Best Life Sciences Companies in North Rhine Westphalia, Germany
The 219 best Life Sciences companies in North Rhine Westphalia, Germany in 2026, ranked by funding and momentum. Funding, investors, founders, valuation, tech stack and live signals. Top: Better Place.
Our analysis of 50 Life Sciences companies
$3.3b in tracked funding; 51% of the stack-profiled cohort runs cloud-native; funding activity peaked in 2024.
Ranked: Best Life Sciences companies in North Rhine Westphalia
| # | Company | Disclosed funding | Last round | Stage | Employees | Founded | Founder | Patents & IP focus | Recent signals |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Better Place Provider of an AI-powered platform for creating and delivering educational content | $661M | 165 mo ago | Series C | 85 | 2007 | Ralf Ochs Co-Founder | 2 patents Cold water distribution and cooling systems for drinking water supply | — |
| 2 | Emergence Therapeutics Developer of immunotherapeutics for treating cancer | $98M | 54 mo ago | Acquired | 10 | 2019 | — | 45 patents Patents concentrated in health & consumer products | — |
| 3 | Biofrontera Developer of therapies for actinic keratosis using photodynamic therapy 50Market top 29%Funding top 30%News top 34%Moat top 48% All 8 signals ▾Markettop 29% Fundingtop 30% Newstop 34% Moattop 48% Fin. healthtop 50% Growthbottom 43% Globalbottom 43% Techbottom 30% Market: 149 employees (top 13% of Life Sciences) · Revenue ~$41.7M Funding: Raised $93.4M across 10 rounds · 10 rounds over 22 yrs (0.5/yr) rank vs industry peers · Fliar Intelligence Index 50/100 | $93M | 28 mo ago | Public | 149 | 1997 | — | — | — |
| 4 | Singleron Developer of single-cell multi-omics platform for clinical research and molecular diagnosis | $84M | 55 mo ago | Series B | — | 2018 | Jing Zhou Co-Founder | — | — |
| 5 | AiCuris Developer of antiviral and antibacterial therapeutics for infectious diseases | $75M | 103 mo ago | Acquired | 61 61 → 80 (+31%) | 2006 | — | 1,119 patents Antiviral therapeutics targeting herpesvirus nuclear egress and intravaginal drug delivery | — |
| 6 | Abalos Therapeutics Developer of anticancer therapies by stimulating arenavirus | $51M | 56 mo ago | Series A | 22 | 2019 | Marcus Kostka CEO | 38 patents Oncolytic arenavirus vectors engineered for enhanced tumor cell entry and therapy | — |
| 7 | Cardion Specializes in development of novel heart disease and cell transplantation therapies | $46M | 284 mo ago | Deadpooled | — | 1996 | Jurgen Schrader Founder | — | — |
| 8 | Protembis Manufacturer of cerebral protection device 29Moat top 25%Innovation top 32%Funding top 32%Patents top 35% All 7 signals ▾Moattop 25% Innovationtop 32% Fundingtop 32% Patentstop 35% Globalbottom 42% Newsbottom 21% Marketbottom 18% Moat: Editorial + unicorn rating 7/10 · IP moat: 59 patents Innovation: 59 patents (top 43% of patent-holders) · 34 filings since 2022 vs 22 in 2017-21 rank vs industry peers · Fliar Intelligence Index 29/100 | $42M | 22 mo ago | Public | 3 | 2013 | — | 59 patents Embolic protection devices for aortic arch during cardiovascular interventions | — |
| 9 | Cevec Pharmaceuticals Provider of glyco-optimised human cell lines and gene therapy vectors using proprietary cell expression system | $28M | 58 mo ago | Acquired | 39 | 2001 | — | 208 patents Production and engineering of viral vectors and glyco-modified recombinant therapeutics. | — |
| 10 | Affectis Developer of drugs for the treatment of neurodegenerative and neuroinflammatory diseases | $25M | 194 mo ago | Deadpooled | — | 2004 | Herbert Stadler Founder | — | — |
