mHUB Opens Applications for its 2023 MedTech Accelerator for the Commercialization of Demand-Driven Medical Device Solutions
The next 6-month MedTech accelerator program opens applications October 24; Program will be led by mHUB co-founder Bill Fienup.
( CHICAGO, October 24, 2022) — mHUB announces that applications have opened for its next MedTech accelerator, which will commence in January 2023 at the hardtech innovation center in Chicago. The 6-month accelerator advances demand-driven, novel medical device technologies that have the potential to transform healthcare. The call for applications begins on October 20, with 8-10 disruptive medical device startups ultimately selected into the program. Bill Fienup , mHUB Co-Founder and VP of Innovation will serve as the program’s Executive Director.
Startups selected into the program will receive an initial investment of $175k in cash and services and access to mHUB’s over $6M of prototyping equipment and manufacturing resources. The intensive six-month incubation program includes rapid product development and prototyping, business development and leadership training, mentorship, customer validation, and piloting. Industry will provide direct mentorship, industry insight, and potential strategic partnership and pilot opportunities.
The program will be led by Bill Fienup, who will temporarily step back from his current role of leading teams of engineers on research and development projects through mHUB HardTech Development Services. Prior to founding mHUB, Bill was a prolific hardtech innovator, entrepreneur, and product developer of consumer products and medical devices. MedTech innovations developed during his entrepreneurial career include: as a grad student at MIT, collaborating with Mass General Hospital to invent a biopsy needle; as a consultant at IDEO, working with Eli Lilly to prototype novel insulin injectors; at Insight Product Development, working with Abbvie to develop a wearable automated injection device; and collaborating with Ethicon, a Johnson & Johnson Surgical Technologies company, to commercialize an articulating stapler.
At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Bill spearheaded a community innovation effort to prototype and test a new ventilator that could be produced from readily available components and partnered with Northwestern University to invent an automated AMBU bag squeezer that could be manufactured for under $100. Bill holds over a dozen patents — including a bandage dispenser, ophthalmology chair, automated AMBU bag squeezer, biopsy needle, and 3D printing alignment.
“I had the pleasure of working with the first mHUB MedTech accelerator cohort through mHUB Hardtech Development Services, which helped them iterate and improve existing prototypes,” said Bill Fienup, Executive Director, MedTech Accelerator, mHUB. “I’m thrilled to dive deeper with the next cohort and guide teams through the entire program of customer discovery, market access, product development, business viability and commercialization. It puts me back to my roots as an entrepreneur making impact through innovation in healthcare.”
mHUB accelerator programs are supported by the $15M Product Impact Fund I, which is currently making investments at a rate 6.5X that of the national average of deploying capital in underrepresented founders. The first cohort of the mHUB MedTech accelerator, which graduated from the program in May 2022, is collectively raising a total of $18.7M in seed rounds this year.
To apply and learn more about the program, visit mhubaccelerator.com.
About mHUB
mHUB is a leading independent hardtech and manufacturing innovation center that exists to convene the entrepreneurial ecosystem around physical product innovation to ensure that the manufacturing industry continues to accelerate, grow, and thrive. The mHUB community includes over 450 active and alumni startups and small businesses supported by a deep talent pool of product designers and developers, entrepreneurs, engineers and manufacturers, corporate leaders, industry experts, mentors and investors. mHUB provides a hyper-resourced environment to entrepreneurs with the goal of commercializing new hardtech innovation that will lead to new businesses, intellectual property, investment, revenue and job creation. Since launching in 2017, the mHUB community has generated more than $730M in revenue, launched more than 1,398 products, hired more than 3,987 employees, and raised nearly $1.3B in capital.
