These 7 healthcare startups are primed to make acquisitions in 2025
Innovaccer.
- Few large companies appear to have the appetite to make big acquisitions in healthcare this year.
- Startups desperate to sell may find better luck with other digital health companies flush with cash.
- Here are seven healthcare startups that look poised to make more deals in 2025.
Many healthcare startups and investors are hoping for a fresh wave of M&A in 2025 after a slow few years for company combinations — and the right buyers might just be their startup peers.
At the end of 2024, many healthcare startups were quietly raising down rounds and looking around for buyers to extend their lifespans, Business Insider reported in November.
While some startups are desperate for deals, nearly a dozen investors and bankers told BI in February that few large companies had the appetite to make big acquisitions in healthcare this year.
"In digital health, it's not necessarily that it doesn't make sense to consolidate — it's there's a lack of consolidators out there," said Aaron DeGagne, a senior healthcare analyst at PitchBook.
But those startups could find a new home with other digital health startups that are flush with cash. Several healthcare startups have been vocal about their M&A ambitions this year as they await dropping interest rates and are eager to jump on opportunities for inorganic growth.
These are seven healthcare startups that appear ready to make more acquisitions in 2025.
Caresyntax
Founded: 2013
Last fundraise: $180 million in Series C extension and growth debt expansion funding in August 2024.
The surgical software company Caresyntax is planning on using a fresh fundraise to power acquisitions.
Caresyntax, which combines information from surgical videos, medical records, and other sources to help make surgeries safer and more profitable, grabbed $180 million in August. In a release about the funding round, the company said it was looking to make several acquisitions in 2024 and beyond.
Josh Zeidman, Caresyntax's chief business officer, told BI the company was looking for acquisitions in areas such as surgical AI applications, video analytics, and data capture modules.
He said Caresyntax was primarily considering deals with venture-backed startups or other small private companies rather than with private equity or public companies.
Caresyntax said in its August release that it had acquired multiple surgical data and technology assets in 2023, though it didn't name those acquisitions. Zeidman told BI that Caresyntax's primary get in 2023 was acquiring the team behind health data consulting company CQInsights, including its CEO, Dr. Bruce Ramshaw, who became Caresyntax's chief medical informatics officer.
Athelas
Founded: 2017
Last fundraise: $70 million from General Catalyst, as part of Commure's $6 billion merger with Athelas in October 2023
M&A is a core part of the healthcare startup Commure's playbook.
Commure, the health software company cofounded by General Catalyst CEO Hemant Taneja, has made seven acquisitions to date. Former employees told BI in September that Commure's leadership regularly touted the slogan "M&A is in our DNA."
Most recently, the startup bought the care coordination platform Memora Health in December.
Memora Health was another General Catalyst investment, as was Athelas, the revenue cycle management company Commure merged with in 2023.
Commure also announced in July a $139 million all-cash acquisition of the public medical scribing company Augmedix.
Commure didn't respond to requests for comment for this story.
Datavant
Founded: 2017
Last fundraise: Sixth Street and other investors contributed an undisclosed amount of funding in 2021 to support Datavant's $7 billion merger with Ciox Health.
The health data startup Datavant is hunting for more deals after kicking off a fresh M&A push in the fall.
CEO Kyle Armbrester told BI in January that the company, which has made 11 acquisitions since 2017, planned to make at least "one or two" more acquisitions in early 2025.
Datavant manages patient data exchanges between providers, payers, and life sciences organizations. The private equity firm New Mountain Capital is Datavant's controlling shareholder.
Datavant most recently made two deals in September: It bought the data privacy organization Trace Data and two data analytics products from the healthcare AI startup Apixio.
Armbrester said Datavant was looking for companies building technology for healthcare providers and life sciences organizations, especially those with existing market traction.
"We're large and diversified, and I think we're in a really good space to take a smaller smarter and apply their logic or artificial intelligence or analytics across that vast network to see a lot of benefit," Armbrester said.
Flare Capital Partners' Parth Desai told BI in December that he expected private-equity-backed healthcare companies to make tuck-in acquisitions in 2025 as they prepare for potential IPOs in 2026.
