Digital Health raises $13.7B in 2019 - the Year of Patient
Rock Health and StartUp Health have released two back-to-back year-end reports on funding level and trends in health care innovation for 2019. With $13.7B in total funding across 727 deals (or $7.4B, 374 deals - Rock Health) , investors continue to show a steady commitment towards the sector, making 2019 the second most funded year in health care. Which were the most and least funded areas? Read further to find out:
Accessible health care
Both reports have recognised the customer-centric mindset that has started to gain focus, as shown by the high investment ($2.7B) into companies whose key values are shaped by the needs of patients. Furthermore, the second part of 2019 also witnessed mega deals aiming to unlock the access to care, whilst reducing health care costs. As such, Babylon Health, a remote consultation provider with doctors and health care professionals, confirmed $550M raise to expand its AI based services. Similarly, a patient-doctor connector platform Trusted Doctors secured $250M to increase access to health care services in China and rest of Asia.
New hot spots for investment
If you’ve already seen The Pill Club, Elvie and Genneve making it to the headlines, you will not be surprised to hear that Women’s Health is emerging as a new area of interest for investment. Similarly, behavioural health and addiction saw a particularly strong growth for funding. On the other hand, the reports also demonstrate a significant need to address the lack of support for children’s health. We in Triumf believe that to create healthier futures, we also need to leverage innovation to support the younger generations - not only their physical but also mental health and address developmental and behavioural needs. But, it's great to see increased commitment from both companies and investors to change that trend, and to see companies such as Emilio Health secure funding to contribute towards redefining healthcare for children.
What is also interesting to note is that there’s increasing recognition among investors towards clinically-focussed digital health startups, next to fitness and wellness startups. As such, we see high investment rate into monitoring ($820M), diagnosis ($757M) and treatment of disease ($746M). Compared to 2018, 2019 also witnessed a slightly greater proportion of investment into seed round companies, whilst later stage rounds hit the highest median investment to date.
Hubs of investment
During the whole decade, health care has seen 4,300 startups got funded, equaling in a total of $70B of investment. The most buzz for non-US hub for health innovation takes place in Beijing, followed by London, whilst Paris and Tel Aviv saw a surge in investment, compared to 2018. The highest investments went to Babylon Health, Tencent Trusted Doctor and PharmEasy ($220M).
We believe that the flight for health care is only just taking off. Excited to see what 2020 brings - hopefully we will continue to see investment into evidence-based, safe, customer-centric solutions that can really create a difference for patients.
References:
All data was accessed from Startup Health and Rock Health end of year reports, as cited above