| 11 | DISCO Pharmaceuticals Developer of target-directed therapeutic modalities for the treatment of cancer 40Growth top 28%Funding top 36%News top 36%Talent top 38% All 9 signals ▾Growthtop 28% Fundingtop 36% Newstop 36% Talenttop 38% Partnerstop 40% Moattop 42% Globalbottom 39% Marketbottom 35% Techbottom 17% Growth: Web rank 50,000,000 → 10,000,000 YoY · Fresh capital in last 24 mo Funding: Raised $21.9M across 2 rounds · 2 rounds over 2 yrs (1.0/yr) rank vs industry peers · Fliar Intelligence Index 40/100 | $22M | 6 mo ago | Seed | — | 2022 | Johannes Heuckmann Chief Operating Officer (COO) and founder | — | — |
| 12 | Protagen Diagnostics for Personalized Medicine in Autoimmune diseases using autoantibody based biomarkers | $20M | 138 mo ago | Acqui-Hired | 20 | 1997 | — | 167 patents Molecular biomarkers for diagnosing and managing autoimmune diseases and cancer immunotherapy | — |
| 13 | Ayoxxa Biosystems Developer of a platform for multiplex protein analysis | $19M | 113 mo ago | Deadpooled | 40 | 2010 | — | 4 patents Patents concentrated in computing, sensing & instrumentation | — |
| 14 | hemovent Developer of equipment for extracorporeal life support | $17M | 71 mo ago | Acquired | 23 | 2013 | — | 54 patents Patents concentrated in health & consumer products | — |
| 15 | PL BioScience Manufacturer of human platelet lysate products for cell culture applications | $13M | 22 mo ago | Series A | 13 | 2015 | Hatim Hemeda CEO | 15 patents Patents concentrated in chemistry & materials | 2 launchs · 1 partnership · 1 award |
| 16 | LenioBio Provider of kit for cell-free protein expression for accelerating drug delivery 50Talent top 28%Funding top 37%Moat top 37%Tech top 39% All 10 signals ▾Talenttop 28% Fundingtop 37% Moattop 37% Techtop 39% Patentstop 41% Growthtop 45% Innovationtop 47% Globalbottom 39% Marketbottom 33% Newsbottom 22% Talent: 3 named leaders on record · 3 C-suite/founder profiles curated Funding: Raised $13.0M across 6 rounds · 6 rounds over 7 yrs (0.9/yr) rank vs industry peers · Fliar Intelligence Index 50/100 | $13M | 10 mo ago | Series A | 18 18 → 44 (+144%) | 2016 | Remberto Martis Founder & CEO | 20 patents High-throughput membrane protein ligand screening and advanced cell-free protein synthesis platforms | 1 partnership |
| 17 | Miltenyi Biotec Develops tools and products for research and clinical application | $13M | 63 mo ago | Funding Raised | 585 | 1989 | Stefan Miltenyi Founder & MD | 875 patents Advanced cell therapy manufacturing, immune cell engineering, and microfluidic sorting platforms | — |
| 18 | Algiax Speciality company that develops new products for nervous system diseases with focus on neuropathic pain | $12M | 78 mo ago | Series A | 4 | 2011 | Guido Koopmans Co-Founder & CSO | — | — |
| 19 | InterMed Discovery Natural Product lead-discovery | $10M | 209 mo ago | Deadpooled | — | 2006 | Thomas Henkel Co-Founder & Director | 56 patents Small-molecule LXR agonists and HIF‑1 inhibitors for obesity, metabolic and cancer therapies | — |
| 20 | MELAGENIX Developer of molecular diagnostic tests to detect skin cancer | $9M | 75 mo ago | Series A | 9 | 2017 | Daniel Janowski Co-Founder & CPO | — | — |
| 21 | Semalytix Provider of an AI based data analytics solution for reserachers 64AI top 22%Growth top 28%Funding top 36%Talent top 41% All 8 signals ▾AItop 22% Growthtop 28% Fundingtop 36% Talenttop 41% Moattop 48% Techbottom 46% Marketbottom 44% Globalbottom 37% AI: Classified as an AI company · Product described with: ai based, ai-based, artificial intelligence Growth: Headcount 54 → 67 (+24%) across vintages · Fresh capital in last 24 mo rank vs industry peers · Fliar Intelligence Index 64/100 | $8M | 7 mo ago | Series B | 67 67 → 44 (-34%) | 2015 | Janik Jaskolski Chief Product Officer | — | — |
