Catalonia's healthcare start-ups raised €238m in 2021, a new record and 4% up from 2020. Four fifth (83%) of VC came from international investors.
According to the 2021 BioRegion of Catalonia Report, the medical technology sector attracted most of the money, fueled by two large operations. Additionally, the digital health sector saw investments into the branch nearly double compared to 2020. The report, that was supported by Biocat, CataloniaBio & HealthTech and ACCIÓ, was presented by representatives of the sector today.
Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, companies raised €238m, with venture capital (VC) as the main driver of this growth with more than €187 million, or 79% of all capital, three times as much as in 2019. More than 90% of operations worth over €10 million are syndicated (shared) among investors established in the BioRegion and international investors. In this regard, there were nearly a hundred international investors, mostly from Europe (51) and the USA (31) that took part in investment rounds, almost doubling the figures of 2019.
According to the report, 36 companies were closed, fewer than in 2021 (41). Regarding the investment trend, 2021 stood out for the increased investment in medical technology, which was 2.4 times higher than in 2020 due to two VC investments in dental health: €41m invested in Impress and €25m in Corus Denta. Digital health start-ups raised more than €60m, trice the amount invested in 2019.
“Without a doubt, 2021 was an exceptional year,” said Biocat CEO Robert Fabregat. “The ecosystem has continued growing despite the pandemic.”
Most start-up companies were spun off from auniversities and research institutes like BSC, lCFO, IDIBAPS, IJC, IGTP, IMIM, IRB, Hospital SJD, UPF and UB. Investment into start-up companieswas €184m, up 50% from 2020. There weren’t any large healthcare companies that went public last year
Currently, there are 56 therapies in development featuring a wide variety of clinical areas, mainly oncology, but also hematology, dermatology, the central nervous system and infectious diseases.
In addition to the growing number of international investors, the BioRegion is also seeing more consolidated activity from solid, specialized VCs established in Catalonia, which invest actively in the ecosystem and outside of the Catalan sphere. For the second year in a row, the capital committed by local funds was roughly €100m.
The BioRegion of Catalonia Report that has been published by Biocat in collaboration with AMGEN since 2009, this 2021 year included input from CataloniaBio & HealthTech and ACCIÓ. The study also received support from Alira Health, EATRIS+, EY and PONS IP.
