Digital health entrepreneurs in the Southeast now have a new source of help for launching a company: The Iron Yard in Spartanburg, SC. The organization has already had one class of tech startups and now is expanding to digital health.
It’s looking for 10 companies of two or more staff that are required to be located in the area for duration of the three month program, though they can come from anywhere around the US. Companies that want to be considered for the program can apply here.
In an interview with Peter Barth, a partner with Iron Yard, he said four hospital systems approached Iron Yard to set up a digital health accelerator because they were interested in new technology. Barth would rather have applicants that are interested in the internal workings of hospital systems and identifying ways to improve things like billing systems, not a new idea for a nutrition app.
Barth described conversations it had with healthcare providers. “They said, ‘If you are really interested in working in partnership, look at internal innovations and commercialize them.'”
The three month program will have weekly workshops from experts in healthcare innovation, fundraising, development, design, lean startup methodology, team formation and financing. The plan is to run the program annually.
Among the companies that will work with the accelerator are JM Smith Corp., a holding company for six pharmaceutical and healthcare businesses, Mayo Clinic, AbbVie (Abbott Labs), Zebra Technologies, and BMW.
In addition to the digital health accelerator Iron Yard also runs a web and mobile tech accelerator, a code and design school and several shared workspace locations.
A Deep-dive Into Specialty Pharma
A specialty drug is a class of prescription medications used to treat complex, chronic or rare medical conditions. Although this classification was originally intended to define the treatment of rare, also termed “orphan” diseases, affecting fewer than 200,000 people in the US, more recently, specialty drugs have emerged as the cornerstone of treatment for chronic and complex diseases such as cancer, autoimmune conditions, diabetes, hepatitis C, and HIV/AIDS.
It numbers among its 150 mentors a strong community of creative directors and user experience design, will be a component of its program.
One of the most critical elements for accelerators to work well is tying in with regional partners in the longterm.
Here are some details of the program:
- $20,000 in seed capital in exchange for 6 percent equity stake
- Jun. 7: Application Deadline
- Jul. 15: Program Begins
- Sept. 29th-October 3rd: Demo Day at Health 2.0 Silicon Valley Fall Conference
- Oct. 15: Southeast launch event
Three month proof incredible mentorship and Demo Day exclusive session at Health 2.0, Silicon Valley Fall Conference.
Full year of free coworking space surrounded by other innovators.
