BioSpace recaps 2024’s top venture capital rounds in biopharma, from Xaira Therapeutics’ blockbuster $1B raise to back-to-back series from obesity-focused Metsera that totaled more than $500M in a space that has garnered more than a fivefold increase in VC dollars this year.
The 2024 venture capital story was defined by megarounds, established leadership teams and a rise in overall capital over 2023.
Investment in biopharma surpassed 2023’s figure, with $26 billion raised in 2024 compared to $23.3 billion the year prior, despite there being fewer funding rounds—416 versus 462. However, that money was not spread evenly across the industry as demonstrated by some massive raises for a few high-profile biotechs with known leadership teams.
Smaller-scale biotechs or those not led by established industry figures were more likely to struggle in the 2024 environment, according to Goodwin Procter, a legal firm. The largest fundraisers throughout 2024 were often those led by former executives at Big Pharma companies, such as Xaira Therapeutics, which counts former C-suite executives of Genentech and Johnson & Johnson among its leadership team.
A recent report by HSBC also found the focus was primarily concentrated on early-stage “mega rounds,” which allowed 2024’s total investment to eclipse the prior year even though there were fewer funding rounds closed during the year.
Unsurprisingly, the highest-raising biotechs focused on therapeutic areas that remain the most talked about, such as AI or obesity. On the latter target, there were fewer deals than in 2023, seven compared to 12, but the investment total soared, reaching $900 million and dwarfing the previous year’s total of $163 million, HSBC’s report outlined—a 550% jump.
The biotech sector has endured a difficult period in recent years as the industry faced a significant drop in capital investment following the pandemic sugar rush. Inevitably, as funding became more difficult to secure, the industry experienced waves of bankruptcies, as companies struggled to adapt to the harsher financial climate. However, 2024 was marked by signs of recovery for the biotech sector, with greater M&A activity and a notable increase in IPO activity when compared to 2023.
Arda Ural, Americas life sciences sector lead at accountancy firm EY, suggested that this recovery could continue into 2025 due to lower interest rates and the new administration potentially encouraging increased M&A activity, especially as impending patent cliffs necessitate pipeline refreshment at some of the largest companies in the industry.
Below, we recap the top seven VC funding rounds during 2024.
1. Xaira Therapeutics
Funding Round: Series A
Financing: $1 billion
Lead Investors: ARCH Venture Partners and Foresite Capital
Xaira Therapeutics launched in April with the largest financing round of the year by far, with more than $1 billion in capital from lead investors ARCH Ventures Partners and Foresite Capital, and others. At a time when pharma interest in AI capabilities is surging, it is no surprise that a biotech focused on using “emerging AI tools” in drug discovery and development would have such strong backing. Xaira plans to use its AI and machine learning capabilities to advance multiple drug programs, with a focus on “previously difficult to drug targets.”
Helping the biotech’s fundraising cause is a leadership team comprising notable figures from across the pharma industry. Xaira’s CEO is Marc Tessier-Lavigne, former CSO of Genentech, and the board includes former Johnson & Johnson CEO Alex Gorsky and former FDA commissioner Scott Gottlieb.
2. Treeline Biosciences
Funding Round: Series A
Financing: $421.8 million
Lead Investors: Unknown
Ultrasecret oncology biotech Treeline Biosciences raised $421.7 million in August through an equity offering to 43 unnamed investors, according to an October SEC filing. Further details on the funding round were not made public by the biotech, which has released very little information since it first emerged in 2021. From the time of its launch, the founders have posted only two updates—one announcing its formation, with $211 million in the bank, and the second detailing additional financing of $261 million. To date, this means the secretive biotech has raised almost $900 million but publicly has only stated that it is working to develop treatments for patients with cancer and “other serious diseases.”
The company’s co-founders are Josh Bilenker, former CEO of Loxo Oncology, a part of Eli Lilly, and Jeffrey Engelman, previously global head of oncology at Novartis.
