- Company investments from the past five years, together with the forecast for 2026, are projected to reach EUR 500 million by year-end 2026, encompassing all expenditure on sustainability-related projects and health partnerships.
- As part of this, Boehringer Ingelheim has provided more than EUR 125 million in funding for partnerships to combat emerging infectious diseases, including antimicrobial resistance.
- Furthermore, the Boehringer Ingelheim Social Engagement Fund has invested in 27 social start-ups to date.
- Portfolio companies are estimated to exceed the original 2021 ambition of improving the lives of 50 million people by 2030.
Ingelheim, Germany, 28 September 2026 - Boehringer Ingelheim today announced that it projects its investments into sustainability-related programs and health partnerships that aim to help improve the lives of people, animals and their communities, for example by strengthening healthcare systems, projected to reach EUR 500 million by the end of the year 2026.
The company shared these projections at its "Making More Health Together" Convention in Ingelheim, which is bringing together more than 400 health entrepreneurs, investors and healthcare-system partners under this year's motto "Make it real".
The Boehringer Ingelheim Social Engagement Fund (BISE) is an important lever for the company's commitment to strengthening healthcare systems. The fund is endowed with EUR 50 million of which 80% has by now been committed. The fund is providing support to 27 social start-ups - 24 in Africa and three in Latin America - working in areas including primary care, health insurance, diagnostics, telehealth, mobile clinics and last-mile medicine delivery. A further 38 companies have received support to prepare to receive funds. Taken together, the portfolio companies are projected to exceed the original 2021 ambition of improving 50 million lives.
"As a family-owned company, we think in generations, not in quarters and we have seen that many promising ideas begin with the potential to transform lives-but their impact remains limited, unless they can scale. Scaling requires more than capital; it depends on strong networks, the right partners and access to expertise. That is why, together with our long-standing partners, we created Making More Health Together: to connect entrepreneurs, investors and businesses and turn promising solutions into impact. For me, any initiative in corporate sustainability needs to align with the company strategy and is part of how we innovate, invest and make decisions-so that societal impact and business success mutually reinforce each other", said Hubertus von Baumbach, Chairman of the Boehringer Ingelheim Shareholders' Committee.
Supporting social entrepreneurs to scale
Established in 2021, the BISE Fund addresses a critical financing gap for social start-ups seeking to scale healthcare solutions. It combines impact-first financing with business expertise, technical assistance and access to networks, providing entrepreneurs with the capital, complementary partners, and knowledge needed to grow.
We are pleased to see how the entrepreneurs we support are scaling up their businesses. For example in Kenya, Zuri Health provides primary care to underserved communities through telemedicine and mobile clinics and has reached more than six million people. ThinkMD offers an AI-supported clinical decision tool that helps frontline health workers diagnose and triage patients; it is now operational in seven countries and has reached more than three million people to date. In Romania, Boehringer Ingelheim works with the NGO Caravana cu Medici to bring screening and diagnosis to rural communities where one in two people are not diagnosed in time. These examples show how underserved communities can be both beneficiaries and sources of health innovation, generating approaches from which health systems around the world can learn.
Long term commitment, tackling antimicrobial resistance
Boehringer Ingelheim takes the same long-term approach beyond its Social Engagement Fund. Importantly, the company has been active in addressing antimicrobial resistance, a major threat to health systems around the world, through external partnerships, venture investments, and broader AMR initiatives. Boehringer Ingelheim has dedicated more than EUR 125 million since 2021 in partnerships to combat emerging infectious diseases, including antimicrobial resistance. Despite the growing threat, limited commercial incentives have contributed to a thin antibiotic pipeline. Boehringer Ingelheim is now strengthening this commitment by establishing additional internal research capabilities in antimicrobial resistance. By combining its own scientific expertise with partnerships across academia, biotechnology and industry, the company aims to help advance new solutions to one of the world's most pressing global healthcare challenges.
What comes next
Boehringer Ingelheim is preparing the next phase of the Social Engagement Fund. Around 50-75% of the financing provided is expected to be repaid from 2032 onwards. The company intends to reinvest these returns in a new generation of health entrepreneurs, further developing the fund as a self-sustaining impact-financing platform. Boehringer also plans to connect the fund more closely to the company's other wider health programs, including CRM Patient Africa and the Angels Initiative, a program to help prevent and improve stroke care which has reached more than 28 million patients in over 180 countries to date. This will give entrepreneurs further access to clinical expertise, distribution networks and policymakers in addition to financing.
About Boehringer Ingelheim?
Boehringer Ingelheim is a biopharmaceutical company active in both human and animal health. As one of the industry's top investors in research and development, the company focuses on developing innovative therapies that can improve and extend lives in areas of high unmet medical need. Independent since its foundation in 1885, Boehringer takes a long-term perspective. Our approximately 54,300 employees serve over 130 markets to build a healthier tomorrow.
Learn more at www.boehringer-ingelheim.com.
