Biotechnology is a very interesting field of science and has gained a lot of attention. Today we’re covering the top 20 best biotechnology startups of 2020. Let’s get right into it!

Criteria for selection:

• The startup should be privately held
• Has raised at least $250 million in funding

We haven’t including the IPO’d startups and companies as they’re already well-known to most people in the biotechnology sector. This list of 20 companies covers the most funded ones since their found dates.

Top Biotechnology Startups of 2020

Let’s get right down to the list and begin with the list of the top startups in the biotech sector. In the below list, we’ve covered the major information about the company’s operations, headquarters, funding amounts and some of the active investors. The investors listed here are the ones I found during my process of researching the company. So there’s a high possibility that there are more investors than the ones in the list.

1. Roivant Sciences – Most Funded Biotech Startup – Total raised $4.83 Billion

Roivant Sciences is a Private Equity backed biotechnology company founded in 2014. They work in the field of healthcare to reduce the cost and time of drug development.

The company takes an entrepreneurial approach to the development of drugs by building technology-focus Vants (or subsidiary companies), each of which specializes in specific tasks.

Official Website: www.roivant.com

Roivant Sciences is headquartered in NYC, New York and raised $1 billion in its most recent funding round.

Active Investors:

• Dainippon Sumitomo Pharma
• Dexcel Pharma, Founders Fund
• NovaQuest Capital Management
• QVT Family Office
• RTW Investments
• SoftBank Investment Advisers
• Viking Global Investors

2. GRAIL – Biotechnology Company that’s developing screening tests for cancer – Total raised $2 Billion

GRAIL is a Venture Capital backed biotech startup founded in 2015. They develop screening tests to detect cancer at earlier stages. The specialty of their test lies in their proprietary technology to measure the circulating nucleic acid in blood with the use of high-intensity sequencing.

Official Website: www.grail.com

GRAIL is headquartered in Menlo Park, California, and raised $390 million in its most recent funding round.

Active Investors:

• 6 Dimensions Capital
• Ally Bridge Group
• Amazon.com
• Baillie Gifford
• Bezos Expeditions

3. Lyell – Startup in Cellular Field Therapies – Total raised $851 million

Lyell is a Venture Capital-Backed biotech startup founded in 2018. They work in the field of cellular therapies in an effort to cure cancer.

Lyell is working towards developing curative cell-based immunotherapy technology that targets the cells occurring in the majority of cancer cases.

Official Website: www.lyell.com

Lyell is headquartered in South San Francisco, California, and raised $493 million in its most recent funding round.

Active Investors:

• 8VC, Altitude Life Science Ventures
• ARCH Venture Partners
• BMGI, Foresite Capital Management
• Gemini Investment
• Milky Way Ventures
• WuXi AppTec

4. Ginkgo Bioworks – Custom Organism design startup – Total Raised $797 million

Ginkgo Bioworks is a Venture Capital-Backed biotechnology company founded in 2008. Ginkgo designs custom organisms for multiple markets.

They develop foundries for the scaling of the organism engineering process through the use of software and hardware automation.

Official Website: www.ginkgobioworks.com

Ginkgo Bioworks is headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts and raised $70 million in their most recent funding round.

Active Investors:

• 11.2 Capital
• Alrai Capital
• Azure Capital Partners
• Baillie Gifford
• Bodley Group
• Cascade Investment

5. 23andMe – DNA genetic testing and analysis startup – Total Raised $792 million

23andMe is a Venture Capital-Backed biotech firm founded in 2006. They’re a consumer-focused DNA genetic testing and analysis company that helps people find their ancestry through DNA research.

With their large database of DNA data, they are able to identify a person’s ancestry from across 2000+ regions. They also help people discover their relatives from around the world.

Official website www.23andme.com

23andMe is headquartered in Mountain View, CA, and raised an unknown amount in its most recent funding round.

