Life Sciences Tops VC Investments in the 2nd Quarter: MoneyTree Survey

Venture capitalists returned to the life sciences sector in the second quarter, investing $1.5 billion in 154 companies for approximately 25 percent of the $5.8 billion invested overall, according to the MoneyTree Survey released this week by PricewaterhouseCoopers, Thomson Venture Economics and the National Venture Capital Association.

The overall total of VC investment was down from $6.1 billion invested in the same quarter last year, but up over the previous quarter's $4.9 billion.
VC's hit a three-year high in investing $1.3 billion in startup and early-stage companies, according to the survey.

The group also released additional geographic tracking of VC invesment in the first quarter, showing the Silicon Valley area obtaining $305 million, or 42 percent, of the $675 million invested in the period, followed by $96 million to New England (14 percent), $64 million to Philadelphia (9.5 percent), and $59 million to San Diego (8 percent).

The first-quarter Silicon Valley deals were led by a $107 million late-stage investment in Fibrogen, a maker of treatments for the treatment of fibrosis. Perlegen Sciences, a spinoff of microarray leader Affymetrix, received $74 million. NuGen Technologies, a maker of genomics analysis tools, took in $11 million.

In New England, biotech tools companies SynBio, Protedyne, BG Medicine, Primera Diagnostics combined for approximately $10 milion in funding.

VC investment doesn't indicate the leading edge of innovation, but indicates trends that are broadening out and reaching market acceptance.