Healthcare tech VC funding in crosses $5bn: Mercom

New Delhi : Venture capital (VC) funding, including private equity as well as corporate, rose to USD 5.1 billion in the healthcare IT sector last year through 622 deals, says a report.

In comparison, USD 4.6 billion was raised in 2015 through 574 deals, the Mercom Capital Group report said.

Overall corporate funding in Health IT companies via debt and public market financing (plus IPOs) was USD 5.6 billion in 2016, a drop of 30 per cent compared to USD 8 billion in 2015, Mercom said.

"VC funding bounced back after declining in 2015. Digital Health public companies on the other hand continue to struggle," Mercom Capital Group CEO and co-founder Raj Prabhu said.

Top funded areas in 2016 included mobile apps (USD 1.3 billion), wearable sensors (USD 592 million), data analytics (USD 574 million), Telemedicine companies (USD 528 million), mobile wireless companies (USD 228 million), and wellness (USD 218 million).

The top five VC funding raised in 2016 were by Chinese company Ping An Good Doctor (USD 500 million), Chunyu Yisheng (USD 183 million), Flatrion Health (USD 175 million), Jawbone (USD 165 million), and Meet You (USD 151 million.

The top VC investors in 2016 were Khosla Ventures with seven deals followed by GE Ventures, Social Capital, and BlueCross BlueShield Venture Partners with six deals each.

Merger and acquisition (M&A) transactions in the Health IT sector last year dropped slightly to 205 compared to 219 transactions in 2015.