European Companies Are Now Being ‘Properly Funded’

Silicon Valley Bank Managing Director Discusses Performance Of European Life Sciences In 2019

In the first half of 2019, life science companies raised $469m through series A rounds in Europe – a solid start to the year compared to the $686m companies raised in 2018 overall. Silicon Valley Bank expects the European sector to be in “rude health” for the next two to three years at least, when it comes to accessing VC cash.

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"Recently we have seen some record-level funds being raised in Europe" • Source: Shutterstock

Nooman Haque, managing director of life sciences and health care at Silicon Valley Bank’s UK branch, told In Vivo that Europe was still a positive environment for life science fund raising. “The money being raised by venture capital funds is an important predictor of how the financial environment will be for companies in the coming months. If a fund is raising £300m or so, that means over the next two to three years we have visibility that shows the sector will be in rude health and that money will be available.” He added that several European groups had been able to raise new funds recently, such as Forbion and LSP.

“More recently we have seen some record-level funds being raised, as well as some new funds under new managers,” Haque noted. He cited Ahren Innovation Capital, based in Cambridge, UK, as an example. “At the fund level, as a predictor of how much money will be available over the next few years, it is a positive picture

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