Healthtech

Q4 202306.11.2023

Biotech

Picture of Jonathan Sinclair

Jonathan Sinclair

at Sifted

After a slow start to the year in Q1 — the worst quarter for investment since Q1 2020 — biotech is experiencing a flurry of dealmaking, with an uptick in M&As, big raises and new drug approvals.

Medicines for immunologic disorders, and newer modalities such as cell and gene therapies and mRNA (the technology’s success against Covid-19 has yet to be replicated in other vaccines), have renewed interest from specialist investors.

Look out, too, for a wave of companies piling into neuroscience following the breakthrough of Swedish company BioArtic, whose first commercially available drug candidate, Lecanemab, created with the Japanese drugmaker Eisai and US company Biogen, was approved by the FDA in July to treat Alzheimer’s.

20 most promising early-stage startups

Sifted score
8.08
-
Mestag Therapeutics
Modulating immune response for non-responsive patients
Strong investor(s)
Serial founder(s)
Hiring
- Year founded
  2020
- HQ
  Little Chesterford, United Kingdom
- Latest round
  Seed
  €30.9m / Aug 2021
- Total funding
  €40.9m
View company profile
Sifted score
7.87
-
Pheon Therapeutics
Targeted cancer therapies for resistant cancers
Strong investor(s)
Serial founder(s)
- Year founded
  2022
- HQ
  London, United Kingdom
- Latest round
  Series A
  €61.8m / Sep 2022
- Total funding
  €61.8m
View company profile
Sifted score
7.87
-
Mnemo Therapeutics
Immunotherapies targeting cancer antigens
Strong investor(s)
Serial founder(s)
Hiring
- Year founded
  2019
- HQ
  Paris, France
- Latest round
  Series A
  €75m / Jun 2021
- Total funding
  €75m
View company profile
Sifted score
7.77
-
SpyBiotech
Antigen binding for vaccines
Strong investor(s)
Serial founder(s)
- Year founded
  2017
- HQ
  Oxford, United Kingdom
- Latest round
  Grant
  €3.7m / Mar 2023
- Total funding
  €38.1m
View company profile
Sifted score
7.61
-
ADCendo
Targeted cancer treatments for unmet needs
Serial founder(s)
- Year founded
  2017
- HQ
  Copenhagen, Denmark
- Latest round
  Series A
  €31m / Apr 2023
- Total funding
  €82m
View company profile

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