DUBLIN – Investment in European biotechnology slowed dramatically during the second quarter, as the funding frenzy of the first three months of the year gave way to a very solid but a less spectacular performance. Collectively, European firms engaged in drug discovery and development raised $3.358 billion in disclosed transactions during the second quarter, down 46% from the $6.195 billion raised during the first quarter.

Looking to allow customers to directly purchase its diagnostics system that runs a full panel of blood tests, Babson Diagnostics Inc. raised $31 million in new series B financing. The proceeds will be used to scale the Austin, Texas-based company to bring its finger-prick blood microsampling system to retail locations across the country.

It’s a good time to be a virtual research organization, with investors apparently eager to get into the segment. As part of that trend, Obviohealth Inc. reported it raised $31 million in series B financing, following on the heels of 4G Clinical's announcement on Tuesday of a $230 million investment by Goldman Sachs Asset Management and a $280 million transaction for Science 37 in May 2021.

Beigene Ltd. got the green light for an IPO on the Shanghai Stock Exchange’s Science and Technology Innovation Board, a specialized board known as the STAR Market, that could be worth around $3 billion. It would make Beigene the first biotech company with listings in the U.S., Hong Kong and mainland China.

Neuropace Inc. nabbed $9 million in the form of a five-year NIH grant as part of the Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies (BRAIN) Initiative. The grant will support the study of the Mountain View, Calif.-based company’s Responsive Neurostimulation (RNS) system in patients with Lennox-Gastuat syndrome (LGS), a debilitating form of epilepsy.