Biotech startups have bucked the volatility seen in other sectors this year, with global funding remaining anchored between $36 billion and $40 billion. According to Crunchbase data, 2026 is on track to match that range, even as overall venture investment surged to record highs in the first half of the year.
While much of the capital influx has flowed to generative AI startups, biotech has retained a substantial share of available funding. The sector’s resilience is evident in the largest financings of the year. London-based Isomorphic Labs, an AI-first drug design company, secured the largest biotech round at $2.1 billion in a Series B funding. Delaware-based Earendil Labs followed with a $787 million raise in March for its AI-driven protein therapeutics platform, while San Francisco’s Chai Discovery closed a $400 million Series C at a $3.8 billion valuation for its AI-enabled drug discovery tools.
Not all top-funded biotechs are explicitly AI-focused. South San Francisco-based NewLimit, a longevity startup developing medicines to restore cellular function, raised $435 million in a June Series C.
The funding landscape remains skewed toward early-stage deals. Seed and early-stage rounds accounted for more than half of all biotech financings this year, continuing a multi-year trend where later-stage companies often bypass additional venture rounds in favor of public listings. The trend is reflected in the accelerated IPO activity across emerging therapeutic areas such as obesity treatments and pain management.
Obesity therapeutics developer Kailera Therapeutics went public in April, just six months after its Series B, while Kardigan, a personalized medicine startup, debuted on Nasdaq in June following $550 million in early-stage funding. Latigo Biotherapeutics, focused on non-opioid chronic pain therapies, completed its IPO in August, approximately 18 months after its Series B.
Later-stage companies also participated in the IPO market, with 10-year-old Parabilis Medicines raising its Series F in January for its cancer therapeutics pipeline. The biotech sector also saw robust M&A activity, with at least 12 funded companies exiting via transactions valued at $1 billion or more, including contingent payments.
Crunchbase data indicates biotech funding and exits have maintained healthy levels this year, even as the AI investment boom has reshaped broader venture capital patterns. The continued flow of capital into AI-integrated biotech firms suggests potential spillover effects in the quarters ahead.
