Consumer-focused companies continued to attract VC
investors, taking in $623 million in VC funding in 140 deals this quarter. The
Mobile Health category captured more than half of these deals with $345 million
raised in 82 deals.
Within the Mobile Health category, Wearables/Sensor technology companies led with $130 million in 21
deals. Devices that received funding were diverse in the Wearables/Sensor
technology segment with everything from ingestible sensors, wristbands, skip
patches and headbands to clothing. Though the first wave of Wearables/Sensors was
primarily focused on fitness tracking activities, they are now being developed
to track specific conditions. This quarter saw funding going to companies developing
devices that track fitness activity, vitals, sleep patterns, fertility, heart
conditions, breathing and lung issues, Alzheimer’s and medication tracking.
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Prominent deals in
this category included the $52 million raise by Proteus Digital Health, a
provider of a digital health feedback system for medication adherence using
sensor enabled pills and patches. Propeller Health (formerly Asthmapolis),
provider of a mobile platform for respiratory health management, raised $14.5
million. ATHOS, a provider of wearable technology fitness clothing that
collects and analyzes muscle activity, effort, heart and breathing rates in
real-time, raised $12.2 million. Hello, a developer of the Sense, a sleep
tracker that monitors sleep patterns including noise, light, temperature,
humidity and particles in the air, raised $10.5 million; Hello also raised $2.4
million in a Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign. Beddit, a provider of a sleep
monitoring device that measures resting heart rate, respiratory rate, sleep
cycles and time and is associated with an app, raised $8 million, and Beam
Technologies, a provider of a smartphone-connected sensor enabled smart
toothbrush, received $5 million.
App companies
funded this quarter were diverse, but care-focused apps for health practices led
with most deals followed by fitness apps, nutrition, communication and
diabetes-centered apps. Mobile App companies raised $128 million in 44 deals.
Chunyu Yisheng, a Chinese mobile healthcare app company, which connects
patients and doctors, raised $50 million. Lmbang, a Chinese mobile application
and social networking platform for moms where they can share and communicate
the life and growth of their babies, secured $20 million. Netpulse, a data
services company and developer of a tracking platform that connects fitness
equipment, apps and tracking devices under one platform for fitness equipment
companies, secured $18.6 million. Wellframe, a mobile technology company that
provides patient engagement and care management applications, raised $8.5
million. Kurbo Health, a developer of mobile apps for weight loss programs,
raised $5.8 million. Validic, an API platform that connects personal health
data, mobile health apps and devices to the healthcare system and turns it into
a single, actionable data stream, raised $5 million.
Mobile Wireless
Technology companies received $86 million in 17 deals. Major deals in this
category included iHealth Lab (subsidiary of China’s Andon Health), a developer
of wireless mobile health devices including a weighing scale, blood pressure
monitor, glucometer and pulse oximeter, which raised $25 million. AirStrip, a
provider of mobile patient monitoring software that helps physicians monitor
live patient data, also raised $25 million. Livongo Health, a provider of
cellular-connected blood glucose meters for monitoring diabetes patients and
for sharing health data, trends and messages, secured $10 million, and Wearable
Intelligence, a developer of Google Glass software for healthcare and energy
sectors, raised $7.87 million.
To
learn more about the report, visit: http://store.mercom.mercomcapital.com/product/q3-2014-healthcare-it-funding-report/
See more at: http://mercomcapital.com/healthcare-it-sector-attracts-$956-million-in-vc-funding-in-q3-2014-reports-mercom-capital-group
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