Finance Watch: Fundraising Shows Preference For Later-Stage Companies

APRINOIA Opts To Go Public Via SPAC Merger

Recent financings, including the $150m launch of Pathalys and a planned $100m IPO for Mineralys, illustrate the reality of biopharma funding in 2023 – that having near-term clinical trial milestones are key to fundraising this year. Companies with dwindling cash are conserving the funds they have left.

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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.

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