We begin our Q1 2026 HealthTech report with M&A deal volumes. The year opened strongly with 149 transactions in the first quarter, setting a positive tone for the quarters ahead. Private Equity accounted for about 31% of these deals, underscoring strong interest from both strategic and financial buyers as they pursue solutions that improve patient outcomes, support new treatments, and lower costs.

During the first quarter of 2026, total disclosed M&A deal values reached $22.7 billion, aided by three megadeals and well above the performance seen in Q1 2025. Only 15% of transactions disclosed their financial terms as buyers continued to keep the details and strategies behind their acquisitions private. The median disclosed M&A transaction value was $191 million.

Looking at deals by subsector, the Healthcare Ops space led the list with 65 transactions, representing 44% of the total, followed by Healthcare Data Management and Healthcare IT Services with 25 and 18 deals representing 17% and 12% of total transaction volumes, respectively. Telehealth and Electronic Healthcare Records subsectors both saw 10 and 9 transactions, respectively.

Since peaking in 2021, VC funding for HealthTech companies has remained subdued through the first quarter of 2026, with deal volumes also dropping. In Q1, the median VC funding round was $3.6 million. Because the median disclosed M&A deal value is significantly higher, many sellers have been drawn to M&A as a more attractive path to growth and liquidity.

During the first quarter of 2026, HealthTech M&A activity was led by a group of highly active strategic buyers. DeepHealth, a Massachusetts-headquartered AI-powered health informatics software provider, and Maulin Group, a healthcare professional services firm out of Britain, emerged as the most active strategic acquirers with two transactions each, continuing to expand their footprint across medical imaging and healthcare IT services.

Other active strategics each completed one deal, including Veeva, a life sciences software provider out of California, Danaher, a District of Columbia-based life sciences and diagnostics systems provider, and Infosys, an Indian IT services provider.

On the private equity side, Massachusetts-based BV Investment Partner and 3GP Capital out of Michigan, each completed two HealthTech acquisitions during this period. Bain Capital, Verital Capital and Advent International each made 1 deal in Q1.

Furthermore, we also saw other buyers, including Harris Healthcare, a Canadian healthcare focused arm of Constellation Software, Valsoft, a vertical software buy-and-hold firm out of Canada, and Aspect Investors, Texas-based buy-and-hold firm.