Digital health’s top 10 money raisers in 2021

In mid-March, four mega deals announced within 48 hours equated to a total of $805M in funding. Clarify Health, Unite Us, Strive Health, and Insitro’s fresh rounds represent a healthy proportion of the total funding raised so far this year, Rock Health reported.

Healthcare continues to be a hot category. Investors have put $4.1 billion to work across 24 supergiant health-related rounds this year, including at least 10 early-stage deals, with biotech dominating the list, Crunchbase reports.

All told the first quarter of 2021 is on track to close with more than double the number of mega-deals for digital health companies compared to Q1 and Q2 of 2020 combined, according to Rock Health.

So far this year, just 10 companies have raised nearly $2.6 billion. Check out the biggest money raisers in 2021, so far.

Ro scores $500M

Round: Series D                                                                                                                 

Investors: General Catalyst, FirstMark Capital and TQ Ventures, SignalFire, Torch, BoxGroup, Altimeter, Baupost, Dragoneer, Shawspring, Radcliff and 776

The New York City-based startup is rapidly scaling up its platform that includes online pharmacy services, telehealth and in-home care.

Insitro secures $400M

Round: Series C                                                                                                               

Investors: Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, Andreessen Horowitz, Casdin Capital, ARCH Venture Partners, Foresite Capital, GV, Third Rock Ventures, Two Sigma Ventures, HOF Capital and Alexandria Venture Investments, as well as accounts managed by BlackRock and T. Rowe Price Associates. Temasek and Softbank Investment Advisors also joined the round, in addition to an undisclosed global investment group and a U.S. payer-provider health system

AI-driven drug discovery company Insitro collected a mammoth funding round in March to carry forward its development efforts and Big Pharma partnerships with the likes of Gilead and Bristol Myers Squibb, Fierce Biotech reported.

Hinge Health lands $300 million

Round: Series D                                                                                                                 

Investors: Coatue Management, Tiger Global, Atomico, Insight Partners, Quadrille, 11.2 Capital, Lead Edge Capital, Bessemer Venture Partners and Heuristic Capital

With its latest $300 million funding round, Hinge Health is now one of the most valuable startups in digital health.

The digital health startup offers a digital platform that uses wearable sensors and one-on-one health coaching to deliver in-home musculoskeletal therapy. As Americans accelerated digital health care adoption during the pandemic in 2020, Hinge Health’s customer base tripled, revenue quadrupled and customer retention continued at 100%, and the fourth quarter alone saw a 937% growth in added covered lives, the company reported.

Forward clinches $225 million

Round: Series D                                                                                                                 

Investors: Founders Fund, Khosla Ventures, SoftBank Vision Fund 2, Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff, and musician The Weeknd, among others

Tech-enabled primary care startup Forward Health is growing rapidly, propelled by the shift to digital health and virtual care during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Dubbing itself the primary care of the future, Forward provides membership-based preventive primary care that embeds advanced medical technology into the model including biometric body scans, genetic testing and real-time blood testing in 12 minutes.

Komodo Health collects $220 million

Round: Series E                                                                                                               

Investors: Tiger Global, Casdin Capital, Iconiq Growth, Andreessen Horowitz and Silicon Valley Bank 

Komodo Health has created a massive “healthcare map,” an artificial intelligence platform that compiles de-identified healthcare data from hundreds of sources and more than 325 million individual patients. The company offers a real-time view into patient healthcare journeys to help life sciences companies and payers detect disparities in care and identify interventions, the company said.

Cedar banks $200 million

Round: Series D                                                                                                             

Investors: Tiger Global Management, Andreessen Horowitz, Thrive Capital and Concord Health Partners

Cedar launched in 2016 to modernize the medical billing process, and the rapid shift to digital technologies during the COVID-19 pandemic has driven skyrocketing demand for the company’s patient financial engagement technology.

The company now partners with more than 35 healthcare providers across the United States, including Yale-New Haven Health, Summit CityMD, Novant Health and ChristianaCare. Cedar says it now engaged with more than 300,000 patients a day

DispatchHealth snags $200 million

Round: Series D                                                                                                             

Investors: Tiger Global, Humana, Alta Partners, Echo Health Ventures, Oak HC/FT and Questa Capital  

Increase demand in at-home healthcare is boosting startups like DispatchHealth to new levels of growth.

Emergency room physician Mark Prather, M.D., and his partner Kevin Riddleberger launched DispatchHealth in 2013 to combine mobile technology with an old-school service: the house call.

DispatchHealth sends emergency-care-trained medical teams to patients’ homes armed with mobile blood-work labs, IV fluids, nebulizers and most of the standard equipment found in emergency rooms to diagnose and treat patients. The company currently serves 19 markets across 12 states and provided care to more than 170,000 patients in 2020.

Cityblock Health gets $192 million

Round: Series C extension                                                                                                 

Investors: Tiger Global, Kinnevik AB, Maverick Ventures, General Catalyst, Wellington Management, Thrive Capital, Redpoint Ventures, Echo Health Ventures, 8VC, and AIMS Imprint of Goldman Sachs Asset Management

Cityblock Health’s strategy to meet the complex health and social needs of underserved communities has attracted top investors since its founding in 2017.

The company, a healthcare provider for Medicaid and lower-income Medicare beneficiaries, just got a massive funding boost—to the tune of $192 million—on top of the $160 million series C funding it had already raised in December.

Lyra Health closes $187 million

Round: Series E                                                                                                         

Investors: Addition, Durable Capital Partners LP, Fidelity Management & Research Company and Baillie Gifford, along with other existing investors

Employer-focused startup Lyra Health has raised half a billion, or $462 million, to date as it looks to expand its digital mental health services and bring more technology to its platform.

Color brings in $167 million

Round: Series D                                                                                                       

Investors: General Catalyst, funds and accounts advised by T. Rowe Price Associates, Viking Global Investors and others

Health technology company Color launched in 2015 with a focus on gene testing and precision genomics. The company has expanded its capabilities to focus on improving key health infrastructure systems across the U.S.—including those related to the “last-mile” delivery of COVID-19 vaccines.

“We are building the rails for a national technology-based public health infrastructure,” said Color CEO Othman Laraki in a statement.

Source: www.fiercehealthcare.com