Midwest Health Care Startups Raise $315 Million in First Half of 2011

Minnesota and Ohio Lead States

CLEVELAND, July 27, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Midwest health care startups reported $315 million in total investments across 86 companies in the first half of 2011, according to the BioEnterprise Midwest Health Care Venture Investment Report.

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"While the number of companies funded remains high and similar to prior years, the total dollars invested is down compared to recent years," said Baiju R. Shah, President & CEO of BioEnterprise.  "This is related to the significant increase in company M&A activity across the Midwest as growth-stage health care firms are increasingly being purchased in strategic transactions rather than pursuing additional financing."

Minnesota led the way in company financings attracting $88 million, followed closely by Ohio whose companies attracted $80 million during the period.  Among regions, Minneapolis, Cleveland, and Madison led the way.

"A bright spot in the report is a significant increase in health care IT & services investing across the region," said Shah.  By sector, the equity funding was as follows:

• Biopharmaceutical companies: $153 million
• Medical device companies: $85 million
• Health care software and service companies: $70 million

The Midwest Health Care Venture Investment Report includes all reported numbers and regionally collected data. For complete state and region results across the Midwest see the attached table.

To view additional data about Midwest health care business activity visit http://www.bioenterprise.com/reports/index.html.

*Border MSAs such as Kansas City and Cincinnati include deals from both states in those geographies; deals are aggregated into state totals based on the MSA's principal state

**Regions' totals do not equal states as not all areas are included in list of regions

Sources: Compiled by BioEnterprise team from Venture Wire, Private Equity Week, Wall Street Journal, Venture Source, SEC Filings, company press releases, www.biospace.com, and Midwest bioscience organizations and institutions.

About BioEnterprise

BioEnterprise is a business formation, recruitment, and acceleration effort designed to support the growth of bioscience companies. Located in Cleveland, BioEnterprise provides management counsel and support services to health care companies. BioEnterprise partners are Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland Clinic, University Hospitals, Summa Health System, and the BioInnovation Institute in Akron. Additional technology partners include the NASA Glenn Research Center, Cleveland State University, NorTech, and BioOhio.

The initiative comprises the collective activities of BioEnterprise and its partners' commercialization offices:  the Case Office of Technology Transfer, Cleveland Clinic Innovations, University Hospitals Case Medical Center - Center for Clinical Research and Summa Enterprise Group.  The combined efforts of these groups has created, recruited, and accelerated more than 100 companies in nine years.

SOURCE BioEnterprise Corporation