Top Biotech Investors
Novo Holdings leads at roughly $100 billion as of year-end 2025 — though its Novo Nordisk stake makes it a foundation-owned holding, not a fund. Ranked by dedicated life-sciences capital.
Largest: Novo Holdings (DKK 694B, ~$100B) · Largest dedicated manager: OrbiMed (~$20B) · Biotech VC raised in 2025: $20.6B
A biotech investor funds companies developing therapeutics, diagnostics, medical devices, and the tools and platforms behind them, from company creation through the public markets. Ranked by dedicated life-sciences capital, Novo Holdings leads at DKK 694 billion, roughly $100 billion, as of year-end 2025. One caveat belongs up front: Novo Holdings is the investment arm of the Novo Nordisk Foundation, and its controlling stake in Novo Nordisk makes it a foundation-owned holding company more than a fund. Its actual deployment into life sciences in 2025 was DKK 13 billion, about EUR 1.8 billion, per its 2025 annual results. Among conventional managers the largest is OrbiMed, at roughly $20 billion across venture, growth, public equity, and royalties, followed by Deerfield Management above $16 billion and RA Capital Management at $14.4 billion.
What distinguishes this list is how many of its firms invent their portfolio rather than pick it. Flagship Pioneering, the platform that originated Moderna, runs about $14 billion and raised $3.6 billion in 2024; ARCH Venture Partners closed Fund XIII above $3 billion the same year; Third Rock Ventures and Atlas Venture assemble therapeutics companies in-house around science they source themselves. Alongside the company creators sit hybrid managers built to hold a company from first financing to public listing: RA Capital deployed more than $650 million into private rounds in 2025, Deerfield raised a venture fund above $600 million, and Bain Capital Life Sciences closed its fourth fund at roughly $3 billion in 2024. Europe has its own anchor in Sofinnova Partners, which raised EUR 1.2 billion across strategies and doubled its assets in five years. Because the figures mix fund commitments, net asset values, and public positions, scale comparisons are indicative rather than exact.
The market underneath these firms is recovering rather than booming. Biotech venture funding reached $20.6 billion in 2025, inside a biopharma fundraising total of $68.5 billion, per EY's Biotech Beyond Borders 2026 report. The first half of 2026 ran hotter: at least 68 biotech startups raised more than $9.1 billion, the strongest first half since 2022, with about three-quarters of that capital arriving in megarounds of $100 million or more. Money is concentrating in fewer, larger financings — a pattern that favors the established managers on this list, which have the reserves to lead them. Novo Holdings alone put DKK 13 billion to work and added 12 companies to its portfolio in 2025. Every firm below links to its Altss profile, where leadership, funds, and activity are tracked.
Top Biotech Investors: by the numbers
- Novo Holdings ended 2025 with DKK 694 billion (roughly $100 billion) in total assets, deployed DKK 13 billion into life sciences during the year, and added 12 new companies, per its 2025 annual results.
- OrbiMed manages about $20 billion across private venture, growth, public equity, and royalty and credit strategies, with more than 500 portfolio companies, per the firm.
- Deerfield Management reported more than $16 billion as of December 2025 and raised a biotech and healthcare venture fund above $600 million during the year, per the firm.
- RA Capital Management held $14.4 billion at year-end 2025 and deployed more than $650 million into private financings during the year, per the firm.
- Biotech venture firms raised $20.6 billion in 2025, within a biopharma fundraising total of $68.5 billion, per EY's Biotech Beyond Borders 2026.
- At least 68 biotech startups raised over $9.1 billion in the first half of 2026, the strongest opening half since 2022, with about 76% of the money in megarounds of $100 million or more, per BioPharma Dive.
Top Biotech Investors
YE 2025 / H1 2026 (data as of mid-2026 reporting)
Ordered by dedicated biotech and life-sciences capital — fund commitments and life-sciences assets drawn from each firm's own disclosures and filings — not by total firm AUM and not by performance. Novo Holdings' figure covers the entire foundation portfolio; the footnote details what each number includes.
