Digital Health Incubators and Accelerators in the US – Top 10

This piece is a guest article by Kolabtree freelance scientist and biotechnologist Dr. Vikas Bishnoi, who explores the top digital health incubators and accelerators operating in the USA.

The application of precision digital technologies in the field of healthcare is combinedly known as digital health. Digital health is a revolutionary field of research that is changing the healthcare sector and making it more effective and reliable. Particularly, the present COVID-19 pandemic has contributed to swift growth in the utilisation of digital health technologies for retrieving health information and care providers. Digital health technologies are the healthcare sector to overcome the stresses such as the rising patient numbers, ageing populations, the rise of lifestyle diseases, and the healthcare cost increase.

These technologies are artificial intelligence (Prognos– This AI platform collect, regulates, and avails clinical interpretation of clinical diagnostic data from multiple sources, Paige– The New York-based Paige is a prominent startup that uses AI to study and counter cancer, Bay Labs, Inc– The San Francisco-based start-up using AI deep learning combined with cardiovascular imaging to improve the supervision and diagnosis of cardiovascular disease), Advanced sensors enabled IoT connectivity (Hinge Health– The San Francisco-based digital clinic helps patients manage various musculoskeletal care through its nerve stimulation technology, wearable motion sensors, and boundless health training), machine learning (Freenome– introduce machine learning in testing to help medical professionals diagnose cancer in its initial stages through a simple blood test), augmented reality/virtual reality (Osso VR– San Francisco based startup provides a VR platform for surgical training) or big data analysis (Tempus– The Chicago-based startup benefits data gathered from patients to doctors and researchers to help them detect and unveil disease patterns and their treatments with its operating system). Clinical intelligence and enablement (17%), screening and diagnosis (16%), virtual care delivery (11%) and disease management and therapeutics (10%) are leading areas where most digital health startups focus.

Around the world, digital health incubators and accelerators play a pivotal role in the development of innovative solutions to the healthcare sector challenges of the 21st century. 

There are over 4,000 incubators and accelerators worldwide and over 1,800 in the United States alone. US-based startups are dominating 77% of the 150 companies from 18 countries in the 2020 Digital Health 150 cohort. It is confusing for newly budded entrepreneurs to figure out which incubator and accelerator are worth applying to. And, it becomes more complicated when it is about digital health incubators because you are either medical personnel or a tech gig. Digital health Incubators and accelerators come here to play an important role by providing a practical approach (convert idea into a product) to an idea in their incubating facility and give wings to this idea (by making the product market-friendly) in their accelerating programme.

Here are the top 10 incubators and accelerators in the US who are working very well in the field of digital health.

1.    Cedars-Sinai Accelerator
2.    Launchpad Digital Health
3.    Startup Health
4.    Dreamit HealthTech
5.    Blueprint Health
6.    Rock health
7.    Nex3
8.    Medtech innovator
9.    Jumpstart foundry
10. Health wildcatters

 

1.  

Los Angeles based Cedars-Sinai Accelerator helps innovators in the field of digital health to convert their ideas into products that can change patients’ lives around the world. Cedars-Sinai Accelerator offers startups $100,000 in funding and provides access to the world’s leading physicians and researchers to help startups to establish their businesses in market need, consumer acquisition, product development and overall growth, and in exchange, they receive a small percentage of the company’s shares. Since 2016, the Cedars-Sinai Accelerator has had 54 digital health companies in its portfolio from three continents.

The thorough 13-week incubation and acceleration programme called “Bootcamp” starts with the selection of 10-12 potential startups and provides counselling and Feedback, guidance on product development and market readiness, and preparation for fundraising.

Example of an incubated startup – Diligent Robotics– an artificial intelligence startup that producing robot assistants to support people in the tedious and menial aspects of their work. 

2.  

Launchpad Digital Health is located in the US and it is a leading early-stage investor in the field of digital health incubation and acceleration. Launchpad Digital health believes that improvement in healthcare, lowering the cost of medical treatments and providing convenience to patients can only be achieved by supporting digital health entrepreneurs at an early stage so they can change the sector by converting their idea into a mature, market-ready product.

Launchpad Digital Health is doing this by a program called Ground Zero Program. It is a program for those early-stage entrepreneurs that wish to pressure–test and enlarge their healthcare early-stage trades to the next level. The one year program contains 12 startups from every stage ranging from seed to series B. The selected entrepreneurs receive up to a seed funding of $500,000. Launchpad Digital health has 30 companies in their digital health incubator and accelerator portfolio.

Example of an incubated start-up – QueueDr– AI Schedule Management software will allow you to rebuild your medical organization quickly and safely, during, and after the pandemic.

3.  

Startup Health is a New York-based digital health incubator and accelerator and a global health innovation company. Since 2011, through their program called Health Moonshot Funds, they have financed more than 370 innovative health companies. StartUp Health has a unique investment model intended to support digital health startups at any stage of development. Their portfolio spans 27 countries and six continents and claims that it is the world’s largest health innovation portfolio and startup health companies have raised a total of $3Billion.

Example of an incubated start-up – TQ Intelligence– Atlanta, GA based startup use their voice recognition know-how and AI to transform mental healthcare for vulnerable youth globally.

4.  

Dreamit Healthtech was founded in 2008, is a New York-based accelerator and it is a part of the Dreamit Ventures Incubators. Dreamit healthTech is a well-recognized venture capital of the US and also ranked in the top ten global accelerators.

 The main focus of the program is raising on the healthcare companies working in digital health, medical device manufacturing and the diagnostic sector.

