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newsDigital Health Funding Blasts Off And Showcases Promise Of Platforms

Digital Health Funding Blasts Off And Showcases Promise Of Platforms

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Published on
December 14, 2021
1 mins

Like Richard Branson and Jeff Bezos’s recent space flights, digital health funding blasted off in the first half of 2021, following an already record-breaking year in 2020. In fact, per Per Rock Health’s 1H 2021 Digital Health Funding Report, the first half of 2021 saw $14.7 billion flow into the sector, eclipsing 2020’s breakout year totaling $14.1 billion. 

After a record-breaking 2020, digital health investment is on an even more torrid pace

Among the investment firms making serious moves in digital health and engaging in what Rock Health refers to as “blitz-funding” is Tiger Global, a tech-focused firm that’s participated in 14 investments for US digital health startups in the first half of 2021 alone. What’s interesting, when looking closer at the digital health companies Tiger Global invested in, is that a majority of these companies are platform businesses, or heavily utilize platform business model concepts as part of their core business strategy. 

Bar chart showing investments in digital health
Platform businesses rely heavily on network effects to create value for customers: the more customers, users or partners there are, the more value there is for all. One analysis suggests that 70% of value from technology firms over the past 30 years has been driven by network effects. 

Clearly, Tiger Global is paying attention, as more than $1.1B of the $1.9B invested in the 14 companies is going to platform businesses. These companies include:

  • Innovaccer: Innovaccer's Health Cloud is what the company calls a platform-as-a-service offering that combines its Data Activation Platform and application suite with platform services and tools aimed to help customers and partners develop interoperable applications for patient engagement and operational performance. 
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