Health technology startups are seeing a lot of green, as investors are pouring in to get a piece of the industry's hottest young companies.
Digital health startups this year have already raised $6.8 billion in funding, 20% more than the total raised in 2017, according to the seed fund Rock Health.
Investors are overwhelmingly in support of bringing healthcare services to the home, with companies offering on-demand healthcare services as their main draw receiving the most funding. This category includes in-home care, prescription delivery, and telehealth companies. The takeaway? Consumers still want in-person interactions with physicians and nurses and also want healthcare to be more accessible and convenient.
While around 63% of the overall funding coming from independent venture funds, corporate entities such as big pharmaceutical companies and health insurance companies are also becoming significant investors. One example of this is GSK's $300 million investment in genetic data company 23andMe.
Tech companies are also staking a claim in the space as highlighted by Amazon's continued push into healthcare.
Here are the digital health companies that have raised the most funding this year.
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Peloton Interactive raised $550 million. It created an at-home bike that allows users to live-stream fitness classes. It also launched an at-home treadmill this year.
The company was rejected over 5,000 times by investors but is now worth $4 billion. According to Peloton CEO John Foley, Peloton wants to reinvent the way people work out altogether. Business Insider's Mary Hanbury also tried out the fitness bike for herself, read about her experience here.
23andMe, which makes consumer genetic tests, raised $300 million.
23andMe was co-founded in 2006 by CEO Anne Wojcicki (the sister of YouTube boss Susan Wojcicki) and Linda Avey, who left the company in 2009. After some back and forth with the FDA, the company in April 2017 was officially authorized to market its direct-to-consumer tests for 10 different medical diseases and conditions, including Parkinson's and Alzheimer's.
In July, drug giant GlaxoSmithKline signed a $300 million deal with the company. Business Insider's Lydia Ramsey tried out the company's $199 tests here.
American Well, which connects patients with doctors in real-time over video, raised $291 million.
American Well is one of the best funded companies in the digital health space. It competes with similar companies like Teladoc and Doctor on Demand for investor attention. It's part of a wave of telemedicine that big companies like Apple have even dabbled in.
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