{"id":688004,"date":"2026-05-22T20:07:16","date_gmt":"2026-05-22T20:07:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/688004\/"},"modified":"2026-05-22T20:07:16","modified_gmt":"2026-05-22T20:07:16","slug":"the-capital-drought-pushing-australias-digital-health-sector-offshore-capital-brief","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/688004\/","title":{"rendered":"The capital drought pushing Australia\u2019s digital health sector offshore \u2014 Capital Brief"},"content":{"rendered":"

The capital drought pushing Australia\u2019s digital health sector offshore \u2014 Capital Brief<\/p>\n


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Australia\u2019s digital health sector is growing fast \u2014 but the companies building the next generation of regulated medical technologies say they are being cut off from the capital they need to survive.<\/p>\n

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Bronwyn Le Grice, founder and chief executive of ANDHealth.
\nSupplied.<\/p>\n

Some of the country\u2019s biggest startup success stories have come from digital health \u2014 Eucalyptus, acquired<\/a> by US giant Hims & Hers earlier this year in a deal worth up to USD1.15 billion ($1.61 billion), and Heidi Health, which Blackbird has described as the fastest-growing<\/a> company in its portfolio since Canva.<\/p>\n

But leaders in the sector say those names distort the reality for most in the sector. Both built unregulated products that could earn revenue from day one. The majority of digital health companies must complete clinical trials before they can sell a single product \u2014 and it\u2019s those companies that are being starved of capital.<\/p>\n

ANDHealth, which runs Australia\u2019s largest digital health accelerator program, released its FY2026 Industry Sentiment Survey this week, and the findings put numbers to the problem.<\/p>\n

Now, 86% of digital and connected health SMEs cite access to capital as a top five challenge, up 26 percentage points from 60% in 2023. More than half rank it as their single biggest challenge. And 46% are raising capital to survive rather than grow while 21% have cut staff.<\/p>\n

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Topics:
\nStartups<\/a>,
\nHealthcare<\/a>,
\nAustralian politics<\/a>,
\nBudget 2026<\/a><\/p>\n

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