VC Funding for New Life Sciences Companies Surges in 2024
By Isabelle Durso August 13, 2024 12:29 pm
reprints
Funding for life sciences and biotech companies in the U.S. has increased significantly so far this year, even as the life sciences real estate market has started to cool.
Venture capital funding for companies surged by nearly 30 percent across the country during the first half of 2024 compared to the same period last year, according to a report from Savills.
A spokesperson for Savills did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In New York, venture capital funding for companies reached $2.3 billion in a total of 176 deals during the second quarter of 2024, the report found.
Meanwhile, numerous life sciences developments in major cities — including New York City, San Francisco and Washington, D.C. — are set to be delivered through the end of the year and into next year, according to the report. That’s coming as tenant demand for life sciences space has started to wane across the country.
Still, several major proposals are underway, including the New York City Economic Development Corporation’s 240,000-square-foot NYC Public Health Laboratory aimed to be delivered by 2026. Savills’ report said the lab is “slated to be the world’s first municipal bacteriological laboratory.”
Other fast-moving projects set to be delivered by 2025 in New York include Elevate Research Properties and Nuveen’s 200,000-square-foot Iron Horse Labs on the Upper East Side and Beacon Capital Partners’ 185,000-square-foot development at 707 11th Avenue in Hell’s Kitchen.
But the city’s largest life sciences development is planned to be NYCEDC and The City University of New York’s 1.5-million-square-foot Science Park and Research Center, which is set to open by 2031.
Savills’ report found that higher demand nationwide for life sciences office properties this year was driven largely by smaller leases, as many tenants remain skeptical after years of investment uncertainty during the pandemic. (In New York, VC funding hasn’t come close to reaching its high of $8.1 billion in 2021.)
Other major developments in progress around the country include San Francisco’s 847,000-square foot research and manufacturing facility at 950 Kifer Road by developer Build Group and Washington, D.C.’s 750,000-square-foot three-building development at The Belward Campus by Trammell Crow.
Isabelle Durso can be reached at idurso@commercialobserver.com.
