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Finance Watch: VC Interest Lags At Early Stage – 'Hogwash' Or Evidence-Based?

 
• By Mandy Jackson

Venture Capital Edition: A VC investor at a recent conference said it's "hogwash" that venture capitalists aren't interested in funding early-stage biopharma, but the trend toward large financings – such as the $220m raised to date by Rubius – and 2017 investment data suggest otherwise.

Finance Watch

When asked if it's true that venture capital investors are no longer interested in funding very early-stage life science companies, Venrock Partner Camille Samuels told Biocom's recent Global Life Science Partnering Conference that "I think it's hogwash," because "we absolutely are interested."

But while multiple speakers on a Feb. 28 panel on the future of venture investing insisted that they're ready, willing and able to fund early-stage firms, data on biopharma venture capital investment suggest that smaller VC rounds are not bringing in nearly as much cash as mega rounds

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