Digital health funding in the first quarter of 2014 broke yet another record, with nearly $700 million pouring into the space, according to San Francisco-based digital health startup seed fund Rock Health.
In their latest update, Rock Health reported that there was 87 percent year-over-year growth from Q1 2013 to Q1 2014.
The average venture funding deal increased to $13 million, up from $10 million last year, according to Rock Health's statistics. In the first quarter, they pointed out, patient care and enterprise cost-savings emerged as new themes. Still, they said, analytics and big data are still considered "heavyweights." Payer administration was the most funded category in Q1, with $120 million in deals.
Companies that shined in Q1, according to Rock Health, included Health Catalyst--a data warehousing company that received funding from Kaiser Permanente Ventures and Partners Healthcare, among others--and Specialists On Call--a company that provides emergency telemedicine consultations.
In terms of location, California dominated the digital health deal market, representing 32 percent of funding in the quarter.
Total digital health funding in 2013 reached $1.92 billion, according to an end-of-year report from Rock Health released in January.
Meanwhile, according to Mercom Capital Group, venture capital funding for healthcare IT doubled from $1.2 billion to $2.2 billion. Overall, Mercom reported, the number of VC health IT deals more than tripled from 163 in 2012 to 571 in 2013. What's more, according to Mercom, the number of investors active in funding rounds for healthcare IT companies nearly doubled, from 236 in 2012 to 466 last year.
To learn more:
- read the update from Rock Health