Born at a time when venture capital found few exit opportunities for early-stage companies, build-to-buy helped mitigate the risk in investing in uncharted science. But the model is flourishing even in this period of wider capital options.

Hoping to boost its international dealmaking, the California venture firm is setting up shop in Vancouver, BC, and expanding in Switzerland, to gain access to emerging projects that haven’t been “picked over.”

At $4.2 billion, biopharma financing in Q4 2012 showed a 36% increase over Q3 with FOPOs again dominating as the most popular deal type. With 34 finalized biopharma M&As, Q4 was the most active quarter of all 2012 for acquisitions. The 108 biopharma alliances completed had a combined potential deal value of almost $2 billion; Johnson & Johnson, with seven tie-ups, was the busiest pharmaco during Q4.

As VCs experiment with new models for single-asset companies, new entrant NeXeption is trying something similar without raising its own fund. Can it wring enough value from the best assets pharmas are neglecting, without giving too much back to their original owners?