Digital health investments slide in the first quarter to $2 billion, according to Mercom Capital

Venture investors, private equity, and corporations funneled $2 billion into digital health startups in the first quarter of 2019, down 19% from the nearly $2.5 billion invested a year ago.

There were also 38 fewer deals done in the first quarter this year than last year, when investors backed 187 early stage digital health companies, according to data from Mercom Capital Group.

While private investments declined, public equities soared in the first quarter - with 66% of the digital health companies that Mercom tracks beating the S&P 500, compared to the previous quarter when nearly the same amount of public companies were underwater compared to the S&P.

Among startups, data analytics and mobile health apps, drew the most capital, with analytics focused companies raising $557 million for the quarter. Mobile health apps raked in $392 million while telemedicine-focused startups claimed another $220 million - making up the ublk of the funding in the digital healthcare space.

The top investments went to Doctolib, the European back-office support software developer, which raised $170 million; Health Catalyst, which pulled in $100 million; and Calm, which grabbed another $88 million from investors, according to Mercom.