The Global Health Tech Outlook is HolonIQ's annual analysis on the future of healthcare. The 2024 edition presents over 180 pages of detailed market data, investment & analysis, strategic shifts and trends in global health systems.
2023 was a complex and at times confounding year for health innovation. The explosion of AI activity that followed Microsoft’s backing of Open-AI and its Chat-GPT LLM heralded a new age for healthcare. A sector long suffocated by the vast and complex data it generated was taking a leap into the future. The next few months provided a reality check for digital health and the health market faces serious questions as it approaches 2024. After its rapid advancement during the pandemic, there was a succession of high-profile digital health collapses as business models pumped up by pandemic valuations struggled to live up to exorbitant expectations.
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180 pages of data, insights and analysis on the climate tech economy
HolonIQ’s analysis identifies the 15 strategic shifts and top 50 trends transforming the global healthcare landscape. Health innovation moves in fits and starts and 2023 was a bumpy ride across services, hardware, biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, wellness and technology. Digital health faced a range of setbacks but expect the impact of the pandemic to be felt over the next decade as virtual-first modalities are embraced in the face of unsustainable cost pressures. Advances in personalized medicine, AI-driven drug discovery and remote patient monitoring will push the boundaries of traditional medicine while the need for productivity improvements will dominate the day-to-day. Explore sector, sub sector and regional expectations on strategy, market conditions, demand, workforce changes and disruption for the year ahead and beyond.
Sub Sector Trends
Every year, HolonIQ’s Health Intelligence Unit identifies the most promising 1000 Health Tech startups from around the world. The 1000 startup lists are built region by region from over 10,000 nominations, applications and screens to ensure the cohort is diverse, truly global and to shine a light on the inspiring innovation happening around the world. Each regional list is focused on identifying young, fast growing, and innovative learning and up-skilling start-ups. Mapped to the Global Healthcare Landscape, HolonIQ’s open-source taxonomy for the future of health and wellness, the 2023 Global Health Tech 1000 provides a comprehensive view of health innovation.
Investment Trends
Health Tech Venture Capital activity plummeted in 2023 after cooling in 2022 following the market peak of 2021. Wider market forces such as inflation and geopolitical instability impacted the health sector but the industry was also adversely affected by some high profile failures of some much-vaunted players.
Health VC deals totalled $50.7B of declared funding in 2023, with the market seeing 2,356 deals in total. The first half of the year witnessed higher VC activity, comprising 57% of overall investments. Notably, throughout the entire year, the Research subsector consistently attracted a significant portion of VC investments, indicating a sustained interest and confidence in health-related research and development initiatives.
North America dominated VC deals, deploying $32.4B, constituting 64% of total capital. Europe followed with more than $10.3B (20%), and East Asia secured $6.4B (13%). The first half showcased significant VC deals, with US-based Elevate Bio securing $401M and Monogram Health raising $375M. In the second half, UK's Haleon, a consumer healthcare company spun off from GSK, led with a $1.1B round, followed by Nephrom Pharma, a US-based entity, securing $350M.
Capital Markets
In 2023, the global IPO market saw 100 Healthcare companies go public, raising a total of $7.6B. This activity was dominated by biotech companies, with WuXi Biologics, Neumora Therapeutics, and the pharmaceutical giant Sandoz Group AG among the most prominent names hitting the market. Asia was the clear leader, accounting for 70% of all IPOs. Within Asia, the East Asia and Pacific region held almost half of the market, followed by North America and South Asia. China, the US, and India together accounted for 62% of deal volume and 78% of total capital raised. There is a notable shift towards the East in the IPO market, driven by factors like rising Asian economies and strong investor confidence. Despite this shift, North America and South Asia still maintained a substantial presence, contributing 20% and 18% of the market volume, respectively.
HolonIQ’s stock index analysis brings real-time insight into the performance of major health categories. Each index includes key constituents with a square root market cap-weighted basis to follow the major stocks with a balanced exposure of smaller to medium sized constituents. Nearly 100 listed health companies hold a combined market capitalization around $8Tat any one time, with major fluctuations over the past a few years. On a 12-month basis, the HolonIQ Aged Care, Digital Health, and Health Insurance indices have seen stellar performances. This is an indication that firms who provided services aimed at digital health provision and the aging population performed well over the period. However, Genomic and Pharma indexes provided sub-par performances over the past 12 months.
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180 pages of data, insights and analysis on the climate tech economy
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