The “investment tourists” have moved on, leaving the field to the true practitioners of venture capital – those who have weathered all cycles. These seasoned investors, the ones still standing, are now the backbone of capital and support for the next generation of innovative companies. They have returned to a largely more rational environment that allows them to do business the way it was meant to be executed: with thoughtful and fulsome due diligence, a focus on exceptionality, and true collaboration between founders and investors who share an aligned vision and commitment to long term sustainable value creation.
As in past cycles, the best managers – those who have built their portfolios to endure in bad times and scale in good times – are shining through. As we head into 2025 and 2026, for the best VCs, many of our portfolio companies are well-positioned for exceptional success.
Valuations reset. Valuations for private and public sector venture-backed companies largely reset to the levels that will allow companies to raise capital, move forward on executing against their business objectives, and ultimately deliver on value-realizing events that will, we suspect, result in us looking back and viewing 2024-2026 as the most investable period in a decade.
Life Sciences affirmed its position as a leading VC asset class. In fact, in Canada, objective analysis by the BDC, RBCx, and others confirmed that over the past decade, life sciences has been the market leader for high-value realizations, despite accounting for a fraction of the total capital deployed.
On the topic of life sciences, this was a particularly strong year for Lumira and our portfolio companies.
Lumira Ventures 2024 Highlights
- Record financing activity: We participated in US$1.2B of financings for existing portfolio companies and the new investments we made this year.
- Record collaboration with corporate VCs: 83% of our new investments included participation from corporate venture capital (CVC) partners.
- Our largest led investment: We co-led a US$102M financing round for COUR Pharmaceuticals.
- Continued to build out our franchise in underserviced markets of the life sciences ecosystem:
- The US mid-west: We participated in and led some of the largest medtech & pharma deals in the mid-west, including COUR (US$105M), Histosonics (US$102M), and Endogenex (US$88M). The financing for Histosonics was one of the year’s largest medtech deals.
- Canada’s largest biotech deal: We participated in Alpha 9’s US$175M financing, the largest private VC-backed biotechnology/biopharma deal in Canada.
- Canada’s largest public biotech financing: We participated, along with other highly supportive insiders, in our Quebec-based portfolio company enGene’s US$260M raise in new capital via the public markets.
- Successful portfolio exits: Our portfolio achieved 4 significant exits, including, the sale of Endotronix to Edwards Lifesciences, the sale of Fusion to Astra Zeneca, the sale of OpSens to Haemonetics, and the final realization of our investment in G1 via open market sales.
- Fund performance affirms Venture Capital Action Plan (VCAP): Driven by the realized returns from Endotronix, G1, and OpSens plus prior realizations on our investments in Aurinia and Zymeworks – our Fund II has become one of the best-performing funds of the first VCAP cohort delivering real returns for all LPs including the government stakeholders like Ontario, Quebec, and the Government of Canada who supported these initiatives, delivering Carry to the team at Lumira. What is particularly rewarding is that Canadian companies like Aurinia, Zymeworks, and OpSens were fundamental return drivers.
- A record three portfolio companies received FDA approvals for their products in the areas of cancer (Zymeworks), rare genetic disease (X4), and cardiovascular (Endotronix).
- Exceptional value creation: We enjoyed significant value appreciation across our portfolio with one company gaining $1B in value in less than 12 months.
- Record-breaking pace of innovation adoption: One of our companies achieved what we believe was the fastest commercial launch of a robotic surgical platform in history.
- Robust pipeline: We collaborated with founders, management teams, and co-investors in the review of a record number of new investment opportunities (30%+ more than typical) and completed 6 new investments.
- Team expansion: We welcomed 3 new team members; Isabelle Harris (Analyst), Marc McCoy (Venture Clinician), and Danielle Karakas (Analyst). We also celebrated the promotion of Nikhil Thatte to Partner.
- Fund V and cancer breakthrough fund: We launched fundraising for Fund V and in parallel we introduced the Cancer Breakthrough Fund. We are deep believers in the strategy of launching a Core fund in parallel with a Strategic fund as it allows us to offer more capital to a wider range of investment opportunities. In this case, we are even more excited because this is a truly groundbreaking, first-of-its-kind partnership between a Canadian healthcare Foundation (Terry Fox Foundation) and a VC manager to bring more capital to our shared vision of finding cures and treatments for cancer.
Ecosystem Developments in 2024
This year also brought some notable developments in the broader ecosystem that should continue to support our business activities:
- Government engagement: We have seen unprecedented government engagement in the domestic innovation economy. ~ $50B+ allocated to the EV sector alone, billions for AI infrastructure, and most recently the federal government announced more capital for future VCAP vehicles.
- New leadership at EDC: Export Development Canada (EDC) welcomed a massive player in the innovation ecosystem in Canada as the new CEO, Alison Nankivell, whose lifetime of experience in the VC ecosystem promises to drive impactful change.
- Canadian Venture Capital & Private Equity Association (CVCA) governance enhancements: The CVCA CEO announced an open-door policy to take in all member feedback, good and bad, equally & objectively. In parallel, the CEO is looking to ensure that all opportunities are equally and fairly available to all members. The CVCA’s BOD is looking to implement additional governance best practices including a more inclusive, transparent, objective, and independent approach with respect to the selection of BOD members and Chairperson roles at the CVCA. These changes follow a great deal of member engagement (both BOD and non-BOD) and their implementation should deliver substantial benefits to a wide range of members, building the foundation for an even better and stronger CVCA in 2025.
- BIOTECanada leadership transition: Following a decade of excellent stewardship under Andrew Casey BIOTECanada completed the anticipated transition of the CEO with the appointment of Wendy Zatylny as the new President and CEO. We look forward to working with her in the years ahead.
Looking Ahead to 2025
All in all, after a very productive 2024, we believe the foundation for more impactful 2025 has been laid. The Lumira team remains steadfast in our commitment to fostering innovation, investing in and supporting companies pursuing the development and commercialization of best/first in class innovation, and delivering value to our limited partners and strategic partners.
As we look to the future, our focus will be on helping the leadership of our portfolio companies achieve their goals and objectives, and deepening and building our relationships co-investors, and ecosystem stakeholders. Together, we aim to capitalize on the momentum we’ve built and drive transformative growth across the healthcare and life sciences sectors.
We are grateful for the trust and partnership of all our stakeholders and look forward to achieving new milestones together in 2025.