About This Fund
Bpifrance InnoBio is a €173 million venture capital fund dedicated to early- and mid-stage biotechnology and medical device companies in France. The fund was launched in 2009 and began investing in 2010, making it one of the pioneering government-backed biotech VC vehicles in continental Europe. InnoBio was established as a joint initiative between CDC Entreprises (now Bpifrance Investissement) and Sanofi, with the participation of nine major pharmaceutical companies that collectively committed capital alongside the public anchor investors. The fund operates as a corporate-backed VC vehicle — a structure known in the industry as a corporate venture fund — in which strategic pharmaceutical LPs provide both financial capital and industry expertise, clinical development networks, and potential exit pathways for portfolio companies. The fund is now fully closed and in divesting/exit phase following the completion of its investment programme.
InnoBio's investment strategy focused on French biotechnology and medtech startups at the Series A and Series B stages, typically providing growth capital to companies that had completed initial proof-of-concept or early preclinical validation and required financing to advance through Phase I/II clinical trials or to scale manufacturing and regulatory capabilities. The fund's dual mandate — financial return for its institutional LPs and deal flow / co-development optionality for its pharmaceutical company investors — shaped a portfolio of companies across oncology, immunology, rare diseases, diagnostics, and medical devices. InnoBio made a total of 29 investments over its investment period, deploying capital across a concentrated portfolio of high-quality French biotech assets.
InnoBio established the template for Bpifrance's subsequent biotech investment programmes, including its successor fund InnoBio 2 (launched 2019, target €200 million-plus, backed by Bpifrance, Sanofi, Boehringer Ingelheim, Takeda, Ipsen, and Servier), demonstrating the viability and impact of public-private partnership in French life sciences venture capital. The fund's portfolio of 29 companies contributed materially to the development of a French biotechnology ecosystem capable of generating clinical-stage assets attractive to global pharmaceutical acquirers and public market investors. Bpifrance's continued commitment to the InnoBio platform — investing over €350 million across the two vehicles combined — reflects the strategic importance of biotech venture capital to France's broader industrial and healthcare innovation agenda.