BiomedVC has expanded the leadership bench behind its BiomedInvest IV vehicle by appointing Claudia Ulbrich and David Urech as Venture Partners and Ulf Grawunder as Entrepreneur-in-Residence, a move designed to deepen support for early-stage biotech startups in Europe. The Basel-based firm, which positions itself as the successor to BioMedPartners, said the appointments come as Fund IV advances toward a second close in 2026 and continues to focus on leading seed and Series A financings in therapeutics.
Fund IV Strategy
The strategic message behind the announcement is straightforward: BiomedVC wants Fund IV to be seen as more than a source of money for young biotech ventures, particularly in the German-Swiss innovation corridor where it says scientific output is strong but experienced early-stage lead investors remain scarce. According to the firm, that gap often leaves promising academic science without the executive and financing support needed to reach key clinical and business milestones. By adding operators with records in fundraising, platform building, business development and exits, BiomedVC is signaling that execution capability will remain central to its investment proposition.
New Advisory Firepower
Ulbrich brings one of the most visible success stories in the group, having co-founded and led Cardior Pharmaceuticals before its sale to Novo Nordisk in a deal valued at up to €1.025 billion, while also building a wider reputation in biotech financing. Urech adds scientific and entrepreneurial credentials from Numab Therapeutics, where he helped build a multispecific antibody company, and from Yellow Jersey Therapeutics, whose NM26 program was acquired by Johnson & Johnson in 2024 as part of a $1.25 billion transaction. Grawunder, meanwhile, joins with experience spanning NBE-Therapeutics, acquired by Boehringer Ingelheim in 2021, and T-CURX, a BiomedInvest IV portfolio company that recently raised a $20 million Series A round led by BiomedVC.
Recent Track Record
The timing of the advisory expansion is also notable because it follows fresh validation for BiomedVC’s portfolio strategy through major exit activity. On April 7, Gilead announced an agreement to acquire Tubulis for up to $5 billion, including $3.15 billion upfront and as much as $1.85 billion in milestone payments, a transaction BiomedVC has highlighted as a recent example of value creation from early-stage backing. Together with the earlier Cardior sale, those outcomes strengthen the firm’s claim that Europe’s next biotech winners can be built through earlier, lead-driven investing rather than by waiting for companies to mature before committing capital.
Broader Market Context
BiomedVC is making this case at a time when biotech investors and large pharmaceutical companies are paying renewed attention to platform quality, capital efficiency and assets that can be developed into strategic pipeline additions. The company itself pointed to a market backdrop in which early-stage life science investing has outperformed broader venture capital and in which large drugmakers are increasingly pursuing innovation earlier in development, partly to refresh product pipelines. Recent public LinkedIn posts tied to BiomedVC’s network have echoed that theme by emphasizing conviction-led seed investing and the operational work required to translate scientific ideas into investable companies.
For now, the immediate news is not a fund close or a portfolio deal but a reinforcement of the people around the fund, which may matter just as much in a sector where technical, regulatory and financing risks are tightly intertwined. By bringing in three executives with proven records across company formation, fundraising and exits, BiomedVC is trying to sharpen the credibility of Fund IV as an active builder of European biotech businesses rather than a passive capital provider. That positioning could resonate with founders and limited partners alike as competition intensifies for the most promising therapeutic platforms emerging from Europe’s research base.