On the new company creation front, using Series A financings as a proxy, start-ups have not escaped the challenging funding environment. Here we update trends in those first-time rounds for 2023.

The French drugmaker is banking on the wealth of expertise that Houman Ashrafian brings as both a scientist and biotech entrepreneur to drive forward its R&D efforts.

Private Company Edition: Venture capital mega-rounds of $100m or more held steady in April after a slow January and February then a surge in March, but VC fundraising is down overall this year. In recent raises, Enveda series B expanded to $119m, Vedanta brought in $106.5m and Convergent raised $90m.

Private Company Edition: Perceptive/Xontogeny, Abingworth, Kizoo and Droia closed venture capital funds. New biopharma VC financings also include a $105m series C round for Elpiscience and $92m for newly launched Interline.