If you thought buying stock in mobile health (mHealth) companies was a good idea, it is. But if you decided to invest in the overall digital health sector - which includes mHealth, B2B apps and consumer services such as ZocDoc – you’d be brilliant. And, probably very rich.
Private financing by venture capitalists more than tripled in the first half of 2012, according to a study by financial services company Burrill & Company, as reported by Richard MacManus at ReadWriteWeb. This follows a June report from nonprofit foundation Rock Health that showed "skyrocketing" VC funding in the healthcare sector.
Burrill & Company, which focuses on the healthcare industry, said that digital health investments "grew to $499 million in 46 transactions during the first half of the year, compared to just $156 million in 19 transactions for the same period in 2011,” according to MacManus.
“The increased funding in the digital health arena reflects a growing awareness of the
transformative power these technologies are bringing to healthcare,” says G. Steven Burrill, CEO of Burrill & Company, in a press release. “It is also an area that is attracting both traditional technology and life sciences investors, who recognize the ability these technologies have to reduce cost, improve care, and personalize care.”
Healthcare pricing consumer information service Castlight Health raised $100 million “The increased funding in the digital health arena reflects a growing awareness of the
transformative power these technologies are bringing to healthcare,” says G. Steven Burrill, CEO of Burrill & Company, a diversified global financial services firm focused on the life sciences. “It is also an area that is attracting both traditional technology and life sciences investors, who recognize the ability these technologies have to reduce cost, improve care, and personalize care.”
Healthcare pricing consumer information service Castlight Health raised $100 million financing in May, while web-based home healthcare software provider Kinnser Software garnered $39.9 million in March. Electronic health records provider Practice Fusion received $34 million financing in June, and telehealth provider American Well, $37 million financing, also in June, MacManus reveals, adding, “That's $211 million in funding in four digital health startups; more than the entire funding amount in digital health over the first half of 2011.”
He notes that Burrill & Company says that the growing venture investment in digital health is part of "an overall pick-up in venture activity in the first half of 2012 within the life sciences sector," which grew nearly 31 percent globally to $6.2 billion.
MacManus qualifies Rock Health, which quoted the market as rising 73 percent in first quarter, as including more companies in its digital health index, leading to a larger figure of $675 million in digital health funding over the first half of 2012. Its data is sourced from CapitalIQ, CrunchBase, NVCA and the Rock Health funding database.
Edited by
Amanda Ciccatelli
