At HLTH, Bessemer investors Sofia Guerra and Steve Kraus detailed four predictions about where they think the digital health world is headed in 2024. One of these was that “services-as-software” will emerge as a new category of healthcare AI. Another was that some healthcare technology vendors will have to rethink their distribution models and rely on indirect monetization strategies.

The digital health sector’s quarterly investment trends seem to be stabilizing in 2023, according to a new report from Rock Health. The report noted investors are shifting their focus away from pandemic-era categories like telehealth and pharmaceutical R&D catalysts — instead, they’re interested in startups creating products for disease treatment, the improvement of nonclinical workflows and the enablement of value-based care.

Pitango Venture Capital, one of the largest venture capital firms in Israel, announced the first closing of a new $175 million healthcare technology fund. With the new fund, the firm plans to build a portfolio of approximately 15 new companies over a period of three to four years.

The at-home care field holds significant market potential. As the subsector continues to grow, some leaders of home healthcare startups are challenging misconceptions that some other industry stakeholders may still have, including the misbelief that at-home care is only for senior citizens and that this care model lacks scalability.

The digital health sector has entered a new era when it comes to funding, and startups in this space must quickly adjust to an investment landscape that is characterized by lower check sizes, fewer deals and smaller cohort of investors. If things continue at the pace the sector has maintained throughout the first half of the year, 2023 will mark the field’s lowest yearly fundraising total since 2019, according to a new report.

Two VCs from Merck Global Health Innovation Fund recently offered fundraising advice for digital health companies. They told these firms to expect slower funding timelines, urged them not to be afraid of down or flat rounds, and advised them to spend time nailing down the specifics of their growth narrative.

To increase your return on technology investment, start with an audit of existing technology. Where is it falling short? Do problems stem from lack of functionality or troubles with adoption? What do all users think?

While the digital health sector might feel a little cramped in some areas, there are wide open spaces in others — and investors are ready to funnel money into companies looking to innovate these lesser-discussed aspects of care delivery and healthcare technology. Some of these areas include Medicaid, generative AI and patient-to-patient support.

Francesca de Quesada Covey, chief investment officer at investment firm TheVentureCity, believes the women’s health sector will come into its own in the next few years. She said startups focused on improving care delivery will probably have the easiest time raising funds of all the companies in the femtech space.

Last year’s digital health investment trends have left some startups feeling uneasy about their ability to raise capital in the new funding environment. Venture capitalists think companies that have a demonstrable return on investment and serve multiple stakeholders will probably have the easiest time securing capital, while point solutions and startups in crowded markets will face a tougher environment.

Digital health’s investment slowdown is so severe that the fourth quarter of 2022 marked the lowest quarterly digital health funding total in the past five years, according to new report. Q4 was also the first quarter with no new unicorn births since 2018.

Going into 2023, investors think the abilities to demonstrate ROI and clinical validation will be the most important factors determining digital health companies’ success, according to a new report. While the ROI factor is a given, clinical validation “is the best signal of patient value and historically has been under-captured in digital health,” said Sunny Kumar, a partner at GSR Ventures.

While 2022 will likely be a reset from the tremendous growth in digital health funding of 2021, this is a healthy correction and an opportunity to realign on core metrics.

A new CB Insights report found global digital health funding fell 36 percent in the first quarter of the year from that in Q4, 2021, with mental health and digital therapeutics suffering the greatest quarter-on-quarter decline.

Some venture capitalists interviewed by MedCity News believe that digital health’s $57.2 billion haul globally last year is not a sign of a bubble and that there is yet room to grow, some hedged in answering the question, while a couple sounded the alarm. Everyone agreed on one thing though: valuations need to come down.

At MedCity News’ third annual digital health conference, three VCs from New York, Michigan and California all agreed that valuations in digital health are unsustainable.

A few areas recently targeted by investors have been companies utilizing AI in healthcare, as well as mental health and wellness startups.

Rock Health calculated there was $29.4 billion in capital invested in digital health startups since 2011 that were still waiting on returns and examined the two routes companies have to return liquidity to investors: IPOs and M&A. 

In a new analysis, Accenture dives deeper into digital health funding. The assessment includes a prediction that annual investment in digital health startups will reach $7 billion by the end of 2017.

At the annual Health 2.0 conference in Silicon Valley, a panel of venture capitalists describe areas of health tech that do not appeal to them.