China saw $28.5 billion invested in its life sciences sector in 2020, which was double the previous year’s amount and sets a five-year high. Partnering activities and IPOs also grew exponentially over the last five years to set records.

Versant Ventures has closed three new funds with an aggregate raise of $950 million to allocate to the next wave of innovative startups across North America and Europe. The money is new, but everything else is more or less unchanged. “It’s the same strategy, same team, same geography, same operational model,” Versant chairman and managing director Brad Bolzon told BioWorld.

DUBLIN – European biotechnology firms engaged in drug discovery and development raised a record $5.9 billion in equity investment during the first quarter. It’s further evidence that the pace of biotech investing has become even more frenetic than last year’s full tilt. The first three months of the year can often be a quiet one for European biotech, but the amount raised in Q1 2021 comfortably exceeds the totals raised for all of 2016 and 2015. Venture capital investing, IPOs and share offerings by listed firms all performed strongly, dwarfing the equivalent figures for recent years. The new year has started with a big bang.