Start-Up Quarterly Statistics, Q4 2010

In the fourth quarter of 2010, biopharma, medical device and in vitro diagnostics start-ups brought in a total of $548 million, a 30% drop from the previous quarter and a 24% decrease from Q4 2009. ( See Exhibit 1.) In fact, fundraising for all three industries individually was disappointing compared with last quarter as well as the same time period last year. Of the total funding during Q4, 63% or $346 million went to biopharmas. Device start-ups raised the least money: $106 million, a 55% and 49% drop respectively in comparison with the third quarter of 2010 and the fourth quarter of 2009. And of the $96 million in in vitro diagnostics/research funding, just over 50% was the result of Complete Genomics Inc.'s initial public offering, which netted $50.2 million. [See Deal]

The top fundraiser among biopharma start-ups this quarter was Pearl Therapeutics Inc., which is developing combination therapies for chronic...