3. Kailera Therapeutics
Funding Round: Series A
Financing: $400 million
Lead Investors: Atlas Venture, Bain Capital Life Sciences and RTW Investments
At the beginning of October, Kailera Therapeutics emerged as a clinical-stage company with $400 million in funding and four obesity and metabolic disease assets from Jiangsu Hengrui Pharmaceuticals.
The company has secured backing on its potential to break into the fast-growing weight loss treatment market, with the lead asset being an injectable GLP-1/GIP receptor dual agonist that has already completed Phase II trials in China. Kailera also has an oral small molecule GLP-1 agonist and an oral GLP-1/GIP receptor dual agonist, though both are at early stages of clinical development—Phase I and pre-clinical stages, respectively.
4. Formation Bio
Funding Round: Series D
Financing: $372 million
Lead Investors: a16z and Sanofi
Unlike many others featured on this list, Formation Bio is not at the early stages of sourcing financing, having completing a series A back in 2017. But the company revealed a notable $372 million series D raise in June.
The company joins Xaira Therapeutics on the list of companies focused on the use of AI in the drug development process. The funds are earmarked for acquiring and in-licensing candidate drugs and to expand its AI capabilities. Formation’s stated long-term plan for the use of AI is to build and train models that can better predict toxicity, tolerability and efficacy in drug development. And in November Formation announced with partners Sanofi and OpenAI an AI tool to improve patient recruitment for clinical trials.
5. Candid Therapeutics
Funding Round: Series A
Financing: $370 million
Lead Investors: Venrock Healthcare Capital Partners, Fairmount, TCGX and venBio Partners
Launching in September, Candid Therapeutics is focused on the role of B lymphocytes in autoimmune diseases and how T cell engager (TCE) antibodies can deplete specific B lymphocyte populations. The biotech was formed through a three-way merger with Vignette Bio and TRC 2004, allowing Candid to emerge with two bispecific TCEs, CND106 and CND261, both of which have completed Phase I studies.
Candid said at launch that Vignette and TRC 2004 will help the biotech accelerate its pathway to becoming a leader in TCE antibodies for autoimmune diseases. Both of the acquired companies were set up by eventual investors in the series A financing round, with Foresite Labs founding Vignette, and Two River and Third Rock Ventures creating TRC 2004. The newly formed company’s CEO is Ken Song, who was more recently CEO of RayzeBio, which he led up until its $4 billion acquisition by Bristol Myers Squibb in February 2024.
6. ArsenalBio
Funding Round: Series C
Financing: $325 million
Lead Investors: ARCH Ventures Partners, Milky Way Investments Group, Regeneron Ventures, NVentures, Luma Group, T. Rowe Price Associates and Rock Springs Capital
Another later raise that posted nine digits came from ArsenalBio, which secured $325 million in a series C funding round in September, with the late-stage financing intended to advance the company’s lead programs through development. ArsenalBio is targeting solid tumor cancers through CAR T cell therapies and has five assets in its portfolio, including two (AB-1015 and AB2100) that are at the early clinical stage.
The announcement also stated that ArsenalBio will use the funds raised to develop tools and processes for identifying new cell therapies, as well as to scale up its manufacturing capabilities. This funding round adds to the $220 million raised in a Series B in 2022 and the $85 million ArsenalBio secured at launch in 2019.
7. Metsera
Funding Round: Series A
Financing: $290 million
Lead Investors: ARCH Venture Partners
Metsera managed to secure $290 million in financing to launch in April and, by the end of the year, had raised a further $215 million in a series B round. Metsera started with a clinical-stage pipeline of oral and injectable next-generation treatments for weight loss, obesity-related conditions and metabolic diseases.
After releasing positive data from a Phase I/II trial of MET-097i, a novel, potential once-monthly injectable GLP-1 receptor agonist, the company quickly secured additional capital through the series B round. Wellington Management and Venrock Healthcare Capital Partners led the additional raise, which Metsera’s CEO Whit Bernard said would be used to accelerate the development of its pipeline. Not four months later, the company touted Phase II data showing more than 11% average weight loss after 12 weeks. The company also has two other assets moving through clinical trials.
Editor’s Note: Many of the biotechs that made this list also made BioSpace’s NextGen Class of 2025. Check out all 25 companies here.
