while also managing the foundation's long term ownership in Novo Nordisk and Novozymes. The firm provides patient capital, deep scientific expertise, and global networks for founders building therapies, diagnostics, and industrial biotech solutions. Novo Holdings is a cornerstone of the Danish life science ecosystem.
Paris, France · Startup Owkin is a Paris-based AI biotech founded in 2016 that applies machine learning and federated learning across hospital and pharmaceutical datasets to discover drug targets, develop diagnostics and de-risk clinical trials. It partners with pharmaceutical companies including Sanofi and Bristol Myers Squibb, reached unicorn status, and has more recently launched agentic AI tools for biopharma research.
Graz, Austria · Startup Predicting Health develops AI-based clinical risk prediction tools that analyze patient data to support early intervention and improve care quality. The company is a spin-off from the KAGes Data Science Team in Graz and operates in the same category as platforms like PIPRA.
Zagreb, Croatia · Venture Capital Prosperus Invest was founded in 2010 in Zagreb as a growth equity and private equity fund manager focused on expansion-stage SMEs across Croatia and the broader Adriatic region. Led by Joško Miliša and Partner Luka Orešković, the firm has grown assets under management approximately 4× to around €200 million. Its flagship Prosperus Growth fund (first close ~€50 million, backed by EIF and HBOR under the CROGIP program) commits at least 75% to Croatian SMEs in IT, hospitality, renewables, healthcare, and publishing, with notable investments including IntechOpen (scientific open-access publishing, Rijeka) and Neos (data analytics and cloud IT services).
Graz, Austria · Startup RobotDreams is a Graz-based healthtech startup founded in 2022 that develops AI diagnostics software analyzing blood biomarker data to accelerate detection of acute conditions such as acute coronary syndrome. The platform aims to reduce diagnostic turnaround times in emergency departments by applying machine learning to in-vitro diagnostics results, helping clinicians make faster triage decisions. RobotDreams competes in the growing AI-enabled clinical diagnostics space and targets hospitals, laboratories, and emergency-care providers across Europe.
Warsaw, Poland · Angel Investor Business Angel Debutant of the Year (2021) and former CEO of Gemini Polska as well as former president of PZU Życie. Roman transitioned from top-level corporate leadership into startup investing with a focus on business transformation and commercial execution. He primarily backs startups in healthcare, insurance, and business transformation, bringing operator-level support in sales strategy and scaling.
Munich, Germany · Accelerator The Siemens Technology Accelerator (STA) is a unique corporate accelerator program run by Siemens AG since 2001, aimed at spinning out non-core technologies from Siemens’ R&D into independent startups. Based in Munich, STA essentially identifies promising internal innovations (often developed at Siemens Corporate Technology labs) that don’t fit Siemens’ core business, and forms new ventures around them. STA provides seed funding, co-founding management, and access to Siemens’ infrastructure to these ventures, effectively acting as a venture builder. Over its history, the Siemens Technology Accelerator has spun out more than 12 companies across sectors like energy, industrial automation, healthcare, and materials. Notable spin-offs include MetisMotion (advanced actuators), Magazino (warehouse robotics – which STA helped early on), and Epiqo (a digital twin software). One high-profile case is Rethink Robotics GmbH: in 2020, STA helped relaunch assets of Rethink Robotics (the US cobot pioneer) in a joint venture, integrating it with Siemens technology. The typical STA project starts with identifying a tech with market potential. STA then recruits external entrepreneurs or Siemens intrapreneurs to lead the startup, develops a business plan, secures intellectual property rights (license or assign IP from Siemens to the newco), and provides initial funding (often low millions of euros). Siemens often remains a minority shareholder and provides pilot customers or manufacturing help. The time from project inception to an independent company launch is around 18–24 months. STA’s model addresses a common big-corporate problem: great inventions that don’t make it to market. By essentially incubating startups from within, Siemens both creates value from dormant IP and fosters innovation culture. Many STA spin-outs go on to raise venture capital or get acquired. For example, Ionity (an EV charging network) was seeded by Siemens’ STA and later became a major joint venture with automakers. The Siemens Technology Accelerator operates with a small specialized team and has won awards for corporate venturing. It serves as a best-practice example of how large industrial firms can proactively spin off new ventures rather than let R&D sit on a shelf. In essence, STA extends Siemens’ innovation beyond its core by unleashing startups that bring cutting-edge tech (like novel sensors, new materials, etc.) to the broader market.
