Summary List Placement
Digital health startups are benefiting from a private investment windfall as the coronavirus pandemic continues to upend the healthcare industry.
According to a new report from CB Insights, venture firms poured a record-breaking $21.8 billion into healthcare startups in the third quarter of 2020. The previous record, $18.1 billion, was set in just the previous quarter.
Digital health startups remained the highest point of interest to venture capital investors, consistent with previous quarters in 2020. Many of those startups, which rely on easy-to-use technology to deliver care and enable research, have capitalized on shuttered doctors’ offices and other pandemic-induced changes in the industry to prove the value of their proposed solutions.
So far, investors have eaten it up: in the third quarter, VCs invested an all-time-high $8.4 billion in digital health startups alone.
Read more: Why a startup that wants to upend how you go to the doctor raised a fresh $118 million instead of going public
Venture capital firms have been quick to jump on the opportunity, with many generalist firms joining healthcare specialty groups in competitive funding rounds.
All told, the five most active firms have backed 24 startups that range from early stage to pre-initial public offering. Some are tackling fertility and direct-to-consumer treatments, while others are looking to rethink hospital operations and IT.
Here are the 5 most active firms
General Catalyst invested in Olive, Ro, Loom, Commure, and Sprout. The firm has raised roughly $7 billion to date, it told Business Insider in July.
GV, formerly known as Google Ventures, invested in Kindbody, Ready Responders, Freenome, Science 37, and Encoded Therapeutics. The Google-backed fund manages more than $4.5 billion.
Khosla Ventures, a $5 billion firm, invested in Caption Health, Vicarious Surgical, Siren, Opentrons, and Ontera.
Flare Capital Partners has roughly $455 million under management, and invested in LuminDX, Aetion, Eden Health, HealthVerity, Cohere Health.
Section 32 invested in Freenome, Evidation Health, Thrive Earlier Detection, Sema4, and Vineti. In April, MedCity News reported that it’s looking to raise $350 million for its latest fund.
SEE ALSO: A former VC investor joined a startup looking to change how we treat cancer. Instead, the 32-year-old has turned her attention to COVID-19 treatments.
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