Forbion follows string of startup exits with $2.2B fundraise

Dive Brief:

• European life sciences venture firm Forbion on Tuesday said it has raised 2 billion euros, or more than $2.2 billion, for two of its newest investment funds.
• Forbion Growth Opportunities III pulled in 1.2 billion euros, while Forbion Ventures VII secured 890 million euros. Both funds exceeded their original targets, bringing the firm’s total assets under management to over 5 billion euros.
• Forbion’s growth fund is focused on later-stage biotechnology companies in North America and Europe. Its venture fund, meanwhile, primarily invests in earlier therapeutics startups, including new companies the firm forms. The two funds will each invest in about 15 companies, according to Forbion.

Dive Insight:

Forbion has been a steady supporter of young biotechnology companies at a time when investment into the sector has gone alternatively hot and cold.

In its Tuesday announcement, the firm said it has 58 active investments and has led or co-led 88% of initial investment rounds of 26 companies across its two funds. Many of those investments have been made in a difficult climate for drug startups, with venture firms often favoring safer bets. Forbion has made 128 investments since launching more than two decades ago.

“We are delighted to have achieved this record fundraising against a backdrop of volatile market conditions,” said Robbert van de Griendt, the firm’s general partner of investor relations and impact, in the statement.

The latest capital infusion surpasses Forbion’s last fundraise in April 2023, when it brought in about 1.4 billion euros for its previous venture and growth funds. It also follows a string of recent pharmaceutical company acquisitions of Forbion-backed firms.

One of Forbion’s portfolio companies, lung drug developer Aiolos Bio, was acquired by GSK for $1 billion in January. Radiopharmaceuticals specialist Mariana Oncology and antibody drugmaker Yellow Jersey Therapeutics were also snapped up this year in deals worth $1 billion or more. The firm said it has had a total of six investment “exits” of at least $1 billion in the last 12 months.

Forbion has parlayed those returns into a larger funding haul, which it intends to use to boost the number and size of biotech financings it will participate in moving forward.

“With greater levels of capital, we are able to extend more support to our portfolio companies as they grow and seek to maximize their potential,” said managing partner and co-founder Sander Slootweg, in the announcement.

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