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VC Investors Pivot to Quality | Imaging Cost Concerns
January 21, 2025
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Together with
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“[P]atients and referring physicians place a high value on location convenience and copay, so if services offered cannot adapt or otherwise compensate along other margins, there will be inevitable loss of volume/market share.”
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Yuan C et al, in a new study on patient and provider imaging preferences.
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Venture capital investors in digital health firms pivoted to quality in 2024, with fewer deals done but a higher median deal size compared to 2023. That’s according to a new report from market analysis firm CB Insights that also documented a record high for both the number and value of AI-focused deals.
Digital health investment has fluctuated in the years since the COVID-19 pandemic, with the number of deals hitting a peak in 2021 but then receding.
- The first half of 2024 was particularly slow in the radiology AI sector, but funding seemed to accelerate in the second half, with more and larger deals getting done.
So where did venture capital funding for digital health end up for all of 2024? The CB Insights report found that relative to 2023 there was …
- A 23% drop in the number of digital health funding rounds, to 1.2k deals, the lowest number since 2014, versus 1.6k deals.
- A 3% increase in the total dollar value of investments, to $15.6B versus $15.1B.
- A median deal size of $5.3M, up 39% versus $3.8M.
- AI-focused companies secured 42% of funding and 31% of deals, up from 37% and 26%.
- The biggest imaging-related deal was a $106M Series C round raised by cardiac AI developer Cleerly.
The numbers are a sign of VC investors looking for quality companies that meet heightened benchmarks.
- Investors want demonstrated progress in terms of clinical validation, commercial traction, and regulatory readiness before they’ll sign checks.
The Takeaway
The new report illustrates the opportunities and challenges of the current investment environment for digital health. AI developers will find the wind shifting in their favor, but they will need to do their homework and show real progress in the clinical, commercial, and regulatory spaces before securing venture capital investment.
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