MassChallenge, a global network of zero-equity startup accelerators, recently awarded more than $200K in cash prizes to six elite digital health startups from the 2019 HealthTech accelerator.
Among the awardees was GoGoGrandparent, which was supported by MassChallenge accelerator competition “champions” the Executive Office of Elder Affairs based on the feedback and direction of the Governor’s Council to Address Aging.
“In our first three years we generated 270 partnerships that helped entrepreneurs impact millions of lives, earn millions in funding and revenue, and hire hundreds of employees” said Nick Dougherty, Managing Director of MassChallenge HealthTech. “The 2019 cohort made exceptional progress, impacting millions of lives, securing over $26M in funding and $5M in revenue, and supporting over 400 jobs during the program.”
The cash prize winners were announced as part of the 2019 MassChallenge HealthTech Finale, which brought together more than 300 corporate leaders, government officials, policy makers, entrepreneurs, and innovation enthusiasts within the digital health community from around the world. The event featured a real-talk discussion about innovation from John Brownstein of Boston Children’s Hospital, John Halamka of Beth Israel Lahey, Lesley Solomon of Dana Farber Cancer Institute, and Robin Glasco of bambu.health. The event also included a fireside chat about the intersection of healthtech and sportstech from Laura Yecies of SyncThink (2017 MassChallenge HealthTech $100K Diamond Award winner), Isaiah Kacvyenski of Will Ventures, and Kate Sheridan of STATNews. Following the event, Jonah Comstock of HIMSSMedia interviewed the winning startups at the media stage of the Startup Showcase.
To select this year’s prize winners, MassChallenge HealthTech tapped healthcare industry experts to evaluate each startup based on their ability to demonstrate traction, growth, and impact. Over the six month accelerator program, 31 startups partnered with industry leaders to solve of healthcare’s massive challenges. Following the program, the majority of startups and partners will continue to work together.
MassChallenge HealthTech also awarded the top HealthTech partner with the inaugural “Champion of the Year Award” as nominated by the entrepreneurs of the 2019 cohort. Harvard Pilgrim Health Care has been a HealthTech partner since the beginning of the program, and their involvement has been highly appreciated by the 2019 cohort as well as previous cohorts. They also engaged heavily with the startups during the 2019 program, sharing insights on driving pilots within provider organizations and engaging with about 10 startups throughout their involvement as a partner.
$100K DIAMOND WINNER (& $10K WEHEALTH STARTUP CHOICE WINNER)
1upHealth (Boston, MA): Patient data aggregation platform for app developers, providers, and patients
$40K PLATINUM WINNER
GoGoGrandparent (Mountain View, CA): Helping older adults use on-demand transportation companies without needing a smartphone.
$40K PLATINUM WINNER
Pixm (Waltham, MA): Develops AI technology that uses visual recognition to detect zero-day phishing attacks.
$20K JUDGES’ CHOICE AWARD
Marigold Health (Baltimore, MD): Mobile app for anonymous text-based group psychotherapy.
$10K MITRE WOMEN IN DIGITAL HEALTH WINNER
Welnys (Jersey City, NJ): Makes workplace wellness easy.
GOODWIN PROCTER CHAMPION OF THE YEAR WINNER
Harvard Pilgrim Health Care (Wellesley, MA): Leading not-for-profit health services company serving members in Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and beyond.