EIB and Angelini Ventures hit €48.5m deployed under €150m facility
The European Investment Bank (EIB) and Angelini Ventures have announced a €17 million co-investment in MMI, an Italian medical robotics company, marking the third completed transaction under their €150 million joint facility since it was launched in December 2025. Combined with two further commitments totalling €20 million to undisclosed oncology and rare-disease companies, the partnership has now deployed or committed €68.5 million across five European life sciences businesses.
MMI, headquartered in Pisa, develops robotic systems for microsurgery and super-microsurgery. Its Symani platform is equipped with what the company describes as the world's smallest articulated robotic instruments, designed to extend the reach of surgeons operating on fine tissue structures. Financial terms beyond the investment amount were not disclosed.
Deal background
The EIB and Angelini Ventures signed their co-investment agreement in December 2025, each committing €75 million over six years with a target of backing seven to ten European companies across biotechnology, medtech and digital health. The partnership is described by both parties as the first of its kind between the EIB and a corporate venture capital investor in the healthcare sector.
The two earlier investments under the facility were ADCytherix, a French biopharmaceutical company developing antibody-drug conjugates for oncology, and Nuclidium, a clinical-stage radiopharmaceutical business working on copper-based radiotheranostics for cancer diagnosis and treatment. With five investments now either completed or committed, the partners say approximately €100 million is expected to be invested or committed by early 2027.
Paolo Di Giorgio, chief executive of Angelini Ventures, said the breadth of the portfolio already reflects the range of innovation the partnership was designed to capture: "from breakthrough medical technologies to new therapeutic approaches."
Market context
The EIB's increasing activity in direct healthcare venture co-investments sits within the broader TechEU programme, through which the EIB Group is targeting €70 billion in equity, quasi-equity, loans and guarantees between 2025 and 2027, with an ambition to mobilise €250 billion across the real economy. The scale of that commitment reflects a wider policy push by European institutions to close the persistent gap between EU scientific output and commercial returns relative to the United States and China.
Surgical robotics is a segment with significant incumbents, notably Intuitive Surgical in minimally invasive procedures and a growing field of challengers focused on micro- and nano-scale interventions. MMI's Symani system targets a narrower operative niche than most large-platform competitors, which may offer both a clearer regulatory path and a more limited initial addressable market. Investors will be watching for clinical adoption data and any early health-technology assessment outcomes in European markets as the company scales.
For Angelini Ventures, the deal flow pace signals confidence that the partnership's target of seven to ten companies remains achievable within the facility's six-year window, even at this early stage. The two uncommitted oncology and rare-disease investments, expected to be announced once their respective financing rounds close, will add further shape to what is emerging as a diversified European life sciences portfolio anchored by public capital.