As the flood of 2013 recaps and 2014 predictions begins to recede, one storyline continues to spur optimism among venture capitalists: the continued improvement in the venture-backed IPO market. In no sector was this trend more notable than in biotechnology. With 42 IPOs, biotech provided nearly half of the venture-backed total in 2013. In fact, 2013 saw more biotech IPOs than the last five years combined.
Many factors impact the exit environment for venture-backed companies in a given year. But we believe that two NVCA policy initiatives in 2012 helped pave the way for biotech’s resurgence in 2013. The first is the JOBS Act of 2012, which aimed to ease the cost and regulatory burdens faced by small, innovative startups looking to go public. This past year, the average biotech IPO raised $83 million, which is exactly the type of offering that the JOBS Act’s On-Ramp was designed to enable. Read more