Global Q1 health IT VC deals at $1.6 bn; Indian tally at $61mn

Global venture capital funding in the healthcare IT sector stood at USD 1.6 billion by way of 165 deals, including 11 Indian deals worth USD 61 million, says a report.
Since 2010, VC funding in the Healthcare IT sector has crossed USD 20 billion, Mercom Capital Group, which compiled the report, said in a release.
On a quarter-on-quarter basis, VC funding, including private equity and corporate venture capital, almost doubled to USD 1.6 billion in January-March 2017 from USD 845 million in the fourth quarter of 2016.
In the first quarter of 2016, nearly USD 1.4 billion was raised through 146 deals. There were 11 Indian Healthcare IT companies that received VC funding and two M&A transactions in the first quarter of 2017.

Notable Indian VC transactions in the first quarter of this year include Practo -- a physician search engine used to book appointments and rate providers - raising USD 55 million, WeHive Technologies (TinyStep) -- an online parenting service that focuses on providing information, advice and a social network for parents -- raising USD 2 million in seed funding from Flipkart.
Among other Indian VC deals, Celes Care -- a virtual health clinic for women -- raised USD 1.5 million while InnerHour -- an online psychological wellness platform -- secured USD 450,000 in funding from Venture Works and financial advisory firm Batlivala & Karani Securities.

"Digital Health funding is off to a fast start this year and there was no visible 'Trump effect' on investments in the sector, at least in the first quarter, and publicly-traded Digital Health companies fared much better in the January- March quarter than last year," Mercom Capital Group CEO and Co-Founder Raj Prabhu said.

The top VC deals in the January-March quarter included USD 200 million raised by Hudong Feng Technology, USD 115 million raised by Alignment Healthcare, USD 100 million raised by PatientsLikeMe, USD 90 million raised by Nuna, and USD 85 million raised by PointClickCare.
Category-wise, healthcare practice-centric companies received 35 per cent of the funding in the first quarter of this year, raising USD 574 million in 50 deals while consumer-centric companies received 65 per cent of the funding this quarter, bringing in USD 1 billion in 115 deals, the report added.

Health IT VC funding deals were spread across 19 countries in Q1 2017 and a total of 306 investors participated in funding deals in the January-March quarter 2017 compared to 340 investors in the October-December period of 2016.