Healthcare is an industry that's always evolving and it is in need of constant innovation in order to be able to meet the changing needs of patients as well as healthcare providers. As a result of this, healthcare incubators and healthcare accelerators have become increasingly important in order to nurture and support healthcare startups who are on a mission to improve the industry. These accelerator and incubator programs offer guidance as well as resources to aid startups in overcoming common challenges in the field such as getting funding, healthcare product development help, regulatory compliance and market adoption.
In this blog post, we will explore the role of top healthcare accelerators and incubators in fostering innovation and discuss some of the top programs that are making a significant impact in the healthcare industry.
So whether you’re a healthcare startup founder or simply interested in learning more about the latest advancements in healthcare technology, this post will provide valuable insights into the world of healthcare accelerators and incubators.
Top healthcare accelerators/incubators
Below we are listing 27 of the top healthcare accelerators and incubators in the country, they can also be known as a medtech incubator or medtech accelerator. All of the programs mentioned here are spread out across the US. For most we have included the program length as well as notable startups that have graduated from that program.
Ben Franklin Technology Partners
Philadelphia
With a mission to grow the Philadelphia region, this program provides counsel, capital, and connections in order to launch transformative companies. In this program you have access to talent, introductions to potential clients, and ongoing mentorship. They only accept startups already based in Pennsylvania.
Notable startups: Accolade, CareAlign, Galileo, NeuroFlow
Matter Health
Chicago | 6 months
This program supports healthcare startups during every stage of growth by giving them access to capital and customers, learning and development opportunities, and a dynamic community. They help founders develop their fundraising strategy as well as reach the right investors. They are considered one of the best healthcare incubators.
Notable startups: Densitas, EmbrLabs, Acorai, Rhaeos
Y Combinator
San Francisco | 3 months
Y Combinator is a startup accelerator and venture capital firm, although it's not exclusive to healthcare. It is one of the most prestigious and successful startup accelerators in the world and has launched companies like Dropbox, Airbnb, and Reddit. They provide mentorship, funding, and resources to early-stage companies in exchange for equity, which is usually around 7%. Startups that are accepted into this program receive access to a network of investors and experienced entrepreneurs and intensive mentorship.
Notable startups: InstaCart, Airbnb, Nurx
Springboard Enterprises
Washington D.C | 4 months
This program combines workshops and high-value events. The participants that are selected are later matched with an advisory team who provide them with connections and relevant expertise in support of women transforming the digital health landscape. It is for women-led digital health startups seeking growth funding as well as connections to experts and strategic partners. They are considered a great healthcare accelerators.
Notable startups: LunaJoy, Lasa Health, SoShe
TechStars
Various locations | 3 months
This is a global startup accelerator (not exclusive to just healthcare) and venture capital firm that provides funding, mentorship, and networking opportunities to early-stage companies. They provide funding to startups in exchange for equity, which is usually between 6% and 10%, and offer a three month accelerator program during which startups receive mentorship from highly experienced entrepreneurs as well as industry experts. Founders in this program get access to a network of investors, and other resources to help them grow and succeed.
Notable startups: ClassPass, Owlet, PillPack
mHub
Chicago | 6 months
Focusing on early-stage startups, this is a medtech accelerator for new product development and commercialization. Founders get early-stage startup funding as well as prototyping resources from the nation’s leading independent innovation center for product and hardware development. All of the participants in this program have access to state of the art prototyping labs in chicago. They provide an initial investment of $75k in cash and $100k in services.
Notable startups: Nomo, SymGym, CareBand.
Texas Medical Center
Houston | 6 months
The Texas Medical Center Innovation supports and promotes startups from various parts of the world that are shaping the future of healthcare by providing them with resources, nurturing their growth, recruiting talent, and providing financial backing.
Notable startups: Lena Health, Koda Health, NeuraStasis, VastBiome
WorldUpstart
Hybrid/Philadelphia | 8 weeks
WorldUpstart’s US Market Gateway Accelerator has graduated 64 companies from 18 countries in the last three years, and 25 of them are now in the U.S. and growing, with 8 FDA approvals. The program helps international companies in BioSciences, MedTech and other growth areas to build a roadmap to enter and scale in the U.S. market.
