BII Catalyst Fund I for Italy is the new investment fund set up to support Italian therapeutic start-ups in their early stages. The fund has completed its first closing, raising over 20 million euros, bringing together public and private partners with a shared objective: to strengthen the Italian life sciences ecosystem, starting in Lazio, with the support of the BioInnovation Institute (BII) in Copenhagen \u2013 a leading foundation in the sector in Europe, having supported over 140 start-ups since its inception seven years ago.<\/p>\n\n
The fund is led by Lazio Innova, which is contributing 20 million euros through Lazio Venture 2 \u2013 the Lazio Region\u2019s fund of funds co-financed by the 2021\u20132027 ERDF Operational Programme \u2013 alongside Novo Holdings (the investment arm of Novo Nordisk, Europe\u2019s leading pharmaceutical company, which has also very recently announced a \u20ac1 billion investment in Lazio for its production site in Anagni and has allocated \u20ac500 million to the European Scaleup Fund \u2013 a fund totalling \u20ac5 billion launched by the European Commission). The fund is managed by Panak\u00e8s Partners, a Milan-based venture capital firm with experience in life sciences investments.<\/p>\n\n
Working alongside the fund managers, BII will play a crucial role in scouting and selecting the most promising start-ups. The selected start-ups will have access to BII\u2019s innovation platform, which will provide mentorship, infrastructure and expertise to guide them towards milestones that generate value. <\/p>\n\n
The aim is to bridge that often fatal gap between scientific discovery and the level of maturity required to attract capital in subsequent stages. In other words, to bring Italian therapeutic start-ups to a stage where they can engage with international investors. <\/p>\n\n
Combining local commitment and public resources, global expertise in venture capital and a well-established innovation platform, the fund aims to nurture Italian scientific talent and transform it into practical solutions for people\u2019s health.<\/p>\n\n
Jens Nielsen, CEO of BII, said in a statement: \u201cEurope harbours a vast wealth of untapped scientific potential, and BII is uniquely placed to identify and nurture it. By combining our scouting capabilities with our innovation platform, we can support the most promising entrepreneurs from the very early stages and help build a more robust and globally competitive Italian ecosystem in the therapeutics sector.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
Alessio Beverina, managing partner at Panak\u00e8s Partners, says: \u201cWe are delighted to be working alongside BII and to be putting its methodology and expertise to work to launch new Italian therapeutic start-ups, building on the world-class research produced by the country\u2019s universities and laboratories.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
Roberta Angelilli, Vice-President of the Lazio Region and Councillor for Economic Development, Trade, Crafts, Industry and Internationalisation, adds: \u201cWe are proud of the concrete launch of the Lazio Region\u2019s venture capital strategy, implemented in collaboration with Lazio Innova, with the launch of this first deep-tech fund, which involves national and international fund managers and investors such as Panakes, BII and Novo, in the life sciences sector \u2013 an area in which our region is a leader in Italy. We are confident that the region and the new generations of entrepreneurs will benefit from this collaboration, yielding long-term results.\u201d <\/p>\n\n
Andrea Ciampalini, Director-General of Lazio Innova, comments: \u201cFollowing the parallel funds launched in 2017, Lazio Innova is once again proving to be a \u2018first mover\u2019 in the current European programming period (2021\u20132027) with the launch of funds dedicated exclusively to the Lazio region.\u201d<\/strong> \u201cIt is against this backdrop that the agreement with Panakes is set; as well as involving leading international players, it focuses on an investment policy that is consistent with the region\u2019s strengths.\u201d (The opening photo shows the BII headquarters) <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Catalyst Fund I for Italy is the result of a collaboration between Lazio Innova, Panak\u00e8s Partners, BioInnovation Institute and Novo Holdings<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":125,"featured_media":182011,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_substack_draft_id":"","_substack_draft_url":"","_substack_last_pushed":"","_substack_premium":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1142],"tags":[2236,1143,1321,1136,1145],"companies":[3569,3571,3572,3570],"journalist":[1518],"class_list":["post-182012","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-vc-voice","tag-europa-en","tag-investments","tag-lifescience-en","tag-startup-en-2","tag-venture-capital-en-2","companies-bii","companies-lazio-innova","companies-novo-holdings","companies-panakes-partners","journalist-editorial-staff-en"],"featured_sizes_urls":{"thumbnail":{"src":"https:\/\/www.startupbusiness.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/BII_Headquarter.jpeg","width":150,"height":113,"crop":false,"srcset":false,"alt":"startup lifescience italy"},"large":{"src":"https:\/\/www.startupbusiness.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/BII_Headquarter.jpeg","width":1024,"height":768,"crop":false,"srcset":false,"alt":"startup lifescience italy"},"2048x2048":{"src":"https:\/\/www.startupbusiness.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/BII_Headquarter.jpeg","width":2048,"height":1536,"crop":false,"srcset":false,"alt":"startup lifescience italy"}},"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n