Healthcare M&A This Week: Five Deals That Show Where the Money's Going.
Written by Ben Huffman & Nadine Peever
Behavioral Health Gets Bigger
NOCD, the OCD therapy platform, created a new parent company called Noto and bought Rebound Health to add PTSD care. They're building a multi-specialty behavioral health platform powered by AI.
Two established digital mental health companies combined as Spring Health merged with Alma. Spring Health brings the AI care platform and a significant provider network, while Alma brings innovative practice management tools and payer connections. Together they're targeting a market which has seen some of the most significant investments in recent years, but with no clear leader.
The pattern here is clear. Buyers want to scale across multiple behavioral health conditions. They want tech that works with insurance companies. And they're betting on platforms, not point solutions.
Specialty Care Goes Platform
Sword Health paid $285 million for Kaia Health. Sword already dominates digital musculoskeletal care in the U.S. with major employer contracts and significant member adoption. Kaia adds pulmonary programs and opens up Germany's digital health reimbursement system.
This deal shows that healthtech companies are ready to pay real money for clinical evidence, tech IP, and international distribution. Sword is building a care platform that spans conditions and borders.
Women's Health Pivots to Enterprise
Wisp bought TBD Health. Wisp started as direct-to-consumer telehealth for women. TBD specializes in sexual health and STI diagnostics. The combined company is moving into enterprise contracts and hybrid care models with health systems.
Why does this matter? Because pure consumer telehealth is hard. Revenue gets unpredictable. Enterprise deals with employers and health plans create steadier income. That's where the industry is heading.
Employer Health Consolidates
Premise Health and Crossover Health merged. Both run primary care centers for employers. Together they'll serve hundreds of companies and millions of employees through nearly 900 wellness centers.
This is about scale in a market which suffered during the years of remote work. Employers want one vendor that can handle onsite clinics, virtual visits, behavioral health, and occupational medicine as they anticipate expanded return-to-office mandates and a renewed focus on on-site care. These mega-providers will look to deliver a modern on-site clinic experience, though time will tell if employees really value these as a game-changing benefit, or if the cost will be too much for employers to bear.
What This Tells Us
Three things stand out:
Platform thinking wins. Every deal here involves combining multiple services under one roof with a significant focus on digital-native and patient-first experience. Buyers want breadth across conditions, delivery models, and revenue streams. It’s also clear that we’ve exited the phase of niche digital point solutions in favor of consolidation.
B2B beats B2C. Companies are chasing contracts with employers and health plans instead of individual consumers. While this can be a more predictable source of revenue for some successful digital health companies, sales cycles are often much longer and resource intensive - requiring a completely different customer acquisition strategy than direct-to-consumer models.
Integration matters. The acquirers aren't just buying a revenue stream. They're betting on the ability to connect behavioral health with specialty care, primary care with diagnostics, virtual visits with in-person services. In a highly competitive and rapidly consolidating market, these companies believe a more comprehensive set of services will attract customers.
Partnerships Worth Watching
Two strategic partnerships happened alongside the M&A:
Lyra Health and Carrum Health are connecting mental health services with specialty care like surgery and cancer treatment. Members can move between both networks with warm handoffs. Employers get simpler contracts.
Reperio Health and Amazon One Medical are linking at-home health screenings to primary care membership. Do a screening at home, get instant results, then connect with a primary care doctor if you need one.
Both partnerships show the same theme as the M&A deals: integration. Companies are building bridges between disconnected parts of healthcare.
Bottom Line
With the expectation of lower cost of capital, a challenging reimbursement environment, and policies aimed at unnecessary spending, look for greater consolidation in this coming year as innovators look for ways to weather uncertainty.
If you're building in healthtech, think about how your product plugs into a bigger care ecosystem and where your solution can add value beyond your main area of focus. Standalone solutions are getting squeezed. It remains to be seen how the market, particularly employers and payors, will respond to these announcements.
