What’s happening?

This morning StartUp Health, a digital health group that supports, connects, and finances startups, announced that it raised $31 million in funding from Novartis, Ping An Group, Chiesi Group, GuideWell, Otsuka, Masimo, and other private investors. 

Why it matters

StartUp Health works with young digital health companies by coaching, mentoring, and helping them to network. Currently the company is working on 10 initiatives, which it calls moonshots, that include ending cancer, supporting brain health, and improving access to care. 

The latest funding will be invested into its Transformer Fund II, which will invest in and support companies that are focused on the moonshot goals. 

“Digital technologies offer unlimited possibilities, more than what we manage to exploit or imagine today,” Umberto Stefani, Group CIO and Digital Transformation Officer at Chiesi Group, said in a statement. “Real-time data are going to improve the way we cure patients and the amount of data available will ensure a huge advance to the development of new treatments. Collaboration is the key to accelerate this process.”

So far StartUp Health’s Transformer Fund II has invested in Aver, Biome, CareDox, doctor.com, and Nightingale health. 

The Trend

StartUp Health reports that it has the largest portfolio of digital health companies, including 250 startups from 21 countries and a network of over 200,000 investors, customers, and partners.  

It’s also no secret that funding for digital health companies is on the rise. Rock Health reported that that in the first half of 2018 digital health investments comprised a total of $3.5 billion. 

On the record 

“We are proud to partner with StartUp Health and support its global mission to solve 10 of the world’s biggest health challenges,” Fabrice Chouraqui, president of Novartis Pharmaceuticals USA, said in a statement. “I believe that together we can help empower health tech leaders to transform the future of healthcare and bring new innovations to millions of patients.”