BioSpace examines the busiest corporate venture capital arms in the pharmaceutical industry. Novo Holdings, which made headlines last year with its $16.5 billion Catalent buy, topped the list.
The busiest corporate venture capital firms in pharma have nearly $170 billion in assets under management, with Novo Holdings leading the pack far and away in terms of number of investments and portfolio size.
Novo Holdings, the investment subsidiary of the Novo Nordisk Foundation, has conducted 382 investments since its founding in 1999, including last year’s $16.5 billion acquisition of CDMO Catalent. It was by far the biggest pharma-related acquisition of 2024, made in part to support production of Novo Nordisk’s popular GLP-1 weight loss drug Wegovy.
Novo Holdings also has the largest active portfolio of VC firms in the industry, with 98; has been the most active in the past six months with 16 deals and has the most assets under management at $160.6 billion. The Danish VC is easily the biggest of the corporate VC bunch in pharma.
Next in line is fellow European firm Novartis Venture Fund, which has tallied 273 investments over its nearly 30-year history. But Novartis’ VC firm has been markedly less active, with just $750 million in assets under management and only 40 companies in its active portfolio. The Novartis Venture Fund has only conducted two investments over the past six months, marking a slowdown from 18 total in the past two years.
These corporate VC arms are not directly attached to the pharmas from which their names come. They are run by different teams of people. But they do signal where pharmas might have an interest, whether it be a new modality or emerging technology.
Below, we take a closer look at some of the highlights of the top five corporate VC portfolios in pharma.
Novo Holdings
Assets Under Management: $160.61 billion
Dry Powder: $30.5 million
Novo Holdings is one of the largest corporate VC firms in the biopharma ecosystem, with a focus on large deals in life sciences across all stages of development. The median round amount for the firm is about $34.5 million, according to Pitchbook data.
Novo Holdings was founded in 1999 and sits in the Novo group underneath its owner, the Novo Nordisk Foundation. Novo Holdings serves as the investment arm of the Danish operation and has partial ownership of Novo Nordisk. The investment firm’s mandate is to manage the assets of the Novo Nordisk Foundation and invest them in the life sciences.
Novo Holdings’ latest investment was for rare disease biotech Glycomine, which collected a $115 million series C in April.
That same month, Novo Holdings also notched an exit for Anthos Therapeutics, which it formed as a joint venture in 2019 with other investors including Novartis. Anthos was acquired by Novartis for $3.1 billion.
2024 was the firm’s most active on record, with 49 deals and a median size of $88.4 million. 2025 has been slower so far but still includes 15 VC rounds participated in so far.
Lilly Asia Ventures
Assets Under Management: $4.05 billion
Dry Powder: $531.96 million
Founded in 2008, Eli Lilly’s Hong Kong-headquartered VC arm is another of the largest investors in the corporate game. Unlike Novo Holdings’ complicated relationship with Novo Nordisk, Lilly Asia Ventures is simply the investment arm of pharma giant Eli Lilly. With 220 total investments and an active portfolio of 88 companies, the firm delves into seed and early-stage investments, as well as some later-stage companies.
Despite its geographical name, Lilly Asia Ventures does venture outside the region. Over the past five years, 78% of its deals were in Asia and 20% in the U.S. One each were conducted in Europe and the Middle East.
The firm’s activity peaked back in 2021 with 51 VC rounds. In recent years the deal count has been shrinking, with 18 last year. So far in 2025, Lilly Asia Ventures has invested in just six companies.
But this past year has been notable for the firm due to its involvement in two of the handful of biotech IPOs that have taken place of late. Lilly Asia Ventures was an early investor in Alumis and DualityBio, both of which hit the public markets in the second quarter of 2024. Each raised more than $200 million. And in May 2024, Lilly Asia Ventures also exited ProfoundBio via an acquisition. The antibody-drug conjugate biotech was bought out by Genmab for $1.8 billion.
Pfizer Ventures
Assets Under Management: $1.30 billion
Dry Powder: Undisclosed
The New York-based VC arm of Big Pharma Pfizer has been quiet this year, with just two investments. But a flurry of activity in the pandemic years topped up its portfolio to make it one of the largest funds by assets under management. The firm has 166 total investments and an active portfolio of 43 companies.
So far in 2025, Pfizer Ventures has pitched into TRIMTECH Therapeutics’ $32.32 million seed round and Normunity’s $75 million series B.
2024 was a little busier, with 12 investments. It also had two exits via acquisitions; Jnana Therapeutics was bought by Otsuka for $800 million upfront and Morphic Therapeutics was sold to Eli Lilly for $3.2 billion.
Those successes helped cushion the blow of two companies in the Pfizer Ventures stable going out of business. The firm was involved in Ribon Therapeutics and Metabomed, both of which closed down in 2024.
Roche Venture Fund
Assets Under Management: $908 million
Dry Powder: Undisclosed
Roche’s venture arm has also had a quiet 2025, with no new investments to show for the year so far. It has had two exits, however. Nimble Tehrapeutics was acquired by AbbVie for $330 million in January following a small $10 million series A that both the Roche Venture Fund and Roche itself participated in. Fabric Genomics was also acquired by GeneDx Holding for an undisclosed payment earlier this month.
The firm peaked in 2020 with 18 rounds, similar to its peers as they chased the pandemic biotech boom.
Recent investments include leading a tiny $1.27 million series A for Forcefield Therapeutics in March 2024. The biotech is developing therapies to protect heart function by preventing damage to heart muscle during heart attacks. Roche Venture Fund also led Mission Therapeutics’ $55 million series D that same month.
The Roche Venture Fund has 139 total investments and an active portfolio of 18 companies.
Johnson & Johnson Innovation – JJDC
Assets Under Management: $772 million
Dry Powder: Undisclosed
The oldest corporate VC firm on this list, Johnson & Johnson Innovation – JJDC’s investments span the parent company’s healthcare universe, with a focus on pharmaceuticals, medical devices, consumer healthcare and medtech. JJDC was founded in 1973 and has 263 total investments and an active portfolio of 69 companies.
JJDC’s most recent biopharma investments include gene editing company Stylus Medicine, which raised $85 million in a series A earlier this month. Eli Lilly also participated. Prazer Therapeutics also counts JJDC as one of its supporters after raising a $20 million series B in March.
But J&J’s VC arm has had a slow 2025, just like many peer companies on this list. JJDC has executed just six VC rounds so far, compared to 17 last year.
JJDC just exited healthcare analytics company Aetion through a recently announced buyout. Financial terms were not disclosed.
