The biggest private biotech investments in October 2024

The companies Treeline Biosciences, Kailera Therapeutics, and Seaport Therapeutics bagged the biggest private biotech investments in October 2024. Around the world, oncology and drug discovery players attracted the biggest funding rounds overall.

Biggest biotech investments by value in September 2024

Although not officially announced by the company itself, an SEC filing showed that Treeline Biosciences – which has a reputation for being quite secretive – raised $421 million in October’s biggest fundraising round. The drug discovery company is thought to be working on molecular targets in oncology that are difficult to drug, as well as other therapeutic areas. 

The second biggest funding round of last month went to Kailera Therapeutics, as it launched with $400 million in series A financing to with a portfolio of obesity assets acquired from China. Meanwhile, the third largest round went to Seaport Therapeutics, which raised $225 million in oversubscribed series B funding to advance its clinical-stage pipeline of neuropsychiatric drugs through important clinical milestones and further advance the capabilities of its technology platform.

Biotech investments by location in September 2024

As has come to be expected, North America was the region with the most funding rounds (22) in October 2024, and it also brought in the largest amount of money from those rounds, as companies based in the region managed to raise $2.4 billion between them – a big increase on September’s total of $1.7 billion. Following this trend, Europe and the Asia-Pacific region also brought in more money last month, raising $233.2 million and $70 million more than in September, respectively.

Biotech investments by funding type in September 2024

October saw series A rounds lead the way, with 10 rounds of this type taking place and a total of $958.5 million raised from these rounds. Meanwhile, series B and seed rounds were the second most popular types of round, with nine of each taking place. However, a total of $865.7 million was raised from all of the series B rounds, whereas only $146 million was raised from the seed rounds.

Biotech investments by therapeutic subsector in September 2024

As can be seen from the graph below, 19% of the total fundraising went to companies focused on oncology. These companies brought in a total of $590.5 million between them from 10 funding rounds. And, thanks to Kailera Therapeutics, obesity ranked joint third on the list (along with central nervous system) in terms of the total amount raised per subsector, attracting $400 million despite there being just one funding round. 

Month-to-month comparison of biotech investments

Below is a graph showing a month-to-month comparison of private biotech fundraising. We have included the total number of funding rounds, as well as the total amount of money raised per month. 

October turned out to be an extremely impressive month for private biotech fundraising. In fact, it was the second best fundraising month of 2024 so far as a total of $3.107 billion was raised, lagging only slightly behind April’s total of $3.110 billion. And in terms of the total number of funding rounds, October actually had the highest amount of the year, with a total of 39 rounds taking place.