Healthcare IT, Big Data Contributions Surge in Q1

Venture capitalists poured more than $1 billion into the healthcare IT sector during the 1^st quarter of the year 2016 as investors look to target data analytics and telemedicine for growth.

The first 3 months also saw various large big data acquisitions as key players such as IBM’s Watson Health unit continued their buying sprees.

Market researcher Mercom Capital Group reported that venture funding for healthcare IT and “digital health” soared 27% over the previous quarter during the first 3 months of this year. A total of 146 deals involving private equity and corporate venture capital generated quarterly investments totaling $1.4 billion, Mercom said. Investments totaled $1.1 billion in the last quarter.

“Data analytics and telemedicine companies reached a key milestone, each crossing $1 billion in funding raised to date” even though public health IT public companies continued to slump, Raj Prabhu, CEO and co-founder of Mercom Capital Group, noted in a statement.

While medical device makers raked in the most venture capital, $260 million, Mercom claimed data analytics vendors were not far behind at $197 million during the1st quarter. The wearables and sensor markets represent the leading edge of an emerging healthcare Internet of Things.