Biotech entrepreneurs tend to be an optimistic group, and there were many pockets of hope for 2024. However, the consensus remains that depressed valuations and paucity of fresh funds will continue to pose a challenge for the sector, and companies will need to prioritize carefully and work even harder to demonstrate and create value.

Private Company Edition: Quarter-over-quarter increases in venture capital have been bolstered by fewer but larger rounds, like the recent $245m series A for Aiolos. Also, OrbiMed raised $4.3bn across three new VC funds, Rampart completed an $85m series A and Atom Bioscience raised an $83m series D. 

The firms’ partnership goes back to pre-merger Celgene, and BMS still has Dragonfly candidates in its pipeline. Ji Xing gets hypertension candidate from Phase Bio.

Private Company Edition: While Coya Therapeutics raised $15.25m in the final initial public offering in the US last year, Apnimed stayed private raising $80m in a series C extension and Metagenomi extended its series B by $100m to total $275m.