| # | Firm | Scale | Headquarters |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Novo HoldingsInvestment arm of the Novo Nordisk Foundation, deploying across stages from venture to principal investments; put DKK 13B (~EUR 1.8B) into life sciences in 2025. The total reflects the foundation's Novo Nordisk stake, which makes it a holding company as much as an investor. | DKK 694B (~EUR 93B / ~USD 100B+) | Copenhagen, Denmark |
| 2 | OrbiMedGlobal healthcare investor spanning private venture, growth, public equity, and royalties and credit; about $20B under management with 150+ professionals, 500+ portfolio companies, and a recently raised $1.86B royalty and credit fund. | ~$20B | New York, USA |
| 3 | Deerfield ManagementDedicated healthcare investment firm combining private and public investing with company creation through its 3DC platform; raised a venture fund above $600M in 2025 and holds a portfolio of 200+ companies. | >$16B | New York, USA |
| 4 | RA Capital ManagementMulti-stage healthcare and planetary-health investor built around its TechAtlas research engine and company-building practice; deployed $650M+ into private financings in 2025. Its platform includes the Nexus and Planetary Health funds. | $14.4B+ | Boston, USA |
| 5 | Flagship PioneeringCompany-creation platform that originates its own biotechs, Moderna among them; raised $3.6B in 2024, lifting its capital pool to $10.9B and AUM to $14B, with a continuing AI-platform focus and pharma partnerships. | ~$14B | Cambridge, MA, USA |
| 6 | ARCH Venture PartnersEarly-stage company creator and seed-to-Series-A specialist focused on disruptive therapeutic science; closed Fund XIII above $3B in 2024. | ~$10.6B (est. up to ~$12B) | Chicago, USA |
| 7 | Bain Capital Life SciencesBain Capital's dedicated life-sciences arm, investing globally in biopharma, devices, diagnostics, and tools; raised roughly $3B for Fund IV in 2024 and has made 70+ investments since its 2016 launch. | $7B+ | Boston, USA |
| 8 | Versant VenturesGlobal biotech VC running discovery engines for company creation, with offices across the US and Europe and academic partnerships; its portfolio counts 50+ IPOs and 50+ M&A exits. | $5.5B | San Francisco / multi (USA/Europe) |
| 9 | F-Prime CapitalGlobal venture firm with Fidelity heritage and no outside LPs, investing across healthcare, life sciences, and healthtech; stage-agnostic with 400+ portfolio companies and 52 IPOs. | $5.3B+ | Cambridge, MA / Boston area, USA |
| 10 | Sofinnova Investments (US)US healthcare VC, separate from Paris-based Sofinnova Partners; invests in private and public life-sciences companies with a long record of company building and exits. | ~$4.6B | Menlo Park, CA, USA |
| 11 | Sofinnova Partners (EU)Leading European life-sciences VC across biotech, medtech, digital health, and sustainability; raised EUR 1.2B across strategies in the past year, doubling AUM in five years. Independent of US-based Sofinnova Investments. | >€4B | Paris, France |
| 12 | Foresite CapitalMulti-stage healthcare investor applying a data-science approach from early to late stage, across tools and therapeutics; closed Fund VI at roughly $900M in 2024. | ~$3.5B | Larkspur / San Francisco area, USA |
| 13 | Casdin CapitalResearch-driven firm focused on molecular medicine, life-sciences tools and platforms, and healthcare innovation, investing across private growth and public equity. | ~$2.9B | New York, USA |
| 14 | Third Rock VenturesCompany-creation healthcare VC that launches its own biotechs; raised a $1.1B fund in 2022, bringing total capital raised to about $3.8B. | ~$2.4B AUM / $3.8B+ total raised | Boston, USA |
| 15 | Atlas VentureEarly-stage company creator and incubator focused exclusively on therapeutics; closed a $450M Fund XIV in December 2024 and a $400M Opportunity Fund III in 2025. | ~$2.7B (est.) | Cambridge, MA, USA |
| 16 | 5AM VenturesEarly-to-late-stage life-sciences VC with incubation and public-market strategies; closed $750M across two funds in 2022, focused on biopharma. | ~$1.1B regulatory AUM / $2B+ raised since inception | San Francisco / Boston, USA |
Figures mix fund commitments, net asset values, public-equity positions, and royalty capital, and are not fully comparable across private-only and hybrid firms. Novo Holdings' total is the Novo Nordisk Foundation's whole portfolio, including its Novo Nordisk stake. Flagship Pioneering's $14 billion dates to its July 2024 raise. Figures for ARCH, Foresite, Casdin, Third Rock, Atlas, and 5AM are estimates drawn from filings and fund announcements. The two Sofinnova firms are independent of each other. Currency conversions are approximate, and the ranking reflects scale, not performance.
How we rank — and why Novo Holdings is an outlier
This list measures dedicated biotech and life-sciences capital, not total firm assets. A generalist manager with a small life-sciences sleeve will not appear; a pure-play like Versant or Atlas will. Scale is drawn from each firm's own disclosures and filings.
The one firm that bends the frame is the largest. Novo Holdings' DKK 694 billion is the Novo Nordisk Foundation's entire portfolio, anchored by its controlling Novo Nordisk stake — so it towers over dedicated managers whose figures represent capital raised from limited partners.
Top Biotech Investors — common questions
Is Novo Holdings really the largest biotech investor?
Why are there two Sofinnovas on this list?
What is a biotech company creator?
Why are large generalist VCs missing from this list?
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