In a record year for venture capital financing, biotech's gathered a large share of the total financing and had a record year as an industry. This record level of venture financing was, in part, driven by renewed focus on life sciences due to the COVID-19 pandemic but was also a result of the continuing maturation of the biotech industry and the opening of the IPO window for pre-revenue biotech companies and other early stage businesses. The increased funding was also a result of the biotech industry having greater success in developing and bringing to market novel therapeutics fulfilling the promise that the industry showed in the early 1990s and beyond. Exciting times to be involved in this industry!
Pharma & biotech’s strong results buoyed a record year for life sciences because of investor interest in vaccines, antivirals, and companies engaged in the fight against COVID-19. $36 billion in capital was invested in life sciences companies in 2020, 41% more than the previous annual record of $26 billion invested in 2018. Investment in drug discovery nearly doubled from $8.8 billion in 2019 to $16.2 billion in 2020.
