<div><strong>C H Unnikrishnan</strong><br><br>Venture capital (VC) and private equity funding in global digital healthcare or healthcare related information technology sector was up 66 per cent during the July-September quarter in 2015 to $1.6 billion compared to $964 million in the same period a year ago. The funding in this sector was also up 32 per cent this quarter over the preceding quarter’s $1.2 billion. There were a total of 148 investment deals during the third quarter as against 139 deals in the second quarter, according to data compiled by global communications and research firm Mercom Capital Group. </div><div> </div><div>The debt and equity market financing in the sector during these three months ending September 31, came to $495 million in nine deals including two initial public offers (IPOs). The total corporate funding raised in the sector including venture capital, debt and equity by publicly traded companies were about $2.1 billion, the Mercom report said.</div><div> </div><div> VC funding has reached nearly $3.57 billion for 2015 year-to-date (YTD), comparable to $3.53 billion raised during the same period in 2014, showed the reports that cover deals of all sizes across the globe.</div><div> </div><div> “VC funding into healthcare IT companies bounced back this quarter after a slow start this year,” says Raj Prabhu, CEO and Co-Founder of Mercom Capital Group adding that “Rating, booking and comparison shopping companies had their best fundraising quarter since we began tracking the category.”</div><div> </div><div>The segment wise data showed that healthcare practice-centric companies raised $357 million in 42 deals in this quarter as compared to $473 million in 41 deals in the previous quarter. While, consumer-centric companies raised $1.2 billion in 106 deals this quarter compared to $727 million in 98 deals in Q2 2015.</div><div> </div><div>The top VC funded category this quarter was rating, booking and comparison shopping which brought in $728 million in 15 deals. Mobile Health companies were second with $319 million in 59 deals, with mHealth apps receiving $206 million and wearables as well as sensors receiving $88 million. While personal health and wellness companies accounted for $114 million in 17 deals, followed by practice management companies with $72 million in five deals, telehealth and data analytics companies raised $65 million in 14 deals and $61 million in 14 deals respectively.</div><div> </div><div> There were 69 early-stage deals at or below $2 million, including 22 accelerator or Incubator deals.</div><div> </div><div>The top VC deals this quarter included the $394 million raised by Guahao, an online health information portal for patients in China to book appointments with physicians; the $130 million raised by ZocDoc, an online doctor appointment booking platform; the $90 million raised by Practo, developer of a physician search engine to book appointments and rate providers, and of practice management software; the $55.4 million raised by Kareo, a provider of cloud-based medical office software for small medical practices; the $55 million raised by Grand Rounds (previously Consulting MD), a company that matches patients with specialists and connects them for second opinions on a medical diagnosis, and the $50 million raised by Remedy Partners, a developer of bundled payment programmes for government payers, health insurers and self-funded employers, the Mercom data showed.</div>
