Forbion Raises €2.3 Billion in Record Fundraise as European Biotech VC Capital Consolidates

Forbion has closed €2.3 billion (roughly $2.6 billion) across two new funds, the largest raise in the firm's 20-year history. The Naarden, Netherlands-based firm announced the close Tuesday, adding fresh firepower at a moment when European venture capital, broadly speaking, is struggling to attract commitments.

That contrast is the story here. Forbion's success is notable precisely because it runs against the grain of what's happening across the rest of the continent's VC market.

Global VC fundraising totaled $142.1 billion through the third quarter of this year, according to a new Pitchbook report. Extrapolated, that pace puts full-year fundraising on track to exceed $200 billion, a meaningful rebound from 2025. The headline number looks healthy. The composition underneath it tells a different story.

A Market of Haves and Have-Nots

Roughly two-thirds of this year's fundraising commitments have gone to North American firms. Pitchbook's data shows Europe on pace for its lowest annual fundraising total since 2019, excluding last year's depressed figures. Global totals are up, but the gains are not evenly distributed.

Deal activity mirrors the fundraising split. Deal counts and deal values are both rising year over year, but that growth is concentrated almost entirely in North America. Every other region tracked by Pitchbook is on pace for a decline in deal count this year. The firm attributes the pattern to a broader liquidity shortage across global markets, one that has hit non-U.S. venture ecosystems harder.

This is the environment in which Forbion just posted a record raise. It is worth sitting with that juxtaposition for a moment. A shrinking pool of European capital is getting funneled toward a smaller number of established, large-scale managers, rather than spreading across a wider field of funds. Forbion, with two decades of track record and relationships with institutional investors, is positioned to be one of the winners in that consolidation. Smaller or newer European life sciences funds may not have the same luck.

Forbion's two new vehicles, Forbion Growth Opportunities Fund IV and Forbion Ventures Fund VIII, have already made their first investments. The firm said it expects the combined capital to support roughly 30 portfolio companies going forward. Sander Slootweg, Forbion co-founder and managing partner, framed the raise as enabling continued investment in what he called "the most exciting biotech companies."

"We will continue to focus on building and scaling those companies that develop the most paradigm-shifting treatments, addressing true unmet needs and delivering societal impact," Slootweg said in the announcement.

That language is standard VC messaging, but the deal flow backs it up to some degree. Forbion's 2026 activity already includes participation in the $130 million Series A round for Slate Medicines, a North Carolina-based migraine drug developer now on track to go public via reverse merger. The firm also backed the $125 million Series A for Coultreon Biopharma, a Belgium-based immunology startup. Both are sizable rounds for early-stage biotech, and both suggest Forbion is deploying capital into companies with credible paths toward later-stage financing or public market exits.

The investor base behind the new funds spans both legacy and new backers. Disclosed limited partners include MN, PGGM, KfW Capital, the Kauffman Foundation, and Eli Lilly and Company. The presence of a major pharmaceutical company like Lilly as an LP is worth flagging. It signals strategic interest from big pharma in staying close to early-stage innovation, likely as a pipeline for future licensing deals or acquisitions, rather than pure financial return.

With this raise, Forbion now manages €7.5 billion (about $8.5 billion) across 13 funds. That figure cements its position as Europe's largest dedicated life sciences venture firm, a title that carries weight in a fundraising environment where scale increasingly determines access to capital.

The Bottom Line

Forbion's record raise is a genuine success story, but investors should read it in context rather than isolation. The firm's ability to pull in €2.3 billion while European VC fundraising overall heads toward a multi-year low says less about the health of the region's venture ecosystem and more about where capital flows when liquidity tightens. Limited partners are consolidating bets with proven managers rather than spreading risk across a broader base of funds.

For portfolio allocators with exposure to European life sciences, the near-term signal is one of bifurcation. Established, well-capitalized firms with strong track records, like Forbion, will likely continue to raise and deploy effectively even as the broader fundraising environment softens. Smaller or first-time European biotech funds face a tougher road, competing for a shrinking pool of LP commitments against incumbents with two decades of relationships and performance history.

The deal activity data reinforces the same theme at the company level. North America is absorbing the bulk of deal count and value growth this year, while every other region tracked by Pitchbook faces declining deal activity. That imbalance matters for anyone evaluating European biotech exposure: capital scarcity outside North America means startups there may face longer paths to funding, more selective investors, and potentially lower valuations relative to U.S. peers. Forbion's scale gives it some insulation from that dynamic. Most of its European peers do not have the same cushion.