Mumbai; July 3, 2026 — IHH Healthcare and Fortis Healthcare wrapped up the inaugural IHH Catalyst | Fortis India Edition after a 12‑week accelerator that combined mentorship, clinical validation and live testing inside Fortis hospitals. Launched in February as the first regional edition of IHH’s global incubator, the programme received 195 applications and shortlisted 10 startups that refined product‑market fit, operational workflows and implementation readiness under clinician and industry mentorship.
eNext ICU won the edition with a 24×7 Tele‑ICU platform aimed at bridging the intensivist gap in Tier II and Tier III cities, enabling continuous critical‑care oversight for hospitals that lack round‑the‑clock specialist coverage.
RNT Health Insights was named first runner‑up for an AI‑assisted device suite that supports earlier detection of upper gastrointestinal cancers during routine endoscopies, a tool that could improve diagnostic accuracy at the point of care.
Cartogene Therapeutics took second runner‑up, working to make CAR‑T cell therapy more accessible and affordable for blood‑cancer patients in India — a high‑impact, capital‑intensive effort targeting treatment affordability and scalability.
Startups were judged on team strength, innovation, impact and scalability, with judges prioritising clinical relevance and implementation readiness. The programme emphasised real‑world testing: access to Fortis clinical settings gave founders iterative clinician feedback, exposure to hospital operations and clearer pathways to pilot deployments.
The cohort also included CarePal Money, Tatvacare, MicroHeal, Nalagenetics, Sunfox Technologies, Kubo Care and Cureous Labs. Collectively, the batch highlighted persistent gaps in India’s healthcare system — critical‑care access, earlier diagnostics and affordable advanced therapies — and showed where hospital and investor interest is converging.
For founders, the accelerator offered more than demo‑day visibility: it delivered clinical anchoring and operational learning that can turn prototypes into patient‑facing solutions. If major hospital networks continue to open their doors, India could see faster translation of healthtech innovation into measurable patient outcomes.
By : Sejal Thakur
