Healthline, a leading online health resource, announced today that it has raised $14 million in a third round led by Investor Growth Capital, the venture arm of Investor AB. This brings the total funds invested in Healthline Networks to $72 million.
Healthline.com traffic has been fairly steady at 2 million visitors per month over the past 12 months. However, Heathline Networks also helps to power and manage other prominent health sites including those run by AOL (Health.com), Yahoo and ABC News.
It’s unclear what valuation Healthline got in this latest round, but unless this was a “cram down” round, then presumably the valuation would be well north of the $72 million it has raised since starting in October 2005, perhaps as high as $200 million.
Can Healthline justify this valuation in a crowded field of health websites that includes many prominent competitors, some with more traffic, such as WebMD and LiveStrong.com? Maybe, but only if their “network” shows more promise than their own website.