• by Les Luchter , April 3, 2025

Image above: Reproductive health tracking app Flo Health led the women's health category with $200 million in funding.

Consumer health tech -- fueled in recent years by advancements in AI, wearable technology and telemedicine -- saw a 9% increase in global investment during 2024, to $4.5 billion, according to Galen Growth, a digital health market intelligence company.

In a report titled “A Paradigm Shift in Healthcare,” Galen defines consumer health tech as digital solutions “accessible without prescription or guidance from a physician, often positioned as tools for early disease detection and prevention.”

Mental health was the dominant therapeutic area for consumer health tech venture funding in 2024, attracting $1.31 billion, or 29% of total funding, and representing a 33% increase over 2023, the report found.

“People are increasingly aware of the link between mental and physical well-being, and many of these solutions are now structured to qualify for insurance reimbursement, which appeals to employers and payers,” Julien de Salaberry, CEO-co-founder of  Galen Health, tells Marketing Daily. “This blend of growing consumer demand with expanding reimbursement pathways has attracted significant venture capital.”

Preventive health, which had been in second place behind mental health in 2023, was replaced in that position in 2024 by women’s health (aka fem tech), which jumped up from fifth place a year earlier.  The category’s $866 million in venture funding was led by $200 million for Flo Health, which runs a women’s reproductive health tracking app.

“Driven by persistent gaps in insurance coverage for gender-specific care, women’s health has long been a core pillar of consumer health tech,” says de Salaberry. “Investment remains strong due to the ongoing lack of comprehensive reimbursement, combined with consumers’ demonstrated willingness to pay out-of-pocket for essential services. Many of these ventures, aimed at hormonal health, fertility, and menopause care, remain a cornerstone of the market.”

Third place, preventive health, meanwhile, had $779 million in venture funding in 2024, led by $210 million for eGym, a German operator of fitness and health facilities.

Fourth place, nutrition, took in $742 million in venture funding, led by $200 million for Foodsmart, a telehealth dietician network.

Oncology came in fifth place, with $630 million in venture funding, led by $245 million for Freenome, which provides blood tests for early cancer detection,

Turning to mergers and acquisitions during 2024, Galen found that 11 megadeals, totaling $1.6 billion, accounted for 37% of all funding. 

More than 900 new partnerships occurred in 2024, the report found, with venture-to-venture acquisitions driving 79% of M&A.  Of all Consumer Health tech partnerships in the past five years, Galen reports, healthcare providers have been part of 20% of them, a higher number than such other players as insurance companies (14%) and tech companies (10%).

But the five most active partners over the past five years span five different vertical categories:

• Retailer Walmart, with 19 new partnerships, such as a recent one with Pursuant Health, provider of health screening kiosks.
• Pharma firm Pfizer, with 13, including one with drug discounter GoodRx.
• Health system Mayo Clinic, with 12, such as a collaboration with Prenetics to develop IM8,a new supplement brand
• Insurance company Aetna, with 11, including one with InStride Health, a provider of telehealth services for pediatric anxiety and OCD.
• Ecommerce giant Amazon, with 11, including one with online therapy provider Talkspace.

A potential drawback to consumer health tech funding is the category’s frequent reliance on out-of-pocket spending rather than government or insurance reimbursement, according to de Salaberry. Consumer health tech, he said, has “the power to democratize health by giving individuals greater control over their health, but for this potential to be realized, ventures must address the division between the haves and the have-nots,” he said in a statement.

In this respect, he added, “clinical evidence to demonstrate measurable health outcomes can open up doors for widespread reimbursement.”

Yet “the lack of proven clinical evidence” is proving a burden to consumer health tech ventures, as they show “11% less “clinical evidence signal” compared to the broader digital health ecosystem, the report stated.

Indeed, in the two largest consumer health tech therapeutic areas -- mental health and preventive health -- only 20% and 21% of ventures respectively “have demonstrated clinical strength,” the report stated. “Moreover, the generation of clinical evidence has stagnated since 2021, further limiting trust and adoption. “