NewsNov 5, 2026, 20:13 UTC

Spain's Columbus returns 3.25x on its first €41.4M biotech fund

What's the deal? Columbus Venture Partners has completed the liquidation of its first fund, Columbus Innvierte Life Science, FCR, reporting a 38.6% net internal rate of return. The 2016 vehicle, sized at €41.4 million, distributed €102,400,000 against €31,500,000 drawn from investors — about 3.25 times the capital deployed.

Why now? The final figures land a decade after launch, following the exit of the fund's full portfolio of eight companies. Recent sales of stakes in Aura Biosciences and Vivet Therapeutics in 2026 closed out the book.

What's the endgame? Founders Damià Tormo and Javier García started the fund on the conviction that Spain could build biotech companies with international reach. Seven of the eight portfolio companies were originated by the Columbus team, backed by CDTI's Innvierte programme.

The firm now manages €800 million. Notable wins include Viralgen, a gene-therapy manufacturer co-founded in 2017 with AskBio; Bayer acquired Columbus's stake three years later as part of its AskBio deal, worth $2 billion upfront plus up to $2 billion in milestones.

What could go wrong? A strong debut fund is no guarantee for later vehicles. Columbus closed its fifth fund this year at €200 million, with a commitment of up to €70 million from CDTI Innvierte — a far larger pool to deploy.

The signal: The result underscores Spain's appetite for scaling life-sciences funding. In March, Ysios launched a €100 million fund to create new biotechs — another sign that domestic investors see room to build international companies from the ground up.