Merlin's Consolidation Wizardry

If there is plenty of start-up capital in Europe, the problem is at the next financing stages, says Chris Evans, the founder and chairman of Merlin Biosciences. Not even a small fraction of the current start-ups will be able to raise their next round of funding. Merlin's hands-on venture investing will lead it to play the consolidator among Europe's start-ups.

While America weathers its biotech ice age, Europe still enjoys a biotech spring. Start-ups continue to sprout—particularly in Germany, but in France and England as well. Germany still subsidizes private investors in start-ups, at what is sometimes better than a two-to-one basis (see "Germany's Biotech Boomlet,"START-UP, February 1998). The British national and local governments promote, with significant funding, tech transfer from university to start-up with "university challenges" and "enterprise challenges."

But if there is plenty of start-up capital, says Chris Evans, the founder and chairman of Merlin Biosciences and founder...

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