The A-List: 2004's Trend-Shaping Series A Financings

The return of the health care IPO market in late 2003 certainly buoyed industry spirits, particularly in venture capital and entrepreneurial sectors, although VCs on the whole could be forgiven for not being ecstatic about the valuations their portfolio companies were grabbing. Initial public offerings continued throughout 2004, and while few companies of any stripe were able to pair outstanding valuations with solid post-float performances, as we have pointed out throughout the duration of the window in our Valuation Watch columns, in the end it mattered little to the overall scheme. Public money was returning to younger biotech and medical device firms in levels not seen in a few years. (See, for example, "IPO Step-Ups By Therapeutic Area: Is Your Disease Focus Hot or Not?" START-UP, December 2004 Also see "IPO Step-Ups By Therapeutic Area: Is Your Disease Focus Hot or Not?" - Scrip, 1 December, 2004..)

If it is helpful to analyze the appetites of public investors that determine the characteristics of the current crop of IPOs, it is also useful to peer further back to examine the foundations of the next generation