Indiana's life sciences sector sees record venture funding

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - Indiana's life sciences sector attracted a record $257 million in venture funding during 2020 despite the state's economic woes wrought by the coronavirus pandemic, an Indianapolis-based group says.

The venture funding tally for 2020 was more than triple the previous year's amount, according to figures from BioCrossroads, which tracks the critical funding that helps rising life sciences businesses.

The figures show 39 Indiana companies signed deals during 2020 for $257 million, with an average deal of $6.6 million. During 2019, 34 Indiana companies signed deals totaling $74 million.

The big increase comes after the state's life sciences venture funding during 2019 was the lowest in the sector since 2015, the Indianapolis Business Journal reported.

Venture capital is a critical source of funding for early-stage and mid-stage companies that are too young or too untested to go public or merge with a larger company.

Investors provide the money in exchange for partial ownership in the growing companies, which often use the money to pay for expensive clinical trials and to develop prototypes.

The 39 companies that landed venture funding in 2020 represented a wide range of therapeutics, devices and health information companies.

The venture funding deals ranged in size from $10,000 to $60.9 million, with just seven companies accounting for the lion's share, $226 million. Thirty-two companies split the remaining $31 million.