The top 15 healthcare deals of 2016

Steven Loeb · November 3, 2016 · Short URL: https://vator.tv/n/480e

There has been $13.1 billion invested across 1,287 deals so far this year

Even as venture funding has slowed down this year, healthcare has remained one of the top spaces for companies to raise money.

In the first quarter of this year, even as funding sunk to a two-year low, healthcare accounted for nearly a third of all venture capital investments, with $4.1 billion across 191 deals.

So far this year, the healthcare space has now raised $13.1 billion, according to data provided to VatorNews by Pitchbook, which has been spread across in 1,287 deals.

These are the top 15 deals of the year in the space so far.

15. Deciphera Pharmaceuticals

Image result for deciphera pharmaceuticals

Founded in 2003, the company is a developer of kinase-inhibiting drugs for the treatment of cancers and immunological diseases. The company develops therapeutic agents against leukemia, invasive cancers, melanoma, gastrointestinal stromal tumors, bone metastases and autoimmune diseases.

It raised $90 million in Series B funding earlier this year when it add $15 million to the previous $75 million it had already raised.

Investors included New Leaf Venture Partners (Liam Ratcliffe) and SV Life Sciences Advisers (Michael Ross).

14. HeartFlow

Founded in 2007, HeartFlow is a developer of exosomes for diagnostics in cancer and other diseases. The company is developing exosomes, natural vesicles that mediate inter-cellular communication, as both therapeutics and diagnostics in cancer and other diseases.

It raised $99.93 million in Series D funding in January, giving it $226.65 million raised in total and valuing it at $797.43 million.

The money came from Panorama Point Partners. 

13. Reven Pharmaceuticals

Founded in 1999. Reven is a provider of vascular diseases treatment services. The company develops medical products for the treatment of vascular diseases such as critical limb ischemia, peripheral arterial disease, coronary artery disease and endothelial dysfunction.

The company raised a $100 million round of funding in February, bringing its total raised to date to $106.23 million.

Investors in the round weren't disclosed.

12. Ginkgo Bioworks

Founded in 2008. Ginkgo is a orovider of biological engineering services. The company provides biology technologies to design, build and test new organisms across a range of industries from fuels to pharmaceutical production.

The company raised $100 million in June, giving it a total of $154.12 million raised, and a valuation of $524.60 million.

Investors in the round were Allen & Company, Baillie Gifford, Cascade Investments, Senator Investment Group, Viking Global Investors, Y Combinator (Sam Altman).

11. Kernel

Founded in 2016, Kernel is a developer of a neuroprosthetic to augment human intelligence. The company is focused on treating dysfunctions caused by neuro-degenerative diseases by utilizing human intelligence to develop a neuroprosthetic to mimic, repair and improve cognition.

It raised a $100 million from its own CEO, Bryan Johnson. It was the company's first funding round.

10. Gritstone Oncology

Founded in 2015, Gritstone is a developer of cancer immunotherapy. The company is developing personalized cancer therapy by exploiting the inherent vulnerability of cancer tumor cells by identifying a patient's unique set of tumor antigens and using them in a therapeutic immunization strategy.

It raised a $102 million Series A funding round in April, valuing it at $152 million.

Investors included Casdin Capital, Clarus Ventures (Nicholas Simon), Frazier Healthcare (James Topper), Redmile Group, The Column Group (Peter Svennilson), Transformational Healthcare Opportunity, Versant Ventures (Thomas Woiwode)

9. CVRx

Founded in 2001, CVRx is a developer of implantable technology for the treatment of high blood pressure and heart failure. The company provides a proprietary implantable technology designed to trigger the body's natural blood-flow regulation system to treat hypertension and heart failure.

The company raised $113 million in August, giving it $283.6 million in total funding and a valuation of $173 million.

Investors in the round were Action Potential Venture Capital (Juan-Pablo Mas), Gilde Healthcare Partners (Geoffery Pardo), Johnson & Johnson Innovation (Michael Chuisano), New Enterprise Associates (Ali Behbahani), Windham Venture Partners (Adam Fine), Ysios Capital Partners (Josep Sanfeliu).

8. Unity Biotechnology

Founded in 2009, Unity Biotechnology is a provider of medicine for aging-related diseases. The company develops therapeutics designed to prevent, halt or reverse diseases associated with aging, including osteoarthritis, glaucoma, heart disease and kidney failure.

