Finance Watch: Fundraising Shows Preference For Later-Stage Companies

Raising venture capital or launching an initial public offering in 2023 is nowhere near as easy as it was in the record-breaking VC funding and IPO days of 2020 and 2021, after a rough 2022 when fundraising was down across all types of financings. It is particularly hard for preclinical companies with no near-term clinical trial milestones, a fact illustrated by recent biopharmaceutical financings that were dominated by clinical-stage drug developers, such as Pathalys Pharma, Inc., which launched with $150m.

The IPO market was tough for biopharma companies to crack in 2022, but one of the first firms to file paperwork with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in 2023 – Mineralys Therapeutics, Inc. – has a decent shot at going public, since it recently reported positive Phase II proof-of-concept results in hypertension for its lead drug candidate lorundrostat (MLS-101) and plans to begin a pivotal trial program this year