International Transactions

Chinese-based unicorn, Ping An Good Doctor, to go IPO and raise $1.0B

The company has already raised $500 million in 2016 at a $3.0B valuation. Ping An is one of the largest insurers in China and is a frequent backer of multiple healthcare companies. Good Doctor is an evisit company where users consult doctors for diagnosis and can provide online appointments. Thus far, Good Doctor has assembled a team of 1,000 doctors.

Medlinker of China raises $60 million in Series C from Sequoia, Tencent and others

The platform connects 430,000 doctors with healthcare institutions, pharmaceutical companies, patients and insurance firms. It has a mobile app which allows doctors to share medical records and enable patients to book appointments. The company had already raised $40 million in its Series B.

Ada Digital Health based in Germany and the UK,  raises $47 million to become Alexa of Healthcare

We believe that voice-enabled symptom checkers and eventually evisits on Alexa will be a large industry. The app is one of the fastest growing medical apps in the market. It helps people to decipher their ailments and connects them to real doctors. Over 1.5 million people have used the app so far.

Doctolib of France raises $42 million bringing total funding to $96 million

Another successful replication of the American model. Doctolib is an appointment app with 12 million visits per month. It has 30,000 practitioners on its platform covering 800 facilities.  

Sweden-based Natural Cycles, first digital contraceptive app, is approved in Europe and raises $30 million

We have written extensively about the movement towards drug-free treatments. This app has a 99% accuracy rate. The funds will go toward the entry of the company into the U.S. market and seeking FDA approval.

Natural Cycles has raised $44 million to date. EQT Ventures, a highly respected European VC fund, is a major investor.

iFortuna of Canada raises $25 million in Series B from Amgen and others

The company is a clinical-stage Regenerative Medicine company aiming to be the first to provide patients with their own neural stem cells by direct reprogramming to replace lost neuronal tissue. This can be a revolutionary technology and yet another example of drug free treatments.

Oviva Health of Switzerland raises $12 million in Series A

Oviva is a diet management app where patients can directly communicate with dieticians and track their diet, weight and activity. The company has assembled 20,000 users since it founding in 2014. This market is really crowded and differentiation are extremely difficult. That said, it looks like Oviva has potential to succeed.

Wearable EEG maker Interaxon of Canada raises $11.6 million

Since its founding in 2014, Interaxon EEG sensing headband has been used for mental health and corporate wellness. Interaxon product, called Muse helps consumers with their meditation practice and connects to smart phones.

Beijing Neusoft Viewhigh Technology raises $220 million

Pin An Insurance and Neusoft corporation are amongst the investors. Viewhigh is a broad-base HIT company. Solutions revolve around big data for clinical and operational optimization.

Montagu, a private equity firm, bids for publicly-held Servelec of the UK in a $360 million take-private transaction

Servelec operates in multiple verticals including healthcare and education. Healthcare solutions range from EHR, patient administration, hospital information systems to eprescribing and patient portals.

Alibaba Health Information Technology  receives $220 million from various investors

AHIT is one of the largest ecommerce pharma companies in China. The sheer size of the country and its potential for healthcare companies spells big profits.

Viewics of Sunnyvale, CA is picked up by Roche

The company provides software for lab analytics and lab value chains. Viewics technology can aggregate big data from a variety of IT systems in the lab and beyond. It brings together information that can be useful to both financial, and operational stakeholders.

Philips to buy Analytical Informatics based in Baltimore, MD

Analytical Informatics, founded in 2011, has a broad offering, ranging from workflow tools and applications to performance solutions, utilization and compliance. 

Philips to buy VitalHealth of the Netherlands to bolster population health portfolio

VitalHealth is a PHM provider for outpatient environments. Philips has purchased half a dozen healthcare software companies in 2017 alone. In June of 2016, the company bought Wellcentive of the U.S. which was also a PHM company.

Scott Gottlieb- Commissioner of FDA

We are encouraged by the recent moves at the FDA regarding CDS regulations and the establishment of a digital health unit. Here is a brief background on our Commissioner:

Dr. Scott Gottlieb was sworn in as the 23rd Commissioner of Food and Drugs on May 11, 2017. He is a physician, medical policy expert, and public health advocate who previously served as the FDA’s Deputy Commissioner for Medical and Scientific Affairs and before that, as a senior advisor to the FDA Commissioner.

He also worked on implementation of the Medicare drug benefit as a senior advisor to the Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, where he supported policy work on quality improvement and the agency’s coverage process, particularly as it related to new medical technologies.

In 2013 Dr. Gottlieb was appointed by the Senate to serve on the Federal Health Information Technology Policy Committee, which advises the Department of Health and Human Services on healthcare information technology.

Dr. Gottlieb was previously a Resident Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, and a Clinical Assistant Professor at the New York University School of Medicine in Manhattan, where he also practiced medicine as a hospitalist physician.

He completed a residency in internal medicine at the Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York, New York and is a graduate of the Mount Sinai School of Medicine and of Wesleyan University, in Middletown, Connecticut, where he studied Economics.