Of all the interesting healthcare investment trends in 2014, one particularly notable one is it marks the year that Google Ventures investments in healthcare surpassed other categories of interest to the business.
A Wall Street Journal article noted that investments in healthcare accounted for 36 percent of its investments across at least 12 companies. In 2014, Google Ventures investments totaled $425 million, an increase of $125 million over last year after it formed a new fund for investments in Europe.
In an interview with Bill Maris, the head of Google Ventures, he said its investments in healthcare would continue.
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“Barring some huge calamity we’ll see more interesting things in life sciences in 2015.”
Predictive analytics is one area of interest. Flatiron Health was a big deal for the company in which it invested more than $100 million. The company developed a clinical decision support tool for oncologists. Predilytics‘ platform allows it to use its clients’ data sets to create their own specific predictive model and analytic rules.
Telemedicine is another source of interest with Doctor on Demand. One Medical, a primary care concierge service, was started by Epocrates co-founder Dr. Tom Lee. Its healthcare investments also span DNA analysis such as 23andMe and DNAnexus, as well as diagnostic tools for cancer with Foundation Medicine and for autism spectrum disorder with SynapDX.
