Corporate venturing has become a key component in many companies’ quest for growth, and corporate venture firms are a well-established presence on the biotech funding scene, with the likes of Novartis and Glaxosmithkine’s SR One among the most active investors in the sector.
However now, a new analysis has showcased how Pfizer, Celgene and Roche have noticeably stepped up their financing activity to climb the VC league table.
Although the analysis from EP Vantage focused on the activities of drug developers, it has not included the financing activities of pure-play medtech companies like GE Healthcare or Medtronic, so the picture of medtech investing here is far from complete.
EP Vantage’s ranking of most active life science investors puts Novartis Venture Funds (NVF) at the top of the tree among big biopharma companies, with 161 deals between 2007 and 2016. That puts it at number three behind investment funds New Enterprise Associates and Orbimed Advisors. It’s also added a swath of new deals this year, including investments in Effector Therapeutics, NeuroVia and E-scape Bio in July alone.
“The dominance of Novartis over the years is clear; with a broad focus on human therapeutics, medical devices and diagnostics, the Swiss group scours
a bigger pool of potential startups than those companies with a more focused gaze,” said EP Vantage.Additionally, looking at where the corporate cash is flowing, therapeutically, shows that here as elsewhere oncology is king. Cancer drug developers have been backed more than any other company type. The analysis was counted by round, so even if a round contained more than one corporate investor it was only counted once.
Oncology has grown, but it is clear that even a decade ago cancer was the main focus for corporate venture arms. And interest in CNS medicines has also held up, despite several high-profile failures and ongoing struggles with trial design in many neurological conditions.
Overall, however, corporate venture investing has been growing over the past decade, and is showing no sign of falling out of fashion.
