Keith Camhi is the Managing Director of the Techstars Healthcare Accelerator powered by Permanente Medicine Mid-Atlantic States. During his time at Techstars, he has led the global accelerator investment team, run accelerator programs with other prominent partners including Melinda Gates's Pivotal Ventures (Future of Longevity) and J.P. Morgan (in Washington D.C. and NYC), and has invested in nearly 80 startups. Prior to Techstars, Keith founded and scaled FitLinxx (securing over $50M in venture capital and reaching #20 on the Deloitte Fast 500) and Great Play (three-time Entrepreneur Franchise 500 honoree). He subsequently served as an entrepreneur-in-residence for two funds focused on healthcare and early childhood development. He holds degrees from Cornell and MIT, and has been awarded multiple patents in sensor and machine vision technology.

1. What kind of startups are you looking for in Techstars Healthcare?

We are seeking visionary entrepreneurs who are meaningfully transforming healthcare delivery, making it more accessible, personalized, and efficient. We look for solutions that enhance patient outcomes, reduce costs, and improve care experiences for both patients and physicians. When reviewing applications, we prioritize strong teams with unique insights into major challenges, the talent to solve them, and demonstrable traction, typically in revenue and/or customer interest.

2. What are the core areas of focus?

The following six areas represent our strongest convictions about where innovative solutions could have the greatest impact across care delivery, access, and outcomes. Collectively, they reflect where we believe meaningful white space exists—areas where current systems, workflows, or care models fall short and where new approaches could materially improve patient experience, clinician experience, and value.

While these focus areas guide our screening and selection, we will also consider solutions outside of these categories that align with Permanente Medicine’s practice areas, particularly where they reveal unmet needs, unlock new care models, or address gaps not well served by existing solutions, provided they improve patient outcomes, reduce costs, and enhance care experiences across diverse populations.

• Administration of Care: Improving the systems behind care delivery so physicians and care teams can spend more time focusing on patients and delivering high-quality clinical care.

• Friction Reduction: Designing access that is simple, equitable, and consistent so patients can receive care when and where they need it.

• Building Trust in Clinical Care: Strengthening trust between patients and physicians, among care teams, and between patients and the technologies that support care delivery.

• Women’s Health: Closing gaps in care for conditions that uniquely, differently, or disproportionately affect women.

• Care at Home: Expanding the ability to safely deliver care in the home to improve convenience, outcomes, and affordability, including shifting appropriate acute care from hospitals to the home or other alternate settings.

• Chronic Care and Aging: Advancing long-term management of chronic and complex conditions while supporting healthy aging.

Together, Techstars and Permanente Medicine offer an unparalleled opportunity for startups to iterate quickly toward product-market fit, seek a pilot with a leading provider, and set themselves on a course to impact healthcare at scale. For more information, join the Information Session + AMA.

3. Why is now such an incredible moment for healthcare and technology?

We are at a once-in-a-generation inflection point where advances in technology, predictive analytics, and precision medicine (among others) can fundamentally reshape patient care. The healthcare industry is actively searching for new approaches that improve outcomes while reducing costs, and entrepreneurs have the opportunity to drive that transformation. If you’re building something game-changing in healthcare, there has never been a better time to do it than now, and this accelerator is a perfect platform to help.

4. What makes this program unique?

The collaboration between Techstars and Permanente Medicine creates the ideal platform for healthcare startup innovation.

In addition to leveraging Techstars’ expertise and global network, founders in this program will have the extraordinary opportunity to work with a national leader in patient care, and one of the largest integrated medical groups in the Mid-Atlantic. Permanente Medicine’s unique approach to delivering value-based care provides an ideal environment for startups to validate, seek pilots, and refine their healthcare solutions, in an ecosystem that values innovation and is not encumbered by fee-for-service economics.

5. What have you found to be most important for startups to succeed?

Success isn’t primarily about having a great idea—it’s about relentless execution, rapid iteration, and surrounding yourself with the right people (team, advisors, mentors, partners). Investing in and working with nearly 80 startups at Techstars has reinforced this: the best founders adapt quickly, learn from setbacks, and stay focused on building real value for customers. 

This program is designed to assist driven entrepreneurs, help them avoid common pitfalls, and accelerate their path to success.

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