The Novo Nordisk Foundation’s funds will go toward supporting early-stage companies working in “human health, planetary health and societal resilience.”
Over the next decade, the Novo Nordisk Foundation will invest 5.5 billion Danish krone—around $850 million—into the life sciences sector in Denmark and across Europe, with the goal of supporting innovation in the region.
The Novo Foundation will distribute the money through the BioInnovation Institute, which helps fund startups across Europe, as well as provide them with infrastructure and network support. The funding will run from 2026 through 2035, according to a news release on Thursday, and will be given to companies working in “human health, planetary health and societal resilience.”
The foundation’s investment will also help the BioInnovation Institute scale up its activities and add more startups to its network, as well as funnel money into projects in AI and quantum science. The institute also expects that the new funding will make it a more attractive option for other investors, improving its capacity to support even more early-stage companies, according to the Thursday release.
The BioInnovation Institute handed out its most recent cycle of grants in September last year, throwing its support behind six young companies. Among these are Sulis Therapeutics, which is advancing STING therapeutics, and TROYA Therapeutics, focused on protein engineering. Both have yet to enter the clinic.
Meanwhile, in the U.S., money is reportedly flowing increasingly away from early-stage companies as investors grow more prudent with their dollars, favoring derisked assets rather than promising platforms. Last month, a report from J.P. Morgan found that seed and series A rounds dropped to 191 in 2025, from 228 the year prior. The total money in these early rounds likewise slipped last year to $8.7 billion, down from $10.6 billion in 2024.
Public investors have shown a similar preference for later-stage investments. The number of biopharma initial public offerings plummeted to eight last year, according to a BioSpace tally, from 19 in 2024. “We are likely in/entering a more discerning IPO marketplace where drug innovators with proven, later-stage assets/programs will have the necessary support to go public,” Michael Rachlin, senior managing director of FTI Consulting’s Corporate Finance & Restructuring unit, told BioSpace earlier this month.
J.P. Morgan echoed this analysis, noting in its December 2025 report that companies who successfully debuted on public markets were later stage.
This trend matches two of this year’s IPO bidders as well—Aktis Oncology and Veradermics are both in late-stage development. Eikon Therapeutics’ most advanced product, EIK1001, is in mid-to-late-stage trials but the majority of its assets are earlier-stage.
