Corporate venture gets a pandemic bump
[Pitchbook] The Covid-19 pandemic thrust numerous healthcare technologies into the spotlight, from telehealth to mRNA to diagnostic testing. It should come as little surprise, then, that corporate venture-backed deals and dollars to digital health startups have soared to record heights since the outbreak of Covid-19.
In 2021, CVC-backed funding increased to an all-time high of $16.6B — more than doubling compared to pre-pandemic levels.
A primary contributor to this growth is Google’s corporate venture arm, Google Ventures, which was the most active digital health investor for a fourth consecutive year in 2021. Other technology companies are also investing in the space — the venture arms of Salesforce and Sony, for instance, each backed 5+ digital health companies in 2021.
Among healthcare companies, the venture arms of Optum, Kaiser Permanente, and Johnson & Johnson lead the pack. A new entrant to the ranks is CVS Health, which launched CVS Health Ventures — a $100M venture capital fund — in 2021.
Despite healthcare being a universal need, the US attracts the lion’s share of CVC-backed deals and dollars.