Silicon Valley investors may be tiring of social media, but they seem pretty taken with digital health.
As we’ve covered before, investments in the sector continue to rise. And a look at last month’s biggest deals emphasizes that the quality of investors seems to be on the upswing as well.
In July, Khosla Ventures participated in two of the top five biggest deals (a $ 40 million round for insurance startup Oscar and a $ 31 million raise for data analytics startup Ayasdi). Thrive Capital made its first big healthcare bet with founder Jared Kushner’s Oscar. And Sequoia Capital led an $ 8 million round for data analysis startup Comprehend.
Interest from Silicon Valley isn’t new — increasingly, it seems that digital health is attracting established entrepreneurs, like PayPal co-founder Max Levchin with his fertility app Glow, and investors. But Startup Health president Unity Stoakes said data from Startup Health Insights suggests that top-tier venture capitalists are investing more heavily in digital health.
According to the New York-based startup academy, in July, 45 U.S.-based health IT companies raised a total of nearly $ 214 million. That’s about 90 percent more than startups in the field raised during the same period last year.
Here’s a quick snapshot of July venture capital activity, from Startup Health:
- While it wasn’t a U.S. deal, one of the biggest deals of the month was a $ 30 million round for Paris-based Withings, which makes a “smart” WiFi-connected scale and other health-related devices, including an activity tracker, Pulse, that competes with gadgets like the Nike Fuelband and Jawbone Up.
- Sensor technology was outshone by other sectors this month, but investor interest in it is still clearly on the rise. According to Startup Health, total investments in wearable technology and body computing in July (including the Withings deal) were up 144 percent over the same period last year.
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