| 22 | Neuway Pharma Therapies for the treatment of brain diseases using its proprietary CNS drug delivery platform | $7M | 120 mo ago | Public | 18 | 2014 | — | 33 patents Virus-like particle platforms for mRNA and protein therapeutic delivery | — |
| 23 | Coramaze Mitral valve repair system | $6M | 129 mo ago | Series A | 13 | 2013 | Jochen Reinöhl Md Chief Executive Officer | — | — |
| 24 | Nexigen Developer of therapies for oncological indications | $6M | 180 mo ago | Deadpooled | 10 | 2007 | — | 24 patents Protein‑peptide interaction detection platforms for antiviral target discovery and therapeutics | — |
| 25 | New Oncology Provider of pharmacogenomics tests for cancer | $6M | 128 mo ago | Acquired | 30 | 2012 | — | — | — |
| 26 | PROSION Developer of precision medicine technology for cancer treatment | $6M | 50 mo ago | Funding Raised | 10 | 2020 | Mutlu Yonel Co-Founder | — | — |
| 27 | InfanDx Developer of in-vitro diagnostic products for acute and critical care conditions in newborns | $5M | 51 mo ago | Series A | 14 | 2010 | — | 24 patents Metabolic biomarker panels and melt‑curve assays for neonatal encephalopathy, asphyxia, stroke diagnostics | — |
| 28 | Nano4Imaging Developer of MRI compatible guidewires and markers for interventional imaging | $3M | 44 mo ago | Seed | 9 | 2011 | Paul Borm Founder | 24 patents Minimally invasive guide wires and tetrapyrrole MRI contrast agents for medical imaging | 1 partnership |
| 29 | VesselSens Provider of implantable diagnostic sensor system | $3M | 50 mo ago | Funding Raised | — | 2016 | Alexej Domnich CEO | 9 patents Implantable passive RFID pressure sensors for cardiovascular monitoring and fluid dynamics measurement. | — |
| 30 | SenseUP Developer of microbial production strains 21Talent top 35%Moat top 38%Patents top 49%Funding bottom 45% All 7 signals ▾Talenttop 35% Moattop 38% Patentstop 49% Fundingbottom 45% Globalbottom 40% Innovationbottom 37% Marketbottom 23% Talent: 4 named leaders on record Moat: Editorial + unicorn rating 5/10 · IP moat: 14 patents rank vs industry peers · Fliar Intelligence Index 21/100 | $3M | 12 mo ago | Seed | 10 10 → 13 (+30%) | 2015 | Gunter Festel Co-Founder | 14 patents RNA synthesis platforms and aptamer‑based biosensors for diagnostic protein detection | — |
| 31 | Bomedus Develops products to relieve acute and chronic pain | $3M | 126 mo ago | Deadpooled | 11 | 2012 | Tobias Weigl CEO | 2 patents Pain‑relief electrotherapy electrode assemblies for neuromodulation devices | — |
| 32 | Atlas medical technologies Developer of robotic surgical systems with integrated AI for spinal procedures | $3M | 40 mo ago | Series A | 4 | 2018 | Till Gronemeyer Co-Founder | — | — |
| 33 | HBOX Therapies Developer of therapeutics for the treatment of respiratory conditions | $2M | 35 mo ago | Seed | 5 | 2021 | Peter Schlanstein Co-Founder & Managing Director | 3 patents Membrane modules for therapeutic fluid gas enrichment and delivery systems | — |
| 34 | Cellex Developer of stem cells for cancer treatment | $2M | 195 mo ago | Funding Raised | 127 | 2001 | Carla Kreissig Co-CEO | — | — |
| 35 | Niostem Provider of smart wearable device to regrow hair | $2M | 53 mo ago | Seed | 9 | 2019 | Emil Aliev Co-Founder | — | — |
| 36 | Protectimmun Treatments for prevention and therapy of allergic and chronic inflammatory diseases | $2M | 181 mo ago | Seed | — | 2007 | Otto Holst Co-Founder | 17 patents Therapeutic compositions and synthetic arabinogalactans for allergy and inflammatory disease treatment | — |
