Device Companies Look Far and Wide for New Capital
Executive Summary
The global recession that struck last September drove many device investors into hiding. This left a barren financial landscape for device companies to subsist on. But some are finding the funds they need, and they're sharing their survival stories.
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Medtech Venture Capital: The View From Europe
Medical device companies have always faced technological, regulatory, reimbursement and market risk, and a new risk has been recently added to this existing set of challenges: financing risk. Longer product development cycles mean sustained funding requirements, at a time when venture funds are less numerous and smaller, and syndicates have become difficult to assemble. These dynamics have sent many companies scurrying to Europe, in search of a more predictable regulatory environment and alternative sources of funding, according to a panel of European venture capitalists that spoke at the IN3 (Investment In Innovation) medical device conference sponsored by Elsevier Business Intelligence, which was held in Paris in March 2011. We queried the panelists to find out if they're optimistic or pessimistic about medtech investing for the future, what kinds of deals they find attractive now, whether medical device investments still have merits relative to pharmaceutical deals, what advantages Europe might offer to the US as a field of investment, and how companies can survive among a scarcity of funds.
Medical Device and In Vitro Diagnostics/Research Deal Statistics Quarterly, Q3 2009
Medical device financing--primarily made up of late venture rounds--totaled just over $1 billion in Q3 2009, a 19% increase over the previous quarter. Acquisition dollars in the industry also surpassed $1 billion and included two $400 million-deals by Abbott. Most of the third quarter financing into in vitro diagnostics and research/analytical came from Qiagen's $628 million FOPO. And Agilent's $1.5 billion purchase of bioanalytical instrument maker Varian was the highest-value takeover.
Medical Device and In Vitro Diagnostics/Research Deal Statistics Quarterly, Q3 2009
Medical device financing--primarily made up of late venture rounds--totaled just over $1 billion in Q3 2009, a 19% increase over the previous quarter. Acquisition dollars in the industry also surpassed $1 billion and included two $400 million-deals by Abbott. Most of the third quarter financing into in vitro diagnostics and research/analytical came from Qiagen's $628 million FOPO. And Agilent's $1.5 billion purchase of bioanalytical instrument maker Varian was the highest-value takeover.