- CriteriaCaixa has renamed its venture arm Criteria Capital Risc and is targeting €300 million in early-stage investments by 2030.
- The funding is being managed through two evergreen funds supporting biotechnology, AI, photonics, cybersecurity, and software infrastructure.
- Almost 70% of the current portfolio is held in Spanish companies, with Portugal, Europe and North America being treated selectively.
Most venture funds are a race against time. Procure, deploy, terminate, and repeat, typically within 10 years. CriteriaCaixa’s investment arm doesn’t have that.
The manager, now renamed Criteria Capital Risc, is targeting €300 million in early-stage biotech and deep tech investments by 2030, with no set deadline for exiting the capital.
From Caixa Capital Risk to Criteria Capital Risk
The manager was founded in 2002 and since 2013 has been a wholly owned subsidiary of CriteriaCaixa, previously known as Caixa Capital Risc. CriteriaCaixa says the rebranding will not change its structure or portfolio. The move aims to align the name and current status of the manager, who has been investing across the Iberian Peninsula for more than 20 years.
CriteriaCaixa itself is the exclusive vehicle for managing the assets of the “la Caixa” foundation, and the company claims that the total asset value reached €45 billion in 2025, although another report puts the figure closer to €37 billion as of June 2025, so this is worth checking in CriteriaCaixa’s latest disclosure before publication.
within two funds
300 million euros will be allocated to two Evergreen specialist vehicles. Criteria Bio Ventures backs biotech and health tech with a portfolio that includes Minorix Therapeutics, which is developing treatments for rare neurological diseases such as adrenoleukodystrophy, along with Adaptum Therapeutics, Aborellis Pharma, NRG Therapeutics, Tolerance Bio, and Cytospire.
Criteria Venture Tech targets deep technology, AI, cybersecurity and software infrastructure, and has stakes in Ipronics, which makes programmable photonic chips for AI computing, as well as KD, Barbara and Immfly.
Nearly 70% of the current portfolio value is held in Spanish companies, with Portugal, the rest of Europe and North America treated as selective rather than primary markets. Rather than passively investing, Criteria Capital Risc typically sits on the boards of portfolio companies and provides operational support along with capital.
Where does this fit into CriteriaCaixa?
Criteria Capital Risc sits within CriteriaCaixa’s alternative investment portfolio, alongside Criteria PE Management, a new division that invests in mid-sized private companies through third-party funds, and InmoCaixa, which operates the group’s real estate business. CriteriaCaixa’s 2030 Strategic Plan limits its overall alternatives portfolio, which spans venture, private equity and real estate, to 10% of the group’s total asset value.
This upper limit indicates a numerical scale. While 300 million euros is just a fraction of a multibillion-euro balance sheet, it’s significant for science-driven startups in Spain and Portugal, which often seek late-stage capital outside the region. Among Europe’s most active biotech and deep tech investors, permanent capital outside of the fund cycle is relatively rare. For comparison, Sofinova Partners closed its latest healthcare-focused fund for €650 million in November 2025, which is a fixed-cycle vehicle with its own funding and deployment schedule, unlike Criteria Capital Risk’s open-end structure.
Europe is not lacking in scientific talent. There is a lack of investors willing to fund talent past the seed stage without prompting a quick exit. The real test of this rebranding will be whether the €300 million in patient capital is enough to sustain that research and the Spanish and Portuguese-based companies founded on it.
