Venture Capital (VC) funding into digital healthcare reached $2 billion in 149 deals in the first quarter this year, up from $1.4 billion in 142 deals in the fourth quarter of 2018, a report said on Tuesday. VC funding, including private equity and corporate venture capital into digital health (healthcare IT) companies, was down 19 per cent, compared to the same quarter last year when nearly $2.5 billion was raised in 187 deals, said the report from Mercom Capital Group, a global communications and research firm.

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"Funding levels were down compared to last year in digital health in the absence of larger deals. Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) activity was also flat," said Raj Prabhu, CEO of Mercom Capital Group. The top funded categories in Q1 2019 were $557 million raised by Data Analytics companies, mHealth Apps with $392 million, Telemedicine with $220 million, Healthcare Booking with $177 million, Clinical Decision Support with $107 million, Mobile Wireless with $90 million and $80 million for Healthcare IT Service Providers.

"Digital Health public equities experienced a turnaround in Q1 with 66 per cent of them beating the S&P 500 compared to Q4 2018 when 63 per cent of the equities we tracked performed below the S&P 500. Favourable market conditions prompted several companies to announce IPO plans," Prabhu said.

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The top VC deals in Q1 2019 included $170 million raised by Doctolib, $100 million from Health Catalyst, $88 million raised by Calm and $80 million by Taimei Medical Technology. A total of 371 investors participated in funding deals in Q1 2019 compared to 412 investors in Q1 2018, said the report which covered 610 companies and investors.