David J. Barton
Global consulting firm Mercom Capital Group LLC has appraised a nearly half a billion dollars hike in funding for the healthcare information technology sector during the first quarter of 2013, according to a VentureBeat article.
The company said 104 startups in the healthcare IT industry, compared to 51 in Q4 2012, have raised a total of $493 million due mainly to the growing number of health accelerators including HealthBox and Rock Health, Christina Farr writes.
“The enormous market opportunity in consumer-focused health has appeared to pique the interest of investors and is likely to continue to grow as witnessed by the surge in VC activity,“ said Raj Prabhu, CEO of Mercom Capital Group.
VentureBeat reports that many start-ups are sold to consumers such as telehealth, mobile health and scheduling apps for patients, instead of practices.
Additionally, Mercom Capital reported that mergers and acquisitions in health IT remained flat at 46 for Q1 2013 and Q4 2012, including Health Catalyst for a $41 series B round, xG Health Solutions for $40 million, NantHealth for $31 million, Fitbit for a planned $30 million round and One Medical Group for a $30 million series F round.
