Techstars and the Mid-Atlantic Permanente Medical Group selected nine startups for a healthcare accelerator focused on emerging technologies and care delivery.
More than 1,200 startups applied for the 2026 Techstars Healthcare Accelerator powered by Permanente Medicine Mid-Atlantic States, according to a Sept. 18 news release.
The three-month program began Sept. 14 and will connect participating companies with Techstars investors and mentors as well as physicians and healthcare leaders from the Mid-Atlantic Permanente Medical Group.
The medical group includes about 1,800 physicians across more than 60 specialties who serve Kaiser Permanente members in Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C.
More than 100 Permanente physicians and other experts participated in reviewing applicants for their clinical potential, according to the release.
The accelerator is focused on six areas: care administration, reducing friction in healthcare delivery, strengthening trust in clinical care, women’s health, care at home, and chronic care and aging.
Here are the nine startups selected:
- Arcus Dental: Developing an at-home digital dental imaging platform intended to expand access to preventive dental care while connecting patients with their dentists.
- Brainbox: Developing technology that uses language to identify signs of cognitive decline.
- DICEtech: Developing an MRI-based virtual biopsy for prostate cancer diagnosis.
- Edulis Therapeutics: A Carnegie Mellon University spinout developing a sustained drug-delivery platform for chronic gastrointestinal diseases.
- One Small Step: Developing an AI-enabled platform connecting people with addiction and serious mental illness to certified peer support.
- Otos Health: Developing a physician-directed platform for hearing and cognitive health assessment and longitudinal monitoring.
- Rosalind Dx: Developing a prenatal test aimed at detecting chromosomal abnormalities.
- SilkMed: Developing sprayable silk-based biomaterials for complex burn and wound care.
- SQK: Developing QMEDIC, a physics-guided AI platform for reconstructing low-dose CT images.
The companies are scheduled to present their work Dec. 9 during a Demo Day in Washington, D.C.
