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The HealthTech Hub Africa Accelerator.

Our mission is to support governments, start-ups and scale-ups to collaborate on data and technology-enabled innovations that strengthen health systems in Africa.

About the accelerator

The HTHA  Accelerator program is designed to nurture healthtech startups and scale-ups that are committed to addressing pressing healthcare challenges in Africa through partnership with governments and the public sector.

We provide a supportive peer and partner ecosystem, unique access to government stakeholders, and ample resources to foster innovation, promote scalability, and drive the development of health technologies in Africa.

We collaborate with government partners to create opportunities for ventures to demonstrate their solutions and produce substantial impact across the health sector.

 

Our Goals

The HealthTech Hub Africa aims to support local authorities to tackle the largest health challenges in low-income and underserved populations through catalytic partnerships to achieve three main goals:

  • Support local startups to deliver more impactful HealthTech innovations driven by data and generating evidence on how they decrease health inequities.
  • Create a launchpad for local HealthTech solutions in Africa with regional and global potential through fostering dialogue and value-driven partnerships between innovators, policymakers, funders, and researchers.
  •  Inform forward-looking policies on data and technology in health.

Growth Startups

Startups in this stage are pre- or post-revenue African registered companies with an African founder operating in one of the four thematic areas.

The startups are expected to be offering a product or service that is creating positive health benefits, with a rigorous approach to monitoring their impact on individuals (e.g. clients, patients, community members, health workers).

As part of the cohort, startups can refine their business models, validate their solutions, and integrate them into the public health sector.

Benefits to Startups

  • Expert masterclasses
  • Media training, public speaking and pitch practice sessions
  • Community support and peer learning and collaboration opportunities.
  • Invitation to networking meetups and hybrid events across Africa and beyond.
  •  Access to the HealthTech Hub Africa Impact Framework and training on its use.
  • Startup solution demos and opportunities to pitch during the HealthTech summits in Kigali, Rwanda.
  • Mentorship from volunteer mentors, per startup, with strong expertise in population health and technology
  • Support to understand national digital health strategies and roadmaps and develop public-private partnerships.
  • Free access to world-class legal services, accounting, marketing, talent acquisition, and accelerated fundraising.
  • Introduction to digital interoperability standards (e.g., HL7 FHIR/ WHO SMART Guidelines) to support public sector integration.
  • Access to the HTHA public-private network, providing pro bono technology credits, advisory, market access support, funding opportunities.
  • Training and access to an interactive platform for growth-level support allowing for better structuring and refinement of existing and new business models and preparation of executive summaries.

Scaleups

These will be post-revenue African registered startups  with an African founder operating in one of the four thematic areas.

The scaleups will be expected to be offering a evidence-based product or service that is creating positive health benefits, with a rigorous approach to monitoring their impact on individuals e.g. clients, patients, community members, health workers.

The program’s goal is to assist scale-ups in validating and integrating their solutions at scale into one or more public health systems in Africa.

Benefits to Scaleups

  • Access to all the above benefits offered to growth startups

  • Media training and exposure.

  • Additional Investment Readiness Support.

  • Free access to world-class legal services, accounting, marketing, talent acquisition, and accelerated fundraising.

Currently, the HealthTech Hub Africa focuses on the following four thematic areas with impact goals for public health systems:

Cardiovascular Health

Reducing cardiovascular disease deaths on the population level through improved screening, referral, diagnosis, and management.

Breast Cancer

Reducing breast cancer deaths on the population level through improved screening, referral, diagnosis, and management.

Virtual health and care

Improving quality, access to equitable care, and digital literacy through remote delivery of preventative and curative health and care services.

Optimization of data-driven decision making

Improving health system capabilities and epidemic preparedness through stronger integrated health information.

Benefits of being in the Accelerator Program

1. Lifetime Access To The Hub’s Alumni Network And Open-Source Resources

All startups and scale-ups who have completed the program will receive a Participation Certificate and a lifetime Alumni membership to the HealthTech Hub Africa’s resources and future opportunities.

2. Funding Opportunities For Innovation Acceleration In Public Health

Through the digital platform of the hub, all selected startups will be able to apply for grant funding and in-kind benefits exceeding USD 1M.

The funding will serve the startups to test, refine, validate, integrate and, accelerate and/or scale their solutions in the public health sector to drive forward health equity in the continent.

Following the projects’ completion, the solutions successfully integrated into the respective national health systems will be spotlighted and will have the opportunity to seek further support in the future.

3. Full-Year Access To A State-Of-Art Co-Working Space

The membership comes with 12 months of serviced office space, meeting and conference spaces, and an invitation to startup community events hosted by the Norrsken East Africa House in Kigali.

4. Membership In The HealthTech Public-Private Partners Network, Which Includes:

  • Free expert-level support from established local and global organizations in the form of advisory, facilitation, match-making with prospective partners, consulting, and more
  • Perks in the form of free and/or highly discounted infrastructure credits, software licenses, technical and design services, royalty-free images, and videos
  • Access to the hub’s investor circle
  • Access to various opportunities shared by the network including events, funding calls, expert groups, etc.