This Dutch firm has completed a large fundraising round, even as European drugmakers and investors keep warning that the region's competitiveness is slipping.

European pharmaceutical executives have long worried about a shortage of funding in the biotech sector. Netherlands-based Forbion, a leading European biotech investment firm, has raised 2.3 billion euros (about $2.6 billion), making it the largest life sciences venture capital fund raised in Europe in 2026.

Forbion said roughly 60% of the capital came from European investors and 40% from North America. Investors include Dutch pension managers MN and PGGM, Germany's state-owned development bank KfW's KfW Capital, and pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly.

After completing this fundraising round, Forbion's total assets under management reached 7.5 billion euros (about $8.5 billion), a 50% increase from two years ago. Forbion mainly invests in life sciences companies in Europe and North America, covering multiple therapeutic areas.

The large fundraising comes as senior figures in Europe's pharmaceutical industry are sounding the alarm. Last month, the chairmen of nine pharmaceutical companies, including AstraZeneca, GSK, Novartis, Roche, and Sanofi, published an open letter warning that Europe is losing the race for pharmaceutical investment.

The letter noted that Europe's share of global drug research and development has fallen from 43% in 1990 to 31%, while regions such as China are aggressively building up their biotech capabilities. The companies jointly called on European governments to increase investment in the pharmaceutical sector.

The gap at the venture capital level is even more stark. Data from the European life sciences alliance to which Forbion belongs shows that European funds hold only 7% of the global life sciences venture capital market, while the United States accounts for as much as 63%. The organization said that over the past six years, 67 biotech companies based in the EU have completed IPOs, with almost all of them choosing to list on exchanges outside the EU.

Sander Slootweg, co-founder and managing partner of Forbion, said: "There is a lot of discussion in the industry about how to unlock more capital in Europe. Our fundraising this time is an initial positive signal."

Other biotech fundraising efforts in Europe have also been underway. According to PitchBook data, Paris-based biotech investment firm Jeito Capital completed a $1.2 billion fundraise in March this year, the largest European venture capital fundraising before the second quarter; London-based AI drug discovery company Isomorphic Labs raised $2.1 billion in May.

But PitchBook also noted that Europe's overall venture capital fundraising in 2025 hit a ten-year low; even if a recovery emerges this year, the benefits will mainly flow to established veteran institutions like Forbion, rather than helping cultivate a new generation of investment firms.