Notable startups: Ribbon Biolabs, NeedleSmart, Shorla Oncology, Perx
ATDC Georgia Tech
Atlanta
This healthcare technology accelerator creates a unique collaboration between a university-based incubator, a nonprofit, and major healthcare-focused firms to help launch and scale health tech companies in the state of Georgia. The program fosters innovation to address the various aims of healthcare such as: enhance patient experience, improve the health of populations, and reduce the cost of healthcare.
Notable startups: Adele Health, CCI, Ethos
StartUp Health
New York City / San Francisco
StartUp health invests early and supports founders across all stages of growth. They unite entrepreneurs and their startups into one connected community. They’re experts in building partner networks and broadcasting stories about the progress being made by their healthcare transformers. They aren’t a traditional accelerator or incubator even though they do cover some of the same services, they are more so investors.
Notable startups: Amwell, Athelo Health, Babyscripts
Gener8tor
Birmingham | 3 months
The Prosper HealthTech Accelerator, powered by Gener8tor, offers a comprehensive program to aid the growth of digital health startups in their early stages. The accelerator provides a variety of resources, such as mentorship, coaching, funding and networking opportunities, to support the development and launch of innovative healthcare solutions.
Notable startups: Visana Health, hued, Rhaeos, Bold Health
Starx Med
Stanford
StartX Med is dedicated to accelerating the development of Stanford's most promising medical entrepreneurs and driving the progress of groundbreaking healthcare technologies. The program prioritizes building a community and providing education to founders as they work towards transforming the industry. StartX Med supports founders throughout the entire innovation life cycle in a variety of areas, including biotechnology, medical devices, health IT, care delivery innovation, and imaging and diagnostics.
Notable startups: Lark, Remedly, Tombot, Spect
Nex3
San Diego | 4 months
Recognized as one of the top ten digital health accelerators in the country and one of the leading digital health investors. They have over 50 advisors and mentors, have over 28 portfolio companies, as well as over $244 million in enterprise value. It is a semi-remote program partnering technical and clinical founders with Healthcare SMEs that work together on a daily basis to prepare startups for investment and enterprise readiness.
Notable startups: Butterfly Health, Vessel, Healthcentrix
MassChallenge
Boston | 2 months
This program works to advance high-impact digital health startups by establishing partnerships with industry-leaders. Their health tech community is composed of healthcare professionals, physicians, policy leaders, scientists, and mentors all coming together to improve the healthcare sector through entrepreneurship.
Notable startups: Carium, HeyRenee, Juli, Kintsugi, Patientory
MedTech Innovator
Los Angeles | 4 months
This nonprofit organization/ medtech accelerator hosts a great accelerator program for innovative medical device, digital health and diagnostic companies. It has operated since 2015 virtually so it’s remote friendly. They don’t require equity or fees to apply, and any startup that has raised up to a series C is eligible to apply.
Notable startups: Cooler Heads, Pops Diabetes Care, Senzo, Tasso, Sana Labs
AWS Accelerator
Remote | 4 weeks
The program is designed to provide startups in the digital health industry with technical, business, and mentorship support to leverage cloud technology and drive growth for their solutions. AWS is focusing on retaining, training, and deploying healthcare workers with the launch of this accelerator.
Notable startups: b.well, OneRecord, GYANT, AIVA
HeartX
Arkansas
This healthcare accelerator specializes in cardiovascular innovation and offers accomplished early-stage companies the opportunity to conduct guaranteed hospital pilot projects and clinical trials to bring their new cardiovascular solutions to market. They bring the latest cardiovascular innovations to patients.
Notable startups: Lumi Health, SafeBeat Rx, OMNY Health
EvoNexus
San Diego | 2 years
EvoNexus is a medtech incubator that works with startups with end-to-end solutions in AI health device monitoring, IoT, therapy management, enhanced drug management, patient monitoring & data collection, remote healthcare, and AI-assisted data analytics as well as decision support for clinicians and patients.