Active Investors:

• Altimeter Capital Management
• Google Ventures
• G Squared
• Johnson & Johnson Innovation – JJDC
• Sergey Brin
• University Growth Fund

6. Samumed – Startup Focusing on Tissue-level Regeneration – Total Raised $763.9 million

Samumed is a Private Equity-Backed biotechnology company founded in 2008. They focus on the research and development of tissue-level regeneration. With their origins in small molecule-based pathway manipulation, they work towards developing therapeutics for various degenerative diseases, regenerative medicine, and oncology.

Official Website: www.samumed.com

Samumed is headquartered in San Diego, California, and raised $438 million in its most recent funding round.

Active Investors:

• California Institute for Regenerative Medicine
• IKEA Group
• Polar Light Ventures
• Russian Direct Investment Fund
• Starling International Management
• Vast Ventures
• Vickers Venture Partners

7. Harmony Biosciences – Top Biotech startups developing a treatment for rare diseases – Total Raised $745 million

Harmony Biosciences is a Venture Capital-Backed biotechnology startup founded in 2017. They focus on the development and commercialization of new treatment avenues for people with rare diseases. Their focus lies on the diseases affecting the central nervous system (CNS), including disorders of sleep and wakefulness.

The company is currently working to further the common knowledge of narcolepsy and deliver the resources to people who live with it, and healthcare professionals who treat this neurologic disorder.

Official Website: www.harmonybiosciences.com

Harmony Biosciences is headquartered in Plymouth Meeting, Pennsylvanian, and raised $200 million in its most recent funding round.

Active Investors:

• Aisling Capital
• California Institute for Quantitative Biosciences
• Fidelity Management & Research
• HBM Healthcare Investments
• HBM Partners
• NFLS – Pivotal
• Novo Holdings
• Paragon Biosciences

8. Immunocore – Startup Working to Enhance the Immune System -Total Raised $585.82 million

Immunocore is a Venture Capital-Backed biotechnology firm founded in 2008. They work towards utilizing the body’s T Cell Receptors (TCR) to overcome the natural limitations of our immune system. Their system works towards enhancing the body’s immunity towards cancer cells and target the cells at the source. The company is also focused on finding novel ways to cure autoimmune disorders through the use of the same technology.

Official Website: www.immunocore.com

Immunocore is headquartered in Abingdon, United Kingdom, and raised $168.49 million in its most recent round of funding.

Active Investors:

• AstraZeneca
• Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
• CCB International
• Eli Lilly and Company Foundation
• Fidelity Investments
• General Atlantic
• GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceuticals

9. Rakuten Medical – Firm that’s developing Illuminox – Total Raised $471 million

Rakuten Medical is a Venture Capital-Backed firm founded in 2010. The company works towards developing precision-targeted therapies to treat cancer with its proprietary platform Illuminox. Their research involves the study of this platform to target and destroy cancer cells with minimal effect on healthy tissues in the body.

While doing so, they also expect to achieve an enhanced immune response for better anti-cancer activity throughout the body.

Official Website: www.rakuten-med.com

Rakuten Medical is headquartered in San Diego, California, and raised $100 million in its most recent funding round.

Active Investors:

• Hiroshi Mikitani
• Rakuten
• SBI Holdings
• U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

10. Melinta Therapeutics – Startup developing antibiotics – Total Raised $415 million

Melinta Therapeutics is a Private Equity-Backed biotechnology company founded in 2000. It is a clinical-stage biotechnology company that develops differentiated antibiotics for acute care and community settings. The company’s goal is to develop treatments for bacterial infectious diseases, particularly respiratory tract infections and staphylococcal infections.

The company is particularly focused on treating community-acquired bacterial pneumonia, as well as gonorrhea and other indications.

Official Website: www.melinta.com

Melinta Therapeutics is headquartered in New Haven, Connecticut, and raised $294 million in its most recent funding round.

Active Investors:

• Deerfield Management

11. Pionyr Immunotherapeutics – Startup Developing Immunotherapies for Tumor – Total Raised $353 million

Pionyr Immunotherapeutics is a Venture Capital-Backed biotechnology startup founded in 2015. They develop immunotherapies to target the tumor microenvironment and enhance the immune anti-cancer response.

