HGP Health IT Q1 2021 Insights

April 12, 2021

The first quarter of 2021 has been one of investor optimism as the vaccine rollout continues ahead of expectations and economic activity begins to accelerate in response.  Within the Health IT industry, the already strong investment and M&A trends seen in 2020 have only accelerated.  Over the course of the quarter, we observed $7 billion in private equity and venture capital investment across 158 companies.  By comparison, Q1 of 2020 saw $3.2 billion and 127 investments.  Health IT M&A activity has also been strong in the first quarter, with 114 transactions observed compared to just 88 in Q1 of 2020.  The gradual loosening of pandemic restrictions and government stimulus both promise to continue to fuel this strong market activity into Q2 and into the future.

 

 

Noteworthy News Headlines

 

Noteworthy Transactions

Noteworthy M&A transactions during the quarter include:

  • SOC Telemed acquired Access Physicians for $194mm to solidify its acute care telemedicine services.
  • Net Health acquired Casamba LLC to support post-acute care providers and expand its cross-continuum solutions.
  • Anthem, Inc. announced it entered into a definitive agreement to acquire myNEXUS®, a comprehensive home-based nursing management company for payors.
  • Appriss Health acquired PatientPing to create the largest care coordination network in the U.S.
  • Omega Healthcare acquired himagine Solutions, provider of medical coding and registry services.
  • Clinical Navigation platform, Grand Roundsmerged with telehealth provider Doctor On Demand to form a multibillion-dollar digital health company.
  • Tegria acquired Cumberland, a leading healthcare consulting and services firm for payers and providers, to provide new and enhanced offerings for healthcare providers and payers.
  • PatientPoint acquired Outcome Health to create a platform offering tech-enabled patient engagement solutions that create more effective doctor-patient interactions across the entire patient care journey.
  • MDLive announced it has entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired by Cigna's Evernorth to provide the payer's healthcare services subsidiary with an integrated virtual care offering.
  • WEX signed a definitive agreement to acquire certain HSA assets of HealthcareBank for $250mm to better capture the economics from the assets.
  • MultiPlan Corporation completed the acquisition of Discovery Health Partners, an analytics and technology company offering healthcare revenue and payment integrity services. With the acquisition, MultiPlan strengthens its service offering in the payment integrity market with new and complementary services to help its payor customers manage the overall cost of care and improve their competitiveness. 
  • Boston Scientific announced an agreement to acquire Preventice Solutions, Inc. to expand rhythm management diagnostics portfolio and capabilities.
  • Philips announced an agreement to acquire provider of medical device integration and data technologies, Capsule Technologies, for $365 million to transform the delivery of healthcare along the health continuum with integrated solutions.
  • Accolade announced an agreement to acquire telemedicine start-up 2nd.MD for $460 million.
  • OptumInsight and Change Healthcare have agrred to merge. Change Healthcare will join with OptumInsight to provide software and data analytics, technology-enabled services and research, advisory and revenue cycle management offerings to help make health care work better for everyone.

Noteworthy Buyout transactions during the quarter include:

  • Data and software company serving EMS, fire departments, hospitals and state EMS/trauma offices, ESO received a strategic investment from Vista Equity Partners. 
  • iN2L, provider of person-centered digital engagement solutions for the senior living market, announced a strategic growth investment from Vista Equity Partners.
  • Omega Healthcare Investors acquired senior living technology provider Connected Living.
  • Carrick Capital acquired a majority stake in kidney dialysis-focused company Renalogic.
  • AUA Private Equity recaped bistroMD, a meal delivery subscription service for weight loss and long-term weight management.
  • LLR Partners invested in Azalea Health, a rapidly growing provider of cloud-based electronic health record and patient engagement solutions for inpatient and outpatient community health organizations.
  • Patient payment and end-to-end patient financial engagement technologies, Millennia, announced a growth investment by Pamlico Capital And Eir Partners.
  • CVC Capital Partners became a majority stakeholder in System C, the UK supplier of health and social care software and services.
  • Healthcare revenue cycle management company serving the ASC market, National Medical, announced it entered into a strategic partnership with Aquiline Capital Partners.
  • CloudWave, a cloud and managed services provider for healthcare, received a majority investment from Abry Partners.
  • Prescient Healthcare Group, a global product strategy advisory firm serving the pharmaceutical and biotech industries, received an investment from Bridgepoint Development Capital
  • Technology-enabled hub services platform facilitating patient access to specialty medications, CareMetx, announced a strategic growth partnership with General Atlantic and The Vistria Group.
  • Brentwood Associates recapitalized MedBridge, provider of patient engagement and clinical education solutions for healthcare professionals.
  • Lightbeam Health Solutions received a strategic investment from Primus Capital.

