Biotech
From Antivirals to Biomanufacturing: 4 Early-Stage French Biotech Startups
DealBio tracks early-stage biotech startups across Europe and North America. These 4 French startups span therapeutics, brain delivery and biomanufacturing, showing how broadly the country’s early-stage biotech pipeline is developing.
- France
- Therapeutics
- Drug Delivery
- Biomanufacturing
- Academic Founder
Early biotech value is often created well before revenue, when academic science becomes protected IP, reproducible preclinical evidence, a manufacturable system or a credible route into clinical development. France is notable because public funding and translational programs can finance several of those de-risking steps before a large institutional round is required.
The startups in this article sit across therapeutics, drug delivery and biomanufacturing, but the more useful common thread is how capital is being converted into technical proof. Grants, translational funding and specialist programs matter when they move a startup toward a milestone that can change its partnering or financing position, rather than simply extending runway.
At a Glance
- VG2D PharmaFrance2024Oral small-molecule therapy for cystic fibrosis
- Astremiha TherapeuticsFrance2024Host-directed broad-spectrum antivirals
- HarmonixFrance2024Focused-ultrasound delivery of genetic medicines to the brain
- NumiFrance2023Cell-cultured human breast-milk ingredients
Developing a new oral therapy for cystic fibrosis.
- Country
France- Founded
- 2024
- Sector
- Biotech
- Funding stage
- Seed or earlier
Why VG2D Pharma stands out
VG2D Pharma is advancing a patent-protected cystic fibrosis program supported by preclinical in vitro and in vivo proof of concept. The startup won France’s i-Lab innovation competition in 2024 and has received €445,000 in maturation support from SATT Nord alongside Bpifrance backing.
The founding team combines academic science with pharmaceutical experience, including backgrounds at UCB, Idorsia and Grünenthal. VG2D Pharma was also selected for Challenges’ 100 Startups to Invest in 2026.
What VG2D Pharma is building
VG2D Pharma is developing oral small molecules designed to modulate CFTR while also addressing inflammation and other disease complications. The molecule family is intended to cover class II to VI CFTR mutations, broadening the genetic range the program could address.
The startup’s strategy is to combine disease-modifying activity with a simple oral format, building on the commercial validation of CFTR modulation while targeting patients whose mutations or treatment response leave room for additional options.
Advancing broad-spectrum antivirals for HIV, Long COVID, and viral infections.
- Country
- France
- Founded
- 2024
- Sector
- Biotech
- Funding stage
- Seed or earlier
Why Astremiha Therapeutics stands out
Astremiha Therapeutics is built on roughly 15 years of academic antiviral research and a portfolio of three patent families. The startup has secured about €500,000 in initial financing, including Bpifrance support, and is part of the Paris Biotech Santé ecosystem.
Its founders bring direct research experience from INSERM, CNRS and Université Paris Cité, while the company was selected for Challenges’ 100 Startups to Invest in 2026.
What Astremiha Therapeutics is building
Astremiha Therapeutics is developing host-directed small molecules designed to interfere with viral replication while also modulating the immune response. Its first programs focus on HIV and Long COVID, including the challenge of persistent viral reservoirs.
By targeting host biology rather than a single viral protein, the platform is designed to support a broader antiviral strategy across multiple infections.
03
Harmonix
Using focused ultrasound and microbubbles to get gene therapies into the brain.
- Country
- France
- Founded
- 2024
- Sector
- Biotech
- Funding stage
- Seed or earlier
Why Harmonix stands out
Harmonix won the Grand Prix du Jury at France’s 2025 i-Lab competition and later received a Servier Golden Ticket through BioLabs. The founding team’s microbubble work has already demonstrated transient blood-brain barrier opening in mouse and rat models.
The startup is building from research at INSERM and Université d’Orléans, while co-founder Delphine Galezowski adds pharmaceutical experience including time at AstraZeneca.
What Harmonix is building
Harmonix combines drug-loaded microbubbles with focused ultrasound to deliver genetic medicines across the blood-brain barrier. Ultrasound is used to activate the microbubbles at a chosen location, temporarily increasing access to brain tissue.
The platform is designed to carry payloads including oligonucleotides, mRNA and plasmid DNA. Harmonix’s first internal program is focused on glioblastoma, while the delivery system could support partners developing medicines for other neurological diseases.
04
Numi
Producing human breast-milk components in the lab.
- Country
- France
- Founded
- 2023
- Sector
- Biotech
- Funding stage
- Seed or earlier
Why Numi stands out
Numi raised €3 million in 2023 and won the €100,000 Grand Prize at the 2025 Hello Tomorrow Global Challenge. In 2026, the startup became an EIC Accelerator laureate and secured a €2.5 million non-dilutive grant from the European Commission.
The company has grown a team spanning cell science, bioprocess engineering and intellectual property, with additional support from Bpifrance and France 2030.
What Numi is building
Numi is developing cell-culture technology to produce components of human breast milk in bioreactors. Its first commercial application is infant formula, where the startup plans to supply concentrated human-milk ingredients to established manufacturers rather than build a finished consumer formula brand.
The process cultures human mammary cells under conditions designed to reproduce aspects of lactation, then separates and converts the resulting milk components into ingredients suitable for industrial use.
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Investment perspective
The strongest signal across this group is not simply access to France’s biotech ecosystem. It is the kind of risk that funding has already helped remove. Early public and non-dilutive capital is most valuable when it produces an asset that changes the next financing conversation: stronger preclinical evidence, a protected mechanism, proof that a payload reaches the intended tissue, or a production process that can scale.
That creates different inflection points for investors. Therapeutic programs become more financeable as the mechanism survives increasingly rigorous models and the clinical path becomes clearer. Delivery platforms need partner-relevant data showing that payload access improves without unacceptable safety trade-offs. Biomanufacturing businesses need consistency, yield and customer validation. The more informative question is therefore not how much ecosystem support a startup has received, but how much technical uncertainty that support has converted into evidence.
Methodology
DealBio selected these startups from its database of early-stage health and longevity startups, focusing on France-based biotech startups with distinct technology and product models. The selection spans therapeutics, drug delivery and biomanufacturing, with each startup representing a distinct route from research toward a health product.
DealBio builds its Startup Briefs using publicly available company materials, ecosystem sources, market references and professional profiles.