Healthcare startup ecosystem
We track 42 organisations in this sector across 6+ countries.
Showing 1–20 of 42 Healthcare
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Healthcare results
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Armilar Venture Partners
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.
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Artemis Kontou
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.
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BioNTech
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.
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Bioptimus
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.
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Coinvest 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.
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CureVac
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.
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Daniel Ek
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.
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Eleven Ventures
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.
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Feelsgood 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.
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Frumtak Ventures
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).
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Grow by Jose de Mello
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.
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Gunilla Osswald
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.
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Health Tech Cluster Switzerland
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.
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INKEF 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.
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Innogest Capital
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.
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Innovation 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.
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Jean-Charles Samuelian-Werve
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.
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Jessica Martinsson
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.
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Kinnevik
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.
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Kry
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.
