StartUp Health released its quarterly figures and their key finding is that the soul of the health revolution — the patient — is still a market priority, with $420M being invested into health innovation companies with a focus on patient empowerment. Year-to-date, digital health companies attracted $10.4B in funding.

The third quarter, however, saw the typical dip in funding — though there were multiple bright spots and exceptions.

For one thing, funding in support of population health saw a jump of 200%, bringing in over $720M in Q3 and $1.2B for the year. The Women’s Health and Access to Care Moonshots continue to enjoy a steady surge of capital for the year — $4.5B YTD for Access to Care and $295M YTD for Women’s Health — along with upticks in deal volume. Also, the Addiction Moonshot saw a funding increase of 223%, while the Cancer Moonshot saw a 113% increase in volume with 34 deals YTD.

Population health continued to be an increasingly-funded function, with a 22% increase in deals over the same quarter last year. To date this year, it’s brought in $1.2B, mainly due to Babylon Health’s $500M round. This needs to be more than a fleeting trend, according to StartUp Health; population health initiatives can help direct large health systems to take a more strategic direction in how they manage health at a community level.

In conclusion, StartUp Health predicts 2019 to become the second most-funded year for health innovation, ever.