Spain now enjoys a reasonable level of venture capital to help translate its scientific excellence into budding biotechs and the country's major life sciences backer Ysios is looking to unearth more jewels there, as well as in the rest of Europe and North America.

In this latest installment of VC playbook, In Vivo speaks to Naveed Siddiqi, senior partner at Novo Ventures. He discusses the group’s strategy, the European investment outlook for life sciences and how COVID-19 has permanently shifted perceptions of the biopharma industry.

Just nine drug developers went public in the US during the first quarter of last year, but with the industry boosted by pandemic response, 32 biopharma companies launched IPOs in Q1 of this year.

Private Company Edition: Also, Medicxi’s new €200m fund will be reinvested in a portfolio of six life science companies and Silverback more than doubled its 2020 money with an $85m series C round.