Hinge Health
Founded: 2014
Last fundraise: $400 million in Series E funding in October 2021
2025 could be the year that Hinge Health finally goes public. Multiple investors and bankers told BI in February that the physical therapy startup was the best choice for the year's first digital health IPO, with margins more closely resembling a software company than a healthcare services provider.
Hinge Health hired banks including Morgan Stanley last year to prepare for a public market debut, hoping to go public in early 2025, BI reported in September.
Those ambitions shouldn't preclude the startup from making acquisitions. Similar to Datavant, Hinge Health could look to notch some deals before an IPO to further its growth.
CEO Daniel Perez told BI in October 2023 that Hinge Health was actively looking for smaller companies to acquire, a sentiment the startup echoed to Endpoints News at the start of 2024.
The company hasn't announced any acquisitions since then.
Hinge Health declined to comment for this story.
Innovaccer.
Founded: 2014
Last fundraise: $275 million in Series F funding in January 2025
Innovaccer is hoping to use a fresh mega-round to fuel acquisitions.
At the start of the year, the company announced its $275 million Series F round, a combination of primary and secondary investments from investors such as B Capital Group and Kaiser Permanente.
Less than two weeks later, Innovaccer announced it had bought the actuarial analytics startup Humbi AI.
Innovaccer also made two acquisitions last year, scooping up the healthcare marketing platform Cured in January 2024 and the pharmacy software company Pharmacy Quality Solutions that March.
The startup told Endpoints News this January that it was looking to buy more health tech companies this year. CEO Abhinav Shashank said Innovaccer was looking at companies working to enhance the patient experience, relieve administrative burdens for providers with automation, and decrease costs.
"Our acquisition strategy is to accelerate our roadmap by partnering with like-minded mission-driven companies that can help customers drive these transformations," Shashank said in a statement to BI.
Fabric
Founded: 2021
Last fundraise: $60 million in Series A funding in February 2024
Fabric, the only early-stage startup on this list, has centered M&A in its approach since its March 2023 launch. The healthcare startup said it planned to accelerate that strategy further this year.
Fabric made four acquisitions in 15 months, most recently buying the physician practice group TeamHealth's virtual care business in September. Before that, Fabric bought the virtual care business MeMD from Walmart, the asynchronous virtual care platform Zipnosis from Bright Health, and the generative AI startup Gyant.
Fabric sells software to help emergency rooms manage patients, including by directing them to telehealth services where appropriate. General Catalyst led its $60 million Series A round in February 2024.
Fabric's founder and CEO, Aniq Rahman, told BI in September that Fabric was starting to look at bigger acquisition targets.
"A lot of the companies that are struggling to go raise capital right now, or some of these larger businesses that are reevaluating their position in the market, are creating opportunities for us as well," he said. "Pretty much every week, there's inbound coming in from investors that are like, we have assets in our portfolio that may be accretive to what you're doing with Fabric."
Rahman told BI in February that Fabric expected to ramp up its M&A strategy even more in 2025.
He said Fabric had "already met with a few dozen companies this year around M&A" and was watching opportunities across venture-backed startups, private-equity-owned companies, and even spinouts of public companies.
Transcarent
Founded: 2020
Last fundraise: $126 million in Series D funding in May 2024
Transcarent, the healthcare benefits navigation startup helmed by Glen Tullman, the former Livongo CEO, kicked off the year with a big acquisition.
The company announced in January that it would buy its fellow care navigation company Accolade from the public markets in a $621 million all-cash deal.
It's one of at least three deals Transcarent has made to date. The startup bought 98point6's virtual care tech and physician group in March 2023 and merged with the surgical care startup BridgeHealth in 2020.
Transcarent's top M&A priority for 2025 is to successfully integrate Accolade into its business, CEO Glen Tullman told BI in a statement.
Still, he said the company remained strategically opportunistic and was consistently evaluating opportunities for growth and innovation.
Transcarent is backed by General Catalyst, which certainly hasn't shied away from M&A for its healthcare bets, as seen through Fabric and Commure's rich histories of acquisitions. Tullman's own investment firm, 7wire Ventures, also an investor in Transcarent, has similarly combined its own portfolio companies, most recently selling the mental health startup Caraway to the pediatric care company Summer Health in February.
General Catalyst and 7wire Ventures co-led Transcarent's $126 million Series D round in May.
