Start-Up Quarterly Statistics, Q4 2014

During the final quarter of 2014, start-up companies raised a total of $1.5 billion, a 23% jump from the previous quarter’s record-high $1.2 billion. Q4 2014’s total is now the largest start-up fundraising in a single quarter since this column debuted five years ago. (Three quarters in 2014 have taken the top spot: Q1, Q3, and now Q4.) Biopharma companies pulled in 89% ($1.3 billion), of which nearly half ($551.6 million) was from Series B rounds. Medical device start-ups raised $29 million and in vitro diagnostics companies combined for $137 million; however, $120 million was one Series F financing. (See Exhibit 1.)