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| The Daily Pitch |
| PE, VC and M&A |
| Your edge on global private capital markets |
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| AI keeps healthtech hot as VC funding hits post-peak high |
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By Aaron DeGagne, Senior Healthcare Analyst
Healthtech VC funding kept up its momentum in Q3, with startups raising $3.9 billion, according to our latest Emerging Tech Research. That's just shy of prior quarters but enough to push the 2025 total past all of 2024. Total deal count rose 12% quarter-over-quarter.
The overall uptick in activity signals a clear rebound in investor appetite, especially with a focus on healthcare IT analytics, telehealth and provider operations. |
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Healthtech valuations are surging, and the median pre-money valuation reached a record $38.5 million, up from $33.8 million in Q2, as AI-focused startups continue to command a premium.
Large rounds from Ambience Healthcare ($243 million) and OpenEvidence ($210 million) stood out. Oura also secured a $900 million round recently that will boost full-year totals, though it was after Q3 ended and will count toward Q4.
The number of VC-backed exits jumped to a record 42, though total exit value remained steady at about $200 million in the quarter from a wave of smaller acquisitions rather than blockbuster dealmaking.
Founders of smaller companies are increasingly seeking liquidity through M&A rather than waiting for an IPO, with incumbents like Teladoc Health and Doximity expanding through geographic-driven deals abroad.
The IPO window, meanwhile, has paused after high-profile debuts from Hinge Health and Omada Health earlier this year. Late-stage startups, including Ro, Maven, Spring Health and ZocDoc, are possible 2026 candidates, each with PitchBook VC Exit Predictor probabilities above 75%.
AI isn't everything in healthtech, but it remains a driving force for investment in the sector. At HLTH in October—one of the industry's flagship events—attention centered on practical, workflow-based applications, signaling that AI interest has moved past hype and into execution.
Healthtech startups and incumbents alike are now embedding AI capabilities deep into their operations, from ambient scribe tool makers like Abridge and Ambience to revenue cycle automation players such as Athelas and Infinx, which are now helping providers gain leverage against large payors.
The line between a rebound and a reset is thin as healthtech VC funding remains far below its prior peaks, though momentum is building as 2026 approaches. Higher valuations, a cautious reopening of the IPO window and maturing AI business models are giving the industry its strongest footing since the pandemic boom. |
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• Rosberg Ventures, run by Formula One champ Nico Rosberg, is eyeing a $100 million fund-of-funds. The firm closed its first vehicle on $100 million about a year ago. Read more
• How secondaries are redefining liquidity and maturing into a core private market strategy was in focus at SuperReturn Secondaries North America 2025. Read the analyst note
• TPG, ICG and CVC Capital Partners led a $7 billion continuation fund for Curium Pharma, CapVest's French nuclear medicine company, making it one of the biggest deals in the sector. Find out more
• Balyasny has raised $30 million across two new SPVs targeting opportunistic, growth-stage equity investments. These vehicles have been on the rise this year across VC and PE. Read more |
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| Longer VC hold times make liquidity alternatives inevitable |
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| Wellcome Trust's Geoffrey Love, left, Leyla Holterud of Vintage Investment Partners, and Speedinvest's Oliver Holle at Slush. (Courtesy of Erica Dezonne) |
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By Kia Kokalitcheva, Venture Capital Senior Editor
Market downturns are nothing new in VC, but the stretching of liquidity timelines over the last couple of years has primed the market for a boom in secondary deals, investors agreed this week during an onstage discussion at the Slush startup conference in Helsinki.
Cashing out early has historically been viewed as a faux pas in startup land, signaling that a founder, VC or LP may have lost confidence in an investment. But these attitudes have shifted recently as the reality of a lack of liquidity has become undeniable.
"Companies are staying private voluntarily," said Geoffrey Love, Wellcome Trust's head of venture capital. "They don't want to explore the vicissitudes of public markets—and it's completely understandable—and so liquidity timelines have become elongated," he added.
The median time to IPO for VC-backed companies in Europe reached 7.3 years in 2025, up from 5.2 years in 2020, according to PitchBook data.
"There's a vast, vast, vast majority of companies out there taking still a very long time to get to scale—and by scale, I mean 500 million-plus of ARR or whatever metric," said Leyla Holterud, partner at Vintage Investment Partners. "For most early-stage investors, that means very, very long duration of fund life, so we're talking about 15 to 18 years, right?"
At the same time, a proliferation of VC fund strategies and the fast pace of fundraising during the pandemic-era boom have led to an unprecedented glut of VC-backed companies, she added. From about 2020 to 2022, firms raised new vehicles at a record pace, with some raising new funds only a year after closing their previous one.
Over the last couple of years, as IPOs nearly disappeared and other exit activity slowed, the industry turned to buying and selling stakes in VC-backed companies and funds in an effort to release some of the pressure.
Since 2015, the institutional VC direct secondaries market has reached $113 billion, with $14.7 billion in transactions just in 2024—the highest annual total since 2021, according to PitchBook data.
Direct secondaries have grown as a portion of global VC exit value, going from 1.3% in 2021 to 4.2% in 2024.
"It's the job of venture capital is changing, and especially in Europe, we are at the very, very beginning," said Speedinvest managing partner Oliver Holle. |
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Smart reads that caught our eye.
• The NFL has dreams of expanding the league by breaking the sound barrier. The league has its eye on mobility-tech startups developing supersonic flight technology, which would make fast cross-Atlantic travel a reality. [The Wall Street Journal]
• One man's journey of 128 days and over $25,000 spent shows how much it can really cost to deport someone from the US. Do US taxpayers know the real cost of deportation? [ | | | | | | | |
