Startups in the global digital health space raised $5 billion in funding dollars during the first quarter of this year, marking the highest quarterly investment total in the industry since the second quarter of 2022, according to a recent report released by CB Insights. By comparison, digital health startups raised just $3.7 billion during the first quarter of last year.
Below are three of the report’s most notable findings about digital health’s funding rebound.
Deal sizes are getting bigger
In the first quarter of 2025, the median size of digital health funding deals rose to $6.4 million. This is compared to a median deal size of $5.4 million during 2024.
This trend represents digital health investors’ “preference for later-stage startups with regulatory
milestones and scalable AI platforms,” according to the report.
It’s also worth noting that mega-rounds — those totaling $100 million or more — made up nearly half of the first quarter’s digital health funding total. These 11 mega-rounds totaled $2.5 billion.
AI is only getting hotter
Digital health startups focusing on AI secured eight of the 11 mega-deals that occurred in the first quarter.
This includes the $600 million round that Isomorphic Labs raised in March, the $320 million round that Truveta raised in January, the $275 million round that Innovaccer raised in January, and the $250 million round that Abridge raised in February.
Overall, AI-focused digital health startups raked in $3.6 billion, which represents 60% of the quarter’s total funding.
New unicorns are emerging
Six digital health startups gained unicorn status in the first quarter of this year, meaning they reached a valuation of $1 billion or more. This is already more than the three digital health unicorns that emerged during all of 2024.
Four of the new unicorns that emerged in the first quarter are from the U.S.: clinical documentation startup Abridge, agentic AI firm Hippocratic AI, AI copilot provider OpenEvidence and data analytics company Truveta. The other two unicorns — full body scan developer Neko Health and drug discovery startup Insilico Medicine — are from Sweden and China, respectively.
Photo: Feodora Chiosea, Getty Images
