Swedish health care companies are bypassing venture capital financing to raise funds due to a weak venture capital environment. According to SwedenBIO, a survey of 19 public and 100 private companies found that 50% of them plan to raise up to SEK 50 million ($8 million) of funding over three years. However, that may be more than what is available from investors. Instead, thanks to the strong economic rebound in Sweden and government stimulus funding, companies are opting to pursue public offerings. In the past year and a half, 12 health care and biotech companies have listed on Sweden’s four stock exchanges. On average, one Swedish firm per month announced an IPO in the year ending May 31. Comparatively, nine companies did the same in Poland and five in France, and no firms announced such plans in the UK, Switzerland and Germany. Since May 2010, Swedish health care companies have raised SEK 939 million through IPOs.

Source: Bloomberg