Dreamit Healthtech offers a six months duration program (participants can join virtually and in person) with a $50,000 investment in these startups. Additionally, they also provide an opportunity to these entrepreneurs to meet with market owners, investors, pharmaceutical companies and different academic institutions to build relationships as well as gain more capital for their ideas/products through their two weeks long roadshow facility. More than 350 startups have joined in their acceleration program and received capital from the Dreamit Ventures fund since 2008.

Example of an incubated start-up – Alio– (formerly known as Graftworx) is connecting patients and clinicians by evolving “smart” wearables and implantables for dialysis and peripheral arterial disease patients.

5.  

Blueprint Health is a New York city-based community of healthcare entrepreneurs who are trying to build next-generation healthcare IT companies.

Blueprint Health is backing more than 20 Healthcare IT companies each year by investing time and a capital of $20,000 to help them grow their idea into a market-ready product.

Blueprint Health has a three-month program in which the staff and counsellors work meticulously with these healthcare IT companies to help them to advance their ideas/products and accomplish their distinct business targets such as developing customer lines, raising venture capital, sales safekeeping and structure marketing.

After the three months program, Blueprint Health facilitates these digital health companies by welcoming them into their community and facilitating them to avail community resources and connections.

Example of an incubated start-up – Hedway– provides a mobile platform to advance the efficacy and usefulness of physical rehabilitation.

6.  

Rock Health was founded in 2010 and it was the first venture fund devoted to digital health. San Francisco based Rock health facilitates early-stage healthcare startups by investing and supporting them to grow their scalability and build sustainable businesses to make a positive impact on society. They do not offer any mentorship facility, but they help potential healthcare startups in fundraising, market- readiness, customer expansion, business development, product marketing and pricing. Rock Health has funded 73 digital health startups and have 13 successful exits in their portfolio and have raised more than half-billion.

Example of an incubated start-up – Vivante health– founded in 2016, Vivante health is the first all-in-one digital health solution for digestive health.

7.  

Nex Cubed’s Digital Health Accelerator is a four-month, custom-made, semi-remote startup acceleration program to support talented founders in the field of digital health. A team of healthcare experts, technically sound technopreneurs and operation managers work with startups to make them market-ready. They focus on the startups related to the introduction of Data, Analytics, AI, AR, VR, Computer Vision and/or IoT in the field of digital health.  

Nex Cubed Digital Health also embraces the startups with Investor Advisors and office space in New York, San Francisco, and San Diego.

The Nex3 have a team of 140+ mentors and they have accelerated 300+ companies, in which two companies have been established from scratch. More than 500 Million funds have been raised by these companies.

Example of an incubated start-up – Medcript– Founded in 2016, situated in San Diego, Medcript focused on bringing the latest cybersecurity features to the next generation of healthcare technology and ensuring the safety and security of medical devices.

8.  

MedTech Innovator was founded in 2012 and it is based in Los Angeles, CA, is an accelerator pedal mainly focused on companies working in the field of medical devices, digital health and diagnostics. The mission of the acceleration program is to improve the patient’s lives by accelerating the progress of startups to transform the healthcare system.

CipherBio reported MedTech Innovator as the largest accelerator of digital health companies in the world in its quarterly report with its 340 portfolio companies. Medtech Innovator companies have raised $2 billion in funds and have launched 74 products in the market in its 8 years of journey in the digital health incubation and acceleration.

Their program called, MedTech Innovator Road Tour is an annual program, which is two leading industry conferences around the world, is an opportunity for entrepreneurs to showcase their idea in digital healthcare. Out of these, 50 companies with the most innovative thoughts, have received a chance to participate in the MedTech innovator accelerator programme. The selected accelerator companies have an unmatched opportunity to obtain constant in-depth, tailored supervision from big bulls in the Medtech industry.

Example of an incubated start-up – Augmedics- Arlington Heights-based startup develops a smart surgical system containing an AR head-mounted display loaded with different sensors and machine learning proficiencies. 

9.  

Founded in 2009, Nashville-based, Jumpstart Foundry is a healthcare seed fund and invests in more than 15 healthcare technology startups yearly and mentors these innovators on their voyage to affect health through investment, networks, and backing. Through their programme called, Industry-first investing, they search best teams to build incredible innovations that match these real-world challenges.

 Jumpstart foundry investment areas are healthcare IT, tech-enabled facilities, customer health goods and services, and diagnostic devices. Jumpstart foundry has a total of 93 portfolio companies across 30 states of the US territory and they invest $150k to get started, a blueprint to achieve success and a community of managers, guides, nobles and venture capitalists to grow.

Example of an incubated start-up – Junum– applies digital technologies and medical nutrition know-how to uncover gaps in malnutrition care.

Dallas based Health Wildcatters was founded in 2013 to accomplish the requirement for a health innovation hub in the burgeoning Dallas. Since the beginning, the Health Wildcatters portfolio has full-fledged 77 startups and has raised over $150 million funds.

Health Wildcatters have a total of 17,000 square foot space to provide health startups with a workplace and collaborate them with industry giants of digital healthcare. In addition, they also provide an event space that permits the organization to organise 60-70 events annually such as the Pulse breakfast and lunch series and Startup Week Dallas Health Track.

Seed Accelerator Rankings Project, a study conducted by MIT, University of Richmond and Rice University ranked their accelerator program among the greatest in the nation.

The Health Wildcatters organise a 12- week fall program that begins late August and ends at the beginning of November every year. Usually, 8-12 startups join their program. These startups have an offer of $30,000 for eight percent equity and an opportunity for follow on and convertible note investments to total a maximum potential investment of $380k.

Example of an incubated start-up – Socrates Health Solutions– Their products are the result of scientific research and eliminates the insertion of needles and finger pricks for calibration and provides real-time information for diabetes management.