AseBio 2025 Report Highlights Growth and Future Potential of Spanish Biotechnology

The Spanish Association of Bio-Companies (AseBio) has presented the AseBio 2025 Report ‘Biotech Act: an opportunity for Spanish biotechnology’ at the COAM in Madrid, with the support of MSD Spain as the main collaborator.

During the event, they shared their position on the Biotech Act, developed from the work carried out since the beginning of this initiative, and discussed with their partners the opportunities that this future legislation may open up for Spanish and European biotechnology.

AseBio stated, “We highly value the Commission’s proposal, especially in areas such as access to financing, regulatory simplification, accelerating innovation, and promoting artificial intelligence. However, we believe it is necessary to provide the future legislation with greater ambition, resources, and implementation capacity so that Europe can harness the full potential of biotechnology. Regarding Biotech Act II, AseBio hopes that this new regulation will achieve the objective of ensuring that innovative biotechnological products and processes can quickly enter and circulate within the European Union.”

AseBio underscores the Biotech Act as a key opportunity to boost innovation, investment, and competitiveness in Spain’s biotechnology sector

The contribution of biotech to GDP amounts to 1.2% and impacts with more than 158,000 jobs.
According to data from the AseBio Report, the activity of biotech companies has generated 13,271 million in income, which represents 1.2% of the national GDP.

Tax revenue amounts to 5,504 million euros, 0.5% of GDP and generates an impact of 158,366 jobs, 0.78% of total employment, with a salary per employee that is almost double the national average.

The biotech sector has broken its all-time record for capital raising, exceeding €400 million. These figures represent an unprecedented 125% increase in total funding, rising from €181 million in 2024 to €408 million in 2025. Furthermore, there has been an 11% increase in the number of deals, from 52 to 59 (with an average deal size of almost €7 million).

The participation of international investors and CDTI Innvierte has been key

CDTI Innvierte participated in operations of 10 companies contributing 47.2 million euros and the investment volume raised in capital increase operations with the participation of international investors reaches 302 million euros in 12 operations.

In addition, biotech companies raise €3.6 million through crowdfunding and €24 million through the European Investment Bank and Enisa.

Biotechnology companies invested 1.46 billion euros in R&D in 2024. This figure represents 6% of the total national investment in R&D, and biotech companies are responsible for carrying out 60%, or 882.70 million euros.

67% of biotech R&D investment is financed with own funds and investment in physical infrastructure is increasing significantly.

The biotechnology sector rises to third position in terms of R&D investment intensity, only ahead of R&D services and education.

Science-intensive sector and hiring of researchers

Biotech maintains the second position as the sector with the highest percentage of researchers out of the total number of employees with 14.98%, only behind R&D service companies.

The AseBio Report reveals that, in 2024, scientific production in Spain in biotechnology stood at 1,192 documents, representing 1% of total Spanish scientific production, and 2.5% of global scientific production in this area.

Over the past 10 years, the number of students enrolled in undergraduate and master’s degree programs in biotechnology has increased by more than 40%. In 2024-2025, the most recent period for which data is available, 9,949 students enrolled in these programs. Of these, approximately 62% were women.

Biotech companies are increasing the percentage of female representation, which has risen from 55% in 2023 to 59% in 2024. Focusing on the percentage of female representation in the total R&D staff, the biotech sector maintains its third position behind the Pharmaceutical and Health and Social Services sectors, with 61% representation, a slight increase compared to the previous year.

Biotech companies show significant differences in the presence of women in their management teams compared to the companies that make up the IBEX-35. Thus, while only one of the IBEX companies is led by a woman, one in four biotech companies has a woman as CEO.

The sector already has more than 1,100 biotech companies

The number of biotech companies in Spain grew to 1,119 in 2025, representing a 10.4% increase compared to the previous year. The current state of the biotech business landscape in Spain reveals that 52% of these are micro-enterprises and 43.6% are SMEs.

In terms of the number of companies, Catalonia is in first position with 23.32% of the total, followed by Madrid with 18.68%, Andalusia with 12.33%, the Basque Country with 9.65% and the Valencian Community with 8.85%.

Human health remains the primary area of ​​activity for biotech companies, with 55.5% of companies dedicated to this field, although this figure has decreased compared to last year (58% of the total). Food companies occupy the next position at 32.6%, having increased from 27% in 2023. This demonstrates that food innovation is one of the most dynamic areas of application within the biotechnology sector.

Continuing with the ranking, 16.1% are dedicated to animal health and aquaculture, 14% to agriculture and forestry production, 13.1% to the environment and 9.8% to industrial biotechnology.

Finally, biotech companies closed 266 alliances in 2025, of which 168 were with research centers or foundations, 50 with another biotech company, and 40 with other types of companies.

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(Featured image by Chris Curry via Unsplash)

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