2017 is setting records for the funding of digital health emerging companies according to two recent reports. Two leading digital health stakeholders StartUp Health and Rock Health published separate reports in the last two weeks highlighting the record number of digital health deals, total investments, and number of deals over $100 million—all great news for the thousands of digital health emerging companies making their way in the health ecosystem. StartUp Health is New York-based organization that brings together a community of innovators, investors, and advisors to help health care-focused companies through various stages of development. Rock Health is a full-service fund based in the Bay Area that supports a wide diversity of digital health emerging companies. Interestingly, while the organizations track funding differently, their reports essentially come to the same conclusion—the funding outlook for digital health emerging companies is as robust as it has ever been.
StartUp Health tracks companies that enable health, wellness and the delivery of care through data/analytics, sensors, mobile, internet-of-things, genomics and personalized medicine. It looks at various levels of funding from accelerator to private equity funding. StartUp Health’s Insights 2017 Mid-Year Report shows that 2017 has surpassed previous years in overall funding and number of new and unique investors focused on digital health. Among the highlights of the report:
- Q2 2017 had a total $3.8 billion invested—larger than the total annual funding for 2010 and
- 2011 combined;
- Mid-year funding stands at a little over $6 billion—setting a record for the most funding by the halfway point of any year;
- 10 deals over $100 million in the first half of 2017 (tied for most deals in any full year);
- Approximately 60 percent of deals are considered early-stage (seed and Series A);
- Mega deals are a trend with 4 deals from 2017 making the top 11 of all deals since StartUp Health began tracking funding in 2010;
- As expected, funding is most significant in the Bay Area with the Northeast (Boston and New York City) and Chicago also the focus of major deals and funding. Growing digital health hubs include Austin, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Denver, and Seattle;
- Close to 600 unique investors so far in 2017—almost as many as all of 2015; and
- No IPOs in the digital health space so far in 2017.