Life Sciences Snapshot – A Quarterly Report on Financing Trends – Q2 2023

Key Takeaways

This edition of Orrick’s life sciences publication series reviews key trends of venture investment in the life sciences industry during Q1 2023. This edition also features key industry leaders in a roundtable discussion about supplements. Key findings include:

• Life sciences VC deal value totaled $5.0 billion across 364 deals, representing a 40.9% decline in value from the previous quarter.
• Deal size trends reflected challenges faced by late-stage companies, with the median deal sizes for both Series C and D down significantly since the end of 2022.
• Valuations were more resilient, and the median pre-money valuation grew 27.2% for the angel and seed category and 24.6% for the late-stage VC category. The median valuation for early-stage VC declined 19.4% in the same period but remains relatively high compared to historical levels.
• Exit activity reached $1.3 billion across 25 deals in Q1. Exit activity remains low after a precipitous decline between 2021 and 2022, and Q1 2023 demonstrated the lowest quarter for both deal value and count. Public market downturn began in early 2022.