Posted in by Thomas Klein on August 7, 2015 Funding in the digital health sector plummeted in the U.S. during the first half of the year, but there is no cause for concern that spending may be beginning to slow down, according to a Health 2.0 market intelligence study. Bruce Gain Digital health spending among the companies the analyst firm tracked in its study totaled $2.2 billion, compared to $2.9 billion during the first half of last year. The studied covered U.S. companies, but also included some companies outside of the U.S. The international firms only accounted for less than five percent of the total. Health 2.0 largely attributed the difference to high-level deals last year, each of which totaled over $100 million. “The dip in funding isn't something to be concerned about at this point,” Kim Krueger, head research analyst at Health 2.0, told European Medical Device Technology. “Early 2014 saw a handful of blockbuster deals.” These “blockbuster deals” during the first half of 2014 consisted of investments by Proteus, Flatiron, Nant, and Ability Networks, which “all closed at more than $100 million,” Krueger said. The total in spending during the first half of 2015 also does not take into account the large volume number of deals that took place during the period, Krueger said. “The number of deals in 2015 is still tracking closely with 2014,” Krueger said. “This year has also seen a few successful IPOs, which do not reflect in these sums, but are a positive sign for the industry’s general health.” Still, there were some large individual investments made during the first half of 2015. These included Allscript’s investment of $200 million in Nant Health, Oscar’s $150 million in various investments, and $500 million in funding from different investors that Zenefits raised. Out of the digital health spending total during the second quarter, the top-10 deals during the first half of the year represented $1.15 billion or 75 percent of the quarter’s total. Investments in the consumer digital health sector surged during the second quarter. Consumer-related healthcare investments totaled $1.05 billion during the second quarter, compared to $166 million during the first quarter. “We expect to see more funding flowing towards consumer-centric technologies as always,” Health 2.0 wrote. Health 2.0’s database consists of more than 3,500 companies. Out of the international companies the analyst firm tracks, the majority are based in Europe. It describes the “digital health” companies it covers as “technology-driven” that further the “advancement of new health technologies.” to post comments
A magnitude 2.0 artificial intelligence study has shown that digital health insurance has decreased by $ 0.7bn , from $ 2.9bn , in the first half of the year . However , Kim Kruerger , an Analyst at Health 2.0 , suggests that this is not a cause for concern as the difference can be explained by the number of high - level crashes that took place last year , totalling in excess of $ 100 m .