Global venture capital (VC) funding in digital health/health IT, including private equity and corporate venture capital, reach $2 billion in funding in Q1 2019, according to market research firm Mercom Capital. The Q1 2019 Digital Health (Healthcare IT) Funding and M&A Report reveals $2B in funding across 149 deals compared to $1.4B across 142 deals in Q4 2018. VC funding in Q1 2019 was down 19% compared to the same quarter of last year (Q1 2018) when nearly $2.5 billion was raised in 187 deals.
In addition, the report reveals since 2010, digital health companies have received $37 billion in VC funding.
Other key findings of the report include:
– The top funded categories in Q1 2019 were: $557 million raised by Data Analytics companies, mHealth Apps with $392 million, Telemedicine with $220 million, Healthcare Booking with $177 million, Clinical Decision Support with $107 million, Mobile Wireless with $90 million and $80 million for Healthcare IT Service Providers.
– The top VC deals in Q1 2019 included: $170 million raised by Doctolib, $100 million from Health Catalyst, $88 million raised by Calm, and $80 million by Taimei Medical Technology.
– A total of 371 investors participated in funding deals in Q1 2019 compared to 412 investors in Q1 2018. There were 16 FDA and CE approvals issued to Digital Health companies in Q1 2019.
– In Q1 2019, there were 45 M&A transactions (seven disclosed) involving Digital Health companies compared to 48 M&A transactions (13 disclosed) in Q1 2018.
– The top disclosed M&A transactions included the $195 million acquisition of Voalte by Hill-Rom Holdings, followed by BioTelemetry’s acquisition of Geneva Healthcare for $65 million. Alphabet’s Google acquired Fossil Group’s intellectual property related to a smartwatch technology currently under development for $40 million, Netmeds acquisition of KiViHealth for $10 million and Livongo Health’s acquisition of myStrength for $10 million.
Impact of Findings
“Funding levels were down versus last year in Digital Health in the absence of larger deals. M&A activity was also flat. However, Digital Health public equities experienced a turnaround in Q1 with 66% of them beating the S&P 500 versus Q4 2018 when 63% of the equities we tracked performed below the S&P 500. Favorable market conditions have prompted several companies to announce IPO plans,” said Raj Prabhu, CEO of Mercom Capital Group.
