Dive Brief:
- Last year, VC funding in the health IT space reached $2.2 billion across 571 deals, according to a new report by the Mercom Capital Group.
- This funding is double that of 2012, when there were 163 deals with $1.2 billion.
- The mobile health sector raised nearly $564 million, the largest share of health IT VC funding. Meanwhile, consumer-centric health IT companies raised $1.1 billion, personal health companies raised $198 million, and social health companies raised $166 million last year.
Dive Insight:
It don't take a weatherman to know which way the wind blows, and it doesn't take a genius to predict that this will be a bellwether year for mobile health applications, given the ubiquity of mobile tools, entrepreneurs and concepts. What's more interesting to me is the fact that consumer-oriented companies raised $1.1 billion. I'd definitely like to know what they have in store for consumers; we've gotten some hints, in the smart device area for example, but that one is definitely still unfolding. Should be quite a show.