Med-tech saw some good news in October, with total financings value reaching $1.22 billion, an increase of 89.23% from the $645.75 million in September. However, the increase didn’t make up for the broader year-over-year decline in med-tech investments.

In October, the biopharma industry secured $11.6 billion in financings, marking the highest monthly amount since June 2021 when value totaled $12.3 billion. Biopharma financings have averaged $6.1 billion per month so far in 2023, an increase from the $5.07 billion monthly average for all of 2022.

What’s it going to take for Australia’s biotech industry to be more self-sufficient? Although Australia is far away from the rest of the world, no one is an island when it comes to biotechnology, Ausbiotech CEO Lorraine Chiroiu said during the Ausbiotech 2023 conference held in Brisbane Nov. 1-3. Investors gathered to riff about what they were looking for in Australian biotech investments and what needs to change for the sector to be sustainable. All agreed that the science in Australia is top-notch but that the ecosystem needs more investment to be competitive.

Israel’s finance ministry has increased the amount of funding high-tech companies with a short runway, including biotechs, can apply for under a fast-track scheme run by independent, publicly funded agency The Israel Innovation Authority, in response to the country’s war against Hamas. The program has been boosted by an extra ₪300 million (US$74.7 million), bringing the total budget to about ₪400 million, and from this month will assess applications from startups facing financial difficulties.