Biotech and pharma in Europe

What counts as biotech and pharma here

Any company developing therapeutics, drugs, biomaterials or drug-discovery platforms – clinical and preclinical biotech, industrial and microbiome biotech, longevity and age-related disease research, CDMO and bioprocessing, and drug delivery. We exclude medtech devices and diagnostics hardware, which sit under Medtech and devices, and pure software for healthcare providers, which sits under Digital health – though several funds on this desk, such as Seventure and Apollo Health Ventures, deliberately invest across both.

Family: Health
Coverage since: 2015
Desks: 4 of 4
Reviewed: 21 Sep 2026

The four desks

Each is a live, filterable data page – the numbers move weekly

Ranked list

Biotech and pharma events 2027

Five events across Europe's regional life-sciences clusters – Pharmapack in Paris, BIOSPAIN in Bilbao, and partnering-format shows in the Baltics and Italy.

Live data

Funding rounds

46 rounds tracked, with four fresh pre-seed to Series A rounds in the past two weeks – the most active recent pace of any vertical built so far.

Verified funds

Investors

20 funds – RA Capital's $14.4B global platform down to age1's longevity specialism and Seventure's microbiome focus.

Startup directory

131 companies spanning drug discovery, biomaterials, microbiome and longevity science.

The 3 sub-themes

These are the tags actually applied to records in this vertical

Drug discovery platforms CDMO and bioprocessing Oncology

The debate

One question the data raises directly – with a verdict

Does funding stage tell you anything about how far along a biotech actually is?

CONNECTA Therapeutics raised a Series A – normally an early-stage label – while its lead programme is already in Phase IIa clinical trials, a point at which a software company would typically be well into revenue and scaling. Meanwhile several pre-seed and seed rounds on this desk fund platforms with no clinical asset at all.

The case forFunding stage still tracks dilution and ownership structure consistently across sectors – a Series A means roughly the same thing for governance and cap table regardless of industry, which is useful comparability for an investor scanning across verticals.

The case againstFor a founder or journalist trying to gauge actual company risk and maturity, funding-stage labels are actively misleading in biotech. A Series A therapeutics company in Phase IIa carries a completely different risk profile from a Series A software company with paying customers – lumping them under the same label obscures more than it reveals.

Where we land: Treat funding stage on this desk as a capital-structure label, not a maturity signal – and read the company description for the real story. Sesamers will start noting clinical trial phase directly on records where it is public and verified, since that is the number that actually indicates biotech company risk.

Who to know

Start on these records

RA RA Capital Management $14.4B AUM – seed through IPO, the largest platform on this desk Boston CT CONNECTA Therapeutics €3.1M Series A, already Phase IIa – funding stage isn't clinical stage Barcelona ER Eterna Regeneratives Seed round for keratin biomaterials that repair tooth enamel London PE Pharmapack Europe 6,500 attendees – the reference show for CDMO and bioprocessing Paris, January SP Seventure Partners €1B AUM – the reference investor in microbiome and gut health Paris BS BIOSPAIN 2,400 attendees – the entry point to Spain's biotech ecosystem Bilbao, September/October

All verticals, by family

Twelve families – each carries its own icon and accent token

Agrifood 8 verticals Climate & energy 7 verticals AI & data 6 verticals Deep tech 6 verticals Health 5 verticals Consumer & media 5 verticals Hardware 5 verticals Space 4 verticals Software & SaaS 5 verticals Finance 4 verticals Cyber & security 4 verticals Mobility 4 verticals

Frequently asked

About this vertical and how we cover it

How many biotech and pharma companies does Sesamers track?

131 companies, alongside 46 verified funding rounds, 20 investors with a stated biotech thesis, and 5 ranked events – one of the deepest investor benches of any vertical built so far.

What is the largest recent biotech round in Europe?

Eterna Regeneratives' seed round, reported by the company as USD 4M and co-led by Hoxton Ventures and The Venture Collective, for keratin-based biomaterials that repair tooth enamel.

Is there a European microbiome specialist investor?

Seventure Partners, through its Health for Life Capital funds, is the reference investor in microbiome, nutrition and gut health in Europe, at €1B AUM.

Which biotech event should a founder attend first?

Pharmapack Europe in Paris for CDMO and manufacturing; BIOSPAIN in Bilbao if your market is Spain; BioFIT or Life Sciences Baltics if you want a partnering format with scheduled investor meetings rather than open exhibition.

Does funding stage tell you how clinically advanced a biotech is?

Not reliably – see the debate on this page. CONNECTA Therapeutics is a Series A company already in Phase IIa clinical trials, a maturity level a software Series A would rarely reach.

Can I suggest a company, fund or event?

Yes. Use the suggest links on each desk. We verify before publishing; paid placement does not get you onto a ranking or directory.

Biotech and Pharma in Europe