Box debuts, but life sciences continue to rule new IPOs

January’s list of venture-backed IPOs looked a lot like the new listings that debuted in 2014: they were mostly in the life sciences or healthcare sectors.

Of the eight new issues in the month, only Box, a provider of online data storage services, was in the general tech space. The other seven were either drug developers or med tech companies, continuing a theme the market saw in 2014 with life sciences dominating venture-backed IPOs.

Last year, 82 of the 118 venture-backed IPOs, or 70 percent, were biotech or healthcare-related, according to a VCJ analysis based on data from Thomson Reuters.

Combined, the eight new issues in January raised $759 million in proceeds. And although Box was the lone tech company, it had the largest offering. The Los Altos, Calif.-based company raised $175 million in its IPO.

The company, whose early-stage investors included DFJ, Scale Venture Partners and U.S. Venture Partners, raised more than $556 million in debt and equity since it was founded nearly a decade ago.

Other Box investors include Andreessen Horowitz, Bessemer Venture Partners, Mail.Ru Group Ltd, Emergence Capital Partners, General Atlantic, Hercules Technology Growth Capital Inc, Meritech Capital Partners, New Enterprise Associates, Sapphire Ventures, Social+Capital Partnership and TPG Growth, according to Thomson Reuters.

The largest VC-backed, life sciences IPO in January came from Spark Therapeutics, a Philadelphia-based developer of gene-based medicines. The company, which was backed by Sofinnova Ventures, T. Rowe Price and others, raised $161 million in its IPO.

In looking ahead, a number of biotech and healthcare companies are on the launch pad, ready to go IPO.

One is Carecloud Corp, a Miami-based provider of healthcare records and related products and services for providers and medical practices. The company has raised about $52 million in funding from Intel Capital, Norwest Venture Partners, Tenaya Capital and others.

Other venture-backed life sciences and tech companies that are in registration, according to Thomson Reuters, include:

• Carbylan Therapeutics
• CardioDx Inc
• Clarus Therapeutics Inc
• Egnyte Inc
• Endurance Technologies Ltd
• Eventbrite Inc
• Evernote Corp
• GameFly Inc
• Invitae Corp
• Laureate Education Inc
• Mode Media Corp
• Netmotion Wireless Inc
• Nlight Photonics Corp
• NovImmune SA
• Pure Storage Inc