2026年一季度制药生物工具风险投资趋势（英）2026

EMERGING TECH RESEARCH Pharma BiotoolsVC Trends VC activity across the pharma biotools ecosystem REPORT PREVIEWThe full report is availablethrough the PitchBook Platform. Contents Pharma biotoolslandscape3Quarterly analysis4Key takeaways4Vertical overview4VC activity6Segment-level and regional trends8AI themes10Other notable events11Conclusions11Pharma biotools VC deal summary34References35 Institutional Research Group Ben ZercherSenior Research Analyst, Biotech & Pharmaben.zercher@pitchbook.com Caleb WilkinsData Analystpbinstitutionalresearch@pitchbook.comPublished on June 3, 2026 Pharma biotools Quarterly analysis Vertical overview Key takeaways The pharma biotools vertical comprises VC-backed companies that support life sciencesorganizations, developing technologies such as analytical instruments, drug discovery and laboratorysoftware, biological materials, and outsourced services. These companies enable innovative drug •Pharma biotools companies raised $1.1 billion of VC funding across 122 deals in Q1 2026,maintaining the near-record deal count pace set in 2025. •While deal value moderated from the prior two quarters, strong Q1 2026 activity still drove 31%growth in TTM deal value. •To better track funding activity, we introduce an enhanced segmentation framework thatgroups companies by product category, enabling more consistent valuation comparisons and To provide a structured lens on funding trends, we introduce an enhanced segmentation thatcategorizes pharma biotools companies by what they sell—software, instruments, biologics, orservices. These segments are then used to categorize funding activity, with each company assigned to •Q1 capital favored platforms & reagents and services, but asset-light software models continued to •Regional market preferences are diverging. Asian markets favored capital-intensive infrastructureand services, while North American and European markets tilted toward asset-light, software- VC activity Pharma biotools VC deal values totaled $1.1 billion in Q1 2026 across 122 deals. Although not asrobust as the prior two quarters, Q1 represented the third-highest deal value since Q2 2024 andcontributed to 31% growth in trailing 12-month (TTM) deal value. Notably, deal counts remained The services segment led Q1 2026 deal value at $376 million, followed closely by platforms & reagentsand in silico discovery. Cellares accounted for the bulk of the services total, raising $257 millionto scale its automated cell therapy manufacturing platform addressing capacity bottlenecks that QUARTERLY ANALYSIS Elsewhere, Nuclera ($87 million) and Antheia ($80 million) led the platforms & reagents segment.Nuclera’s platform uses digital microfluidics for protein screening, while Antheia manufacturescomplex active pharmaceutical ingredients through whole-cell biosynthesis. Asset-light models also On the exit side, Q1 was muted, with five completed transactions and only one disclosed dealvalue—bioMérieux’s $50 million acquisition of Accellix, a cell therapy manufacturing quality controlplatform. The remaining exits were private-on-private deals without disclosed values. Acquirers werepredominantly mid-market tools & services companies absorbing adjacent capabilities rather than Segment-level and regional trends In 2025, deal counts surged above the historical trend line, and Q1 2026 showed no signs of reversion.One intuitive explanation for the spike would be a shift toward asset-light, software-driven businessmodels fueled by AI adoption, but the data only partially supports this. Five of six segments posted YoYdeal count gains, with engineered biology the sole exception. Deal counts for in silico discovery anddigital research & development (R&D) & clinical infrastructure grew modestly, while services posted Layering geographic cuts onto this data reveals distinct regional preferences. In Asia, capital-intensivesegments drove deal count growth, with services and platforms & reagents posting YoY increases of45 and 22 deals, respectively. In North America, in silico discovery led with 20 additional deals YoY.This divergence is particularly visible at the early stage, where founder and investor preferences aremost clearly expressed. In North America, asset-light companies—captured in the in silico discovery AI themes The deployment of capital toward AI-native technologies goes hand in hand with asset-light trendsobserved above. In 2025, early-stage VC funding in AI-native pharma biotools companies outpacednon-AI-native investment for the first time. This is consistent with the capital concentration pattern This milestone coincides with increasing AI infrastructure investment by Big Pharma. Whether thatspending translates into a durable innovation advantage is an open question. Large organizations havehistorically struggled to convert R&D scale into productivity gains. For now, the answer may lie in the Other notable events Conclusions Several dynamics in the broader