Investment Trends: Venture Capitalists Remain High on Healthcare

Healthcare startups remain highly attractive to venture capitalists drawing $10.6 billion in investments in the first half of 2018, the most of any industry sector other than internet companies and well ahead of #3 on the list, mobile and telecommunications, according to a new MoneyTree report from PricewaterhouseCoopers and CB Insights. At this rate, healthcare will easily surpass the record of $15 billion in total sector investment posted in 2017. While the report does not break down the sector data, it does note that two of the biggest U.S. venture deals in the second half of 2018 were in the healthcare sector (See NIR, February 2018, for analysis of healthcare sector venture investment flows): Rank Company Industry Deal Value Funding Stage 4 Allogene Therapeutics Biotechnology $300 million Early stage 4 Grail Inc. Disease DX $300 million Expansion stage Both companies are based in California and dedicated to cancer diagnostics and treatment. Grail’s experimental blood screening test has showed early promise in detecting in detecting early-stage lung cancers based on free-floating DNA released by tumors. Allogene produces “off the shelf” enabling the engineering of cell therapies to kill cancer cells.