Eyes on Europe: Asabys’ €180M fund, Genespire’s record series B

Two announcements this week spoke to the increasing maturation of biotech ecosystems in Spain and Italy, as Barcelona-based venture firm Asabys closed a new second fund and gene therapy company Genespire raised one of the largest series B rounds in Italian biotech history.

While the U.K., France and Germany have historically been ahead of southern Europe in biotech entrepreneurship and investment, Spain and Italy have reached new milestones in recent years as their biotech industries have grown. For example, the €205 million ($231 million) acquisition of Sanifit Therapeutics Inc. in 2021 was a watershed deal in Spanish biotech; Ysios Capital’s Joël Jean-Mairet described it as a “before and after” moment at the time...