U.K. biotech VC funding jumps 41% to blast past $700M mark

Print 26 January 2015
Nick Paul Taylor / Fierce Biotech

The United Kingdom biotech sector finally has some venture funding numbers to crow about. After a tricky few years, British life science companies raised $713 million (£470 million) in 2014, a 41% jump over 2013, according to figures compiled by London & Partners.

As expected, companies based in Cambridge, London and Oxford--the cities collectively dubbed the "golden triangle"--bagged most of the cash, but their dominance dipped year on year. The region sucked in 70% of all U.K. life science venture funding last year, down from 87% in 2013. VC funding outside the south-east life science hub soared 215%--off an admittedly low base of $66.7 million--to drive the U.K. as a whole to a 41% increase. 

The funding jump is comparable to what happened in the U.S.--where biotech investments were up 29% over an already impressive 2013--and has been hailed as a tipping point. "The U.K. biotech sector is coming of age. There are a lot of very exciting new companies conducting highly innovative and nimble R&D programmes to tackle some of our toughest diseases such as cancer, infection, inflammation and pain," SV Life Sciences managing partner Kate Bingham said in a statement.

SV Life Sciences contributed to the bumper year by investing in Bicycle Therapeutics and KalVista Pharmaceuticals. Like in the U.S., a few big investments made up a sizable chunk of the U.K. total. Adaptimmune and Cell Medica raised $104 million and £50 million, respectively, which accounted for around one-quarter of all the venture money collected by U.K. life science players last year.

Source

Return