Corundum Systems Biology

Thrilled to have been invited as the opening speaker for #MicrobiomeConnectAsia 2024! Always a pleasure to reconnect with familiar faces who are driving groundbreaking research and development, as well as to discover promising new startups (particularly in Korea and the rest of APAC) that are poised to make a significant impact in the field. I know it’s a tough world out there, but always exciting to witness advancements in the microbiome industry firsthand.

To wrap up our #microbiome #drug development review of 2023, we follow the money 💰. Private rounds decreased both in number (by about 20%) and in size (by around 33%). Public placements went back to providing a significant share of cash to the industry (about 2/3 of all funds were raised this way) from their all-time low in 2022. This good year in the stock markets did slightly make up for the more cautious positions in the private sphere. Overall, the dilutive funding captured by the industry in 2023 decreased by 30% to about $1.2Bn, with over 70% of the money invested in US companies, and Asian investment experiencing an unexpectedly low year. This fuel shortage led to multiple layoffs and company closures (about 5% of the companies active last year, including some industry founders, have ceased operations in 2023). Also, a significant share of companies did rather steer their operations towards other types of #drugs such as non-microbiome-based #immunotherapy, to next-generation #probiotics development, or to #cosmetics - a very hot field this year, with L'Oréal’s acquisition of Lactobio, Shiseido’s investment in Phyla, and Givaudan’s premiering its microbiome-centred fragrance technology, all these following from Beiersdorf’s acquisition of S-Biomedic NV in 2022. Some good news is that, after a quiet year last one, #pharmaceutical companies seem to re-engage with microbiome drug development, with Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund participating in Obulytix’s $4.3M Seed round, Sanofi Ventures’ involvement in Eligo Bioscience’s $30M Series B and Angelini Ventures joining Freya Biosciences’ $38M Series A. Some financial investors remain loyal to the field, such as Seventure Partners, Corundum Systems Biology , OMX Ventures, Bpifrance, Sofinnova Partners and Khosla Ventures. Financials should be interpreted in the broader context of the #biotechnology industry, though, which has suffered an equally bad year - or even slightly worse. It is estimated that fundraising in the #biopharmaceutical sector will fall by up to 40% in 2023, with the lowest number of deals since 2017 (and down 20% from last year). Company shutdowns and workforce layoffs have also been rampant throughout the last 12 months. So, not a good financial year for almost anyone in the sector, anyway. 📉 In January, we will publish the entire series as an article in The Microbiome Times. At Sandwalk we are always monitoring, analyzing and reporting on the microbiome industry. Stay tuned (or even better, follow us 👆🏽) to make sure you do not miss anything! …and Happy New Year now! 🥂

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