Chinese healthcare startups dominated the ranks in 2018, attracting nearly 90 percent of total fundraising.
According to a recent report published by Galen Growth Asia in collaboration with Singapore’s Economic Development Board, China attracted the most funding in 2018, totaling $5.59 billion. This represented more than 88 percent of the total APAC investment value of $6.4 billion across 294 healthcare deals.
In 2018, there were 174 healthcare startups diversified across healthcare sub-sectors including medical diagnostics, health management, remote monitoring and wellness. The market of healthcare startups has grown 23 percent per year from 2015 to 2018, now totaling 174 compared to 2012’s 45.
Singapore Growing and Maturing
The report also highlighted maturing in Singapore’s market which attracted $15 million across 21 deals in 2018 – 24 percent of the year’s total deal value in Asia excluding China and India.
Evidence that the healthcare startup market is growing out of its nascency is the mix of fundraising stages. In 2018, 85 percent of healthcare startups’ most recent funding round was in the early stages compared to 96 percent in 2012. In addition, 10 percent were series A, 3 percent were series B while 2 percent exited. This compares to 2012’s mere 4 percent at the series A stage.
