Denmark’s life science startups attract booming VC – set to double by 2035
Published 22 August 2025
Danish life science is booming — accounting for a third of the country’s venture capital market. With biotech dominance, fast-growing healthtech, and backing from global investors, EIFO’s new analysis suggests Denmark could take a leading position in Europe’s life science future.
Key takeaways from the analysis include:
Life science holds one-third of Danish VC
- Life science remains central to Danish VC, accounting for 34% of total investments in 2024.
- In 2024, EUR 391m was invested across 26 rounds, down 45% from 2023, but volumes have tripled since 2018.
Biotech dominates, Healthtech rising
- Biotech dominates (~70% of VC capital), driven by maturity and high R&D costs.
- Healthtech is the fastest-growing vertical, with rising deal flow and stronger graduation rates from Seed to Series A/B.
- Medtech remains stable but attracts less capital.
Early-stage pipeline, late-stage capital
- Most deals occur at seed and early stage (~70%), but the bulk of capital flows into fewer late-stage rounds.
- Biotech rounds are on average 2–3x larger than Healthtech and Medtech.
VC outlook: doubling by 2035
- Life science VC is projected to more than double to EUR 1.1bn by 2035, holding a ~40% share of the Danish VC market.
- Growth is supported by Novo Nordisk, the Novo Nordisk Foundation, and the BioInnovation Institute (BII), as well as enablers like AI, quantum tech, and new infrastructure (e.g., Gefion supercomputer).
Challenges remain
- Heavy reliance on foreign capital risks “scaleup leakage.”
- Weak exit markets constrain capital recycling into new funds.
- Commercialization gaps slow the translation of world-class Danish research into global companies.
Read more here.
