For the first six months of this year, the consumer health information category generated the largest deals—8 transactions valued at $757 million, Rock Health says.

Unfazed by the ongoing controversy in Washington over healthcare legislation, investors poured money into digital healthcare deals in the first half of the year, says research firm Rock Health.

At the start of the year—as the Trump Administration and a Republican-dominated Congress took office—there was concern that investment in digital and mobile health deals would decline or even nose dive if Trump and his allies could repeal and replace Obamacare.

But the first and second quarters turned out to be a record period for investment in digital healthcare, with 188 deals totaling $3.5 billion, Rock Health says. In comparison investors put up $2 billion to bankroll 151 digital healthcare deals in the first half of 2016. For the first and second quarters of 2017, digital healthcare investment totaled about $2.5 billion and $1.0 billion, respectively. That compares with $1.01 billion for the second quarter of 2016 and $981.7 million for the first quarter of 2016.

We are on course for a record-breaking year in terms of total funding, number of deals, and average deal size.

For the first six months of this year, the consumer health information category generated the largest deals—8 transactions valued at $757 million, Rock Health says. Consumer health information was followed by wearables, biosensors and digital fitness equipment (three deals valued at $341 million); healthcare consumer engagement (17 deals at $321 million); electronic health records and clinical workflow (11 deals transacted for $276 million); analytics and big data (16 deals at $240 million); and digital therapeutics (9 deals valued at $235 million).

“For entrepreneurs, clarity, rather than any particular policy agenda, provides the most confidence to foster innovation and growth,” says Rock Health analyst Megan Zweig. “So we were surprised to see that amid one of the most uncertain periods in healthcare history, digital health investments saw their strongest quarter yet.”

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In the first half of the year there were seven deals valued at $100 million or more. The biggest investment deal of the first two quarters involved Outcome Health, a Chicago developer of health-related video content that’s shown on television screens in doctors’ offices, which raised $500 million from Goldman Sachs Investment Partners, CapitalG, and Leerink Transformation Partners.

Peloton Cycle, a manufacturer of web-enabled fitness equipment such as exercise bikes, had the second-biggest infusion from investors, raising $325 million from private equity firms Wellington Management, Fidelity Investments, Kleiner Perkins and True Ventures.

Investors are likely to continue pouring money into digital healthcare for the rest of the year, says Rock Health founder Halle Tecco.

“We expect the momentum of the first half of the year to carry throughout 2017,” she says. “We are on course for a record-breaking year in terms of total funding, number of deals, and average deal size.”

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