DISCO Pharmaceuticals’ expanded €36m seed round is a clear signal that European investors are doubling down on deeptech drug discovery platforms, even as they stay highly selective on early-stage biotech.
The Berlin-based company closed its seed financing at EUR 36m on 11 December 2025, extending a previously announced EUR 20m seed round. The EUR 16m top-up was co-led by new investors Ackermans & van Haaren and NRW.Bank, with strong support from returning backers Sofinnova Partners, AbbVie Ventures, M Ventures and Panakes Partners.
Signal 1: Platform-first biotech is still bankable
The rapid, oversubscribed expansion of the round shows that investors remain willing to back capital-intensive discovery platforms where the technology edge is clear and the path to partnering is visible.
DISCO’s proposition is tightly aligned with two of the most active modalities in oncology dealmaking:
- a surfaceome‑mapping platform designed to systematically identify novel cell-surface target pairs, and
- a pipeline of antibody–drug conjugates (ADCs) and T‑cell engagers that are “nearing clinical entry”, backed by the new capital.
This is exactly where big pharma is concentrating its external innovation budgets. Global licensing and M&A activity around ADCs and T‑cell engagers has remained robust, even as general biotech funding has cooled. By focusing on target discovery and validation for these modalities, DISCO positions itself at the intersection of a technology and a dealmaking hotspot.
Signal 2: Syndicate quality confirms European deeptech momentum
The investor line-up reads like a checklist of serious European life sciences capital:
- Ackermans & van Haaren and NRW.Bank as new co-leads anchor the expansion, bringing long-term, institutionally backed capital into the syndicate.
- Sofinnova Partners, one of Europe’s most experienced biotech VCs, returns alongside AbbVie Ventures and M Ventures, the corporate venture arms of AbbVie and Merck KGaA, plus Panakes Partners.
This combination of blue-chip financial and corporate VCs does two things:
- Validates the platform – multiple sophisticated investors have now doubled down on DISCO’s approach to surfaceome mapping.
- Strengthens partnering optionality – having AbbVie Ventures and M Ventures at the table increases visibility with potential future licensees or acquirers.
For the European mid-market, this is another data point that high-calibre syndicates are still forming around differentiated technologies, even at the seed stage, provided the science is seen as globally competitive.
Signal 3: Germany consolidates its position in next‑gen oncology
Germany has been steadily building a cluster of oncology and immunology innovators, and DISCO’s round reinforces that trajectory. With EUR 36m now raised in total seed funding, the company sits in the upper range of European seed financings, underlining the country’s ability to support ambitious, platform-heavy plays rather than single-asset bets.
The proceeds will be used to:
- advance DISCO’s surfaceome‑mapping technology; and
- push its ADC and T‑cell engager programs towards the clinic.
Execution risk remains high – platform validation and early clinical data will be decisive over the next 24–36 months. But the size of the round provides a meaningful runway to generate the kind of data package that attracts pharma partnerships or a substantial Series A.
Why this matters for the mid-market
For the EUR 10–500m European deal space, DISCO’s seed expansion illustrates three broader trends:
- Fewer, larger early rounds: capital concentrates in fewer companies, but winners raise at the top end of the seed range.
- Corporate VC as kingmaker: the presence and re‑upping of AbbVie Ventures and M Ventures shows how strategic investors increasingly shape which platforms get to scale.
- Platform optionality over single assets: investors favour discovery engines that can feed multiple ADC and T‑cell engager programs, supporting future licensing and M&A optionality in the mid-market band.
In a cautious funding environment, DISCO’s EUR 36m seed close stands out as a confident bet on European deeptech biotech – and a reminder that when science aligns with pharma demand, capital is still ready to move quickly.