An explosion in medical innovations and advancements in technology have lowered the barriers to starting a biotech company. If you’re a founder with a promising new concept for a gene or cellbased therapy, biologic therapeutic, drug delivery technology, or other biotech solution, you may be onto the next big medical breakthrough that can save or alter lives—but can you attract the capital it takes to start and sustain your new venture?

As the founder of a new biotech business, your ability to raise capital is one of the greatest determinants of your company’s viability. That’s because most biotech companies will burn cash at a much faster rate than their founders can fund with personal assets.

It’s critical that you can secure capital to keep your business operational and enable it to scale—especially during the early stages, before your new therapeutic or med-tech device has gained regulatory approval and is ready for commercial launch. Yet, the early-stage funding landscape has evolved dramatically in recent years, making it more complicated than ever to understand how the process works and what to expect. Whether you’re in the preliminary research phase, you’re starting preclinical investigations, or you’re looking ahead to the clinical trial phase, this guide can help. It walks you through the basics of earlystage fundraising for biotech companies, focusing on the initial stages of securing seed capital and Series A funding.