TechCrunch+ roundup: Ahrefs' homepage, digital health trends, 2022 marketing predictions – TechCrunch

As we get closer to the end of the year, we're running more stories that look back at topics we examined in depth over the last several months, and several that offer well-informed predictions for the year ahead. This week, Bill Taranto, president of Merck's Global Health Innovation Fund, wrote a TechCrunch article that explored six digital health trends his corporate VC fund is tracking as we enter 2022. Between Q1 and Q3 2021, healthcare startups landed $21.3 billion in VC, "dwarfing the previous record of $14.6 billion set in 2020," writes Taranto. "Companies with strong offerings, management teams and balance sheets are poised to capture tremendous value." According to Crunchbase, Merck GHI has made 75 investments with 22 exits so far, including companies that span everything from drug discovery to diabetes detection. Artificial intelligence, IoT and data analytics are the primary drivers of innovation, says Taranto, "especially with data becoming the central currency of healthcare."