The Fuel Accelerator, a program of Fayetteville-based Startup Junkie Foundation and an innovation hub for new technologies, recently announced its fourth HealthTech cohort and a new entrepreneur in residence.
A kick-off event will take place March 10 at the Fly OZ Lounge at Thaden Field in Bentonville.
The new cohort includes eight ventures from across the country that have developed technology to address challenges in the health care industry. The 10-week program runs from March to May in Northwest Arkansas and will provide the startups with curriculum, capital and connections.
This year, Fuel will expand beyond Northwest Arkansas for the first time, with a week in Little Rock, and connect the startups with health care leaders, institutions, and economic development partners across the state.
As part of the new cohort launch, Diana McDaniel of Springdale has been named the Fuel Accelerator’s entrepreneur in residence. McDaniels is a health care executive and CEO of Prosper Med who led the launch of Arkansas Children’s Northwest as the region’s first pediatric hospital. She has experience in mentoring health tech founders on scaling and growth strategy.
Following are the eight startups in the new cohort:
- Healium of Columbia, Mo.
- WayPave of Bentonville
- The TeleDentists of Kansas City, Mo.
- PredictivCare of San Francisco
- Vital Audio of Brooklyn, N.Y.
- Adrentris of Austin, Texas
- Cair Health of Palo Alto, Calif.
- Healco of Jersey City, N.J.
Some of the technologies and services that the startups offer include revenue cycle automation, employer-sponsored care navigation, virtual care access, artificial intelligence (AI)-powered clinical intelligence, voice-based health monitoring, compliance and quality management, and workforce hiring in health care. The startups have put a strong emphasis on AI-driven tools that address clinical and operational challenges across the health care system.
“There has never been a better time for supporting health technologies in Arkansas than now,” said director Grace Gill. “We are thrilled to host founders from around the globe and show them the hard work Arkansas is putting forth to health care transformation and anticipate these technologies to compound the innovative work from organizations in NWA and across the state.”
The Fuel HealthTech cohort receives financial support from the Arkansas Economic Development Commission and the Walton Family Foundation. Since its inception in 2018, Fuel has matched more than 90 companies with enterprise partners to accelerate technology adoption.
