MedTech Innovator Announces 50 MedTech Startups Selected for Annual Showcase and Accelerator

MedTech Innovator, an accelerator of medical device companies, has announced the 50 companies selected to participate in the organization’s 2021 flagship four-month Showcase and Accelerator program. The MedTech startups chosen are striving to be the industry’s most transformative device, diagnostic, and digital health technologies. These 50 startups will receive unparalleled visibility and access to leading manufacturers, providers, investors, and other industry stakeholders.

MedTech Innovator History

Change has long been a constant in healthcare, but it has dramatically accelerated in recent years. With much of health care moving onto digital platforms, there has been remarkable growth in the amount of patient-generated health data. Digital health tools that facilitate innovative methods and modalities to improve care, enable lifestyle change, and create efficiencies are progressing quickly. A changing healthcare industry brings new roles and responsibilities to healthcare organizations.

Since 2013, MedTech Innovator has reviewed more than 5,000 startups and graduated 340 companies that have raised more than $2.7 billion in follow-on funding and have brought over 80 products to market. Silicon Valley Bank’s CipherBio Q3 2020 Accelerator Insights report revealed for the first time that MedTech Innovator is the largest accelerator of Life Science companies in the world. 86% of its MedTech startups have raised equity financing, with a portfolio raising more funding rounds in 2020 than any other accelerator. 

MedTech Innovator works closely with stakeholders across the industry to promote the growth of early and mid-stage startups. The program encourages those developing a product and/or service in the healthcare space along one of these verticals to apply. In collaboration with 25 corporate partners, as well as a broader network of more than 100 investors, business development representatives, and industry experts, MedTech Innovator provides startups with individualized mentorship and feedback, funding opportunities, and continual engagement with peers and advisors.

2021 Evaluation Standards

MedTech Innovator seeks early to mid-stage start-ups in the medical device, diagnostic, or digital health/health IT spaces. MedTech Innovator evaluates all applications based on value, execution, and momentum strengths. The company strength for each category is evaluated using multiple metrics. Below are the metrics pulled from the MedTech Innovator FAQ.

The selection process for this year’s Showcase and Accelerator program was extremely competitive, with only a 4% acceptance rate. Together with the senior leadership teams of its corporate partners and over 200 industry judges, MedTech Innovator evaluated the pitches of 195 candidates out of more than 1,100 applications from 54 countries and 42 U.S. states. A subset of 25 early-stage companies will participate in MedTech Innovator’s award-winning Accelerator program. This program will match startups with senior industry leaders to receive continual in-depth, customized mentorship and support.

As part of its Accelerator program, MedTech Innovator will award up to $500,000 in cash and in-kind prizes during its final competition on September 27-29 at The MedTech Conference, powered by AdvaMed. All 50 companies will present in Showcase panels during the final competition and gain exclusive partnering and roundtables access. Ultimately, five startups from the Accelerator group will compete for the Execution Award, with another five companies will advance to compete in the Grand Final competition. An audience vote will determine the winner of the $350,000 grand prize and the title of 2021 MedTech Innovator. Additional awards will be presented, including incubator space at JLABS.

These companies will compete for $150,000 in grant funding during the “Make Your Medical Device Pitch for Kids!” Competition hosted by the National Capital Consortium for Pediatric Device Innovation (NCC-PDI).

MedTech Innovator’s 2021 Top 50 Showcase

• Alio – San Francisco
• Applaud Medical – San Francisco
• Alva Health* – New Haven, Conn.
• Aria CV – Paul, Minn.
• AtriAN Medical* – Galway, Ireland
• AvodahMed – Southlake, Texas
• BioDevek* – Brookline, Mass.
• Bluegrass Vascular Technologies – San Antonio
• Bruin Biometrics – Los Angeles
• CAIRA Surgical* – New York
• CardiacBooster* – Nijmegen, Netherlands
• CARDIAWAVE – Paris
• Caretaker Medical* – Charlottesville, Va.
• Cooler Heads Care* – San Diego
• Corassist Cardiovascular – Haifa, Israel
• Current Surgical* – Washington
• Eko – Oakland, Calif.
• Embody – Norfolk, Va.
• Evren Technologies* – Gainesville, Fla.
• FAST BioMedical – Indianapolis
• GraphWear Technologies* – San Francisco
• Healionics – Seattle
• imvaria* – Mountain View, Calif.
• Inovise Medical – Beaverton, Ore.
• Lifelet Medical* – Galway, Ireland
• Makani Science* – Irvine, Calif.
• Neocis – Miami
• Neurent Medical – Galway, Ireland
• Neurofenix* – London
• NIDO* – Needham, Mass.
• Nutromics* – Bunswick, Australia
• Nuvo – Tel Aviv, Israel
• Oncomfort – Wavre, Belgium
• Orthox Limited* – Abingdon, United Kingdom
• OtoNexus Medical – Bellevue, Wash.
• Otolith Labs* – Washington
• PATH EX*– Houston
• PathologyWatch – Salt Lake City
• PhotoPharmics – American Fork, Utah
• Pops Diabetes Care* – Oak Park Heights, Minn.
• Prenosis – Chicago
• Retia Medical* – Valhalla, N.Y.
• Senzo*– West Hollywood, Calif.
• Tympany Medical* – Galway, Ireland
• Universal Diagnostics – Sevilla, Spain
• VisCardia – Beaverton, Ore.
• Waveclear* – Erie, Pa.
• Wellinks (Convexity Scientific Inc.) – New Haven, Conn.
• Xealth – Seattle
• XENOCOR* – Salt Lake City

*Company is also participating in MedTech Innovator’s intensive Accelerator program.

MedTech Innovator’s founding sponsors are Johnson & Johnson and RCT Ventures. Annual program sponsors include NIPRO Medical Corp., Olympus Medical Systems Group, Asahi Intecc, Baxter, Becton Dickinson & Company, Edwards Lifesciences LLC, Dexcom, Fujikura Ltd., Jabil Healthcare, Maxim Integrated Ventures, W. L. Gore & Associates, Inc., Experien Group, Greenlight Guru, Integrated Computer Solutions (ICS), Medmarc, Medical Technology Enterprise Consortium (MTEC), Oliver Healthcare Packaging, Proxima Clinical Research, Silicon Valley Bank, Three Bridges Management & Consulting, Westwood & Wilshire, and Ximedica. The organization’s industry partners include AdvaMed, Health+Commerce, MedTech Strategist, and Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati.

Our goal at MedTech Innovator is to find the most promising medical innovations and make sure they actually reach the patients who need them. We are thrilled with the caliber of the startups participating in this year’s cohort and we look forward to providing them with the resources and mentorship they need to succeed.

Paul Grand, CEO of MedTech Innovator

About MedTech Innovator

Along with several other accelerators located across the nation, MedTech Innovator is a proud member of the Division of Research, Innovation, and Ventures (DRIVe) Accelerator Network. DRIVe, a part of the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), is a transformative public-private program designed to accelerate innovation and solve the nation’s most challenging, and cross-cutting health security threats. This partnership aims to increase the pipeline of promising startups working on solutions that support health security preparedness. Additionally, MedTech Innovator will support selected companies with their commercialization strategies through our award-winning accelerator program. To learn more about the DRIVE initiative and to apply, visit https://drive.hhs.gov.