Atlanta poised to have a breakout year for healthcare start-ups
That's the take from Hypepotamus, and the publication makes a strong case for that belief.
Is Atlanta on the cusp of a breakout year for healthcare start-ups? Well, at least one local publication – Hypepotamus – believes so, and it backs up the belief with some good examples in this recent article.
- Science Square, a nearly 370,000-square-foot complex located on 18 acres west of Georgia Tech’s campus, is set to open this quarter. It will serve as a mixed-use space catering to R&D-heavy companies, something that the publication says has been sorely lacking across the city. The first company to move in will be Portal Innovations, a Chicago-based life sciences venture capital firm that will open a fully-equipped lab space for budding Atlanta entrepreneurs along with venture capital. Portal Innovations raised $100 million in 2023.
- Atlanta’s budding life science sector – an innovation umbrella that includes HealthTech, BioTech, and medical device start-ups – has a pretty solid foundation on which to build. The city is home to the CDC (Centers for Disease Control), two medical schools, and the top ranked biomedical engineering program in the country. It is also home to three R1 research institutions – Emory, Georgia Tech and Georgia State. In recent years the city has seen the growth of a new cutting-edge research campus at Children’s Hospital of Atlanta, the Center for MedTech Excellence, and the Global Center for Medical Innovation. Mobile healthcare company Sharecare, founded in 2010, went public in 2021.
- Hypepotamus says “the local start-up ecosystem is also buzzing.” The Atlanta Healthcare Entrepreneur Meetup group has grown to more than 2,900 members over the last five years. Funding into healthcare and MedTech start-ups has been heating up. Ventures like InpharmD and NFANT Labs have landed investment checks over the last few weeks. Other venture-backed healthcare related start-ups in town include Impiricus, Florence Healthcare, Loyal, ModifyHealth, MedTrans Go, OncoLens, Patientco, Patientory, Physician 360, Rimidi, and Reframe, just to name a few.
- Large healthcare organizations have also taken note of and started investing in the local healthcare innovation scene. Hypepotamus cites Catalyst by Wellstar, which runs a $100 million venture fund and supports the HealthTech vertical at ATDC, Georgia’s technology incubator, and the Engage program.
It all adds up to a pretty exciting time for HealthTech, BioTech, and medical device start-ups.
