2May2022
Healthcare goes digital; investments surged by 79 per cent
Hampleton Partners’ latest Healthtech M&A Market Report highlights how the Covid-19 pandemic revealed the inadequacies and opportunities in the world’s healthcare systems and how venture and growth capital poured into digital health companies, raising a total of USD 57.2 billion in funding in 2021, an increase of 79 per cent from 2020.
David Bell, director, Hampleton Partners, said: “Though the new investment has been significantly concentrated around telemedicine due to the pandemic, venture capital is increasingly diversifying its healthtech targets, with AI-based clinical decision software and digital therapeutics being key areas.”
Europe was a hot spot for investment with funding rounds significantly exceeding the global average, with a 131 per cent increase to USD 6.7 billion in total investment from 2020 to 2021. European digital health funding now accounts for around 12 per cent of global investment, up from 9 per cent in 2020.
Advancements in Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning have an increasingly broad application to productivity and diagnostics, including staffing productivity and imaging interpretation efficiency. Investment from VCs and CVCs has more than doubled from under USD 300 million in 2017 to USD 700 million in 2021.
In terms of M&A, across the whole healthtech sector, there were 601 acquisitions in 2021, up 13 per cent from 2020 and up 40 per cent from 2019. Ten healthtech deals closed at over $1 billion during 2021.
Out of GAFAM, Apple has the lowest R&D spend as a percentage of net sales, Meta the highest
Apple spends the least percentage of its net sales on Research and development (R&D) among the GAFAM firms. That’s according to a recent tradingplatforms.com data analysis. The website’s analysis indicates that Apple spent USD 18.75 billion or 7% of its net sales on R&D.
While explaining these figures, TradingPlatforms’ Edith Reads had this to say: “Apple has been an outlier on many fronts, including spending on R&D.” She added, “The firm still upholds Steve Jobs’ mantra that innovation shouldn’t be a factor of one’s expenditure. Rather it’s about the personnel you have, your leadership qualities, and how you sync those two.”
Meta (Facebook until October 2021) had the highest R&D budget as a percentage of net sales. The social media giant spent USD 18.45 billion on that endeavor which comes to 21% of its 2020 revenue.
Google’s parent company Alphabet had the second-highest R&D spending to revenue ratio. In 2020, Alphabet spent USD 27.57 billion on its research and development endeavors. That translates to 15% of its total earnings of roughly USD 183 billion.
Microsoft’s 2020 R&D spending was USD 19.27 billion, maintaining the 13% allotment it has always had for that cause. The software giant is pursuing various technologies, applications, and platforms hence the spending.
Finally, Amazon had the fourth-highest R&D spending to income ratio among the GAFAM firms. Its USD 42.74 billion outlay for the cause amounted to 11% of its net earnings.
In its 2020 10-K filing, Apple acknowledges that it’s operating in a highly competitive market. Additionally, limited product life cycles and advancing industry standards, among others, characterize that market. As such, R&D is pivotal to its long-term growth and competitiveness.
Canada shooting for self-sufficiency; starts building own vaccine manufacturing facility
Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced that COVID-19 vaccine developer Moderna will build a state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in Quebec to deliver made-in-Canada vaccines. When completed, this new facility will be able to produce up to 100 million mRNA vaccine doses annually. It will also create hundreds of good jobs.
In addition to COVID-19 vaccines, the facility is expected to be able to produce vaccines for other respiratory diseases, such as influenza – pending their ongoing development by Moderna and approval by Health Canada. By strengthening the biomanufacturing and life sciences sector across the country, Canada aims to re-establish domestic vaccine manufacturing capability, bring Canadian innovation to the front lines of tomorrow’s health solutions, and ensure the nation is better prepared for future health crises – all while growing the economy and creating good jobs.
“COVID-19 vaccines saved lives and got Canadians back to doing the things they love”, Justin Trudeau explains. “Today’s announcement means that Canadian workers and Canadian innovation will play a key role in keeping our communities safe now and in the future. It also means hundreds of new, well-paying jobs as we recover from this pandemic and build a better future for everyone.”
“One of our government’s top priorities is to protect the health and safety of people in Canada”, Jean-Yves Duclos, Minister of Health, adds. “Moderna’s new facility will strengthen domestic health security and pandemic preparedness through timely access to innovative, cutting-edge vaccines that help us save lives. Moderna’s presence will also further establish Canada as a global leader in mRNA technology, leading a new era of domestic health innovation.”
Marketing automation market worth USD 9.5 billion by 2027
According to a research report published by MarketsandMarkets™, the Marketing Automation Market size is expected to grow from USD 5.2 billion in 2022 to USD 9.5 billion by 2027, at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 12.8% during the forecast period. The rising adoption of SMAC technologies, need for personalized marketing to maximize returns by reaching target audience are a few factors driving the growth of the marketing automation market.
The rising shift from On-premises to cloud infrastructure is propelling the demand for marketing automation solutions. This is due to various benefits of the cloud that include 24×7 data accessibility, rapid implementation, reduced setup, and operational cost, which is Capital Expenditure (CAPEX) and Operating Expense (OPEX), less maintenance cost, scalability, and ease of use for an organization with limited IT staff and budget. The adoption of cloud deployment has risen to grow substantially over the five years, especially in SMEs, as this deployment type provides features, such as pay-per-use, scalability, and flexibility, and offers reduced installation and maintenance costs. These features are expected to increase the demand for cloud-based marketing automation for improving customers’ journeys and brand initiatives.
Especially the SMEs segment is expected to experience a high adoption rate of marketing automation and its associated services. The marketing automation software makes cross-channeling content and strategies easier, saving small businesses even more time and overhead needs without compromising multi-channel reach. SMEs have been majorly dependent on manual processes to manage their resources, such as lead tracking, email marketing, and content creation, majorly due to the lack of awareness and budget constraints.
