Biotech startups post strongest financing numbers in two years

The numbers are in, and biotech startups recently closed out their best fundraising quarter in two years, signaling that the industry downturn may soon be a thing of the past.

Venture-backed biopharma companies raised $6.8 billion in the first three months of the year, according to early data compiled by HSBC. That’s the largest amount raised since the first half of 2022.

That’s big news for an industry that has been icy for the last three years, once the attention the Covid pandemic brought to drug companies began to fade. Layoffs became commonplace. Landlords in places like greater Boston suddenly found they had vacant labs for the first time in a decade.