UK Biotech Reports Good News

The UK BioIndustry Association (BIA) and Clarivate released the Q2 Biotech Financing Report, which found steady growth in financing activity for the UK’s life sciences sector.¹

Despite the prevailing global market downturn, UK-headquartered life science and biotech companies secured a total of £382 million ($486.6m) in venture and public financing, up 29% from the previous quarter's £295 million ($375.8m). This growth was largely driven by venture capital investment.

Highlights from the report include:²

• Average size of the 26 venture capital deals between March and the end of May was £13 million ($16.6m)
• Healthy spread of investment between early and late-stage private companies
• IPO activity has remained stagnant across the globe, with no new market launches for UK or European companies
• UK companies raising follow-on financing also faced challenges, securing only £44 million ($50m) this quarter, but showing signs of improvement compared to the previous quarter’s £37 million ($47m)

Steve Bates OBE, CEO of BIA, said in a release, "Our sector is demonstrating resilience and growth amid challenging times. It is fantastic to see venture investors continue to back the UK’s life science companies and even raising new capital themselves, like London-based Medicxi’s $400 million fund, showing that there is more money to deploy in the years to come.

Mike Ward, Global Head of Life Sciences & Healthcare Thought Leadership, Clarivate, said in the same release, “Globally biotech still remains an attractive sector for investment with the sums raised in the second quarter slightly above the first. There was a 26% quarter-on-quarter increase in global VC investments driven mainly by 41% and 42% increases in fundraising among US and European biotechs respectively, although there was a dramatic drop in the amounts put to work by VCs in Asia Pacific biotechs.”

References

1. “UK biotech investment increases amidst progress in City of London to unlock new capital.” August 7, 2023. Clarivate.
2. “UK biotech financing 2023 March-May 2023” report. BIA. https://biotechfinance.org/q2/