BioCentury
ARTICLE | Finance

Elites always welcome

How VCs think about the IPO process in a windowless world

February 9, 2018 10:36 PM UTC

The fact that 69 biotechs have raised $6.1 billion via IPO financings on NASDAQ since the start of 2016 might suggest the IPO window has remained wide open in the U.S. A closer look at the data reveals that, instead, a dual-class system has emerged in which elite biotechs backed by deep-pocketed VCs and crossover investors can tap the public market at will.

Companies without such support remain shut out, particularly as generalist capital has remained scarce. For the privileged class, the decision to go public is therefore a question of when, not whether...