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Q4-2020 Dynamk Life Science Industrials INSIGHTS: Trends, Transactions & Headlines

Dynamk Capital

In This Report

  • M&A

  • Top Headlines

  • Dynamk Insights

  • VC Investments

  • Recommended Reads

A flurry of M&A activity took place in Q4 with several smaller acquisitions. A large, noteworthy deal was BIA Separations acquisition by Sartorius Stedim Biotech in a 360M Euro deal Details.


Q1-2020 was an outlier with the blockbuster acquisition of Cytiva by Danaher in Q1 ($21.4B), Q2 through Q4 represents a return to usual M&A levels but still a substantial increase over 2019.

Top Headlines

Resilience raises $800 million to transform pharmaceutical manufacturing in response to COVID-19

Resilience, a new Contract Development and Manufacturing Organization (CDMO) backed by $800 million in financing from investors including ARCH Venture Partners and 8VC, has emerged from stealth to transform the way that drugs and therapies are manufactured in the U.S. The company will invest heavily in developing new manufacturing technologies across cell and gene therapies, viral vectors, vaccines, and proteins. Press Release

Purification specialist BIA Separations acquired by Sartorius
The transaction totalled 360 million euros of which 240 million euros will be paid in cash and 120 million euros in Sartorius Stedim Biotech shares. BIA Separations develops and manufactures market-leading products for purification and analysis of large biomolecules, such as viruses, plasmids, and mRNA, which are used in cell and gene therapies and other advanced therapies. Press Release

Dynamk Insights

COVID-19 Continues to Shine a Spotlight on the Life Science Industrials Market
2020 was an exceptional year for Life Science Industrials with over $7.4B invested outpacing 2019 by 35%. In particular, the number of early-stage investments in Q4 increased to $1.2B from $470M in Q3. This can be explained by several factors:

  • An expected upward trend for 2020 even prior to COVID highlighting the funding need and attractiveness of this sector.

  • Additional Seed extensions, Series A-2 rounds, and bridge rounds as many companies looked to tide themselves over until laboratory activity resumes in earnest.

  • Heightened interest in the Life Science Industrials space given the visibility brought by COVID. This is an important sector for the well-being of all and there are some truly incredible breakthroughs needed to innovate new therapies and improve access through increased efficiency, particularly for high growth biologics and cell & gene therapies.

  • Deal-making and sourcing challenges aside, investors might have expected deal volume to be even higher in 2021 sans-COVID. As the entire industry adjusts to the new reality of fighting COVID, and related complications, as well as the ongoing demands for cures in oncology, neurodegenerative, diabetes, and other diseases, it is clear that novel technologies and platforms will enable these cures and therapies.

Another theme emerging since the latter half of 2020 is the industry's reflection on what is possible in terms of accelerating life-saving therapeutics. We expect 2021 to be a stellar year for investing and M&A as the need for innovative tools has become abundantly clear and valued by biotech/pharma innovators, and life science players alike. This will be a welcomed tailwind supplementing the pent-up capital we expect to be deployed.

Venture & Growth Investing in Life Science Industrials

Q4 investment volume has been truly exceptional, largely fueled by points highlighted above. Included in the estimated $3.1B is $800M for Resilience and a $300M raise by Zymergen, a synthetic biology company.

Q4 funding can be summed up by an overall increased interest in the Life Science Industrials space combined with many more seed rounds overall, additional series A rounds, and bridge funding as investors predict demand for innovative products far beyond 2021.

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