2023 was a challenging year for healthtech companies. While many of them couldn’t withstand the blow, some of them stood firm and sailed ahead.
CB Insights recently released their list of most promising startups of 2023. From a pool of 10000 companies, the Digital Health 50 report selected the best-performing 50 companies that withstood the turbulent market.
In this article, we discuss our observations and highlights from Digital Health 50 and the companies that made it to the list. Let’s dive in!
Our observations
In CB Insights’ this year’s list, we observed two things:
The number of companies reduced by ~66%
CB Insights has been releasing a list of the most promising 150 healthtech companies annually for the past five years. This year the number reduced to 50, indicating how tough the year has been for the healthtech sector. Challenging economic conditions marked by lowest-ever funding, down rounds, valuation cuts, bankruptcy and whatnot.
Despite such a turbulent market, these 50 companies made progress
Any company can perform well in favourable market conditions, but only a few make it in turbulent times. These 50 companies outperformed in turbulent times, showing their excellent product-market fit, market know-how and customer needs.
How were 50 healthtech companies selected on the Digital Health 50 list?
From a pool of 10000 companies (applicants and nominees), CB Insights chose 50 companies based on their performance on various levels.
Funding
These Digital Health 50 companies raised $1.5 billion collectively in 2023 alone.
2023 saw the healthtech space grapple with financial falloff. Global digital health funding was at an all-time low. Despite such unfavourable conditions, these 50 companies successfully raised funds, demonstrating the value of their products.
Advancements in healthcare
Another common thing CB Insights found amongst all these companies is their efforts to improve four main aspects of healthcare—personalisation, efficiency, equity and accessibility.
“These companies are doing their best to create engaged, personalised and scalable healthcare experiences.”
– Alex Lennox-Miller, Lead Analyst, CB Insights.
Other factors
Apart from these, CB Insights evaluated the companies on factors like:
- R&D activity
- Mosaic scores
- Business relationships
- Tech novelty
- Market potential
- New sentiment analysis
- Competitive landscape
- Team strength
- Industry impact
- Customer feedback
Top 50 healthtech companies that made it to the list
You can access the list of top 50 healthtech companies on CB Insights’ official website here.
Highlights of Digital Health 50 by CB Insights
62% early-stage companies
62% (31) are early-stage companies (Seed/Angel or Series A startups). The remaining are mid-stage private companies at different levels of maturity.
One unicorn
BostonGene, a biomedical software company, was the only healthtech startup crossing over $1 billion valuation (becoming a unicorn) in the 2023 list.
78% from the US
The top 50 companies hail from 8 countries across the Globe. Nearly 78% are based in the United States. The remaining 11 are from the United Kingdom, Israel, Belgium, Brazil, Spain, South Korea and France.
66% are AI-powered companies
Of the 50 companies, 66% (33) companies provide AI-augmented solutions. Be it diagnostics and imaging, patient monitoring, drug discovery or care coordination, these healthtech companies are leveraging AI to provide better solutions.
18% are diagnostics and imaging companies
Among the categories, diagnosis and imaging took the highest share with 18% (9) companies. These companies aim to diagnose chronic and severe health conditions early, allowing quicker intervention and improved outcomes.
Conclusion
With 2023 seeing several healthcare startups winding up, it’s refreshing a set of companies sailing through. These 50 healthtech companies stand as a testament to the fact that demonstrating the value of your products will yield success in turbulent times.
2023 was a tough year, global digital health funding fell below 2019 levels. It’ll be interesting to see how 2024 turns out. We recently covered two articles to help you understand what’s in store for 2024. Check them out 👇
2023 was a challenging year for healthtech companies. While many of them couldn’t withstand the blow, some of them stood firm and sailed ahead. CB Insights recently released their list of most promising startups of 2023, the Digital Health 50 report, which selected the best-performing 50 companies that withstood the turbulent market. The report is a testament to the resilience of the healthtech sector and the innovative solutions that these companies are bringing to the table.
Thanks Sujeet, we have taken a look at various factors at Indian Healthcare landscape for 2024. https://allhealthtech.com/indias-healthcare-landscape-2024-a-booming-market/