GCMI's MEDTECH
ACCELERATOR
GCMI’s industry-supported medtech accelerator helps ensure time and money are used wisely throughout the evaluation, design, development and regulatory pathway process for concepts and products with strong addressable markets.
Derisking Innovation
Our team de-risks technologies, clarifies development pathways, validates business models and increases the probability for successful commercialization.
The Process
We move startups through very specific milestones, making sure they’re connected to the right expertise and capabilities at the right time.
Resources
Gain access to people and knowledge you don’t yet have on your team including our network, relationships, internal team, capabilities & expertise.
Requirements
Founders and their early-stage medtech companies or ideas will need to meet some requirements to successfully enter and complete the program.
Derisking Innovation
Too many early-stage medtech innovations and companies fail unnecessarily because they run out of funding before achieving critical milestones necessary for investment. This risk can be mitigated by proper sequencing of activities in the concept to commercialization pathway. Is it possible to know early in the process when innovators are burning cash at too high a rate and failure is nearly certain? In many cases, yes.
We work with teams to de-risk their technologies, clarify development pathways, validate business models and increase the probability for successful commercialization.
How the Process Works
GCMI’s medtech accelerator does not utilize a traditional cohort model. It is a prescriptive, high-touch process of moving startups through very specific milestones making sure they’re connected to the right expertise and capabilities at the right time to achieve phase gated goals. Our process encourages an early focus on clear problem definition and de-risking a wide variety of potential solutions.
We do not take equity. The accelerator program is entirely fee-based and typically involves funding assistance for specific activities through a large strategic organization or medical product company.
Access to Resources
Access to people and knowledge they don’t yet have on their team including our network, relationships, internal team, capabilities & expertise. For example our medical affairs liaison offers clinical insight and an outside perspective on medical product design and development. She acts as a clinical resource, or translator, for engineers in a physician’s perspective as a pre-voice of customer resource. She helps identify problems before they become insurmountable barriers. A clear understanding of how a technology fits into the practice of medicine is critical to successful commercialization. In short, if a new technology does not fit comfortably into clinical workflow, its adoption is unlikely.
Milestone input from a potential investor or strategic partner. If an accepted young company does not achieve accelerator milestones, it is unlikely to raise additional funding. Accelerator companies must learn quickly and be prepared to pivot. There is not a faster route to your milestones, or a more capital-efficient way to succeed or fail quickly, for an early-stage medtech company.
What Selected Companies Look Like
- Some seed funding raised (typically $250,000 – $500,000)
- Proof of concept prototype
- High-level business plan including go to market strategy
- Filed IP: at minimum, a provisional patent application already filed
- Clear regulatory pathway: with seed funding as noted above, early stage medtech companies or startups should have confidence in their regulatory pathway before inquiring
- Understanding of reimbursement: who is going to pay for your technology and how?
Partners and Industry Sponsors
Let's Talk
If you meet these criteria and think you’re ready to take a meaningful step forward in the development of your innovative medtech idea’s journey from concept to commercialization, please fill out the form below.