June was a busy month for the digital health sector. Our totals so far are 16 deals, but that number may increase as we find some deals disclosed in quarterly reports. It doesn’t quite reach the count from June 2018 (25 deals), but 2018 was so robust in deal volume it’s a hard comparison to make. In 2017, for instance, there were only 13 deals reported. Dollar volume, on the other hand, is difficult to compare, mainly because of the headline-worthy transaction below.
Dassault Systèmes (Paris: DSY) acquired Medidata Solutions, Inc. (NASDAQ: MDSO) for $5.8 billion, the second largest digital health transaction in our database. This acquisition increases Dassault’s services for the life-sciences industry, integrating Medidata Solutions’ platform with its software to provide end-to-end solutions for healthcare companies. Dassault will also gain Medidata’s client base, which includes some of the top biopharma companies in the world. That deal just beat out 2018’s top deal by Veritas Capital, which purchased athenahealth, Inc. for $5.7 billion.
However, another deal caught our attention. Nordic Capital Fund IX, a leading European private equity investor, purchased ArisGlobal, which provides SaaS software for the life sciences industry. Buyouts Insider reported that two sources familiar with the matter valued the deal just below $800 million.
The target company operates the ArisGlobal LifeSphere platform, which integrates machine-learning capabilities to automate the core functions of the product lifecycle. This acquisition is part of Nordic’s goal to expand and grow in the U.S. healthcare market, following its purchase of Orchid Orthopedic Solutions in January 2019. Nordic will open a permanent office in New York in the second half of 2019. ArisGlobal will operate as a standalone entity and the founders will remain as minority shareholders.
Providence St. Joseph Health is also back in the digital health headlines. In the last week of June, it purchased Bluetree, a consulting and strategy company specializing in Epic health solutions. It has more than 140 health system clients nationwide.
This deal comes on the heels of Providence’s acquisition of Lumedic, a digital health company that uses blockchain technology to streamline revenue cycle management operations for leading health systems. Both deals are part of Providence’s strategy to diversify revenue, and it is one of Epic’s largest customers. With the addition of Bluetree, Providence St. Joseph Health now has two of the top EHR companies in the country, including Engage, which Providence acquired in 2016.
