The biggest private biotech investments in December 2022

The companies Apogee Therapeutics, Pulmocide and Qitan Technology bagged the biggest biotech investments in December 2022. Around the world, immunology and manufacturing players attracted the biggest funding rounds.

We’ve hit 2023 and a lot of biotech fundraising took place in the final month of 2022. We’ve gathered the biggest biotech investments that went to private companies around the world and split them into healthcare and industrial biotechnology-focused verticals.

Healthcare investments

The U.S.’ top private biotech healthcare investment went to Apogee Therapeutics. The Paragon Therapeutics spinout took home $149 million in a Series B round to fund the development of drugs for a range of undisclosed immunological and inflammatory conditions. 

An honorable mention goes to Alpha9 Theranostics based in the U.S.’s neighbor, Canada. The firm raised $75 million in a bid to develop radiopharmaceutical treatments for cancer.

The top European biotech healthcare investment round went to Pulmocide in the U.K. The firm’s $52 million Series C round will be used to finance the development of inhaled drugs treating viral and fungal infections in the respiratory tract.

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The Chinese firm MaxVax topped the healthcare biotech investment list in Asia-Pacific with a $43 million investment in December 2022. The company, also known as MaxHealth, is developing a pipeline of prophylactic vaccines directed against infectious diseases such as shingles, and therapeutic vaccines designed to tackle conditions including rabies, hepatitis B and more.

MaxVax’s recent funding comes after the firm bagged $74 million in a Series B round in July 2022. The latest closing will fund clinical trials in addition to the establishment of a vaccine production facility in Shanghai.

Other life sciences investments

Outside of the healthcare sector, many biotech companies raised big investments to advance technology such as manufacturing, sequencing and industrial biotechnology.

In this space, the U.S.’ biggest investment round went to Sound Agriculture, which bagged $75 million in a Series B round. Sound Agriculture is developing a range of techniques to boost agricultural output, including biochemistry foliar sprays and epigenetic plant breeding programs.

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EnginZyme led the European industrial biotech rankings in December 2022. The Swedish firm’s $22.3 million Series B round will be used to bankroll the development of sustainable, cell-free methods for manufacturing industrial chemicals.

In close second, the U.K. firm Basecamp Research raised $20 million to fund the development of chemical, material, food and pharmaceutical products derived from protein data sourced from nature.

First place in the Asia-Pacific region went to the Chinese company Qitan Technology. The firm raised $100 million in a huge Series C round to finance the development and commercialization of a nanopore-based DNA sequencer.

January’s highlights

January 2023 has already started with a bang when it comes to funding for private biotech companies. Some huge financing rounds have been closed by the synthetic biology manufacturing firm Asimov, the genetic medicines developer Metagenomi and immunotherapy player Synthekine.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration gave a landmark accelerated approval to Biogen and its big pharma partner Eisai for the Alzheimer’s drug lecanemab. This is the latest in a small number of drugs that could slow down the development of Alzheimer’s rather than just improving the symptoms.