Investment levels among companies based at the University of Barcelona Science Park (PCB-UB) are holding steady. The 86 spin-offs, start-ups and scale-ups operating in the PCB collectively secured €124.7 million in funding in 2024, which is a substantial rise on the €85.4 million raised in 2023. This is also the second-highest total in the PCB’s history, just behind the record total of €142 million achieved in 2022. With all available space now occupied, this University of Barcelona (UB) ecosystem is consolidating its role as a driver of biomedical innovation and a strategic focal point for the sector.

Following an overall slump in investment in 2023 due to global geopolitical and economic uncertainty, companies showed signs of financial recovery and stabilising growth in 2024. This was particularly evident in private funding, which reached €97.5 million and remained the primary source of investment for companies in the health sector. Public funding from competitive national and European grants also rose to €27.2 million (up 53.6% from the previous year), playing an increasingly important role in driving innovation.

Investment by subsector maintained previous trends, with medtech once again attracting the largest share (€85.5 million), followed by biotech (€37 million). This consolidates their status as the primary focal points for R&D among companies based at the PCB. Meanwhile, emerging fields such as deeptech and femtech gained traction, with several standout success stories arising in the entrepreneurial ecosystem. The central nervous system, oncology and immunology remained the main therapeutic areas attracting investment.

The PCB continued to serve as a powerful driver of investment within Catalonia’s BioRegion. According to the latest Biocat report, more than a third (36%) of all capital raised in this domain in 2024 (€347 million) was concentrated within the PCB ecosystem. The report notes that investment in the sector has stabilised, with growth figures returning to pre-pandemic trends and firmly establishing the health sector as the third-largest source of wealth in Catalonia.

PCB Director Maria Terrades said: “2024 was a year of consolidation and stability for our ecosystem. The full occupancy of the PCB’s facilities and the steady increase in investment reflect the trust placed in the science, talent and innovation nurtured at the PCB”. She added: “These figures not only position us as a driving force in biomedical innovation in Catalonia, but also highlight the success of a public-private collaboration model that we champion – one that continues, year after year, to demonstrate its ability to generate impact and shared value.”

The rector of the University of Barcelona, Joan Guàrdia, emphasised that “projects like the University of Barcelona Science Park embody the institution’s transformative spirit”. He added: “The trio of research, business and knowledge transfer makes the PCB a unique point of reference within the University of Barcelona. This area will be further strengthened in the coming years with the development of the new Clínic Campus project, which will drive and consolidate the Diagonal Health Axis as one of southern Europe’s premier hubs for health, research and education.”

In 2024, the PCB successfully completed the BCN Health Booster acceleration programme, which enabled 11 spin-offs and start-ups to set up in University of Barcelona facilities and benefit from subsidised access to laboratory space. Together, these 11 companies attracted €17.6 million in public and private capital in 2024. Over the three-year course of the programme, they raised a total of €107.5 million in funding and drove the development of 69 patents.

INBRAIN Neuroelectronics, a major player

INBRAIN Neuroelectronics continued its remarkable trajectory, topping the list for private investment within the PCB entrepreneurial community for the second consecutive year. The company secured a record-breaking €78.2 million in 2024, thanks to a €46.2 million Series B round, complemented by a further €32 million from strategic private partners. INBRAIN’s Series B round was the second-largest deal recorded in Catalonia’s BioRegion in 2024. These funds will enable the pioneering neuroelectronics company to accelerate clinical trials and expand its team as it advances the development of its innovative graphene-based therapeutic platform for treating neurological conditions such as Parkinson’s disease and epilepsy.

Nuage Therapeutics, a spinoff of IRB Barcelona and ICREA, closed the second-largest funding round within the PCB ecosystem, raising €5 million to support the development of cancer drugs targeting intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs). The company is currently in an advanced preclinical phase and aims to bring its discoveries closer to therapeutic application in the near future.

Blue biotech start-up B’ZEOS, which specialises in sustainable packaging solutions derived from seaweed, completed a €5 million seed funding round. Led by Portuguese firm Faber, and with participation from ICIG Ventures and International Chemical Investors Group (ICIG), this was the third most significant funding operation in 2024.

Zymvol Biomodeling, a biotech company specialising in the discovery and computational design of enzymes – primarily for the pharmaceutical and chemical industries – closed 2024 with €2.9 million in private investment.

Also surpassing the €1 million mark in funding rounds in 2024 were Fecundis (€2.4 million), Nanobots Therapeutics (€2.1 million) and DAN*NA (€1.1 million).

Fecundis, a medical technology startup specialized in assisted reproduction, secured €2.4 million to accelerate the development of its first product, HyperSperm—a revolutionary medical device for assisted reproduction focused on sperm cells, which has already entered clinical trials. The operation was led by the venture capital firm DuneGlass Capital, based in Chicago, with participation from the Latin American investment funds Zentynel Frontier Investments and GRIDX.

