M&A and IPO Activity

In This Report

• M&A Activity

• Top Headlines

• Dynamk Capital Insights

• VC Investments

• Recommended Reads

M&A activity remained stable with a slight uptick for the end of the year. While consistent over the last few quarters, this remains lower than in previous quarters. Strategics continue to sit on large pools of capital and we have seen signs of larger deals being completed. Thermo Fisher followed up its acquisition of CorEvitas with the acquisition of Olink Proteomics for $3.1B.

Venture & Growth Investing in Life Science Industrials

On the VC side LSI’s continue to capture a similar amount of value while deal count declined slightly. 2023 proved to be a challenging year for many startups as they felt the market slowdown from their customers but also experienced the slow down in venture deployment. The trend of flat rounds and extensions continued as many companies navigate the challenging market. That said, those who made it through have laid the groundwork for a more sustainable future.

Top Headlines

ThermoFisher to Acquire Olink for $3.1B.  Transaction is expected to be completed in H2 of 2024.
Thermo's latest acquisition of Sweden-based Olink provides products and services for advanced analysis of proteins that are key markers of multiple diseases, which in turn help in drug discovery and development. 

Ajinomoto Co., Inc. to Acquire Forge Biologics for $620 Million
Ajinomoto's acquisition of Forge, a viral vector and plasmid contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) and clinical-stage therapeutics company, extends its global capabilities in AAV and plasmid gene therapy

Dynamk Capital Insights

2023 wrapped up without any major year-end surprises and very much more of the same. The sense of cautious optimism persisted and never reached an inflection point to catalyze the sector to more activity. The number of deals done stabilized and transaction volume remained relatively consistent compared to the last few quarters. That said, the sense of stagnation started to lift in the last quarter. While many strategics had revised their projections downward over the summer, end-of-year reports suggest that we are at a turning point. China's softness still holds yet many companies saw early signs of resurgence. Biopharma activity started to turn, clinical trials in cell and gene therapy increased, and many strategics highlighted improving book-to-bill ratios. Here’s to hoping these signals tip the balance for 2024.

Dynamk Recommended Reads

M&A/IPO

• Phenomex: M&A by Bruker for $108M. PhenomeX is a functional cell biology company that provides single-cell biology research tools to deliver deep insights into cellular function and new perspectives on phenomes and genotype-to-phenotype linkages

VC Deals

• Controlant: Completes $80M funding round: Provider of cold chain management, monitoring, and traceability services intended to offer security and quality control from manufacturing, through transportation, storage, and sale

• SkyCell: SkyCell raises $57M at a $600M valuation. Developer of data-driven container systems intended for pharma companies

• Parse Bioscience: $50M Series C. Single-cell sequencing technology designed to perform experiments without the need for custom instrumentation

Industry News

• Illumina to divest Grail ending the 48B deal after a 2-year-long saga 

• bit.bio, the company coding human cells for novel cures, announced its cell therapy pipeline announced its cell therapy pipeline

• Cytiva & RoosterBio Collaborate to Address Exosome Manufacturing Challenges

*Note: reported transaction amounts and timing are subject to change dependent on final closings.