Digital Health Funding On Track To Make 2016 A Record Year
By Christine Kern, contributing writer
Market continues to expand globally and Q3 2016 saw nearly $2.4 billion in deals.
A StartUp Health Insights’ report reveals 2016 is on track to be the biggest year ever for digital health funding with Q3 2016 levels accounting for almost $2.4 billion in deals, surpassing the total funding for 2010 and 2011 and on par with the total funding of 2012. With $6.4 billion invested over the first three quarters of 2016, the 2015 total funding of $6.1 billion has already been surpassed as well.
The Digital Health Funding Rankings 2016 Q3 Report found the patient/consumer experience subsector has received the bulk of these investments at $2.53 billion. The wellness subsector has received $918 million in investments and the personalized health subsector has received $634 million.
While digital health is still in its first wave of innovation, according to the report, the market is anticipated to mature and enter into a second wave in the near future. The Q3 report found over 500 unique investors contributed to digital health this year, with a number of unique collaborations emerging that will tackle new health challenges in innovative ways. For example, Google and Sanofi engaged in a $500 million investment to address diabetes. The other $500 million investment this past quarter was Ping An Good Doctor, a program focused on bringing medical services to the greater Chinese market via mobile.
San Francisco has been the most active market with more than 79 investment deals totaling $1.2 billion. New York City was second with 46 deals totaling $868 million and Boston third with 17 deals totaling $704 million. The report also predicts investment heating up in other areas like Minnesota, Tennessee, and Florida, producing new ecosystems in regions that have previously been overlooked.
The report also examined the caregiving investment landscape, finding while 117 million Americans are expected to need assistance of some kind by 2020, the overall number of unpaid caregivers is only expected to grow to 45 million. Technology hold great potential for helping to overcome the challenges of these caregivers, and companies are recognizing this caregiving market opportunity estimated to be worth $72 billion in 2020.