In 2023, European start-up investments saw a 36% decline

3.08 billion euros: this is the amount raised by European start-ups in the e-health (digital health) sector in 2023, or 36% less than in 2022. A figure revealed by the French multi-stage investment company Karista, which published its fourth European map of digital health funds on April 2. Investments in French start-ups, which represent almost a third of the European amount (nearly a billion euros), are down 40% compared to 2022, but more important than the 577 million euros raised in 2021.

An average ticket divided by 2

In addition, the average fundraising ticket was divided by 2 to 10.1 million euros compared to 20 million euros in 2022. The valuations of e-health start-ups also returned to levels observed before the Covid-19 pandemic.

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Despite an overall drop in financing, Karista notes some positive signals, with a very slight increase in transactions concluded (306, 301 in 2022). More than 3,000 companies now specialize in e-health in Europe, with their number tripling in the last three years.

Karista also observes an increase in funds having invested in European e-health (in three different companies), which number 217, or 29% more than in 2022. Among these 217 funds, 49 are French. Nearly 6 out of 10 funds invest in early stage, while the proportion of multi-stage investors stands at 30%. 12 companies are investing in late stage, including 2 French (Eurazeo and Quadrille Capital).

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France in first place in European funds

France maintains its first place in European funds investing in e-health (24%), followed closely by the United Kingdom (21%) and Germany (18%). The study also points to a boom in “super-investors”, having invested in more than 10 companies: 55 were identified, i.e. 44% more than the previous year.

Two sectors particularly stand out this year in e-health: on the one hand, robotic surgery, with two fundraisings exceeding 100 million euros (CMR Surgical and DistalMotion). On the other hand, pharmatech, whether in investments or collaborations (Aqemia, Owkin).

The venture capitalist says he is confident about the future: “After an intense phase of business creation, we are entering a growth phase (…), which should lead to the emergence of more mature companies looking for funds.”

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