Yerevan, Armenia · Venture Capital SmartGateVC is a pre-seed and seed deep-tech venture fund co-headquartered in Yerevan and Glendale, California, founded in 2018. It focuses on AI applied to healthcare, biotech, security, and IoT, and manages a portfolio of over 40 companies. The fund is backed by Tim Draper and One Way Ventures, and the majority of its portfolio companies leverage Armenia for R&D operations.
Leipzig, Germany · Accelerator Founded 2014. Six-month program for entrepreneurial teams with coworking, mentoring, and technology partners; alumni include energy and healthcare startups. Support: mentorship, workspace, partner resources. Scope: Regional (East Germany).
Stockholm, Sweden · Event Organisator SwedenBIO is Sweden's national trade and interest organization for the life science industry, representing biotechnology, pharmaceutical, and medtech companies. Through its commercial arm SwedenBIO Service AB, it owns and produces Nordic Life Science Days (NLSDays), the largest Nordic partnering event for the life sciences sector. The organization advocates for Swedish life science competitiveness, innovation policy, and industry development at national and international levels.
Bern, Switzerland · Support Organization Swiss Medtech is the leading Swiss industry association for medical technology, representing member companies engaged in the development, manufacturing, and distribution of medical devices and in vitro diagnostics. The association advocates for regulatory and political conditions favorable to the medtech sector in Switzerland and internationally. It serves as an official industry partner of the Swiss Medtech Expo and is represented on the event's trade fair committee by its Director, Adrian Hunn.
Lucerne, Switzerland · Event Switzerland's leading biennial medtech trade fair for development, manufacturing and supply, organized by Messe Luzern. Around two hundred exhibitors plus a conference and innovation program draw engineers, manufacturers, suppliers and medtech startups. It is relevant to medtech founders for sourcing, partnerships and showcasing solutions in one of Switzerland's strongest industrial clusters.
Athens, Greece · Venture Capital Uni.Fund was founded in 2018 in Athens by Katerina Pramatari (Professor at Athens University of Economics and Business), Panos Lioulias, Sotiris Papantonopoulos, and Stelios Eliakis, with backing from the EquiFund programme. Fund I deployed €30M into 23 pre-seed and seed companies commercialising research from universities and research institutions across Greece and Europe. Uni.Fund II launched in 2023 with a €50M target, extending the same thesis to spin-offs and deep-tech startups at pre-seed through early Series A. Focus sectors include IoT, fintech, healthcare, robotics, and SaaS.
Stockholm, Sweden · Support Organization Vinnova is Sweden's innovation agency, responsible for fostering sustainable growth through research, development, and innovation. It distributes approximately SEK 3 billion annually in grants and co-funding to businesses, universities, research institutes, and public organizations across Sweden. Vinnova is a key government body enabling innovation in life sciences, digital health, and technology, and served as a Spotlight Panel Host at Nordic Life Science Days 2026.
Berlin, Germany · Event The World Health Summit is one of the world's leading strategic forums for global health, held annually in Berlin under the patronage of the German government. The event convenes senior leaders from politics, science, the private sector and civil society. For founders it is a high-level networking and policy stage relevant to digital health, medtech and life sciences ventures.
Berlin, Germany · Event Organisator Foundation under Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin that organizes the annual World Health Summit, one of the world's leading strategic forums for global health. Held in Berlin under the patronage of the German government, it convenes leaders from politics, science, the private sector and civil society.