Digital health funding soars to $7.2bn in 2017, Mercom Capital reveals
A new report by Mercom Capital Group has revealed how Digital Health venture capital funding (including private equity and corporate venture capital) in 2017 smashed previous records, reaching $7.2 billion in over 770 deals. It surpasses 2016 figures, which reached $5.1 billion in 622 deals respectively.
This 42% increase follows on from the total corporate funding for Health IT companies, which rose to over $8 billion last year, a 47% increase from 2016’s figures.
Health Information Management became a main area of growth within digital health funding in 2017, with mobile health coming in at close second. In 2016, funding in mobile health took centre stage.
Since 2010, the top five digital health categories have been mHealth apps ($3.5bn), with $759mn spent last year alone. Telemedicine has seen $2.1bn in funding since 2010), with $624mn spent last year. Wearable sensors have seen $1.9bn in funding, with appointment booking closely behind, with $1.7bn spent since 2010, and $516mn spent in 2017.
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Furthermore, health funding within data analytics has risen exponentially year on year. Last year, funding in this area surpassed $1.1bn, with increased funding placed within artificial intelligence focused analytics and predictive analytics, the report has stated.
Additionally, the number of countries participating in digital health funding has also risen, highlighting how the growth of digital healthcare is taking a multitude of industries by storm.
The number of mergers and acquisitions (M&As) has also seen surprising. The $2.8bn acquisition of WebMD by Internet Brands (ib) is certainly one of note.
“Venture capital funding into Digital Health spiked after plateauing the last couple of years. Artificial intelligence and Data Analytics companies had a breakout year with over a billion dollars raised,” commented Raj Prabhu, CEO and Co-Founder of Mercom Capital Group.
“Digital Health public companies had a much better 2016 compared to previous years with a majority of stocks outperforming the S&P 500. Investors do not want to miss out on the sheer size and potential of this growing market, but the exit path for many companies remains elusive.”