Global venture capital funding for first 9 months higher by 31% at $5.5 billion

MUMBAI: Global venture capital funding for the first nine months this year was 31 per cent higher than the same period in 2016, with $5.5 billion raised in 586 deals compared to the $4.2 billion raised in 463 deals. The third quarter Q3 2017 VC funding came to $1.5 billion in 227 deals, a 38 per cent decrease compared to the record $2.4 billion raised in 194 deals in Q2 2017, says a statement from Mercom Capital Group.
There were 16 Indian healthcare IT companies that received VC funding during Q3. Notable amongst these include: CureFit (raised $25 million) 1mg ($15 million), Mfine ($1.5 million), Touchkin eServices ($1.3 million), Click2Clinic ($850,000), and Doxper ($750,000).
The top funded areas in 9M 2017 were: data analytics ($1 billion), patient engagement solutions ($686 million), mHealth Apps ($549 million), telemedicine ($529 million), booking ($407 million), and mobile wireless ($407 million).
“The record breaking funding year continues for digital health companies. The 227 funding deals in Q3 was the most ever for a single quarter. Third quarter was all about data analytics with companies garnering almost a third of the funding in Q3 and artificial intelligence companies receiving more than $200 million,” Raj Prabhu, CEO and co-founder of Mercom Capital Group said.
The digital health sector has now received $24 billion in 3,258 VC funding deals since Mercom began tracking in 2010. Total corporate funding in health IT companies including VC, debt, and public market financing totalled $1.7 billion in Q3 2017, compared to $2.4 billion in Q2 2017.