USD 6.3B of VC/PE investment in lifescience firms in Jan’21

We recorded 114 venture capital / private equity (VC/PE) transactions pertaining to the global life sciences sector for January 2021, aggregating to a sum of USD 6.275B.

USA recorded 64 transactions for with total investment of USD 4B. China reported investment of USD 1B over 15 VC/PE transactions. India saw an active month for a change, 8 transactions were reported, aggregating USD307m. However, Indian transactions continue to remain at the level of formulations or digital health; no sign of R&D activity attractive investments.

China also reported 2 IPOs aggregating a fund raise of USD 400m, and 11 cross border transactions involving in/out licensing deals and other forms of research partnerships.  Among these, was a blockbuster USD2.2B out-licensing deal by BeiGene to Novartis, involving an upfront payment of USD650m.

The largest deal of the month was the USD500m investment in potentially disruptive startup EQRx. Founded in 2019, EQRx has closed 2 massive rounds in under 13 months. It first raised a Series-A round of USD200m in Jan’20 as part of its launch. Then in Jan’21, it has again shaken up the pharma world with a USD500m Series-B. Investors in EQRx include GV, ARCH Venture Partners, a16z, Casdin Capital, Section 32, Nextech and Arboretum Ventures.

The other large investments were in

  • Hinge Health, USA (USD 310m), Series D
  • Tessera Therapeutics, USA (USD 230m), Series B
  • Affinivax, USA (USD 226m), Series C
  • NewAmsterdam Pharma, Netherlands (USD 196m), Series A

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