Dive Brief:
- Health IT companies reeled in $5.1 billion in venture capital funding across 622 deals during 2016 — up from $4.6 billion and 574 deals the previous year, according to a new report by Mercom Capital Group.
- Mobile health raised the most last year with a record $1.3 billion, followed by wearable sensors with $592 million, data analytics with $574 million and telehealth with $518 million, the report states.
- In addition, consumer-focused companies snagged $3.5 billion over 437 deals – up from $3.1 billion in 403 deals during 2015, it adds.
Dive Insight:
The momentum for health IT is gaining ground with the digitalization of healthcare. While there are still a lot of detractors, more and more people want a piece of the action and to gain a dominant position in the country's health IT market.
Many healthcare technologies have been used successfully for several different purposes like increasing access to care. As a result of recognizing their value, the adoption of technologies such as medical apps is growing at an unprecedented pace.
Last year's funding deals signal a continued interest in mobile health. Medical services app Ping An Good Doctor received the largest funding round last year with $500 million, according to Mercom. Other big winners were telehealth smartphone app Chunyu Yisheng with $183 million, cloud-based cancer care startup Flatiron Health with $175 million, and wearable products company Jawbone with $165 million.
Meanwhile, the number of mergers and acquisitions in health IT dropped slightly from 219 in 2015 to 205 last year. Of those, 131 involved practice-centric companies and 74 were consumer-focused firms.