Venture capital funding, including private equity and corporate venture capital, in healthcare IT totaled $5.1 billion in 2016, according to a report by Austin, Texas-based Mercom Capital Group, a global research and communications firm. In 2015, health IT venture capital funding reached $4.6 billion.
Here are five insights:
1. In 2016, there were 622 deals in the health IT/digital health sector.
2. Since 2010, the sector has received $18.5 billion in venture capital funding, with a total of 2,672 deals.
3. Consumer-centric companies raised $3.5 billion in 2016, up from $3.1 billion in 2015. Practice-centric companies raised more than $1.6 billion, as compared to $1.5 billion raised in 2015.
4. The four top funded health IT areas in 2016 were:
• Mobile apps: $1.3 billion
• Wearable sensors: $592 million
• Data analytics: $574 million
• Telemedicine: $528 million
5. Merger and acquisition transactions in health IT dropped to 205 from 219 in 2015. Mobile health apps saw the most M&A transactions in 2016.