Health IT, Startups

Which companies were the biggest digital health investors in 2014?

It was a banner year for digital health startups, according to a new report from […]

It was a banner year for digital health startups, according to a new report from StartUp Health this week. It calculated that $6.5 billion has been invested across 459 deals — more money but fewer deals for the year than 2013. Big data, population health and health system navigation nabbed the majority of funding across the investment categories — trends that show the interest in tools that can support physicians in the shift to outcomes-based care. Mid-stage deals attracted the most funding and accounted for more than 28 percent of investments.

Several investors significantly increased the number of announced investments in the digital health sector. Qualcomm Ventures dominated venture capital and corporate funds with 12 deals this year. Among the companies it funded in 2014 were Telcare, Welltok, goBalto, ClearCare, Edico Genome, and Noom. That’s in contrast to last year when Andreessen Horowitz and Google Ventures topped the list. The deal numbers are based on publicly available data, according to the report.

Some corporate funds showed a big increase in digital health investments over 2013. Mayo Clinic and GE Ventures each had five deals compared with one last year. Mayo Clinic invested alongside New Canaan Partners in medical imaging business Dicom Grid. Among GE’s funding targets were big data for drug prescriptions — MedAware, Aver Informatics and Quantum Health. Reed Elsevier Ventures deals rose from one in 2013 to four in 2014. It made investments in Jointly Health, before the patient intelligence company was rebranded Sentrian, and Patient Safe, among other companies.

In an emailed response to questions, StartUp Health co-founder Unity Stoakes said corporate venture has become a larger percentage of the investment pool over the past two years.  He also observed that venture capital firms are more active in digital health.

BlueCross BlueShield Venture Partners and Google Ventures followed Qualcomm Ventures with five deals each.

True Ventures marked a big shift in deal volume among venture capital firms to seven deals in 2014 compared with 2013. It closed its fourth fund this year. Among the new investments it made are Health Gorilla, which creates a way to streamline clinicians’ process of ordering lab tests from diagnostic labs and radiology centers online. Among other investments it has made in healthcare are Ginger.io and Valencell.

 

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