GlobalData predicts future healthtech unicorns

Healthcare startups are constantly seeking to embrace emerging technologies to improve efficiency, increase customer engagement, and remain competitive. Against this backdrop, the Unicorn Prediction Model of GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company, has released a list of 50 healthtech startups that have the potential to become unicorns (valuation > US$1bn).

Apoorva Bajaj, Practice Head of Financial Markets at GlobalData, says: “Ranging from geonomics to precision and personalized medicine or from digital therapeutics to coordinated healthcare, startups aim to disrupt healthcare using emerging technologies and investors’ focus also remain high on tech-driven healthcare.

“The COVID-19 pandemic has certainly triggered massive disruption in the healthcare industry and forced several healthcare businesses to implement emerging technologies to ensure business continuity. New opportunities will keep emerging in the healthtech space across the globe, which bodes well for the startups.”

GlobalData’s latest report, ‘Future Unicorns in Healthtech’, reveals that in Q3 2021, the healthtech space received investment in excess of US$9.5bn spanning 274 deals globally. During the period, North America (primarily the US) accounted for nearly 60% of the overall venture capital (VC) deal volume, followed by Asia-Pacific with almost one-fourth of total investments.

When it comes to social media discussions, ‘healthtech’ and its use cases in intelligent treatment, genomics and digital therapeutics are increasingly being mentioned by social media influencers. Right from Sarepta Therapeutics opening genetic therapies center of excellence in Columbus, Ohio to Freenome, a privately held biotech company, partnering with Siemens Healthineers for breast cancer research have been discussed.

Some of the healthtech startups in GlobalData’s list of potential unicorns include HumanAPI Inc, Eden Health, Univercells Technologies, Synthego and Earlens.

HumanAPI Inc aggregates and stores data drawn from multiple sensors, mobile devices, and other data sources (such as blood and genetic data). Using the company’s end-user process, consumers can share their health data with any application or system, regardless of how that data was recorded, processed, or stored.

Eden Health is a primary care, 24/7 telemedicine, and insurance navigation company that helps employees navigate today’s complicated healthcare landscape across insurance, primary-care and mental healthcare to make smart, well-informed, and cost-conscious decisions.

Univercells Technologies designs biological solutions for healthcare providers. The company aims at low-cost manufacturing of antibodies/proteins/vaccines, and is based on single-use technologies, and chaining of three manufacturing steps into simulated continuous mode cell culture under perfusion, clarification and capture.

Synthego is a genome engineering company that offers synthetic RNA solutions for CRISPR genome engineering. The company leverages machine learning, automation, and gene editing to advance both basic research and therapeutic development programs.

Earlens is a medical device company that develops hearing solutions that is designed to change the current standard of care for sound performance. The company claims to have developed world’s first Earlens Contact Hearing Solution, which delivers sound directly to the eardrum.

Bajaj concludes: “The adoption of ‘healthtech’ is increasing as is evident by increase in the number of related mentions in corporate filings and continued increase in jobs posted to hire talent in this space. Healthcare sector has been long branded as slow to innovate due to various internal and external factors ranging from rising R&D costs to drug pricing constraint.

“COVID-19 has accelerated a strong need for innovation and quite successfully showcased how quickly the industry can embrace changes when it is pressured to do so. However, it will be interesting to see how these trends continue to shape up and how healthcare companies continue to invest in digital transformation using emerging technologies.”

ENDS

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