Finance Opportunities

Size of the venture capital market in Medicon Valley
Life science firms enjoy excellent conditions for raising capital in Medicon Valley. Medicon Valley has a strong local venture capital market, supplemented by a growing number of international investors. Approximately 75 life science specialised investors are active in the region, of which 40 are local and 35 are international.

Traditionally there has been a strong interest in investing in life science activities in Medicon Valley due to the presence of companies such as Novo Nordisk, AstraZeneca, H. Lundbeck, PharmaciaUpjohn and LEO Pharma.

Investment activity
After some meagre years following the international recession, Medicon Valley has seen a sharp increase in investment activity in 2004 and 2005, with international investors particularly active.

For investors, an attractive feature of Medicon Valley is the fact that Medicon Valley companies traditionally focus on developing actual products. This means that many firms have now moved into the later phases of clinical research, which is a particular strength of Medicon Valley. This has attracted international investors such as Burrill & Co., which in its latest annual report rates Medicon Valley the most attractive biotech cluster in Europe (2005).

Additionally, in 2004 Medicon Valley came in first in Ernst & Young's annual European biotech report in terms of attracting investments within the biotech and pharmaceutical industry compared to other European city regions.

Public investors
Medicon Valley also offers public financing to life science companies through tewo state-owned funds, Vaekstfonden (Danish) and Industrifonden (Swedish).

Vaekstfonden manages investment capital of EUR 300 million. The fund facilitates financing in terms of start-up equity and high-risk loans. One of Vaekstfonden's focus areas is life science. Vaekstfonden invests in seed and early stage life science companies located in Denmark, especially firms within biopharmaceuticals, biotechnology, medical devices, diagnostics, nutraceuticals and agro-biotechnology.

Industrifonden has equity of about EUR 390 million. Industrifonden has wide-ranging commitments to the life science industry, extending from pharmaceuticals, biomedicine and diagnostics to medical engineering and analysis systems. Development horizons vary from 2-4 years in the case of diagnostics and medical engineering to 10-15 years for new pharmaceutical products.