The Catalan bioregion is making steady progress. So much so that the sector creates a company per week, that its start-ups bind increasingly higher investment rounds and that the interest of international investors is four times greater than before the pandemic. This is reflected in the annual report compiled by the associations Biokat Y CataloniaBio & HealthTech, and this year also the Generalitat’s Competitiveness Agency, Action, which indicates that the companies that are part of this substance caught 238 million euros last year. Although this figure represents only 16% of the money raised by Catalan beginners in general and is barely 5% higher than last year, it indicates not only that the sector continues to grow, but also that it is the leap it has taken have, consolidate. last year, when the fixed volume grew by 83%.
This amount also shows that the health and life sciences ecosystem of Catalonia (known as a bioregion) is moving more and more money. With biotechnology companies at the forefront again, the sector’s start-ups signed six fewer venture capital agreements than a year earlier (36 in total), and instead gained 47 million euros more, reaching 187 million. The rest was obtained from grants or ‘crowdequity’, among other investment instruments.
Another additional proof that every time a larger volume of operations is closed is last year Impress closed the largest round registered in this ecosystem (41 million euros), and that 70% of the capital raised was shared between nine companies, with Impress itself and Corus Dentist Y Koa Health capture more than half of this cake.
“It’s clear that we are still a small sector, and large operations have a huge impact on the final figure,” pointed out the president of CataloniaBio & HealthTech, Jaume Amat. “It does not have to fade a more global view as a whole: every year we increase investments,” he said.
By his side, the CEO of Biocat, Ricard Fabregat, highlighted that in addition 83% of the money raised came through rounds of international participation: if in 2019 the volume associated with international funds was 37 million, this 2021 the figure rises to 155 million. In short, he summed up, “the bioregion is being consolidated as an attraction for international capital.”
eye of the ‘spin offs’
Related news
Both spokespersons stressed that we are in one of the most “productive” periods in terms of the number of “accessories” created (companies leaving research centers or universities), an indicator that tripled in 2020 after years of decline. until 2016. Although they no longer have recent data in this case, Amat and Fabregat understand that this is a sign that increasing collaboration is being started as “essential”.
According to the X-ray presented this Wednesday, the bioregion of Catalonia consists of about 1 300 companies, mainly biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies, with a turnover of more than 21 000 million euros, which is about 9% of the Gross domestic product (START) of Catalonia and employs 244,000 people, 8% of the working population of the community.
Reference-www.elperiodico.com