This annual report analyzes new bio/pharma companies that emerged in 2024 to provide insights into the geographic and technology focus areas of these start-up bio/pharma companies.
We identified 94 major bio/pharma companies that emerged in 2024. Our analysis revealed the continued focus in the U.S. for the headquarter sof these early-stage companies. Within the U.S., California and Massachusetts continue to lead the way, with Pennsylvania, New York, and Washington coming in as second level states. It was interesting that there were over 2 times as many biologics as small molecule new/emerging companies in 2024, suggesting that future therapeutics will continue to shift towards biologics.
Every workday, our BiopharmIQ team uses a combination of automated and manual systems to identify new/emerging bio/pharma companies and adds these companies to our online BiopharmIQ platform.
Geographic Distribution
International Footprint
We identified 94new/ newly emerging bio/pharma companies in 2024 that were funded with at least$500K and/or emerged with a major announcement. Out of the 94 companies we identified, 72 are headquartered in the U.S.
Among the 22 companies located outside the U.S. that we identified, the vast majority are located in Western Europe. While it is likely correct that the United States is the leading country with respect to new/emerging biopharma and pharma companies that emerged with at least a $500K investment, we acknowledge that there is an inherent bias in our systems favoring U.S. and Western-based companies. However, the finding that the U.S. is likely the home to at least 2times as many 2024 new/emerging bio/pharma companies with at least $500K in funding, and probably 3-4 times as many, is likely correct.
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State by State Breakdown
Within the U.S.-based group of 72 companies, it is not surprising that California and Massachusetts lead with 22 companies each. New York is home to 7 bio/pharma companies that emerged in 2024, while Washington has 5 and Pennsylvania 4. New Jersey counts 3 among this year’s newcomers.
Although California and Massachusetts remain the most prolific biotech clusters, benefiting from their depth of investor networks, bio/pharma entrepreneurs and talent pool, and academic institutions, New York, Washington, and Pennsylvania remain notable second tier states, and the dispersion of biotech to other states is noteworthy as well. We were a bit surprised that Maryland and North Carolina did not show more new/emerging companies than we detected in 2024.
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Quarterly Data
From a quarter to quarter analysis, Q2 was particularly active, with 39 emergences, resulting in a significantly higher investment versus other quarters. Q4 had 20 debuts, whereas Q1 recorded 19, and lastly Q3 had the least, with 16 companies emerging. We are not certain whether this is an annual pattern, since this is the first year that we have compiled this report.
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Sector Focus
Our analysis of these newly emerged companies reveals that 76 focus on development of therapeutics, likely because our systems are much less likely to detect companies that emerge with less than $500K and without an SEC filing or major press release. Although comprising a smaller fraction, 13 of the emerging bio/pharma companies we detected, specialize in vendor services, followed by 3 in diagnostics.
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Therapeutic Companies Technology Area
Among these new/newly emerging therapeutic bio/pharma companies, biologics represented the largest cohort, with 50 companies pursuing this approach. Meanwhile, small molecule pharmaceuticals accounted for 24 companies. We were a bit surprised by this 2 to 1 ratio of biologics to small molecule companies, which supports the growing role of biologics in future therapeutics.
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Artificial Intelligence
Next, we analyzed our database to identify which bio/pharma companies emphasize artificial intelligence (AI) into their product/services development. Among the 94 companies in our list, 11 (11.7%) emphasized AI in their product/service development. It will be interesting to see how much this increases in coming years, as likely the percentage of companies focusing on AI for product/service development was much less before 2024. This percentage of ~12% bio/pharma companies that emphasize AI is slightly above the average of 9% that we recently reported for our database overall, and further above the 5-8% that we determined for bio/pharma companies, not counting computational biology-related companies.
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Funding Landscape
Finally we analyzed the funding landscape of new/newly emerging bio/pharma companies with at least$500K or a major announcement, that we identified, which collectively secured $6.22 billion in 2024 (FIG 6). The highest level of investment occurred in Q2, at $2.96 billion. Funding in Q1 stood at $1.41 billion, followed by $1.22 billion in Q3, and $613 million in Q4. It will be interesting to determine in coming years whether the dip in the latter part of 2024 points to growing investor caution or annual seasonality.
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We next looked at the amount of funding raised per new/emerging bio/pharma company that emerged in 2024. The vast majority (77 of 94) of the new/emerging bio/pharma companies in 2024 that we identified raised more than $10 million. It is noteworthy that 11 bio/pharma companies that we detected that emerged in 2024, did not disclose their funding amount.
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Conclusion
We identified 94 bio/pharma companies that emerged in 2024 that raised at least $500K and/or emerged with a major announcement. Our analysis revealed the continued dominance of the U.S. for well funded bio-pharma startups, although we likely missed some well-funded Asian start-ups.
Within the U.S., California and Massachusetts continue to dominate the landscape, with Pennsylvania, New York, and Washington coming in as the next level states. It was interesting that there were over 2 times as many biologics as small molecule new/emerging companies in 2024, suggesting that future therapeutics will continue to shift towards biologics.
Finally, it will be interesting to see if the number of new/emerging bio/pharma companies that emphasize AI in their technology development, will increase in coming years.
