SoCal FOunder's Circle: Fundraising and Big Pharma Venture

Big pharma corporations are ramping up their participation as co-investors, or limited partners, in venture capital funds focused on early stage startups in life sciences. Many also are establishing their own venture investment arms to compete with traditional VCs for early stakes in the most-promising new biotech ventures. Since it can be difficult for startups to take their products further than early clinical trials, companies can pursue partnerships with big pharma. Big pharma benefits from these partnerships because startups de-risk technologies, increasing the chance that the large company will get a return on its investment.