2020 is a good year for Walloon biotechs. According to figures compiled by L'Echo, at least than 687 million euros have been invested in life sciences companies in Wallonia this year. Iteos comes first with more than 300 million euros. Next come Hyloris and Mithra, which have raised 77 and 65 million euros respectively. The latest round of financing brought in 24 million euros for Miracor. These figures also reflect the growing internationalisation of investors in this sector since the creation of BioWin (Walloon health cluster) 15 years ago.
Iteos wins first prize, with 15 million euros from the Walloon Region, 114 million euros via an investment and, lastly, 167 million euros following its recent IPO on the New York Nasdaq, making a total of no less than 300 million euros. Then come Hyloris, which has raised nearly 77 million from a private investment and 61.8 million on Euronext Brussels, and Mithra, with 65 million from a private investment, to which will be added another 50 million in capital commitments as part of a deal with LDA.
The Liège-based cardiac medical technology start-up, Miracor Medical, has just closed a financing round of 24 million euros. This funding will allow the company to complete its clinical studies and prepare for the 2022 commercialisation of its device for treating patients who have suffered an acute infarction. "This is a first step before perhaps considering the installation of an assembly line in Belgium," explained Olivier Delporte, CEO at Miracor.
Two new investors have joined the existing shareholders (Earlybird, Noshaq, Quest for Growth, SFPI, SRIW, etc.): a strategic American-European investor whose name has not been released and Chinese venture capital fund Yonghua.
The arrival of this new Chinese co-investor demonstrates once again the internationalisation of investors in the life sciences ecosystem. They are mostly American and European investment funds, but also increasingly Asian (Japanese, South Korean and now Chinese).
Since the Walloon Region set up the BioWin competitiveness cluster in 2006, which brings together all the Walloon health biotechnology and medical technologies players, more than 2.6 billion euros have been invested in the sector, two thirds of which in the last five years. "This year's results confirm its exponential growth," indicated Sylvie Ponchaut, Managing Director at BioWin, in L'Echo. More than a dozen financial operations are still expected to take place by the end of the year, with the creation of nearly 2,000 jobs in the coming months.
Source : L’Echo
