Annual Accelerator for Women-Led Digital Health and Med Device Startups

Igniting Innovation

Ignite Health’s accelerator program is held each year to support innovation in emerging women-led digital health and med-tech companies. This contact-intensive program connects female entrepreneurs leading healthcare start-ups with their potential customers and investors to assess and advise on the strengths and weaknesses of their companies.  The result – direct feedback, connections to industry experts, as well as pilots and investments!

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Ignite Accelerator

Startups are invited to The Fire Pitch Competition in Houston, Texas to continue strengthening relationships and PITCH LIVE to compete for pilot and investment prizes.

Top performing startups from each Accelerator Program are invited to PITCH LIVE in Houston, Texas to continue strengthening relationships with one another as well as Ignite Health’s community of experts.  They compete for pilot and investments prizes as well as in-kind perks provided by leading healthcare organizations and investors.

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Criteria to Apply:

Timeline

FAQs

  • Access to a vast community of experts – executives, investors and advisors all focused on healthcare innovation.
  • Access to Ignite Health’s growing alumni community.
  • Learn from valuable interactions with Ignite Health’s Advisors at many levels – Mentors assigned to each company, participating in Learning Sessions, and from Judges for the pitch competitions. The Accelerator is designed to provide participating companies with industry connections and strengthen the community of women innovators.
  • Participating companies have had great rates of success in attracting investments and pilot programs.
  • The program is largely virtual with participants gaining access to our Igniting Connections platform for the Mentorship Sessions, Learning Sessions and Virtual Semi-Final Pitch Competition Rounds.
  • Opportunity to pitch live at the Texas Medical Center in front of an audience of industry experts, VCs and advisors and win pilot prizes given by some of the country’s most prominent healthcare organizations as well as investment prizes from VCs.
  • The Accelerator Program is conducted virtually over 6-weeks.
  • Each entrepreneur will be invited to join the Igniting Connections Platform, where the program’s calendar of activities will be posted, information can be shared, and continued conversations among participants can occur.
  • Selected entrepreneurs are matched with a Customer Partner and an Investor Partner. Each Partner meets with the entrepreneur 3 times for a guided assessment and advisement on critical aspects of your business.
  • These meetings are complemented by a series of workshops led by industry experts on topics ranging from government grants, FDA regulations, fundraising challenges faced by women, presentation skills, lessons learned from our alumni, to other topics of relevance to the cohort.  These Learning Sessions provide access to experts and opportunities to hear from Ignite Health’s alumni, to learn together and to continue the  conversations via the Igniting Connections Platform.
  • Office hours with members of our national network of expert advisors.
  • The program concludes with a virtual semi-final pitch competition to select finalists for The Fire Pitch Competition. These semi-final pitch rounds are judged by a large panel of leaders in our customer, investor, advisor network.
  • Valuable individual feedback from the judges is shared with each entrepreneur.
  • Finalists will have the opportunity to participate in the Finalist Program and participate in 1:1 mentoring as well as more curated Learning Sessions to prepare to pitch at The Fire Pitch Competition.
  • All cohort members are invited to attend The Fire Pitch Competition at the Texas Medical Center to participate in office hours and to connect with the industry expert attendees. 
  • Ignite Health’s Accelerator Program is unique in many ways:
    • Our sole focus is women-led healthcare companies, and our organization is led by women who have deep industry expertise and networks.
    • We actively seek minority women.
    • The depth of our Advisor community is enhanced by the inclusion of the world class organizations at the Texas Medical Center, Pegasus Park,  together with a vast network of healthcare experts and prominent organizations, consultancies, law firms across the country.
    • Our investor network stretches across the nation.
    • Relationships cultivated through our various mentorship programs, starting with the Customer and Investor Partners, provides a safe environment for entrepreneurs to ask questions.
    • Our community continues engaging participants, connecting with alumni, and becomes a partner beyond the program!

There is a $125 application fee that needs to be paid before the application is considered complete.

If you are selected for the Accelerator Program, there is a $1,000 program fee to participate.

The value gained for program participation includes individual mentoring from a Customer Partner and an Investor Partner, interactive virtual learning sessions conducted by industry leaders, access to personal advisors, investors and experts from across the healthcare sector, as well as a long-term relationship with Ignite’s national network.  If you are invited to pitch live at the Fire Pitch Competition, you will continue.

Past Partners

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If you are interested in sponsoring or learning more about the program, please contact us at comms@ignitehealthcare.org.