Canadian VC Lumira Capital says the big story for the first half of the year has been the opening of an IPO window for the biotech industry.
After a dry spell of nearly five years, more money was raised in the first half of this year than in any year since 2007 with 14 companies accounting for nearly $1.4 billion raised. If the rest of year is anything like the first half, Lumira Capital anticipates the best market for IPOs in over a decade!
M&A activity for therapeutic companies south of the border on the rise
According to Lumira Capital, M&A activity for venture-backed life sciences companies in the U.S. came in at a healthy $1.1 billion in 13 transactions, well above the 10-year average of $909 million for second quarter transactions. Nearly all of the value generated in Q2 (just over $1 billion) came from transactions involving therapeutics companies. The firm added that M&A activity over the past several years has been at historic highs and this trend is expected to continue with the large number of pharma partners positioned to fill their pipelines with innovative new products bolstered by healthy balance sheets, cheap debt and a desire to fill revenue gaps caused by patent expirations for blockbuster drugs.
Q2 Financing Activity in Canada for private companies reaches new lows
In Canada, Lumira Capital reports that healthcare companies raised a total of $145.9 million across 31 deals in Q2 2013, with nearly all of the financing activity being for publically listed companies. Private Canadian healthcare company financing clocked in at just $7.4 million for the quarter. This is the lowest quarterly total in at least 10 years. Finally, Angel investors invested $15 million in life sciences companies in Canada, more than twice the amount VCs invested over the last quarter.
Each quarter Lumira Capital assembles a newsletter highlighting recent events of general interest to the venture-backed North American life sciences industry. Click here to retrieve the full newsletter.
To see more financing activity and venture capital news that includes Lumira Capital see:
1. Canadian Life Sciences and the Flow of Capital
2. Quebec Life Sciences & healthcare venture capital
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