| 37 | Chimera Biotec Company offering bioanalytical services and immunoassay platforms for ultra sensitive large-molecule… | $1M | 117 mo ago | Funding Raised | 11 | 2001 | Mark Spengler CEO | 20 patents Quantitative detection of biomolecules using conjugated assay reagents and optical devices. | — |
| 38 | LaVision BioTec Developer of microscopes for cell analysis and preclinical imaging | $1M | 53 mo ago | Acquired | 102 | 2000 | — | 40 patents Advanced optical microscopy: light-sheet and single-molecule localization imaging systems | — |
| 39 | IEM Portfolio of devices and software for hypertension management | $759K | 65 mo ago | Funding Raised | — | 1993 | Uwe Korth CEO | — | 2 partnerships |
| 40 | Bitop Develops reagents for bioactive compound, cosmetic active ingredient, and biostabilizer | $608K | 101 mo ago | Funding Raised | 41 | 1993 | Daniel Berger CEO | 201 patents Pharmaceutical formulations for ocular treatments, sirtuin activation, and antiviral solutes. | 1 launch |
| 41 | Evoxx Technologies Developer of enzymes and bio-catalytic processes | $554K | 137 mo ago | Acquired | 15 | 2006 | — | — | — |
| 42 | SeSaM-Biotech Technologies and solutions for protein engineering | $542K | 113 mo ago | Funding Raised | 5 | 2008 | Ulrich Schwaneberg Founder | — | — |
| 43 | DESINO Wheelchair with patented seating system | $534K | 126 mo ago | Deadpooled | — | 2012 | Thyl Junker Co-Founder & Director | 6 patents Active wheelchair seat actuation mechanisms and manual wheelchair propulsion systems | — |
| 44 | Gremse-IT Provider of a software for biomedical image data reconstruction and analysis | $494K | 40 mo ago | Funding Raised | — | 2016 | Felix Gremse Founder & CEO | — | 1 launch |
| 45 | Adhesys Medical Manufacturer of bio-degradable polyurethane-based surgical sealants | $475K | 115 mo ago | Acqui-Hired | 4 | 2013 | — | 61 patents Two-component surgical tissue adhesives and sealant kits for vascular and organ anastomosis | — |
| 46 | LIFE & BRAIN Provides research and development for biomedical and neuroscientific technology platform | $326K | 77 mo ago | Funding Raised | — | 2002 | Markus Nothen Co-Founder & Co-CEO | 83 patents Scalable production platforms for human neural and microglial cell cultures and optical voltage sensing | 1 job opening |
| 47 | Fibrothelium Developer of silk protein derived from silkworm cocoons | $302K | 69 mo ago | Funding Raised | — | 2017 | Hans Leemhuis Chief Executive Officer | 13 patents Silk fibroin biomaterials for medical implants, drug delivery, and therapeutic protein production | — |
| 48 | MedSkin Solutions Developer of home-use skin care products for soft tissue regeneration & wound care | $297K | 68 mo ago | Funding Raised | — | 1997 | Wolfgang Suwelack Founder | — | — |
| 49 | CalTIC Developer of TRPC inhibitors for the treatment of metabolic and pathological cardiac conditions | $289K | 44 mo ago | Seed | — | 2021 | Klaus Dinkel CEO | — | — |
| 50 | Localite Developer of surgical navigation and planning systems | $123K | 44 mo ago | Funding Raised | 15 15 → 17 (+13%) | 1999 | Arno Schmitgen Managing Director | — | — |
Top 12 Life Sciences companies in North Rhine Westphalia
#1
Seed · Cologne, North Rhine Westphalia · founded 2022$21.9Mraised▾
Developer of target-directed therapeutic modalities for the treatment of cancer. The company specializes in mapping the surfaceome of cancer cells and develop first-in-class cancer drugs. It identifies proteins and protein communities across the entire cancer cell surface addressing the need for target candidates for both mono- and bi-specific antibodies.
