Healthtech funding in Europe rebounded in H1 this year after 2024’s lows as a number of $100m+ megarounds brought optimism back to the sector.
In the first six months of 2025, €6.21bn was raised by European healthtech startups across equity, debt and grant funding — up from 2024 H2’s €4.79m, according to Sifted data.
Big raises for startups applying AI to drug discovery and note taking, along with growing interest in consumer-focused products, have boosted the sector, in which 14 healthtechs raised $100m+ rounds in the first half of 2025, compared to nine across the same period in 2024.
“There’s greater investor interest in healthcare this half, largely driven by a more diversified set of reimbursement methods,” Molly Gilmartin, a healthtech investor at AlbionVC, tells Sifted.
“Startups now have more ways to get paid for their services — from state-backed insurers and public health systems to, increasingly, consumers paying out of pocket.”
The sectors raising the most
Drug discovery was the highest funded sector in healthtech (€2.34bn) over the past six months. This was followed by medtech (€1.89bn), biotech (€0.97bn), and digital health (€0.93bn).
The amount of funding raised by medtech startups has grown 72% compared to H1 last year; funding for digital health startups is up 221% in the same time period. Biotech startups, meanwhile, proved less attractive to investors during the first half of this year than they were during H1 and H2 last year — funding has shrunk by just under a third since June 2024.
Getty says medtech’s rise is in part due to the growing use of AI. ‘Most devices being developed now have a connectivity approach or digital integration.’
The mega rise of megarounds
The increase in healthtech funding was largely because of a bunch of megarounds (deals worth $100m+).
The two biggest megarounds were in biotech and techbio. DeepMind spinout Isomorphic Labs raised $600m from Thrive Capital, while weight-loss drug developer Verdiva Bio picked up a sizable €395m Series A in January.
Digital health’s overall funding total was boosted by the €250m Series B raised by Daniel Ek’s buzzy longevity startup Neko Health, while Berlin-based medical knowledge platform Amboss fetched €240m in March.
Healthtech megarounds made up four of the ten biggest equity rounds in European tech in the first six months of 2025 — and the deals surpassed what any healthtech raised in equity over the entirety of last year.
“The megaround increase from last year indicates capital is flowing to high-conviction bets, such as larger platform plays that offer regulatory de-risking, strong reimbursement pathways and early revenue traction,” says Tatum Getty, founding general partner at medtech VC Thena Capital.
The size of deals shrinks in 2025
While other verticals like deeptech and fintech are attracting bigger round sizes, the median healthtech deal size has fallen by 17.7% since this time last year.
“This is a healthy market recalibration, rather than indicating a slowdown,” Getty tells Sifted. “We are seeing a lot more extension rounds in our sector, with investors demanding milestone-driven rounds and reserving follow-on capital for those that can deliver on real-world traction.”
The rise of digital health and AI-enabled companies is also responsible for shrinking deal size, Getty adds. Those types of companies operate “more capital efficient business models” than, say, a resource-intensive biotech.
“The health of the sector feels solid. Efficiency and evidence are being valued over hype,” she says.
‘Wellbeing’ sees more deals
The third fastest-growing sector in the whole of European tech this half, by number of deals, was wellbeing, a sector encompassing consumer-focused products that optimise wellness in a range of areas from fitness and health to sleep and mindfulness solutions — and aim to prevent health problems before they occur.
Deals in the sector have risen by 75% since this time last year. Some big deals over the last six months include $7m raised by Munich-based longevity startup Sugar Health, and Milan-based personalised fitness studio Ydun’s €4m pre-seed round.
Gilmartin suggests the interest in the sector is because there’s “greater patient engagement in healthcare and a higher willingness to pay — with the self-pay market continuing to grow.”
For Getty, a former operator at fitness and wellbeing startup Barry’s Bootcamp, increased investor appetite for the space is down to a crisis in public healthcare: “Prevention is no longer a ‘nice to have’, it’s a necessity to reduce the burden on overstretched ‘sick-care’ systems.
“This is where the future of healthcare is headed. Wellbeing is becoming a platform for preventative medicine, and that makes it investable.”
“Wellness startups that have high patient engagement are in a good position to potentially extend along the value chain,” adds Gilmartin, by, for instance, partnering with care providers. This’ll “drive excellent end-to-end patient experiences”, and enable startups to unlock the “larger amounts” that both consumers and their health providers are willing to pay for care services.
For more insight into what’s happened in the first six months of 2025, check out our H1 review.
Read the orginal article: https://sifted.eu/articles/healthtech-funding-h1-2025/
