Forbion, a Netherlands-based venture capital firm specialising in life sciences, has announced the successful raising of €200 million in commitments for its Forbion BioEconomy Fund I. This fund aims to invest in companies offering biology-based solutions for industrial sustainability. The fund’s closing at €200 million surpassed its initial target of €150 million, marking a significant achievement for Forbion.
Key investors in the fund include KfW Capital, Novo Holdings, Rentenbank, Aurae Impact, ABN AMRO Bank, and EIFO. Alexander Hoffmann, General Partner at Forbion, highlighted the growing confidence in science-led solutions to address global challenges, stating that biotechnology is expanding beyond healthcare into sectors such as food, materials, and resource efficiency.
Launched in 2024, the Forbion BioEconomy Fund I is dedicated to investing in biotechnologies and green chemistries that promote scalable industrial sustainability. It targets companies developing sustainable technologies within four priority sectors: Food, Agriculture, Materials, and Environmental Technologies. The fund plans to build a portfolio of 12-14 investments primarily in Series A and B stage companies across Europe and North America. These companies are expected to offer cost-effective and scalable biology-based business-to-business solutions that have demonstrated proof of concept, aiming to replace existing products at competitive prices.
To date, the fund has invested in five companies, including eeden, a green chemistry-based textile recycling company; Genomines, specialising in biotechnology-based valuable metals extraction; SOLASTA Bio, a provider of bio-based pesticide alternatives; Novameat, a plant-based proteins company; and PACT, a biomaterials platform.
Joy Faucher, another General Partner at Forbion, commented on the shift in capital from software to science. She expressed enthusiasm about building a portfolio backed by leading institutional and strategic partners, leveraging biology and chemistry to deliver sustainable and commercially viable solutions for the planet.