- Dec 2025Seed$41.9M
- Jan 2024Seed$21.9M
#2
Series B · Bielefeld, North Rhine Westphalia · founded 2015 · 67 employees$7.5Mraised▾
Semalytix is an AI-based data analytics solution. The company leverages artificial intelligence and machine learning to offers an analytics solution for marketing, business analytics, financial services, and pharmaceutical. The company has developed products like Pharos which has the ability to make decisions based on patients' health data, population data, and more.
- Oct 2025Series B$6.6M
- Feb 2021Series A$2.4M
- Aug 2020Series A$5.1M
- Jan 2019Grant (prize money)$393K
#3
Series A · Dusseldorf, North Rhine Westphalia · founded 2016 · 18 employees$13Mraised▾
Provider of kit for cell-free protein expression for accelerating drug delivery. The company develops ALiCE is the first eukaryotic cell-free protein expression platform for the discovery, development, and production of difficult-to-express proteins. It has active energy regeneration and has components necessary for protein folding, disulfide bonding, and glycosylation.
- Jul 2025Grant (prize money)$4.3M
- Sep 2023Grant (prize money)—
- May 2022Grant (prize money)$2.9M
- Feb 2022Grant (prize money)$56.3K
#4
Public · Aachen, North Rhine Westphalia · founded 2013 · 3 employees$42.5Mraised▾
Manufacturer of cerebral protection device It produces a cerebral protection device for use during cardiac surgeries involving the left heart to prevent strokes. Their device consists of an implantable filter system that can be introduced into the aortic arch during minimally invasive procedures which prevent the migration of embolic particles into the cerebral vasculature which prevents strokes.
- Jul 2024Venture Debt$21.7M
- Mar 2024Series B$35.2M
- Oct 2018Series A$10M
- Jul 2015Seed—
#5
Seed · Julich, North Rhine Westphalia · founded 2015 · 10 employees$2.7Mraised▾
SenseUp is a developer of microbial production strains. The company uses patented meta sensor technology to screen strains of bacteria, with higher productivity. The technology has applications for train development, SNP identification, library screening, and process dynamics analysis. It also offers a product like amino acids, proteins and peptides, RNA and other natural products.
- May 2025Seed$2.7M
#6
Public · Leverkusen, North Rhine Westphalia · founded 1997 · 149 employees$93.4Mraised▾
Developer of therapies for actinic keratosis using photodynamic therapy. It offers medication focused on protecting and healing skin. The company specializes in dermatology, addressing various skin health concerns. It provides a product portfolio and conducts clinical trials.
- Feb 2024Post IPO$16M
- Nov 2021Post IPO$15M
- Feb 2021Post IPO—
- Jul 2020Post IPO$9.4M
#7
Series A · Aachen, North Rhine Westphalia · founded 2015 · 13 employees$13Mraised▾
Manufacturer of human platelet lysate products for cell culture applications. The company offers a range of platelet lysate products with different safety grades. These products support cell expansion for research, therapeutics, and clinical applications. The company's technology aims to provide solutions for cell culture needs.
- Aug 2024Series A$8.5M
- May 2021Series A$4.5M
#8
Series C · Gronau, North Rhine Westphalia · founded 2007 · 85 employees$660.8Mraised▾
Provider of an AI-powered platform for creating and delivering educational content. The platform offers tools for educators and institutions to design personalized learning experiences. It includes features such as AI course generation, adaptive learning management, and content publishing. The platform aims to make education more accessible and scalable.
