By Greg Mannix, Vice President International Business Development, General Manager Europe, LSN
We have all heard that 2023 was a difficult year for early-stage funding. One theory is that pharma M&A activity lagged and reduced the incentive for investment into new life sciences funds, combined with the general expectation that a global recession was coming, leading VCs to invest mainly in their current portfolio companies and not so much into new ventures.
Thankfully, the recession didn’t materialize, and some pharma execs point to favorable conditions that connote an uptick in M&A activity that will bring a kind of trickle-down effect and benefit the early-stage folks. The impressions I have gathered at this year’s first two RESI conferences have been upbeat about the months ahead.
In Europe, I have always been impressed by the government-backed grant and other funding programs available in each country to help the earliest startups get off the ground. These programs are augmented by excellent EU initiatives like Horizon and EIT. But what happens when European biotech and MedTech startups need to raise larger amounts to move their technologies along on the road to commercialization?
That’s where companies hit a wall; there isn’t enough venture capital on the old continent to fund all the fantastic technologies being developed. A European investor recently told me about one of his very successful portfolio companies that was at a stage where they needed to raise a significant round. Having difficulty finding sufficient co-investors in Europe, they eventually brought in a US investor to complete the round. This was only possible thanks to the European and US investors already having a relationship.
At LSN it has long been our goal to facilitate cross-border relationships, not only between companies and investors, but also between investors from different regions or countries. RESI Europe – Barcelona on June 17-19, 2024 is shaping up to be an especially international gathering. Hope to see you there!
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