Life Sciences startup ecosystem
We track 51 organisations in this sector across 6+ countries.
Showing 1–20 of 51 Life Sciences
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Life Sciences results
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Azafaros
Azafaros is a clinical-stage biotech company developing oral therapies for rare genetic metabolic disorders, including lysosomal diseases. Its lead development strategy focuses on compounds designed to cross the blood-brain barrier and address severe neurological progression in underserved pediatric conditions.
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BioFIT 2026
Europe's leading partnering event for early-stage life-sciences innovation and technology transfer, in its 15th edition at Parc Chanot in Marseille. Built around one-on-one partnering meetings, it is ideal for biotech and medtech founders seeking licensing deals, academic collaborations, and early investors.
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BIOSPAIN 2026
One of Europe's largest biotech partnering events, in its 13th edition and run by industry association AseBio, known for its high volume of one-to-one investor and company meetings. Essential for biotech and life-sciences founders raising capital or seeking pharma and research partners.
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BSV Ventures
BSV Ventures (formerly Baltic Sandbox Ventures) is an early-stage VC firm focused on deep tech, life sciences, and dual-use technologies across the Baltic region, with offices in Lithuania, Estonia, and Finland. It was founded in 2018 and offers both an incubation program and direct investment, writing pre-seed cheques up to €125,000 and seed cheques up to €400,000. In 2024 the firm closed a €15 million fund backed by NATO Innovation Fund and the Lithuanian national development institution ILTE. It has made over 27 investments.
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CDP Venture Capital SGR
Founded in 2015 as the National Innovation Fund (Fondo Nazionale Innovazione) and wholly owned by Cassa Depositi e Prestiti, CDP Venture Capital SGR is the largest venture capital operator in Italy and one of the biggest in Europe, deploying capital through a family of direct and fund-of-funds vehicles with a combined target allocation of over €3.3 billion in its 2024–2028 business plan. It operates across the full lifecycle — from seed (Italia Venture I/II) through growth (Large Ventures, target €700 million) and ecosystem development (VenturItaly II FoF, target €700 million) — covering deep tech, life sciences, digital transition, and sustainability. The portfolio spans 246+ companies, with notable names including Everli and Arduino; its fund-of-funds arms back virtually every significant Italian VC manager. As a state-backed anchor LP and direct co-investor, CDP acts as the cornerstone of the national innovation ecosystem.
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Elypta
Elypta (Elypta AB) is a Solna-based biotech company developing a metabolism-based liquid biopsy, the MIRAM Kit, for early cancer detection. It measures the GAGome, a set of systemic biomarkers of tumor metabolism in urine, and applies machine learning to noninvasively detect cancer signatures. Elypta is a main partner in the EU-funded PREDI-LYNCH project, a pan-European hereditary multi-cancer screening initiative for people with Lynch Syndrome that received EUR 13.6 million in EU funding, and it has completed the largest kidney cancer recurrence monitoring study using its urine test. The company holds ISO 13485:2016 certification.
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Emma Johnson
Emma Johnson is Senior Principal at M Ventures, the corporate venture capital arm of Merck KGaA, one of the world's leading science and technology companies. Based in the Netherlands, M Ventures invests globally in life sciences, healthcare, and biotechnology, and Emma focuses on identifying and supporting early- to mid-stage biotech companies across Europe and beyond. She is an active participant in the European life science VC ecosystem.
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Ester Sklarsky
Ester Sklarsky is Principal at Sound Bioventures, a Nordic life science venture capital firm specializing in early-stage biotechnology, pharmaceutical, and medtech companies in Scandinavia and the broader European region. She is an active investor and participant in the Nordic life science investment community. Sound Bioventures is one of the leading dedicated life science VCs focused on the Nordic ecosystem.
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Eyrir Sprotar
Eyrir Sprotar is the seed and early-stage venture fund managed by Eyrir Invest, a Reykjavik-based international investment company with a 25-year track record. The fund, launched in 2012 and formalized in 2015, backs promising Icelandic ventures targeting international markets, with typical investment sizes around €3 million. Eyrir Invest is best known as a major long-term shareholder in Marel, the global food processing equipment manufacturer.
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Forbion
Forbion is a leading European life sciences venture capital firm headquartered in Naarden, Netherlands, managing approximately €5 billion across multiple fund strategies covering all stages of biopharmaceutical drug development. The firm has a team of over 30 investment professionals and a track record of more than 130 investments across 11 funds, resulting in numerous approved therapies and successful public exits. Its newest funds—Forbion Growth Opportunities III (€1.2 billion) and Forbion Ventures VII (€890 million)—represent its largest capital raise to date.
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GenePlanet
GenePlanet was founded in 2008 by Marko Bitenc and Nina Šterk and is the leading European provider of preventive genetic tests, including non-invasive prenatal testing (NIPT), cancer screening, and lifestyle DNA tests. The company cooperates with more than 500 clinics, hospitals, and insurance firms worldwide and markets its products under brands including NutriFit. In July 2023 GenePlanet closed a €20 million Series B round led by BlackPeak Capital, bringing total funding to approximately $34 million. It was ranked among the 1,000 fastest-growing companies in Europe by the Financial Times.
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Genesis 2026
The 26th edition of One Nucleus's flagship London life-science networking conference, themed around maximising returns from life-science innovation. For a biotech or life-science founder it is a focused day of partnering and investor networking within the UK life-sciences cluster.
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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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HealthCap
HealthCap is one of Europe's largest dedicated life science venture capital firms, headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden. Founded in 1997, the firm invests in biotech, pharmaceutical, and medical device companies across the Nordic region and internationally. HealthCap has backed numerous successful life science companies over more than two decades and manages multiple funds with a strong track record in European biotech.
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Hemab Therapeutics
Hemab is a clinical-stage biotech company developing prophylactic therapies for severe bleeding and thrombotic disorders. Founded by biotech operators with Novo Nordisk roots, the company engineers antibody-based treatments aimed at preventing episodes before they occur in underserved rare-disease populations.
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High-Tech Gruenderfonds (HTGF)
High-Tech Gruenderfonds (HTGF) is Germany’s public-private seed investor. In 2022 it launched HTGF IV with about EUR 493m, backed by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs, KfW Capital, and 45 corporate LPs including BASF, Bayer, Bosch, and SAP. HTGF focuses on high-tech, industrial tech, chemistry, and life sciences and is a cornerstone early-stage fund in Germany.
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Industrifonden
Industrifonden is one of the Nordics' longest-established venture capital firms, an evergreen fund based in Stockholm that invests in early-stage Nordic technology and life-science companies. Founded in 1979, it takes a long-term, evergreen approach, recycling returns into new investments and backing deep-tech, industrial and health startups.
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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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IST cube
IST cube is an early-stage, deep-tech venture capital firm and incubator connected to the Institute of Science and Technology Austria (ISTA) near Vienna. It invests seed capital in science-based startups, particularly in artificial intelligence, life sciences and other frontier technologies, and supports founders spinning research out of academia into companies.
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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.
