Biotech IPOs are happening less frequently now, despite a strong beginning. According to BioPharma Dive statistics, fifteen drugmakers have priced first stock sales successfully this year, placing 2024 on a similar trajectory as 2023, when 19 biotechs priced, and 2022, when 22 did.

In IPOs and pharmaceutical firm acquisitions, there are still opportunities for investor exits; however, these are mostly for biotechs with clinical evidence, according to PitchBook research released on Friday that monitors funding patterns in the biotech and healthcare industries.

The report's author, senior analyst at PitchBook Kazi Helal, stated that while fewer high-caliber companies were going public, the IPO market still presented a mixed picture.

Both Zenas and Bicara meet that description because they have raised more than $350 million in venture capital and are well-funded with clinical data at their disposal.

A significant portion of Bicara's funding came from $273 million in Series B and C rounds last year. After launching in 2021 with a "deep pipeline" of programs, the biologics business has subsequently concentrated its attention on studying ficerafusp alfa in conjunction with Keytruda from Merck & Co.

Bicara was started by Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, the chairman of Biocon, an Indian pharmaceutical business, and Claire Mazumdar, his niece and a former Third Rock Ventures investor, who hold a combined 35% share in the company. The company also has investments from other bioscience venture firms, including Red Tree Venture, Omega Fund, and RA Capital Management.

A variety of venture capitalists, such as Enavate Sciences, SR One, and Longitude Capital, support Zenas. The company achieved Phase 2 data in IgG4-related disease after licensing its medicine obexelimab from Xencor, which persuaded Bristol Myers Squibb to pay $50 million upfront for certain regional rights to the drug.