Third Rock closed a $616m venture capital fund, exceeding the firm’s goal of $600m to fund newly formed biopharma companies, following Sofinnova and others with new VC and debt funds for early- to mid-stage life science companies. Also, five drug developers raised $256m in new VC cash.

Derived from Strategic Transactions, Informa’s premium source for tracking life sciences deal activity, the Dealmaking column is a survey of recent health care transactions listed by relevant industry segment – In Vitro Diagnostics, Medical Devices, and Pharmaceuticals – and then categorized by type – Acquisition, Alliance, or Financing. This month’s column covers deals announced in July 2016.

Two of the VC's biotechs merged to create an immuno-microbiome company, while Seres is working with Emulate on better tech for microbiome research. UK specialty pharma Martindale acquired small hospital products-focused UK firm Viridian, and Bayer and X-Chem expanded their drug discovery alliance.

Start-ups raised $1.8 billion in Q1 2016. Biopharma companies penned 33 alliances; 14 acquisitions were signed (11 in the biopharma industry).