PwC: Life Sciences Venture Capital Funding Shrinks

By Rob Starr, Content Manager, Big4.com

According to a new PwC US report, “Dollar drought,” that includes data from the PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP/National Venture Capital Association MoneyTree™ Report, based on data from Thomson Reuters, Venture capital (VC) funding in the Life Sciences sector, which includes the Biotechnology and Medical Device industries, decreased 39% in dollars and 22% in number of deals during the second quarter of 2012 from the same quarter of last year.

During the second quarter, Biotechnology and medical devices each accounted for 10 percent of total funding. In comparison, during the first quarter of 2012, Biotechnology captured 14 percent of investment in the sector and Medical Devices accounted for 12 percent of the total.

Two of the seven Biotechnology sub-segments exhibited growth in the second quarter of 2012 compared to the second quarter of 2011. The Biosensors and Biotech Equipment sub-segments both saw increases in funding, rising to $6 million and $53 million, respectively. Funding for all other sub-segments decreased during the second quarter.

The top five metropolitan regions receiving Life Sciences venture capital funding during Q2 2012 were San Francisco Bay ($470 million), Boston ($186 million), San Diego Metro ($173 million), Seattle ($78 million) and NY Metro ($67 million).  Four of the five regions saw declines in investing in Q2 when compared to Q2 2011.  Seattle was the only region of the five that experienced an increase in this timeframe, jumping 292 percent to $78 million.