Multiyear patterns regarding the relative availability of venture capital for the US biotechnology industry

摘要

Venture capital (VC) funding of US biotechnology companies was analysedrelative to total VC investments placed in US companies from 1995 to 2007. During thoseyears, except for a spike because of the dot-com bubble from 1999 to 2001, VC funding ofUS biotechnology companies grew at a faster rate percentagewise than total VC funding ofUS companies, with respect to annual dollars invested, number of deals closed and the meandollar investment. Start-up and early-stage VC funding of US biotechnology companies alsogrew at a faster rate percentagewise, with respect to all three parameters, than total start-up and early-stage VC funding of US companies. It was further observed that long-termtrends in the availability of VC for biotechnology do not appear to be affected by perturbationsin the financial markets and short-term fluctuations in the availability of VC. It was concludedthat the biotechnology industry should continue to attract VC over the long run particularlybecause of the emerging impact of personalised medicine and the coming of age of bioenergy.