Funding for digital health companies continued to march along at a fast pace in the first quarter with what appears to be a new quarterly record in the United States.
The first three months of the year show that investor appetite for these emerging companies hasn’t let up with as many as 400 investors, including accelerators, investing worldwide.
At the top of their lists were data analytics and disease diagnostic companies, but also consumer apps and health information startups.
In the United States, investors pour $1.62 billion into 77 deals during the quarter, making it the largest first quarter ever, according to Rock Health. Three mega deals of $100 million or more took place, including those with HeartFlow, which raised $240 million, and Helix, which took in $200 million.
Globally, the quarter saw transactions of $2.5 billion involving 187 deals, said Mercom Capital Group. Average deal size for the quarter rose a substantial 44 percent to $13.4 million from $9.3 million in fourth quarter.
The top categories around the world were data analytics, clinical decision support, health apps and telemedicine, Mercom found.
Rock Health also noticed a cluster of activity around diabetes monitoring, with deals for Bigfoot Biomedical, Sano, Intuity Medical, Siren and Common Sensing.
U.S. companies received the most funding, with California the biggest state, but deals took place in 24 countries, Mercom said.
After California, with 30 in-state deals, came New York, with 16 deals; Massachusetts, with 10; Pennsylvania with seven; and Maryland with five.
Photo of stethoscope on top of a pile of hundred-dollar-bills courtesy of gerenme/iStock/Getty Images.
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