The spin-off from the Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC), Nanobots Therapeutics, raised €2.1 million to continue advancing in the validation of its nanobot for drug delivery in bladder cancer using animal models.

The bioengineering company DAN*NA, dedicated to the development of advanced biomaterials and bioplastics for the technology sector, also secured €1.1 million to boost the international expansion of its patent on PLH copolyester, a biobased and biocompatible material with multiple applications in agriculture, electronics, textiles, and healthcare, thanks to its biocompatibility and biodegradability properties.

Other companies based at the Barcelona Science Park that also received private capital injections during 2024 include: Aptadel Therapeutics (€450,000), a spin-off from the Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBELL), focused on the preclinical development of RNA-based drugs with a therapeutic program targeting Ewing sarcoma; ZIP Solutions (€277,000), which is developing a gene therapy using its patented ZIP Splittera system; and SITEC pharmabio (€150,000), dedicated to the development of micronized systems for the oral delivery of peptides.

Public funding, a key part of the health innovation ecosystem

Public funding secured by companies based at the University of Barcelona Science Park increased notably in 2024, reaching €27.2 million. This increase highlights the significantly stronger support available through competitive national grants, including those from the Ministry of Science and Innovation, the CDTI, the State Research Agency (AEI), ACCIÓ and AGAUR. It also points to enhanced backing from European programmes such as the EIC Fund, NextGenerationEU, Horizon Europe, EIT Health, Eurostars and InnoBuyer. These schemes are seen as strategic allies in fostering innovation and represented a 53.6% increase on the total of €17.7 million awarded in 2023.

Connecta Therapeutics (€2.7 million through the Next Generation EU programme) leads the ranking of public funds raised in 2024, with which it will complete Phase I clinical trials of the drug CTH120 for the treatment of Fragile X syndrome, followed by INBRAIN Neuroelectronics (€2.5 million through EIC Transition), Hemostatics (€2.5 million through State Investigation Agency), IDP Pharma (€2.4 million), Zymvol Biomodeling (€2.3 million), ENDOR Technologies (€1.8 million), Xenopat (€1.4 million) and Fecundis (€1.3 million).

Several other companies received public funding totalling less than €1 million, including Telara Pharma (€840,000), GAT Biosciences (€800,000), Nanobots Therapeutics (€800,000), OneChain Immunotherapeutics (€800,000), Gate2Brain (€728,000), Pharmacelera (€642,000), Nuage Therapeutics (€640,000), Accure Therapeutics (€572,000), Bioliquid Innovative Genetics (€469,000), MiMark (€460,000), SpliceBio (€200,000), Aptadel Therapeutics (€136,000), Chemotargets (€99,300) and SITEC pharmabio (€56,000). These companies all contributed to the upward trend in public capital raised in 2024.

Specialized consulting as an ally within an innovative ecosystem

The company MeteoSim, specialized in meteorological and environmental services, obtained public funding (€240,000) for the PRONURB project under ACCIÓ’s Nuclis RDi initiative, which aims to improve urban-scale air quality forecasting systems by integrating numerical modeling and artificial intelligence.

The consulting firm GENESIS Biomed will close 2024 with a cumulative business volume of €9 million and a total of 385 projects developed for 220 clients. Throughout 2024, the consultancy has played a prominent role in the European health innovation landscape, actively participating in several EU-funded projects. Among them, its involvement in the Retina Read Risk project, supported by EIT Health, stands out. This project seeks to develop an affordable telemedicine solution for the detection of diabetic retinopathy, an ophthalmological condition linked to diabetes. Also noteworthy is the PHEMS project, funded by the EU, which focuses on establishing a federated, data-driven collaboration among European pediatric hospitals.

In 2024, Arian International (AIP) worked on 15 new projects funded by organizations such as ICEX, ACCIÓ, and the European Innovation Council (EIC), and provided advisory services to a cumulative total of 289 companies. AIP acted as a service provider within the EIC Service Catalogue, offering advanced market intelligence and business planning solutions to beneficiaries and Seal of Excellence (SoE) holders of the Horizon Europe and EIC Accelerator, Pathfinder, and Transition programs.

A fully operational PCB looks to the future with plans for new spaces

This sustained growth comes as the PCB reaches full capacity in its available laboratory spaces, which totalled 22,109 m² at the end of 2024. To meet the high demand for space, work is under way on the future Cub building, scheduled for completion in 2028. The four-storey facility will be dedicated to dry labs and research offices.

Administrative progress is also being made on the new health research building as part of the University of Barcelona’s MIES (Mathematics, Computer Science, Economics and Health) project. In May 2024, the MIES agreement was signed between UB and INCASÒL, and an amendment to the Urban Improvement Plan was approved to adapt the urban planning framework for the South Campus. At the same time, the Functional Plan for the new building has been completed. The facility will add 10,000 m² to host the Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC), the Fraunhofer Institute, and several research groups linked to the UB’s health sciences division. A design competition for the new building was launched on 5 May, with submissions open until 3 June 2025. The first occupants are expected to move in at the beginning of 2029.