Noteworthy Investments during the month include:

  • HR and benefits software solution, Ease, raised $41M Series C Financing to deliver on its Mission to Simplify and Enhance HR and Benefits Administration.
  • Rightway raised $100 million at a $1.1 billion valuation to continue revolutionizing care navigation and pharmacy benefits.
  • Cityblock Health raised $192 Million in Series C extension funding to accelerate deployment of its value-based care model nationwide.
  • Ginger, an on-demand mental health company, announced a $100 Million Series E financing from Blackstone to continue expanding access to value-based mental healthcare globally.
  • Ro, a vertically integrated primary care telemedicine platform, raised $500 Million in Series D Funding with the intent to expand its pharmacy distribution network, enhance its proprietary EMR, and broaden into additional treatment areas.
  • Komodo Health secures $220 million in funding led by Tiger Global Management to accelerate investment in its enterprise technology platform designed to help the world’s leading life sciences companies, health plans, and patient advocacy groups improve patient engagement and address unmet patient needs.
  • Evidation Health, a health data analytics company, raised a $153 million Series E led by OMERS growth equity and Kaiser Permanente with plans to expand its virtual health capabilities.
  • Unite Us announced a $150 million Series C financing led by ICONIQ Growth at a valuation of $1.6 billion. The company will use the funds to continue its mission of connecting social care and medical care.
  • Strive Health raised a $140 million Series B led by CapitalG to address $410 billion of unmanaged kidney disease spend.
  • insitro, a developer of artificial intelligence for drug discovery, raised a $400 million Series C round led by Canada Pension Plan.
  • BrightInsight raised $101 million in Series C funding led by General Catalyst to expand its team and further differentiate its development platform for regulated software, connected devices, drugs, and digital therapeutics.
  • Cedar closes a $200 million Series D to continue meeting the accelerating demand for its patient financial engagement platform.
  • WeDoctor, a telemedicine provider based in Hangzhou, raised $400 million in a pre-IPO round valued at $6.8 billion with investors such as Sequoia Capital China and Millennium Management participating.
  • BetterUp, an online provider of personalized coaching and content, raised a $125 million Series D led by ICONIQ Growth at a valuation of $1.73 billion to invest in additional innovative products.
  • Innovaccer raised a $105 million Series D at a $1.3 Billion Valuation, launching Innovaccer Health Cloud, a platform-as-a-service to enable customers and partners to build interoperable applications that improve patient engagement and operational performance.
  • Health insurtech company Sidecar Health raised $125 million in its Series C at a valuation of $1 billion. The funds will be used to launch a new Affordable Care Act offering for federal and state exchanges.
  • Valo, a company working to transform the drug discovery and development process with data, raised $190 million in Series B financing.

Noteworthy IPOs/ SPACs during the quarter include:

 

Public Company Performance

HGP tracks stock indices for publicly traded health IT companies within four different sectors - Health IT, Payers, Healthcare Services, and Health IT & Payer Services. The chart below summarizes the performance of these sectors compared to the S&P 500 for the month of March.  Of note, the Health IT index saw significant volatility this quarter, quickly gaining 20% to only give up those gains just as quickly and end the quarter down 3.0%.  Nearly every company in this index saw noteworthy declines from highs, including Accolade (-25%), Amwell (-60%), Castlight (-33%), Certara (-32%), Clover (-55%), GoHealth (-29%), GoodRx (-33%), HealthEquity (-26%), Hims & Hers (-48%), Invitae (-38%), iRhythm (-49%), Model N (-26%), MultiPlan (-37%), NantHealth (-39%), NextGen (-23%), One Medical (-36%), Oscar (-34%), Peloton (-36%), Phreesia (-35%), SimulationsPlus (-32%), SmileDirectClub (-32%), SOC Telemed (-30%), Streamline (-22%), Signify (-31%), Tabula Rasa (-30%), Teladoc (-41%), Veeva (-22%), and Vocera (-30%).  The magnitude of these declines impacting so many companies is most likely a reflection of health IT and tech stocks correcting for being overbought in Q1 than any underlying fundamentals.

The following table includes summary statistics on the four sectors tracked by HGP for Q1 2021: