Kurma Partners is the VC that builds its own companies: the European healthcare investor co-creates businesses with academic research institutes — roughly half its portfolio is co-founded or built by Kurma itself — investing from company creation to growth capital to ‘build the healthcare industry of tomorrow’. Since 2009 it has founded 25 companies and financed 72 (official site), across biotherapeutics, diagnostics, digital health and medtech.
Investment thesis
The capital base is serious: €1 billion in total AUM announced in April 2026 with the Biofund IV final close (per Eurazeo’s newsroom), including Biofund IV at €215M, Biofund III at €160M, the Kurma Growth Opportunities Fund at €167M and Kurma Diagnostics II at €83M. The exit record is elite for European biotech: Amolyt Pharma (sold to AstraZeneca), Emergence Therapeutics (sold to Eli Lilly), Corlieve Therapeutics (sold to uniQure) and ImCheck Therapeutics (acquired by Ipsen).
Sectors, stages and cheque size
Kurma Partners focuses on biotherapeutics, diagnostics, digital health and healthtech, medtech. Stage: pre-seed to growth capital; Europe (Paris and Munich), mainly European companies with select non-European bets. Fund range: pre-seed to growth; Biofund IV €215M; total AUM €1bn.
Notable portfolio
- Amolyt Pharma — sold to AstraZeneca — Eurazeo newsroom
- Emergence Therapeutics — sold to Eli Lilly — Eurazeo newsroom
- Corlieve Therapeutics — sold to uniQure — Eurazeo newsroom
- ImCheck Therapeutics — acquired by Ipsen — Eurazeo newsroom
- Laigo Bio — €17M oversubscribed seed co-led 2026 — ADVFN/Optimum PR
Key people
- Rémi Droller, Managing Partner; chairs the executive board; joined at founding 2010
- Thierry Laugel, Managing Partner; Kurma founder
- Vanessa Malier, Managing Partner, Growth, per 2022 Growth Fund release
India connection
No verified India investments; Europe-focused with a network of European academic research institutes.
How to apply for funding
There is no open founder pitch portal. Kurma’s company-creation engine is Argobio Studio, the venture builder co-founded with Bpifrance that creates biotechs from academic science (8 companies to date). General enquiries go to the team’s listed contact email. A strategic manufacturing partnership with Samsung Biologics supports portfolio companies.
Why it matters for founders
Kurma is the investor to study if you are a scientist-founder: it does not wait for startups to appear — it builds them with researchers, then funds them through growth. The AstraZeneca, Eli Lilly and Ipsen exits prove the model. For Indian biotech founders, the lesson is the venture-builder route: pair your science with an institution like Kurma’s Argobio Studio early, not after incorporation.