PitchBook News - Solving the puzzle of health data

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The Research Pitch

August 21, 2021

Making sense of the real-world data that proliferates across healthcare

Building a puzzle is never easy.

Especially when the pieces are hidden across the entire healthcare ecosystem and the final image is unknown.

The quantity of routinely collected data has skyrocketed in recent years due to the rise of mobile and digital health apps, computers, electronic health records, biometric trackers, and remote patient monitoring devices.

This real-world data (RWD) represents pieces that when structured, analyzed, and put together correctly can reveal real-world evidence (RWE) that's useful for clinical trials, care provision, determining treatment outcomes, post-care safety monitoring, and more.

Click for a larger version of our graphic on real-world data

To build a puzzle, one must first get the pieces.

A growing number of startups are developing proprietary datasets to provide those pieces to clinical researchers, analytic platforms, and healthcare organizations, collecting data from healthcare apps, genetic tests, academic partnerships, biometric devices, and EHR software.

Some of the pieces are buried; for example, patient symptom notes lack standardized language, and differing EHR formats between providers create difficulties linking patient data.

To extract and structure this information, startups are leveraging AI & machine learning technology.

Next, analytical skills are used to build the puzzle.

Startups are developing business intelligence tools to enable clinical, academic, and healthcare organizations to transform RWD into RWE.

And as RWE is generated, the puzzle is continually expanded, revealing new insights that depict the future of precision and personalized medicine.

In our latest healthtech research, we dive into the startups focused on RWE business opportunities, evaluate the market's potential, and provide our outlook for the industry:

Since 2019, 57 startups developing RWE-based solutions have raised $1.8 billion in VC funding and have an aggregate valuation of $16 billion (although valuations aren't available for many companies so the figure is likely higher).

We forecast the RWE solutions market to grow at a 15% CAGR from $1.1 billion in 2020 to $2.9 billion in 2027.

In the short term, startups in this area will likely focus on the most monetizable datasets, such as those targeting illnesses that attract large investments or those with highly variable patient populations and treatments.

Click to read a free version of our premium research: "Emerging Opportunities: Real-World Evidence"

PitchBook users can access the full version here.

Feel free to reach out with any feedback or questions, or if you would like to discuss the research.

Best,

Kaia Colban
Emerging Technology Analyst

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Market Updates

Most fundraising stats through Q2 are in the red compared to the prior 12-month period, which is largely attributable to the pandemic.

But the trends differ across the many private capital strategies, and for differing reasons.

We break it all down in our latest Private Fund Strategies Report, covering private equity, venture capital, real estate, real assets, private debt, funds of funds, and secondaries.

Fund step-ups. Dry powder levels. Management fees. There's so much to analyze.

That's why we've featured 90 charts across 36 pages (and even more in the underlying dataset in Excel):

read the free report

Emerging Tech Research

Where is the smart money going at the early stage?

That's the question we seek to answer with our Emerging Technology Indicator, a quarterly report series that we launched in June.

The idea is to target the most successful VCs, based on portfolio value increases and exits, and track the industries where they're placing their early bets.

Some highlights from our new release (which includes links to our Emerging Tech sector deep-dives):

Overall ETI activity continues to break records: Q2 marked the highest deal count on record and the second-highest amount of capital invested.

The big winners: fintech, enterprise SaaS, health & wellness tech.

Sectors that saw relatively less activity: biotech, AI & machine learning, mobility tech.

read the free report

INSURTECH: The continued rise in pet adoptions is leading to a boom for another industry—pet insurance.

Indeed, rising pet healthcare costs, low market penetration, and a fragmented market all represent a long-term secular tailwind and an emerging opportunity for investors.

But, to be honest, capital is flowing across all of insurtech, according to our new client-only research:

Insurtech companies globally raised $4.5 billion across 160 deals in Q2, both setting new all-time quarterly records.

Insurance distribution and intermediaries drove about 40% of last quarter's deal value, and health and life insurtech companies are also attracting attention.

Multibillion-dollar exits for Bright Health, Oscar and Clover Health have drawn more generalist investors to the space.

read an executive summary

Webinars & Events

Security and sustainability were the themes of this week's webinar hosted by our Emerging Tech analysts.

From fraud prevention to autonomous driving to microalgae, catch up on the latest trends across several of our coverage areas: watch the replay.

Learn more about what goes into the Emerging Technology Indicator report (linked above) at the start of our latest podcast episode.

Sept. 1: Our fund strategies and quantitative analysts will host a webinar on the investment styles of private managers. Register here.

Deal Commentary

AI & machine learning analyst Brendan Burke weighs in on DataRobot's recent $300 million round at a $6.3 billion valuation:

"This round continues the high valuation growth of AI & ML platform leaders including DataRobot, Dataiku, Scale AI, and Databricks.

"DataRobot's Enterprise AI platform offers end-to-end automated machine learning (autoML) tooling including data preparation, model development, security, and monitoring.

"The company is pursuing horizontal integration across the data science stack via M&A, recently acquiring startups in model management, data visualization, and data preparation.

"This round accompanied the acquisition of Algorithmia, a model management startup with backing from Microsoft and Google. This acquisition compounds the company's advantage in data scientist user experience.

"We believe the company is a prime public market candidate in the short-term and could pursue an IPO, direct listing or SPAC merger."

Brendan Burke

Senior Emerging Technology Analyst
AI & Machine Learning

In the News

Our insights and data featured in the press:

Potential cost savings have helped propel valuations of self-driving trucking startups by over 400% on average over the past year. [WSJ]

Why are VCs making bigger bets on edtech? The pandemic pushed the industry to mature. [Insider]

Maven's new unicorn status is a signal of growing investor interest in women's health, and our data suggests the industry will set a new record for deal value this year. [Crain's New York Business]

If you're a media member interested in interviewing our analysts, contact our PR team.

ICYMI

Highlights from our other research content published over the past few months:

Market updates

Global Private Debt Report
US Venture Capital: Momentum Out of Uncertainty
Global M&A Report
European PE Breakdown
PitchBook-NVCA Venture Monitor

Thematic research

Emerging Technology Research (free previews)

Coming next week (subject to change)

US VC Valuations Report (sneak peek)
Greater China VC Report (NEW!)
ETR: AI & Machine Learning
ETR: Supply Chain Tech

Thanks for reading! Feel free to email us any time with feedback, questions or tips!

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PitchBook News - Solving the puzzle of health data

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