Paris VC AdBio Opens Montréal Office, Targets $193M Fund

Paris-based AdBio Partners is opening its first Canadian office in Montréal and raising a 120-million-euro fund — roughly 193 million CAD — with backing from Québec's Fonds de solidarité FTQ.

The labour-sponsored fund is committing 7 million euros (11 million CAD) to AdBio's Fund III, the early-stage life sciences investor announced on Tuesday. Partner Mounia Azzi told BetaKit she expects 20 percent of the fund to be deployed outside Europe, with a focus on Québec.

AdBio founder and chairman Alain Huriez framed the move around the province's research base. "The combination of outstanding academic science, experienced drug development talent, and a highly developed life-sciences sector makes Québec a strong fit with our model," Huriez said in a statement.

Founded in 2016, AdBio backs early-stage biotechnology companies developing therapeutics in oncology, immunology and rare diseases. The firm describes its approach as "hands-on": it provides seed capital while helping founders build companies. Its Montréal office, led by Azzi and venture partner Didier Leconte, becomes its third location after Paris and Barcelona.

The timing is notable. Canadian life sciences has endured a funding drought. According to the Canadian Venture Capital & Private Equity Association's annual report, the sector attracted just 837 million dollars in 2025 — the lowest annual total since 2018. In the first half of this year, deal activity fell 39 percent compared with the same period last year.

AdBio's arrival adds a new source of capital to that thinning market. Its investor base includes the French government and the European Union's investment fund, giving the firm access to European public capital that few Canadian life sciences startups can currently tap.

The expansion also aligns with Ottawa's broader economic strategy. The Canadian government has spent months courting new foreign investment to reduce reliance on the United States, promoting domestic tech projects to global investors at international summits. Canada is additionally pursuing "associate member" status with the European Union, a process that could deepen capital flows between the two markets.

The early signals suggest that push, championed by Prime Minister Mark Carney, may be drawing European money into Canadian venture capital. AdBio is positioning itself explicitly as a bridge between the two, and its Québec anchor investor gives the fund a local partner with deep roots in the province's economy.

For Montréal's biotech cluster, the calculus is straightforward. A European fund with a dedicated local office, a stated Québec allocation target and seed-stage appetite offers a funding channel that has been scarce since 2021 — at precisely the moment sector-wide deployment is near a seven-year low.