German biotech financing: weak start, strong finish
7 percent year-on-year decline, but strong second half of the year
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At EUR 1.787 billion, equity financing in the German biotechnology sector in 2025 was significantly better than expected based on the figures for the first half of the year (H1: EUR 337 million). Nevertheless, the total amount is around 7% below the previous year (2024: EUR 1.917 billion). At EUR 593 million, 34% less venture capital was raised by private companies than in 2024 (EUR 898 million). Listed companies raised €1.194 billion, an increase of 20% compared to 2024 (€999 million). No company dared to go public. Tubulis GmbH (EUR 344 million) and QIAGEN N.V. (EUR 642 million) accounted for around 55% of the total amount. This is the result of a survey conducted by the biotechnology industry association BIO Deutschland e. V. in cooperation with EY.
Roland Sackers, Chairman of the Board of BIO Deutschland, comments: "Despite a difficult financing environment and challenging geopolitical conditions, our industry has once again succeeded in raising more than EUR 1.7 billion. This is a positive signal. Also because we saw a relatively large number of seed rounds in 2025. Unfortunately, however, growth financing was weaker. With the exception of Tubulis' record Series C of 344 million euros, there were only a few financing rounds in the double-digit range. This makes it all the more important to quickly implement the plans of the EU and the German government for large growth funds. Biotechnology is a key technology, we are a key industry for innovation, highly qualified jobs and Europe's prosperity."
Viola Bronsema, Managing Director of BIO Deutschland, adds: "This is an encouragingly positive development. Nevertheless, the framework conditions for financing innovation urgently need to be improved if we want to achieve technological sovereignty in biotechnology in Germany and the EU. In the UK and Switzerland, biotechnology companies were able to attract significantly more venture capital in the first three quarters than in Germany in the entire year. US biotech companies raised over 14 billion euros in venture capital in the first nine months. In addition to private capital, speed is the other critical factor. The High-Tech Agenda Germany, the EU's Scale-up Fund and many other outlined and planned measures, particularly to reduce bureaucracy, must now be implemented quickly so that our industry can continue to compete internationally."
Klaus Ort, Partner at EY and Head of the Life Sciences & Healthcare market segment, says: "Biotechnology in Germany is not a niche topic - it is an untapped growth engine. If we don't invest today, we may have to buy our own science back from abroad at a high price tomorrow. In the past, promising companies and technologies have already had to be sold to US investors or US companies due to a lack of funding. Biotech should be seen as one of the future growth drivers for the gross national product. Compared to the USA, UK and Switzerland, only a quarter to just under half of venture capital is invested in biotech companies in Germany. At the same time, Germany is at the top in terms of taxation of the profits of corporations. The improvement of tax conditions in the capital sector would therefore also be a conditio sine qua non."
Note: This article has been translated using a computer system without human intervention. LUMITOS offers these automatic translations to present a wider range of current news. Since this article has been translated with automatic translation, it is possible that it contains errors in vocabulary, syntax or grammar. The original article in German can be found here.
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