Ysios Capital launches €100M InceptionBio fund to seed Spain's biotech pipeline

What's the deal? Ysios Capital, Spain's largest life sciences venture capital firm, has launched InceptionBio, a new €100M fund targeting the earliest stages of biotech company creation.

The Barcelona and San Sebastián-based firm will use the fund to back technology transfer projects and seed-stage companies in Spain, working directly with universities and research centres to turn scientific discoveries into new therapeutics.

Spain's Centre for Technological Development and InnovationDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → (CDTI) has already committed capital to the fund. The fund will be led by managing partner Joan PerellóDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → and partner Arturo UrriosDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, who were appointed to drive Ysios's new early-stage vertical.

InceptionBio has set a target of creating at least three new companies in 2026. It is Ysios's first fund of this size dedicated to the earliest stages of biotech — a phase the firm describes as the most capital-intensive and risky in the sector.

Why now? Spain has a strong scientific base but has historically struggled to convert academic research into commercial biotech companies. Ysios, which has invested in more than 40 biotech companies since its founding in 2008 and manages over €400M across three funds, is betting it can close that gap by getting involved at the pre-seed and seed stage — earlier than it has operated before.

The launch also reflects a broader European trend of established life sciences VCs moving upstream to capture value from technology transfer, as competition for later-stage deals intensifies and early-stage assets become increasingly attractive.

What could go wrong? Early-stage biotech is the highest-risk segment of an already high-risk asset class. Turning a university discovery into a fundable company requires deep scientific expertise, regulatory navigation, and patient capital — and failure rates are high. At €100M, InceptionBio is a relatively small fund for the ambition it carries; if any of the target companies require significant follow-on capital, Ysios will need to bring in co-investors or draw on its larger funds.

The fund is also partially dependent on CDTI, a public body, which introduces execution risk if government funding priorities shift.

The signal: InceptionBio reflects a growing conviction among European life sciences investors that the continent's academic research base is an underexploited asset — and that the gap between laboratory discovery and investable company is itself a venture opportunity.

For Spain specifically, it signals a maturing of the local biotech ecosystem: rather than waiting for spin-outs to reach Series A, the country's leading life sciences investor is now trying to shape what gets spun out in the first place.

Sources:
El Diario Vasco
El Confidencial
La Vanguardia
Expansión
Capital Riesgo

Image credit:
Ysios Capital

J.V.