Braeden Lichti: The Digital Health Industry

VANCOUVER, British Columbia - Dec. 19, 2019 - PRLog -- Digital health venture funding remains near all-time highs. Startups in the sector are on track to raise $7.3B by the end of the year — over a 25% compounded annual growth rate since 2011.

2019 has already seen 6 major IPO's including: Livongo (LVGO), Change Healthcare (CHNG), Health Canalyst (HCAT), Phreesia (PHR), Progyny (PGNY), and Peloton (PTON). These companies have a combined market cap of over $15B.

Acquisitions continue to take place within the industry but also by technology and private equity groups focusing in areas of data management and analytics, clinical research, wellness, telemedicine, and chronic disease management. Google's (GOOG) $2.1B purchase of Fitbit is the most recent example, and smaller companies like DarioHealth (DRIO) are also seeing success; the digital health therapeutics company recently saw its stock spike ~50% when it secured a distribution deal with Walmart.

Trends

1. Behavioral Health

· Services areas from basic wellness to treatment of disease and to company platforms offering services.

· The space continues to see funding strength and through Q3 2019 had sixteen digital health companies raise a total of $416M or 8% of the total digital health funding in that period.

· The number of deals has grown from 1 company in 2012 to an average of 16 since 2016.

· The size of behavioural health deals is up 73% in 2019 while the overall deal size is down 4%.

2. Adoption of Digital Health Tools

· Research by RockHealth shows an especially big jump has occurred in the tracking of digital health, and people who track their digital health are also more likely to share their personal information with their physician.

· In general, 56% of individuals shared their digital health tracking data with a physician or other medical professional, this compares to 46% in 2017.

· Consumers most often track measures related to chronic conditions.

It looks like the digital health industry will continue to show strength, and the recent surge of large IPO's and acquisitions bodes well for exit strategies. Look for companies in cognitive disease management, data/analytics, or any company in the space providing value to its customers combining old methods with better processes.