- Aug 2012Conventional Debt$50.1M
- Nov 2011Series C$200M
- May 2010Series C$350M
- May 2009Series C$110.8M
#9
Series B · Hagen, North Rhine Westphalia · founded 2018$84.5Mraised▾
Developer of single-cell multi-omics platform for clinical research and molecular diagnosis. It offers a product portfolio that includes instruments, microfluidic devices, reagents, software analysis, and database solutions that facilitate high-throughput single-cell analysis. It also, offers single cell sequencing services.
- Nov 2021Series B—
- Dec 2020Series A$30M
- Nov 2020Series A$10M
- Sep 2020Series A$30M
#10
Acquired · Duisburg, North Rhine Westphalia · founded 2019 · 10 employees$98.2Mraised▾
Emergence therapeutics develops immunotherapeutics for treating cancer. The company is developing novel antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) immuno-therapeutics to treat cancers. The company uses proprietary ATAC technology to target Nectin-4 a target for a broad range of cancers.
- Dec 2021Series A$98.2M
- Nov 2020Seed—
- Nov 2019Seed—
#11
Series A · Essen, North Rhine Westphalia · founded 2019 · 22 employees$50.8Mraised▾
Developer of anticancer therapies by stimulating arenavirus. The company is developing arenavirus-based drug candidates that are used to stimulate the precise specific immune responses and activate immune cells against primary tumors and metastases.
- Oct 2021Series A$37.6M
- Oct 2019Series A$13.2M
#12
Acquired · Cologne, North Rhine Westphalia · founded 2001 · 39 employees$28.4Mraised▾
Provider of glyco-optimized human cell lines and gene therapy vectors using proprietary cell expression system. The company has ELEVECTA technology for AAV manufacturing, CAP Go expression platform comprises a portfolio of glyco-optimized human suspension cell lines for tailor-made glycosylation of recombinant proteins. Provides the CAP GT expression platform, a scalable production system for gene therapy vectors. Also offers cell line development and protein expression services.
- Jul 2021Series E—
- Apr 2019Series D—
- Jul 2015Series C$4.9M
- Oct 2012Series C$3.6M
Funding & investor landscape
Notable founders
Market landscape — 10 sub-themes by coverage
Share of Life Sciences coverage by sub-theme.
Regulatory-risk over time rising
Funding & growth over time
funding rising · growth rising
How research on Biotechnology is moving in Germany
A read on the academic research around Biotechnology — which themes are gaining ground, the institutions and researchers driving them, and how the tone is shifting. Based on 1,297 Germany-affiliated papers.
- Heidelberg University85
- German Cancer Research Center49
- Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München48
- Technical University of Munich43
- Karlsruhe Institute of Technology33
- Gene3→29
- Mutant3→19
- Transcription (linguistics)3→16
- Messenger RNA1→14
- Immune system1→12
- Gene3→20
- Agriculture2→12
- Extracellular1→11
- Immune system1→11
- Transcriptome1→9
- Antibiotic resistance2→9
- Gene1→7
- Agriculture4→9
- Antimicrobial1→4
- Microbiome1→4
Where biotechnology is researched across Germany
Location clusters by institution affiliation — each city's volume, stance tone, and a quick read on its hot topic, what's advancing, the opening opportunity, and the main concern.
Who's filing biotechnology patents in Germany
Germany biotechnology patent filing is cooling — 53,233 filings from 8,000 assignees (2016–2025), led by Immatics Biotechnologies, BASF Plant Science, BASF SE; annual filings 4819→4267.
- Immatics Biotechnologies4875
- BASF Plant Science3993
- BASF SE3545
- Boehringer Ingelheim INT3440
- Merck Patent3137
- MAX Planck Gesellschaft1805
- Evonik Degussa1683
- Amgen RES Munich1665