The billion-dollar healthcare unicorns you should be watching in 2018

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It's a good time to be a healthcare or biotech startup.

In the first half of 2018, healthcare startups raised $15 billion in funding, the most raised in the first half of the year in the last decade, according to Forbes.

By July, a new crop of unicorns — startups with valuations over $1 billion — were born, while others increased their already billion-dollar valuations.

From companies harnessing the plant microbiome to buzzy biotechs working on cutting-edge technology, here are the US and United Kingdom-based unicorns to keep an eye on for the rest of 2018, according to data from PitchBook.

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Tempus — $1 billion

Chicago-based Tempus got its start in 2015, and in the last three years has rocketed into unicorn territory. The startup, founded by Groupon founder Eric Lefkofsky, aims to use data to come up with better cancer treatments, using both clinical data — information such as what medications patients have taken and how they have responded to them — and genetic data from the tumors of cancer patients.

In March, Tempus raised $80 million, bringing its total funding to $210 million.

Rani Therapeutics — $1 billion

Biotech startup Rani Therapeutics is taking on a problem that has eluded companies for decades — finding a way to turn injectable drugs into pills for people living with chronic conditions. The approach has the potential to upend billion-dollar markets for drugs such as insulin, and current treatments for autoimmune conditions like Humira.

The San Jose-based company raised $53 million in February from Alphabet's venture investment arm GV. To date, Rani has raised $107 million.

Clover Health — $1.2 billion

Clover Health sells Medicare Advantage health insurance plans. When seniors in the US turn 65, they can choose to be part of either traditional Medicare or Medicare Advantage, which is operated through private insurers like Clover and often provides additional healthcare benefits. The hope for San Francisco-based Clover and other technology-based health insurers is to use data to improve patients' health.

In January, CNBC reported that the company had hit some rough patches, including upsetting members who faced unexpected bills and missing financial targets.

Founded in 2014, the company most recently raised $130 million in May 2017, bringing its total funding raised to $425 million.

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