KUALA LUMPUR (Dec 30): Investment in biotech and healthcare boomed during the Covid-19 pandemic as thousands of venture capital (VC) firms turned their attention to breakthrough artificial intelligence, cancer-detection technology, mental health treatments, digital doctor visits, diagnostics and more.
In a report on Wednesday (Dec 29), Crunchbase, which tracks trends, investments and news of global companies from start-ups to the Fortune 1000, said two of those investment firms had emerged as major leaders, not only in the number of biotech funding rounds led, but also in overall dollars invested in the industry.
It said Boston-based RA Capital Management and New York-based OrbiMed ranked first and second respectively on the two lists compiled using Crunchbase data.
The report said although the two firms emerged as leaders in the data, they still made up a small part of the more than US$120 billion (about RM500.46 billion) in venture capital funds globally that poured into health and biotech start-ups as of Dec 1 this year.
Crunchbase said while health and biotech are often almost inextricably linked, it’s worth noting that of that investment, a significant portion is heading directly to companies that place themselves specifically in the biotechnology category.
Venture capital firms led most funding rounds for biotech start-ups
The report said leading a funding round is a big undertaking.
It said the lead investor often acts as the liaison between the start-up’s founder(s) and the other participating investors, or is implicitly trusted by other investors to find the best terms for everyone.
It said these VC firms led the most funding rounds for biotech start-ups between Jan 1 and Dec 1 this year.
It said this data also illustrates the total number of biotech industry investment rounds each lead investor participated in during that time, including those rounds the firm led and those it let others lead.