ABSTRACT
The important challenge for digital health development is its funding. It is broadly financed by venture capital, and at a later stage this can be IPO. These two ways are analyzed in this chapter. The author compares the digital health sector with traditional and alternative assets. The research question is how digital health is funded, and to answer this question the author examines whether digital health stocks are diversifiers or hedgers for the general market or alternative assets market to reduce risk or increase return in an investment portfolio. If so, it creates good prospects for future financing of digital health. If not, digital health financing may encounter problems. It is shown that the digital health sector is not more attractive for investors than the general market reflected by the S&P500 index in the context of the Markowitz portfolio theory. This conclusion does not offer good prospects for the future financing of this sector and means other than an IPO has to be found to gather capital. It also makes it more difficult to find new venture capitalists interested in this industry, especially at a time when it is not a novelty anymore.