Their research involves finding ways to alter the cellular infiltrate of the tumor microenvironment with high specificity.

Official Website: www.pionyrtx.com

Pionyr Immunotherapeutics is headquartered in South San Francisco, California, and raised $275 million in its most recent funding round.

Active Investors:

• California Institute for Quantitative Biosciences
• Gilead Sciences
• JLABS
• John Freund, Mission Bay Capital
• New Enterprise Associates
• OrbiMed

12. Rapid Micro Biosystems – Biotech Startup working to Total Raised $327 million

Rapid Micro Biosystems is a Venture Capital-Backed biotechnology firm founded in 2006. The company works towards accelerating the detection of microbial contamination while manufacturing pharmaceuticals, biologics, medical devices, and personal care products.

Their study focuses on innovating the microbial detection process through the use of process automation. The end result, the company wants to achieve is to detect contamination more quickly, and deliver compelling economic benefits while improving the quality control processes

Official Website: www.rapidmicrobio.com

Rapid Micro Biosystems is headquartered in Lowell, Massachusetts, and raised $120 million in its most recent funding round.

Active Investors:

• Ally Bridge Group
• Asahi Kasei Medical
• Bain Capital
• Endeavour Vision
• Hepalink USA
• Kleiner Perkins
• Longitude Capital

13. Celularity – Firm working on cellular therapies for cancer treatment – Total Raised $327 million

Celularity is a Venture Capital-Backed biotechnology startup founded in 2016. It is a clinical-stage cell therapeutics startup developing allogeneic cellular therapies, engineered from the postpartum human placenta for cancer treatment. Their main focus of work involves improving the human immune system and longevity to increase the average human lifespan.

Official Website: www.celularity.com

Celularity is headquartered in Warren, New Jersey, and raised $77.7 million in its most recent funding round.

Active Investors:

• Alumni Ventures Group
• Andrew von Eschenbach
• Castor Ventures
• Celgene
• Chestnut Street Ventures
• Genting Berhad
• Green D Ventures
• Heritage Group

14. RefleXion Medical – Biotech company developing biology-guided radiotherapy – Total Raised $323 million

RefleXion Medical is a Venture Capital-Backed biotech firm founded in 2009. The company is developing biology-guided radiotherapy (BgRT) to detect and respond to signals emitted from cancer itself. This is done with the use of PET radiotracers that act as biological beacons that can be tracked and treated in real-time. Their final aim is to ensure that patients with stage 4 cancer can also be considered possible candidates for immunotherapy. They plan to achieve it by allowing the treatment of multiple tumors in parallel during a single session without harming the organ tissues.

Official website: www.reflexion.com

RefleXion Medical is headquartered in Hayward, California, and raised $100 million in its most recent funding round.

Active investors:

• EXOR Seeds
• GT Healthcare Capital Partners
• Inspovation Ventures
• Johnson & Johnson Innovation – JJDC
• Pfizer Ventures
• Public Sector Pension Investment Board
• Sofinnova Partners
• T. Rowe Price
• U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

15. Elevatebio – An acquisition focused biotech company – Total Raised $320 million

Elevatebio is a Venture Capital-Backed biotechnology startup founded in 2017. The company focuses on acquiring and giving a platform to biotechnology companies in the fields of immunotherapies, regenerative medicine products, in vivo viral-based therapies, and other cutting-edge cell and gene therapies and taking them from the preclinical to commercialization stage.

The company offers its expertise to help scale the operations and accelerate the development by providing access to cGMP manufacturing suites, protein engineering, virology, and immunology labs.

Official Website: www.elevate.bio

Elevatebio is headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and raised $170 million in their most recent funding round.

Active investors:

• Citadel (Hedge Fund)
• EcoR1 Capital
• EDBI, F2 Ventures
• MPM Capital
• Redmile Group
• Samsara BioCapital
• The Invus Group
• Vertex Ventures HC

16. Helix – A Biotechnology startup making DNA data accessible and actionable – Total Raised $320 million

Helix is a Venture Capital-Backed firm founded in 2015. The company is focused on broadening the impact of genomics by making DNA data accessible and actionable for everyone. The company hopes to open more genetic data so every person can make better informed choices and decisions about their health, fitness, nutrition, and more. They’re creating the only destination where customers can explore products personalized by DNA. This includes everything from search and discovery to sequencing and storing of DNA.

