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Finance Watch: Mega-Rounds Add Up To Another Record Year For Biopharma VC Funding

Maze Therapeutics Closes Latest $100m-Plus Round

 
• By Mandy Jackson and Jung Won Shin

Private Company Edition: NVCA and Pitchbook data show pharma and biotech companies raised $37.8bn in venture capital in 2021, up 41% from the record $26.8bn total in 2020. Recent mega-rounds include $190m for Maze and $200m for Alumis, and Sound Bioventures raised a €110m fund.

Finance Watch Private Company
• Source: Shutterstock

Biopharmaceutical company venture capital fundraising in 2021 broke the record set in 2020 back in the third quarter and now that the year is over, Pitchbook and the National Venture Capital Association reported in the latest edition of their quarterly Venture Monitor report on 14 January that 1,198 biopharma companies raised $37.8bn last year – a 41% increase in the dollar amount raised versus 2020, when 1,042 companies raised $26.8bn.

The average size of VC financings also increased from year to year from an average of $25.7m in 2020 to $31.6m per deal in 2021. Just a few years earlier, the average biopharma venture capital financing size was $15.1m. During the five years from 2017 to 2021, the number of deals grew at a pretty steady rate but the total dollar amount raised surged

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