The EU has launched a new funding initiative to support healthcare startups across the continent. The EU’s investment arm, the European Investment Bank (EIB), is teaming up with Italian conglomerate Angelini Industries to funnel 150 million euros (about $174.3 million) into biotech, medtech and digital health companies over the next six years.
The partners will split the investment 50-50, with each pledging to invest 75 million euros, according to a Dec. 1 release. Angelini’s investments will be made through its Angelini Ventures arm.
EIB and Angelini plan to support between seven and 10 startups, with one biotech already the recipient of the pair’s beneficence. The partners plan to co-invest in French antibody specialist Adcytherix’s series B round, according to the release, with Angelini already pitching in for the biotech’s recently closed series A.
“Initiatives like this strengthen Europe’s ability to lead technological innovation and generate tangible benefits for people, patients and businesses,” EIB Vice President Gelsomina Vigliotti said in the release. The partnership is meant to align with TechEU, a broader project from EIB to support European innovation.
Through TechEU, EIB intends to invest 70 billion euros between 2025 and 2027, according to the release.
Europe lags behind the U.S. and Asia in startup investment, according to the release notes. While companies in the U.S. netted 210 billion euros (about $244 billion) across 15,000 fundraising rounds in 2024, their counterparts in Europe only brought in 57 billion euros ($66.25 billion) through 9,600 rounds, according to data provided by the partners.
“This important agreement with the EIB enables us to bring our group’s commitment to innovation through venture capital to a European strategic context,” Sergio Marullo di Condojanni, Ph.D., CEO of Angelini Industries, said in the release. “Being chosen by the EIB for an ambitious project aiming to consolidate Europe’s role in innovation and health is an opportunity to work towards the common goal of turning researchers’ excellent ideas into products and services with a positive impact on people’s lives and the economic development of European countries.”
Angelini Industries launched its venture division in 2022 and has already put 125 million euros into 22 startups, the firm said in the release. Angelini’s portfolio also includes Angelini Pharma, which in September licensed a preclinical neuro antisense oligonucleotide from South Korean biotech Sovargen in a $550 million deal.
The biopharma mood in Europe has faced ups and downs as of late, with companies warning of an EU investment exodus this spring and Big Pharmas threatening to pull back their R&D operations in the U.K. in the fall. Still, multiple attendees at November’s Jefferies Global Healthcare Conference in London told Fierce that there’s a sense of cautious optimism heading into 2026.