We’ve entered the era of the ‘platform’ dominance

There was a time, back in biotech’s leaner years, when any company hoping to raise even a dollar needed a clear path to get a single drug through clinical trials. Now, in today’s gilded age of VC largesse, companies can raise nine-figure funding rounds without so much as deciding on a discrete disease area.

Such so-called platform companies raised $659 million in Series A dollars the first half of 2019, according to the latest data from Silicon Valley Bank, leading all other biotech categories. It’s the first time since 2013 that oncology hasn’t attracted the most A round money, dwarfed by big-idea companies like Sana Biotechnology and ElevateBio.

And recent history suggests the platform path is lucrative for investors. Since 2018, roughly half of the highest-valued private biotech companies have been platform-focused, and five have since gone public at valuations exceeding $1 billion.