In Q3, biopharma financing totaled $7.4 billion, a large proportion of which was by rare disease developers; among the highlights in the $23 billion in M&As was Allergan's buying spree, including two NASH companies. Just over $20 billion went into biopharma alliance dealmaking, and neurology assets attracted many of the dollars.

Moderna and Intarcia lead recent fundraisings; big pharma backing includes Novartis leading Series A for Inflazome and Pfizer for diabetes play Antolrx. Derived from Strategic Transactions, Informa’s premium source for tracking life sciences deal activity, the Venture Funding Deals column provides a comprehensive monthly review of emerging biopharmaceutical companies that have received venture funding. This month’s column covers deals announced August through September 2016.

A review of biopharma start-up dealmaking and financing from July through September 2016, based on data from Strategic Transactions.

Relay launched with $57m to develop its novel technology platform for drug discovery based on protein motion with an initial focus on therapies for genetically defined cancers.