In 2016, the health IT market saw an 8 percent increase in the number of digital health companies funded but 8 percent fewer overall dollars invested than in 2015, according to a report from Rock Health.
The report includes data from Rock Health's funding database on deals made between January and December 2016. It only includes U.S. deals greater than $2 million.
Here are six things to know from Rock Health's year-end digital health funding report.
1. Venture funding for digital health companies hit $4.2 billion in 2016, and 296 companies were funded. In 2015, the funding total hit $4.6 billion and there were 273 companies funded.
2. The average deal size decreased 8 percent between 2015 and 2016. The average deal size in 2016 was $13.8 million as opposed to $15 million in 2015.
3. There was a record number of bridge deals recorded in 2016. Though approximately half of all deals in 2016 were seed and series A, bridge deals made up 12 percent of all deals in 2016.
4. The most funded digital health IT sector in 2016 was genomics and sequencing. Deals in the genomics and sequencing category reached $410 million. Other top funded categories include analytics and big data ($341 million), wearables and biosensing ($312 million) and telemedicine ($287 million).
5. There were 237 new investors in digital health companies in 2016. Of the 451 investors in 2016, 237 of them were new and 214 were returning. Prominent new investors include Campbell's Soup Company, NewYork-Presbyterian and Pfizer.
6. The number of funded digital health companies with a female CEO decreased 18 percent between 2015 and 2016. While 11 percent of funded companies had a woman CEO in 2015, only 9 percent — 26 companies — had a woman CEO in 2016.
Click here to read the full report.