MATTER launches second Paratus Digital Health Accelerator
March 31, 2025, CHICAGO, IL — MATTER, the premier healthcare incubator and innovation hub, announces the launch of the second cohort of the Paratus Digital Health Accelerator.
The first cohort of the Paratus Digital Health Accelerator featured six startups pioneering advancements in digital health and the second cohort will build on that foundation. These companies have developed solutions in rapid patient-side diagnostics, patient community-driven clinical trial recruitment, community health worker networks, real-time biologic mutation testing, computer vision applications in healthcare and mobile-based disease monitoring.
The second cohort will continue the focus on digital health technologies that enhance preparedness and response to health security threats. Areas of interest include digital health tools that increase access, reduce cost or more rapidly disseminate medical countermeasures (MCMs) for public health emergencies resulting from chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN) incidents, pandemic influenza and emerging infectious diseases.
We are particularly interested in digital health solutions that support preparedness, health readiness and mobilization. Examples include:
- Technologies to enhance clinical trials for medical countermeasures, which could include innovations for enhanced recruitment and retention or optimized trial design.
- At-home digital diagnostics and telemedicine solutions that utilize artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) approaches for diagnosis and risk assessment.
- Novel approaches to collect, process, evaluate and validate real-world evidence for therapeutics, devices and diagnostics, including use of AI/ML.
- Digital twin approaches using multimodal clinical data, including AI (e.g., EHR, imaging, unstructured notes) for early identification, endotyping or treatment guidance for disease severity to enable early intervention.
- Integrated capabilities to identify deterioration in the pre-hospital setting to assist in assessing, diagnosing and treating CBRN mass casualty patients; for example, innovations that enable sensor data collection, AI model development, responder- and clinician-facing user interfaces and tools that can facilitate integration with larger healthcare enterprises.
“We look forward to working with the next group of entrepreneurs who have the potential to transform how we prepare for and respond to health security threats,” said Steven Collens, CEO of MATTER. “We’re thrilled to build on the momentum of the first cohort and continue identifying groundbreaking digital health innovations that enhance public health readiness.”
The 10-week, virtual accelerator will provide participating companies with access to mentorship, exclusive resources and an interactive curriculum from subject matter experts. Companies will refine their value propositions, craft their pitches and gain exposure to relevant industry leaders. The program will culminate with a final showcase.
MATTER is seeking submissions from around the world. The application window will close at 11:59pm CT on May 9, 2025. We will hold a virtual information session at 10:30am CT on April 24, 2025, to provide more details about the opportunity and answer questions. Learn more about the program, register for the information session and apply here.
This project has been supported in whole or in part with federal funds from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response; Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), under agreement number 75A50124C00028.
About MATTER
At MATTER, we believe collaboration is the best way to improve healthcare. The MATTER collaborative includes more than 1,000 current and alumni startups from around the world, working together with dozens of hospitals and health systems, universities and industry-leading companies to build the future of healthcare. Together we are accelerating innovation, advancing care and improving lives. For more information, visit matter.health and follow @MATTERhealth.