To say that 2023 continued to be a difficult fundraising environment for companies in Europe is an understatement. However, there were some green shoots and investors continued to back companies, seeing opportunities across the health tech, med-tech and biotech space.

Deals by Bayer AG’s “impact investment unit” called Leaps that build upon each other let the Leverkusen, Germany-based firm “basically renew [the company’s] technology platform” by tapping fresh sources, said Leaps head Jurgen Eckhardt. And the unit is casting nets widely.

DUBLIN – Even by any normal measure of European biotechnology investment, the first two quarters of 2020 were memorable. If it maintains the present momentum, Europe’s drug development sector is on course for a record-breaking year, having already raised $5.034 billion in publicly disclosed equity investments. That puts it well ahead of any other year – the sector edged to a new high in 2019 when it raised $7.739 billion over the full 12 months – but, of course, comparisons with any other year seem irrelevant. This year is like no other. The COVID-19 pandemic has changed everything.

SAN FRANCISCO – At what BIO CEO and President Jim Greenwood called a "Dickensian moment in the history of biotechnology – arguably the best of times and the worst of times" for U.S. industry players, new rules piloted by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. (CFIUS) have made things even more challenging. Confusion about CFIUS has led to a decline in Chinese venture capital investment in U.S. biotech and, at some firms, even a pause in cross-border investment as they wait for the dust to clear, experts said.