The number of venture capital-funded deals in health information technology dipped slightly in 2015, but the average dollar amount per deal was higher than last year because of investments flowing to more mature companies, according to a year-end report by Rock Health, a San Francisco-based incubator and venture capital fund.
The total dollar amount of all 2015 venture capital deals—including seed to Series D-level funding—surpassed $4.3 billion, which matched the record-setting total of 2014, Rock Health said in the report.
The total number of deals was 278, down from 294 a year ago, but the average dollar value of a deal this year increased to $15.6 million, compared with $14.7 million in 2014.
“Digital health companies showed growth internally as well with the average number of employees increasing from 44 to 50,” in 2015 over the previous year, the report said.
M&A activity doubled in 2015 to 180 deals.
This summer's deal between NantHealth, Culver City, Calif., and Chicago-based EHR developer Allscripts topped the Rock Health list of the largest deals of the year in the digital health sector.
Allscripts took a $200 million, 10% equity stake in NantHealth while NantCapital, the investment company of NantHealth founder Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong, made a $100 million investment in Allscripts.
Deals in healthcare consumer engagement—companies producing tools to help consumers purchase health insurance, services and products—topped Rock Health's six digital investment categories with $572 million invested in 2015.
“The industry continued to see an increasing number of dabblers in digital health,” the report said, noting that 336 venture capital firms plunked down money on at least one deal in 2015.
