News & Podcast

The German Federal Agency for Leap Innovations (Sprind) has launched the Orbital BioWorks Challenge and provides European teams with up to 1.65 million euros in non-dilutive funding for the development of biotech and pharmaceutical applications in weightlessness. The application deadline is July 3, 2026.

Myriameat develops a platform for producing real animal muscle tissue from stem cells – without animal farming and slaughter. The biotech startup has already integrated cultivated pork muscle into food products and recently achieved another scientific milestone: successful development of deer muscle cells. In the interview, co-founder Florian Hüttner explains why the future of meat production could lie in automated biological processes.

Fresh capital for innovative therapeutics: The Munich-based biotech startup Mbiomics secures funding to advance its microbiome therapies and drive the transition into the clinical phase.

In June 2016, Jonas Helma-Smets writes an email. Politely worded, almost hesitant. He introduces himself, explains his idea, and asks for support. No funding, no infrastructure, no guarantee that anyone will be interested at all. Ten years later, this very idea becomes one of Europe’s biggest biotech exits: U.S. pharmaceutical company Gilead acquires Munich-based biotech startup Tubulis for up to five billion US dollars. Munich Startup spoke with people who accompanied the journey.

The Munich-based startup Onyx Biotech has completed a pre-seed funding round with the Life Science Valley Growth Fund, Freiraum Ventures, and several business angels. Founded in 2024, the company develops simulation-based digital twins that are designed to save up to 96 percent of laboratory experiments in the development of modern biologics.

The Munich-based startup Omegga is raising fresh capital to advance its technology for early sex determination in chicken eggs.

Rnatics is developing RCS-21, a novel inhalable drug against lung inflammation and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. The startup was founded in 2021 as a spin-off from TUM by Stefan Engelhardt together with Thomas Frischmuth and Klaus Rabe. After promising research and ongoing clinical studies, the team aims to reach the next milestones and create new therapy options for patients. Clinical lead and pharmacist with a PhD, Christina Beck, explains the details about the founding and mission to us.

Munich-based biotech unicorn Tubulis is being acquired by US company Gilead for a multibillion-euro amount.

The Munich-based biotech startup Rnhale develops inhalable RNA therapeutics as dry powder – faster, simpler, and more efficient than previous approaches. This is intended to treat respiratory diseases such as COPD or asthma in a targeted manner. CEO Benjamin Winkeljann explains in an interview why the path from research to product is challenging and what hurdles almost caused them to fail.

The Munich biotech startup Rnatics secures €2.7 million in federal funding. The funds will support clinical development of an inhalable RNA therapeutic for inflammatory and fibrotic lung diseases.

Twogee Biotech converts industrial residual materials into sustainable sugar, turning biomass side streams into a valuable raw material for chemistry and biotechnology. With customized enzymes, the Munich startup aims to use biomass more efficiently, conserve food resources, and make industry more sustainable and profitable.

The Munich startup Twogee Biotech secures seed funding in the millions. With this capital, the company is advancing the industrial use of biomass side streams.