Healthcare-IT sector gets $784 mn VC funding in Q1: Mercom

Venture capital funding in the healthcare information technology (IT) sector across the globe dipped 35 per cent to USD 784 million in the first quarter of 2015 from the preceding three months, says a report.
According to global communications and consulting firm Mercom Capital Group, VC funding in the sector was USD 1.2 billion in the fourth quarter of 2014.
However, the number of deals grew to 142 during January-March 2015 from 134 deals in October-December 2014.
With the latest quarterly figures for 2015, Health IT / Digital Health companies have now raised about USD 10 billion in VC funding since 2010.

"Funding fell across the board with the exception of Mobile Health (mHealth), which was the bright spot this quarter. There was also significant M&A activity in the first quarter for mHealth companies," Mercom Capital Group CEO and Co-Founder Raj Prabhu said.
"We have already seen 10 M&A transactions in Q1 compared to 21 in all of last year, which bodes well for exits in Mobile Health," Prabhu added.

The top VC funding deal in Health IT sector for Q1 2015 was USD 70 million raised by US-based firm Health Catalyst.
In India, Practo, a developer of a physician search engine closed USD 30 million (Rs 187 crore) in Series B funding from Sequoia Capital and Matrix Partners, during the January-March quarter 2015.

Other deals in the country included USD 300,000 (Rs 1.86 crore) raised by eKincare, an online and offline platform that enables monitoring critical medical information.
Besides, Gympik.Com, an online search engine that allows users to search and rate fitness facilities and professionals, raised USD 135,000 (Rs 86 lakh) in seed funding from Capvent's managing partners Tom Clausen and Rohan Ajila, as well as manufacturing firm Haldyn Glass.
Under mergers and acquisitions, Hinduja Global Solutions, acquired a 89.9 per cent stake in Colibrium Partners and Colibrium Direct, a provider of a cloud-based health insurance platform.
Mercom is focused on healthcare information technology, cleantech and financial communications.