State Of Healthcare Q1’21 Report: Investment & Sector Trends To Watch
Global healthcare funding hit a new quarterly record in Q1’21 with a total of $31.6B in equity funding. The quarter also saw a record 96 mega-rounds ($100M+). Deal count grew by 9% to 1.5K+ deals, the secondhighest in the last 12 quarters.
Summary of findings
Overall healthcare industry trends
Funding in Asia declined by 12% quarter-over-quarter (QoQ) in Q1’21 to $7.6B. North America and Europe saw increases in funding QoQ, with North America’s
total boosted by over 2x growth in the number of mega-rounds.
Early-stage deal share picked up slightly in Q1’21, while the proportion of mid-stage deals stayed consistent from the previous quarter and late-stage deals declined by only 1 percent.
Note: This report focuses on equity rounds to private healthcare companies. All data is sourced from CB Insights.
Global digital health funding jumped by 9% QoQ in Q1’21.
Equity funding to digital health companies reached an alltime high of $9B+ in Q1’21, while deal count increased by nearly 13%.
The pace of consolidation activities held steady from Q4’20 through Q1’21. Healthcare incumbents such as UnitedHealth Group and Cigna made acquisition plays to strengthen their market positions. In particular, data insights & analytics software was a key M&A category in Q1’21.
Digital health companies went public via traditional IPOs and SPACs. Tech-enabled Medicare Advantage companies Oscar Health and Alignment Healthcare went public in Q1’21. A range of digital health companies, from consumer health to omics, announced plans to go public via SPACs.