Can you introduce the life sciences practice at Citi, and share any highlights from 2023? 

The most exciting part of 2023 was that the funding environment started to stabilize for biotech companies, from VC investment to large pharma collaboration, royalty financings, the IPO market reopening, and the M&A environment. 

We have a team of bankers across our banking, markets and services businesses dedicated to working with life sciences firms. A lot of what we do at Citi is helping these firms navigate their phases of growth whether it be from a capital markets perspective, such as navigating the equity or debt capital markets, to treasury, payments and financing solutions to support their growth and working capital cycle. Given that we have the broadest network in the industry, with Citi colleagues in over 95 countries, we are well-positioned to support the industry from Series A to IPO, domestically and wherever their operations may take them.  

How does Citi support emerging biotechs to help them build their business with banking solutions? 

The companies that Citi Commercial Bank works with tend to have the potential to grow or are already moving quickly through their phases of growth. They may need plain vanilla banking services on day one, but we are advising our clients to put in place solutions that will support them as they scale. If they plan to go public for instance, they need strong governance and a treasury infrastructure to support the enhanced financial reporting requirements. We are helping PE-backed firms and platform companies that are rapidly adding businesses to their organization achieve visibility, control and efficiency in their treasury function. Capital is extremely important to emerging biotechs, and as firms raise capital and grow their operations, we assist them in maximizing liquidity structures. Our commercial bank works closely with clients to gauge the best banking solution to address their needs to propel their strategic growth; we then leverage our network and solutions across banking, services and markets to optimize our offering – that’s where the power of our ‘One Citi’ approach comes into play. 

What does a biotech need to attract capital in this market? 

Therapeutic areas that appeal to investors, strong management teams, relationships with large pharma, and the ability to generate data and advance pipelines are key to attracting funding. Areas that are expected to be minimally impacted by legislation such as the IRA, and therapeutic areas such as oncology, autoimmune, and CNS continue to be of strong interest, as are tools to assist in early-stage detection of diseases and AI drug development. We are still in the early days of addressing obesity, the metabolic adjacent areas are also expected to attract capital.   

How does Citi plan to grow in the life sciences space? 

What we are excited about in 2024 is that the funding environment and broader landscape for the companies that we work with is improving. In terms of our team, the commercial bank is a growth business for Citi, as outlined by our CEO earlier this year. We are proud of the role we play in the life sciences industry, and looking forward to continuing working with and supporting life sciences entrepreneurs.