Q1 VC Financings Fall Short As Early Deals, Mega-Rounds Dip

Last-Minute $600m Push Didn’t Save Quarter

Evaluate data show that biopharma companies raising cash in the smallest and largest categories of venture capital financings struggled to meet bars set in prior quarters.

First quarter 2025 VC financings fell short of most 2024 venture funding levels (Shutterstock)

Venture capital financing for biopharmaceutical companies may be headed into another downturn, reversing a surge in start-up funding that occurred in 2024. New data from Evaluate show that only 109 drug development firms raised VC rounds in the first quarter of 2025, far below the quarterly average of 142 companies in 2024, with $6.49bn raised in Q1 of this year, versus the $7bn quarterly average last year.

And there was not just one category of biopharma companies that led the decline in VC financings. Among firms that raised rounds of $50m or less, the Q1 total was $0.75bn, while in 2024 that category had no quarterly totals below $1bn. At the high end, venture mega-rounds of $100m or more totaled $3

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