Notable startups: TruMed, Doctible, CB Therapeutics
Cedars-Sinai Accelerator
Los Angeles | 3 months
This three-month program provides companies with funding of $100,000, as well as mentorship from over 300 leading clinicians, access to Cedars-Sinai, and exposure to a broad network of investors and entrepreneurs. Since 2016, this accelerator has helped a great deal of startups alter healthcare delivery and patient care. It is considered one of the best healthcare accelerators.
Notable startups: NarrativeDx, WELL Health, Noteworth
Jumpstart Foundry
Nashville
This team of investors, founders, engineers, marketers, and researchers share a common objective of improving the healthcare industry. They support startups in their early stages by helping them to develop and grow. They focus on investing in pre-seed healthcare startups that offer innovative solutions in health technology, digital health, diagnostic devices, and consumer health.
Notable startups: Welnys, Live Chair Health, Lena Health, Elly
Nashville Entrepreneur Center
Nashville | 9 months
This is Nashville’s top healthcare entrepreneurship initiative that is helping transform the healthcare industry through connections and tailored programming in this highly competitive landscape. In this program you get connected to their vast network of healthcare experts, which include over 120 mentors. You get the chance to network with a supportive community of peers and alumni and get connections to potential investors as well as potential customers.
Notable startups: Leda Health, Yumlish, ZeaHealth
Health Wildcatters
Dallas | 3 months
According to the Seeds Accelerators Ranking Project this is considered one of the best accelerators in the nation. This accelerator program connects you to their vast network of investors and mentors and presents a diverse curriculum to accelerate the startups growth. Only between eight and twelve startups get chosen to participate in this three month program.
Notable startups: A LaRue Company, ClaraPrice, Health Haven Rx
PharmStars
Boston/virtual | 10 weeks
This accelerator is dedicated to supporting digital health startups in the pharmaceutical industry and has a strong focus on improving patient outcomes through the adoption of digital health solutions. The program offers education, mentorship, and opportunities for startups to engage with pharma and biotech firms. Each cohort has a theme with the current one focusing on innovation in women’s health.
Notable startups: Nori Health, Liyfe, Prsim Analytic Technologies, Tag.bio
ZeroTo510
Memphis | 3 months
An entrepreneurial accelerator program that is unique in its approach of utilizing the Memphis area's strengths in biomedical research and medical device manufacturing. Its primary objective is to assist early-stage medical device startups in successfully navigating the startup process, refining their business models, and positioning their founders to complete the premarket notification filing (known as the Food and Drug Administration's 510(k)).
Notable startups: Diatech, Oracle Health, Hera Health
Nemera Insight
Chicago | 6 months
They partner with top healthcare entrepreneurs to help drive innovation, fuel the momentum of the health tech startup ecosystem in Chicago, and work to improve people’s lives. They work from early IP and product concept to the technology scaling and manufacturing phase to help their member companies bridge the gap between core technologies and commercializable solutions.
Notable startups: Medtronic, Sartorius, Novartis
United Healthcare Accelerator
Virtual | 4 months
Each fall, they convene ten healthtech startups for a collaborative program that connects them with leading healthcare experts who are committed to their success. This program provides startups with the opportunity to establish a network of mentors and peers, refine their business models, expedite their growth trajectory, and achieve critical milestones such as fundraising.
Notable startups: Awake labs, Koda health, Kiddo, Vincere
As we can see healthcare accelerators have become a great resource for early-stage companies looking to bring their innovative healthcare solutions to market. They provide a range of benefits such as mentorship, funding, and networking opportunities, all of which help startups overcome common obstacles they face early on.
As the demand for innovative healthcare technologies continues to rise, healthcare accelerators and healthcare incubators will without a doubt play a vital role in driving progress and transforming the healthcare industry.
We hope you’ve found our curated list of top healthcare accelerators useful. If you're in the market to build a healthcare solution and need a quote/estimation don't hesitate to drop us a line!