Cleveland-area biotech companies raise $83.6 million in 2012′s first half
By CHUCK SODER, Crian’s Cleveland Business

Biomedical companies in Northeast Ohio are raising more venture capital than they have since 2007.

During the first half of 2012, 33 Cleveland-area companies raised a total of $83.6 million in venture capital, according to the Midwest Health Care Venture Investment Report, released today by BioEnterprise Corp. of Cleveland.

By comparison, 18 companies raised $50.2 million during the first half of 2011. In the first half of 2010, 17 companies raised $36.7 million.

The dollar figure is on the rise partly because many biomedical companies in Northeast Ohio no longer are early-stage startups, according to Baiju Shah, president of BioEnterprise, which assists health care companies in Northeast Ohio.

The number of companies financed also is growing because of the growing number of investment funds in the region, Mr. Shah said.

“The whole system is starting to really mature,” he said.

The $83.6 million total doesn’t come close to the record $199 million that Northeast Ohio health care companies raised during the first half of 2007 — a total that crushed previous records.

However, the number of Northeast Ohio biomedical companies that raised capital during the first half of 2012 already has beat annual totals from 2007, 2008 and 2009 and tied the number from 2010. The total has yet to reach the figure from 2011, when 40 local biomedical companies raised financing.

Medical imaging technology company ViewRay Inc. of Oakwood Village raised $25 million during the first half of 2012, more than any other Northeast Ohio company. Drug developer Juventas Therapeutics Inc. of Cleveland was second, raising $22 million. Publicly traded stem cell therapy company Athersys Inc., which has yet to release a product, raised $9 million, the third-highest amount.

Health care companies across the Midwest attracted $490.6 million in venture capital, which is up significantly from previous years but remains below record levels set in 2007.

Although venture capital firms have had trouble raising capital (read more about that by clicking this subscribers-only link), the Midwest was buoyed by some big pharmaceutical deals and by long-running state and local efforts to create more startups and attract more venture capital, Mr. Shah said.