Why are we investing in Drug Development and hesitating with regards to Medical Devices or Diagnostics?

Part of the answer is obviously that our past experiences and successes fall within Drug Development – but also that both MedTech and Diagnostics seem to have a lower likelihood of getting to an exit once you have invested.

Defining the field for Medical Devices and Diagnostics can be challenging, but by using Pitchbook® industry codes in the figure below, our count is 30 EUR >50M transactions of VC funded EU HQ’ed companies in the period 2010 to 2020 on a background of 2,240 similar new companies financed during the same period – simplistically a success ratio of 1.3%.

Again using Pitchbook® industry codes, our comparable count for Biotechnology and Pharmaceuticals is 105 transactions based on 3,013 new companies and thus a success ratio of 3.5%. And apparently, the multiples are higher!

Accordingly, by those numbers, finding a successful European MedTech company is almost three times harder than finding a successful drug discovery company and you will be paid less …and we already think finding successful drug discovery companies is hard work 😊

What do you think?
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5 latest press releases

Hans T. Scambye joins Sunstone as Venture Partner

Sunstone is delighted to announce that experienced biotech executive and CEO of Galecto Hans T. Schambye will be joining our team as new Venture Partner as of 1st February 2025. With a background as an MD and PhD Hans brings to Sunstone over 25 years of experience...

Neumirna Therapeutics secures euro 20M in Series A financing

Neumirna Therapeutics (‘Neumirna’), an RNA-focused biotech company developing next-generation therapeutics for neurological disorders, is pleased to announce the first closing of its Series A funding round at €20M. The investment was co-led by new investors, Angelini...

Ascelia Pharma Successfully Meets Primary Endpoint with Strong Headline Results in Orviglance Phase 3 Study

Ascelia Pharma AB (publ) (ticker: ACE), a biotech focused on improving the life of people living with rare cancer conditions, today announced that liver imaging drug candidate, Orviglance®, significantly improved visualization of focal liver lesions, successfully...

Fund IV company Cardior Pharmaceuticals acquired by Novo Nordisk

Cardior is a leader in the discovery and development of therapies that target RNA as a means to prevent, repair and reverse diseases of the heart. The company’s therapeutic approach targets distinctive non-coding RNAs as a platform for addressing root causes of...

A Sunstone team update

After 17 years as General Partner and co-founder of Sunstone Life Science Ventures and almost 40 years in the life science industry, our colleague Sten Verland will be taking on a part-time role as Venture Partner as of February 1. Sten will continue to manage his...

5 latest articles

Are Series A radically growing?

If you are in the biotech venture capital business, it’s been difficult to avoid conversations about the increasing sizes of Series A financing rounds. We’ve been hearing and reading about a revival of biotech financing, including “Biotech Financing: darkest before...

Saving Lives with Venture Capital

In 2023 we posted our thoughts on how to calculate the potential lifesaving impact of biotech venture capital (https://bit.ly/3z4mL0o) – and we promised to expand on the topic. Unfortunately, or rather fortunately, we got busy making investments in DioGenX, Kynexis...

The VC summer dream – the Fund Returner

The VC summer dream – the Fund ReturnerSunstone has over the past years continuously highlighted observations and learnings from successes in European biotech. The learnings have consolidated, tuned and verified our current investment strategy. Sunstone is today...

Are we making a tangible difference?

We are a Life Science Venture Capital with a passion for investing in drug development, both because it is extremely exciting but also because we contribute to moving new therapies closer to patients with severe, untreated diseases – we matter! – we make a tangible...

Sunstone has supported and funded companies that have been the originator of 20 life-changing products

Since the inception in 2007, Sunstone Life Science Ventures (Sunstone) has co-created, supported and funded life science companies that have been the originator of 20 life-changing products approved for the treatment or diagnosis of patients with cardiovascular,...

Biotech startups in Scandinavia have 460 MEUR at hand – but burn is up – and runway the shortest in 3 years

As the market continues to fluctuate and geopolitical issues continue to impact the economy, it's important to take a closer look at the state of pre-commercial life science companies. At Sunstone, we assisted companies in our portfolio with listings and refinancing,...