Unusually, the VC investors in UK-based Microscience have announced they will pump a further £10 million into the vaccine developer as it tries to enter the lukewarm public markets with a summer IPO on London's AIM. With underwhelming debuts from Ark Therapeutics and Basilea Pharmaceutica in Europe and dramatically reduced offering prices in both Europe and the US, Microscience's investors' show of solidarity may make a necessary difference. But in the end, it's still all about the valuation.

Two of Europe's handful of IPOs this season are struggling to stay afloat. Bankruptcies continue among private German biotechs. Yet VCs have more money than ever and two of the European biotech flotations were the second- and third-largest globally during this window. What do Europe's biotechs need to do in this new, cautious and contradictory era in order to raise private funds and survive on the open markets? In Vivo Europe Rx asked three top leading European financiers.