Multiyear patterns regarding the relative availability of venture capital for the US biotechnology industry

Abstract

Venture capital (VC) funding of US biotechnology companies was analysed relative to total VC investments placed in US companies from 1995 to 2007. During those years, except for a spike because of the dot-com bubble from 1999 to 2001, VC funding of US biotechnology companies grew at a faster rate percentagewise than total VC funding of US companies, with respect to annual dollars invested, number of deals closed and the mean dollar investment. Start-up and early-stage VC funding of US biotechnology companies also grew at a faster rate percentagewise, with respect to all three parameters, than total start-up and early-stage VC funding of US companies. It was further observed that long-term trends in the availability of VC for biotechnology do not appear to be affected by perturbations in the financial markets and short-term fluctuations in the availability of VC. It was concluded that the biotechnology industry should continue to attract VC over the long run particularly because of the emerging impact of personalised medicine and the coming of age of bioenergy.