Clinical decision-support tech companies raised $1.1B so far this year

Clinical decision-support software companies raised more than $1 billion during the first half of 2021—double the amount raised during the same period last year.

Investors poured $1.1 billion into companies that sell clinical decision-support tools—products that analyze data and provide recommendations on patient care—during the first six months of 2021, up from $545 million during the same period in 2020, according to a second-quarter report from market research firm Mercom Capital Group.

Clinical decision-support software companies have raised nearly $7 billion since Mercom began tracking digital health funding in 2010.

Businesses that sell clinical decision-support tools are part of a broader category of digital health tools designed to assist healthcare providers and practices with managing health data. As a whole, companies in that health information management subsector raised $3.7 billion during the first half of 2021, up from $2 billion in the same period last year.

Such software has been a particular area of focus as the Food and Drug Administration refines its strategy for regulating digital health technologies. Some clinical decision-support products are reviewed by the agency, while others aren't—depending on whether they're deemed low or high risk to patients.

PathAI, a startup that develops artificial-intelligence software for pathologists, raised the most funding among clinical decision-support companies in the first half of the year.

The Boston-based company raised a $165 million Series C funding round led by Oakland, California-based Kaiser Permanente and New York investment firm D1 Capital Partners, PathAI reported in May. The company also struck a deal to acquire Poplar, the management service arm of Memphis, Tennessee-based pathology laboratory Poplar Healthcare, last month.

WuXi Diagnostic, a Chinese precision medicine company, raised a $150 million Series B funding round. Strive Health, a kidney-care startup located in Denver, raised a $140 million Series B funding round.

Digital health companies as a whole raised nearly $15 billion in the first half of 2021, also more than double the amount raised during the same period in 2020, according to Mercom. Digital health companies have already raised more funding this year than they did during all of 2020.