Just recently, the New York eHealth Collaborative and the New York City Investment Fund held an awesome information session for the New York Digital Health Accelerator at the chic digs of the TimesCenter in NYC. The Accelerator is a program for early — and growth — stage digital health companies that are developing cutting-edge technology products in the areas of care coordination, patient engagement, analytics and message alerts. The event was open to the public and provided thorough detailing of the accelerator, insights as to the types of solutions that participating providers hope to receive and – of course – some networking. If you missed this exciting event, you can check out the recorded stream. If you are interested in the program, access the application.
Twelve companies will be invited to participate in the nine-month program. A review committee — comprised of hospital leadership, technology experts, clinicians and investors — will select the companies. The committee will evaluate applicants on their product innovation in the four focus areas, the track record of their management team and their company life-cycle stage.
Selected companies will receive up to $300,000 in capital: $100,000 at the start of the program and an additional $200,000 at the four-month checkpoint if the companies meet predefined milestones. The capital will be structured as convertible notes with small warrant coverage. The milestones will be set by participating venture capital and provider organizations.
In addition to funding, the accelerator offers direct access to a unique network of provider organizations. According to New York eHealth Collaborative Executive Director Dave Whitlinger, the program is unique in that it “helps spotlight development companies capable of successfully implementing their solutions in clinical environments and integrating with the SHIN-NY API.” Over twenty provider organizations will play active roles in the program. Each company that is accepted will be paired with a provider, and in some cases multiple providers. Based on user feedback, the organizations will offer clinical workflow and technical guidance.
From Health 2.0’s perspective this is a screaming big deal. It’s the first incubator in health that gets past the “Ramen money” stage and essentially locks in the angel round for the post-3 month stage. Given that not all of the companies coming out of the current 3 month incubators get that funding, these companies will have a chance to really concentrate on product development and work on pilots. The result should be a big leap in productivity.
If you want more information on the New York Digital Health Accelerator, please visit http://digitalhealthaccelerator.com/. But hurry as this is the last call for applications, as the deadline – Friday, June 1 – is just over one week away! So if you fit the desired applicant description, apply now!
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