Castlight Health hikes IPO pricing amid health tech boom

Castlight Health‘s upcoming IPO signals a monster year for digital health.

The health-software maker has boosted its IPO share price range to $13 to $15, up from the $9-to-$11 range in its initial filing.

That means it’ll raise roughly $140 million, 40% more than it initially planned to receive, according to regulatory filings. That could give it a market cap of around $1.5 billion.

“I think we are entering a time of huge opportunity here — a confluence of dramatically increased information and changing incentives in health care that will reshape this industry and create an actual market for goods and services,” Castlight cofounder Bryan Roberts told VentureBeat in a recent email exchange.

Founded in 2008 by three health tech titans — including Todd Park, the United States’ current chief technology officer — the San Francisco-based company aims to make health care costs more transparent for companies. It helps self-insured employers create an online (and mobile-friendly) space where employees can shop for health care based on price, quality, and how much of their ­deductible has already been spent.

Castlight gained major traction last year after it closed $100 million in funding and announced major customer wins, including organizations like Honeywell, Life Technologies, and Indiana University. The company reported 2013 revenue of $13 million, up from $4.2 million a year earlier.

But Castlight isn’t the only health tech company ripe for a impending IPO. Practice Fusion and ZocDoc are both strong candidates to go public next, with total financing of $155 million and $99 million, respectively. The health IT market has recently received an immense amount of interest from investors, who poured a record $390 million into digital health companies in January, according to Rock Health.

Those massive figures seem to justify industry experts’ arguments that digital health IPOs will leave enterprise tech in the dust in 2014.

“Market conditions, social mentality, and technology have converged to create a perfect storm for digital health IPOs in 2014,” wrote Grand Rounds CEO Owen Tripp in a recent guest post on VentureBeat.

“Make no mistake: These companies are out to earn money. However, their focus on consumer-centric software will make the world of health care better for everyone.”

Castlight intends to go public on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker CSLT. It’s expected to price this week.

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