It raised a $116 million Series B round of funding in October, valuing it at $411.92 million.

Investors included ARCH Venture Partners (Robert Nelsen), Baillie Gifford, Bezos Expeditions (Jeffrey Bezos), Fidelity Management & Research, Mayo Clinic Ventures, Partner Fund Management, Venrock (Camille Samuels), WuXi Healthcare Ventures.

7. Grail 

Founded in 2016, Grail is a developer of a pan-cancer screening test by directly measuring circulating nucleic acids in blood. The company is focused on enabling the early detection of cancer in asymptomatic individuals through a blood screen.

It raised $125 million in Series A funding in January, valuing the company at $469 million.

Investors in the round were ARCH Venture Partners (Robert Nelsen), Bezos Expeditions, GV, Illumina (Jay Flatley), Sutter Hill Ventures, William Gates.

6. Denali Therapeutics

Founded in 2015, Denali is a developer of therapies for the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases. The company specializes in the research and development of therapies for neuro-degenerative diseases including Alzheimer's, ALS and Parkinson's using a science-driven approach to translational medicine and clinical development.

The company raised a $130 million Series B funding round in June, giving it $347 million in funding.

Investors included Alaska Permanent Fund, ARCH Venture Partners (Robert Nelsen), Baillie Gifford, Flagship Ventures (Douglas Cole), F-Prime Capital Partners (Stephen Knight).

5. Zymergen

Founded in 2013, Zymergen is developer of procedures to optimize microbes for industrial fermentation. The company develops new approaches to create microbial strains efficiently on an industrial scale by applying advanced biology, automation, machine learning and data architecture.

The company raised a $130 million Series B funding round in October, giving it $174.14 million in funding and a valuation of $471.76 .

Investors included AME Cloud Ventures, Data Collective (Matthew Ocko), Draper Fisher Jurvetson, ICONIQ Capital, Innovation Endeavors Management Company, Obvious Ventures, Prelude Ventures, Softbank (Dipchand Nishar), Tao Capital Partners, True Ventures, Two Sigma Investments

4. Compass Therapeutics

Founded in 2014, Compass Therapeutics is a developer of oncology and autoimmune therapeutics. The company discovers early-stage antibody for academics, contract research organization, small pharmaceutical and biologics companies.

The company raised $170 million in Series A funding in September, its first funding round.

Investors included Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Biobrit (Daniel Bradbury), Borealis Ventures (Phil Ferneau), Cowen Private Investments, F-Prime Capital Partners (Benjamin Auspitz), GV, Launch Angels, OrbiMed (Carl Gordon), Thiel Capital (Peter Thiel), Ulysses Management.

3. Flatiron Health


Founded in 2012, Flatiron Health is a developer of a database platform for the oncology industry. The company provides a cloud-based platform that aggregates and transforms clinical and financial data from electronic medical records (EMRs) and billing systems. The platform is designed to provide a comprehensive view of a patient's experience in the oncology office in real time. It has applications for medical providers as well as life science researchers.

The company raised a $175 million Series C round of funding in January, giving it $313 million raised in total and a valuation of $1.13 billion,

Investors in the round included Allen & Company, Baillie Gifford, Casdin Capital, Roche Pharmaceuticals (Daniel O'Day), Roche Venture Fund, Stripes Group (Kenneth Fox)

2. Human Longevity

Founded in 2013, Human Longevity is a provider of genomics and cell therapy-based diagnostic and therapeutic technology. The company develops cell-based therapeutics to address age-related decline in endogenous stem cell function. It concentrates on cancer, diabetes and obesity, heart and liver diseases and dementia.

The company raised $220 million in a Series B round in April, giving it $300 million in total funding and a valuation of $1.9 billion.

Investors were Celgene, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, GE Ventures, Illumina.

1. Moderna

Founded in 2010, Moderna  is a developer of messenger RNA therapies. The company is developing an in vivo drug-modality platform that produces human proteins or antibodies inside patient cells, which are in turn secreted or active intracellularly. The platform is designed to address currently undruggable targets and to offer an alternative to existing drug modalities for a range of disease conditions. The platform has applications for inherited genetic disorders, hemophilic & blood factors and oncology.

The company raised a $474 million round of funding in September, giving it a total of $1.1 billion raised and a valuation of $4.7 billion.

The investor in the round was AstraZeneca (Pascal Soriot).

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