Forbion participated in the November 2025 series B round of Gate Bioscience, which earlier this week inked an up to $870 million deal extension with Eli Lilly.
Forbion has raised €2.3 billion ($2.6 billion) across two funds designed to support some 30 companies, “one of the largest life sciences venture capital fundraisings globally over the last five years,” according to the biotech-focused venture capital firm.
This record raise is the Dutch firm’s largest ever, the firm said in a Tuesday announcement. Forbion now has approximately €7.5 billion ($8.42 billion) worth of assets under management.
The money will be deployed through two new funds called Forbion Growth Opportunities Fund IV and Forbion Ventures Fund VIII, both of which will prioritize “high-potential” drugmakers.
“Forbion is therapy-area agnostic,” a company spokesperson told BioSpace via email. The firm focuses on “high-quality life sciences companies that are developing novel therapeutics in critical areas of unmet medical need, which have the potential to significantly impact the future of medicine.”
Forbion Ventures Fund VIII will “build, invest in and support innovative biotechs,” particularly pre-clinical and early clinical-stage drugmakers, while the Growth Opportunities Fund IV is meant to help companies expand “by providing private growth capital, alongside select crossover and public investments,” the spokesperson added.
Eli Lilly participated in Forbion’s latest raise, alongside other institutional funders such as KfW Capital, PGM and Kauffman Foundation.
In October 2024, Forbion raised nearly €2.1 billion ($2.4 billion) across two funds called Growth Opportunities Fund III and Ventures Fund VII. The fund at the time didn’t specify what particular areas the money would target, but Forbion’s financing strategy has historically focused on drugmakers working on unique science.
Over the years, Forbion has built a portfolio of more than 140 companies, including Gate Bioscience, which earlier this week expanded an existing agreement with Eli Lilly for up to an additional $870 million to advance therapies for targets that have historically been difficult to drug. Forbion led Gate’s oversubscribed series B raise in November 2025, which gave the biotech $65 million.
Forbion’s portfolio also includes Replimune, which in August secured an accelerated approval for its melanoma immunotherapy Tudriqev after more than a year of regulatory hurdles, and RAPT Therapeutics, which was acquired by GSK for $2.2 billion in January.
“Our successful fundraising gives us significant dry powder in a market characterized by a general shortage of capital,” managing partner and co-founder Sander Slootweg said in a prepared statement. “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.”
Biopharma is currently enjoying what Proximal Ventures’ Sahir Raoof in an interview with BioSpace called a “stronger financing environment” given the continued flow of venture dollars into the industry. Still, said that “capital is concentrated,” with investors preferring to bet on more advanced and de-risked assets.
Forbion participated in one of Q3’s largest venture capital rounds: Solstice Oncology’s series A in September, which gave the biotech a $225 million infusion.