Official Website: www.helix.com

Helix is headquartered in San Mateo, California, and raised $200 million in its most recent funding round.

Active Investors:

• Casdin Capital
• DFJ Growth
• Illumina
• Kleiner Perkins
• Laboratory Corporation of America
• Mayo Clinic Ventures
• Sutter Hill Ventures
• Temasek Holdings
• Threshold Ventures
• Warburg Pincus

17. Humacyte – Startups creating innovative bio-engineered human acellular vessels – Total Raised $290 million

Humacyte is a Venture Capital-Backed biotechnology company founded in 2004. The company develops the technology that’s designed to create innovative bio-engineered human acellular vessels (HAVs). They plan to create HAVs that could replace a patient’s own blood vessel and create new vascular access for patients that require dialysis without requiring cells or tissues from the patient.

Official website: www.humacyte.com

Humacyte is headquartered in Durham, North Carolina, and raised $150 million in its most recent funding round.

Active Investors:

• California Institute for Regenerative Medicine
• Fresenius Medical Care
• Gavril Yushvaev
• Medical Technology Enterprise Consortium
• Pacific Eagle Asset Management
• Point State Capital
• Reignwood Group
• United States Department of Defense

18. Atea Pharmaceuticals – Focused on developing oral antiviral therapies – Total Raised $283 million

Atea Pharmaceuticals is a Venture Capital-Backed biotechnology startup founded in 2012. It’s a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company working to address unmet medical needs with innovative oral antiviral therapies. They’re advancing product candidates that directly inhibit viral replication by blocking the synthesis of viral RNA.

With the help of their purine nucleotide prodrug platform, they’re able to discover, optimize, and rapidly advance novel drug candidates for viral targets such as SARS-CoV-2.

Official Website: www.ateapharma.com

Atea Pharmaceuticals is headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts, and raised $215 million in its most recent funding round.

Active Investors:

• Adage Capital Management
• AJU IB Investment
• Ally Bridge Group
• Bain Capital
• Cormorant Asset Management
• Morningside Group
• Omega Fund
• T. Rowe Price

19. Century Therapeutics – A Biotech startup that develops off-the-shelf allogeneic drugs for cancer – Total Raised $280 million

Century Therapeutics is a Venture Capital-Backed biotech startup founded in 2018. It develops off-the-shelf allogeneic living drugs for oncology that overcome the limitations of first-generation cell therapies. The company harnesses the power of adult stem cells to develop curative therapies for cancer.

Official Website: www.centurytx.com

Century Therapeutics is headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and raised $250 million in its most recent funding round.

Active Investors:

• FUJIFILM Cellular Dynamics
• Leaps by Bayer
• Versant Venture Management

20. Synthetic Genomics – Biotechnology startup working to combat the environmental crisis – Total Raised $276 million

Synthetic Genomics is a Venture Capital-Backed biotech company founded in 2005. The company addresses some of the largest challenges facing humanity: CO2 emissions, pollution, and climate change. To combat the environmental crisis, it is redesigning algae to create scalable biofuels, ultimately providing sustainable transportation solutions with low environmental impact.

Official Website: www.syntheticgenomics.com

Synthetic Genomics is headquartered in La Jolla, California, and raised $100 million in its most recent funding round.

Active Investors:

• ACGT Sdn Bhd
• Biotechonomy
• BP Ventures
• Draper Fisher Jurvetson Management
• Excel Venture Management
• ExxonMobil
• Frontier Venture Capital
• Genting Genomics
• Thermo Fisher Scientific
• United Therapeutics

Conclusion

These are some of the most interesting and well-funded biotech startups from around the world! There sure are many more and if you want me to share the entire list of biotechnology startups, feel free to let me know in the comments below.If you’re more interested in businesses, don’t forget to visit our business models section