Kurma Partners, part of the Eurazeo group, has announced the final closing of its Biofund IV at €215 million. The Paris-based firm now manages €1 billion in assets across all its franchises, a milestone that puts it firmly among the most active healthcare venture capital investors in Europe.
This is not a firm that passively writes cheques. Kurma Partners builds companies from the ground up, starting at the academic research stage and staying involved through to exit.
The Fund in Numbers:
Biofund IV marks a nearly 35% increase over its predecessor, Biofund III, which closed at €160 million. The fund has already completed 11 investments and plans to reach around 20 in total.
The 11 companies backed so far include SciRhom, Memo Therapeutics, Avidicure, Elkedonia, Nuevocor, Evla Bio, Adcytherix, Evidence Bio, Laigo Bio, Alveus, and Givax. These span areas including autoimmune diseases, cancer immunotherapy, and genetic heart conditions.
Who is Backing it:
Biofund IV has drawn support from CSL, the Australian pharmaceutical company, the European Investment Fund via the TechEU initiative of the EIB Group, and Bpifrance, both directly and through the BioTech Health Acceleration Fund under the France 2030 plan. European institutional investors and family offices round out the LP base.
That mix of public and private institutional capital reflects the broader structure of European BioTech funding, where national development banks and the EIF regularly co-invest alongside specialist venture firms.
A Venture Builder Model:
What makes Kurma Partners a distinct player in the European BioTech VC space is how early it gets involved. The firm works closely with research teams at European academic institutions to define validation plans for their discoveries, then brings in healthcare industry experts and experienced entrepreneurs to build companies around those findings.
Kurma also works 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 completed their initial funding rounds: Elkedonia, Laigo Bio, and Enodia Therapeutics.
This approach allows Kurma to source deals that generalist funds typically miss, particularly those that emerge directly out of university research before a commercial path is obvious.
A Track Record in Exits:
The fundraiser also comes off the back of several significant exits. Biofund III produced three exits to major pharmaceutical groups: Amolyt Pharma, focused on rare endocrine diseases, sold to AstraZeneca; Emergence Therapeutics, a cancer-targeting antibody-drug conjugate company, sold to Eli Lilly; and Corlieve Therapeutics, which worked on rare epilepsies, sold to uniQure.
ImCheck Therapeutics was acquired by Ipsen in a deal worth €350 million upfront, with possible milestone payments up to €1 billion. Kurma had backed ImCheck since its founding in 2015.
The Amolyt Pharma deal with AstraZeneca was announced in March 2024 at up to $1.05 billion in total consideration, including an $800 million upfront payment, and completed in July 2024.
These exits demonstrate Kurma’s ability to build companies that major pharma groups are willing to acquire, which is a key benchmark for any early-stage European biotech VC firm.
What Biofund IV Targets:
Biofund IV targets around 20 investments across areas such as autoimmune diseases, cancer immunotherapy, and genetic heart diseases. The fund combines direct investments in early-stage startups with new company creation from European academic research.
Founders and operators in the life sciences space looking to understand how European BioTech funding is structured can treat Kurma’s model as a useful reference point. The firm connects academic discovery, institutional capital, and industry expertise in a format that has now produced multiple large exits over 15 years. You can explore how similar healthcare venture capital funds are approaching DeepTech company creation in our coverage of European startup funding trends.
Kurma Partners has built a clear and consistent playbook in a part of the market that many generalist investors find difficult to navigate. With €1 billion under management and Biofund IV already deployed halfway, the next few years will show which of its 11 portfolio companies follow the path of Amolyt, ImCheck, and Emergence.
