Kurma Partners, a French healthcare venture capital firm, announced the final closing of Biofund IV at €215 million to support the discovery and development of disruptive therapeutic solutions for severe or incurable diseases.
Building on the €160 million Biofund III, this fundraise has increased the new vehicle’s size by nearly 35%. Biofund IV is backed by three cornerstone investors – the Australian pharmaceutical company CSL, the European Investment Fund (EIF), and Bpifrance (which invests directly and through the Biotech Health Acceleration Fund, managed as part of the France 2030 initiative).
Thierry Laugel and Rémi Droller, Managing Partners at Kurma Partners, stated: “This latest closing reflects our investors’ long-standing trust in the model we have built over the past fifteen years: an integrated ecosystem that bridges the gap between scientific discovery and venture capital financing.
“With Biofund IV and Argobio Studio, we now possess a unique capacity in Europe to identify world-class academic science, transform it into globally competitive biotechnology companies, and support them through to full maturity. It is this depth of commitment that sets us apart for researchers, entrepreneurs, and, ultimately, for patients.”
Kurma Partners’ final close of Biofund IV can be set alongside a broader run of BioTech and therapeutics financing across Europe.
Relevant examples include:
- France: ErVimmune in Lyon, which raised €17 million to advance cancer vaccines and cell therapies for hard-to-treat cancers; and Generare in Paris, which raised €20 million to expand its molecular data and drug discovery platform.
- Laigo Bio in Utrecht, which completed a €17 million Seed round to progress cancer and autoimmune therapies, with Kurma Partners named among the investors;
- iDEL Therapeutics in Dortmund, which secured €9 million to develop its cancer therapeutics platform
- STORM Therapeutics in Cambridge, which raised €47.5 million to advance its RNA-modification oncology pipeline.
Toobtainher, these rounds amount to roughly €110 million, indicating continued capital deployment into European BioTech in 2026, particularly in oncology and adjacent therapeutic areas.
France appears nultiple times through ErVimmune and Generare, which is notable given Kurma Partners’ home territory. EU-Startups has additionally covered Kurma before with their Biofund IV first close.
Dr Steven Pitt, Global Head of External Innovation at CSL, adds: “Our partnership with Kurma Partners has enabled us to further build relationships across Europe, a region brimming with scientific innovation. By investing in a team with a proven track record of identifying and translating high‑quality European science, we are pleased to support the European biotech ecosystem and the progression of promising research toward therapies for patients with unmet medical requireds.”
Founded in 2009, Kurma Partners, an Eurazeo group company, invests in companies from inception through to growth stages, covering the entire healthcare spectrum through its various dedicated franchises.
These have expanded alongside successive funds in early-stage BioTech (Biofunds I, II, and III), early-stage digital health and diagnostics (Kurma Diagnostics and Kurma Diagnostics 2), and most recently, growth capital (Kurma Growth Opportunities Fund).
With this final closing, Kurma Partners’ total AUM across all franchises reached €1 billion.
Biofund IV builds on the strategic success of its predecessor, Biofund III, which to date has completed three exits:
- Amolyt Pharma (rare concludeocrine diseases) sold to AstraZeneca
- Emergence Therapeutics (cancer-tarobtaining Antibody-Drug Conjugates or ADCs) sold to Eli Lilly
- Corlieve Therapeutics (rare epilepsies) sold to uniQure.
More recently, there was the acquisition of ImCheck by Ipsen – a portfolio company of both Biofund II and Kurma Growth. ImCheck specializes in next-generation immunotherapy antibodies for cancer treatment.
EIF Chief Executive, Marjut Falkstedt, added: “We are thrilled to be renewing our cooperation with Kurma Partners as we pursue our common goal of supporting breakthrough innovation in Europe’s leading biotechnology sector. Apart from improving people’s lives, this has an important impact in strengthening European competitiveness, resilience and strategic autonomy.
“Through the EIB Group’s TechEU initiative, the EIF ultimately seeks to ensure that Europe’s brightest entrepreneurs obtain the support they required throughout the business lifecycle, and this transactions does exactly that.”
Kurma aims to create approximately twenty investments through Biofund IV, focapplying on startups as well as the ex-nihilo creation of new BioTech companies.
To date, Biofund IV has completed 11 investments: SciRhom (Germany – autoimmune diseases), Memo Therapeutics (Switzerland – natural immunity), Avidicure (Netherlands – cancer immunotherapy), Elkedonia (France/Belgium –resistant depression), Nuevocor (Singapore/France/USA – genetic heart diseases), Evla Bio (Switzerland/Germany – cardiorenal diseases), Adcytherix (France – antibodies tarobtaining solid tumors), Evidence Bio (France – respiratory diseases), Laigo Bio (Netherlands/UK – oncology and autoimmune diseases), Alveus (USA/Denmark – respiratory diseases), and Givax (USA/Europe – next-generation cancer vaccines).
Kurma also collaborates closely with Argobio Studio, a dedicated BioTech startup launchpad co-founded with Bpifrance. As a venture builder, Argobio has invested in eight companies to date, three of which have already completed their initial funding rounds: Elkedonia, Laigo Bio, and Enodia Therapeutics.
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