CHICAGO – March 16, 2026 - The Northwestern Medicine and Techstars Healthcare Accelerator is thrilled to announce the startups selected for its 2026 class. Following a highly successful inaugural year, the program continues to provide healthcare startups with the resources, mentorship, and network needed to scale across the healthcare industry.

“Building on the tremendous momentum of our first year, we could not be more excited to welcome this new group of exceptional founders,” said Brad Schnitzer, Managing Director of the Accelerator, Techstars. “Our inaugural class set an incredibly high bar, and we're excited to help this next wave of innovators over the next 12 weeks. We continue to be deeply impressed with the Northwestern Medicine team, whose hands-on support and commitment are invaluable to ensuring these startups succeed in the enterprise healthcare space.”

These early-stage companies are tackling some of the most critical challenges in healthcare today, ranging from digital therapeutics and clinical compliance to advanced proteomics. The three-month, mentorship-driven program will take place at Northwestern Medicine's Mansueto Innovation Institute, right in the heart of Chicago's dynamic healthcare ecosystem.

“We’re excited to welcome the 2026 cohort and continue advancing our mission to inspire the next generation of health care innovation,” said Doug King, Chief Digital and Information Officer, Northwestern Medicine. “Our inaugural program last year proved what’s possible when visionary entrepreneurs partner directly with our clinical teams. In the months ahead, we look forward to collaborating with these new founders as we explore emerging technologies and the meaningful, long-term impact they may have on patient care and the broader health care ecosystem.”

The selected startups for the 2026 class are:

Arul Health - Boston, MA – A digital health platform built by survivors to elevate cancer survivorship care, providing personalized psycho-oncology therapy, virtual peer support, and integrative medicine guidance.

ImmPro - Chicago, IL – A pioneer in top-down proteomics for biopharmaceutical development, providing comprehensive, single-particle analysis of proteins to characterize intact proteoforms and gene therapy vectors.

Verbal - San Jose, CA – An AI-powered clinical compliance and quality assurance platform that ensures written clinical, safety, and billing protocols are followed at the point of care, saving staff hours of manual auditing.

Slideflow Labs - Chicago, IL – An open-source, unified AI platform for digital pathology that empowers research and healthcare delivery by allowing teams to build, validate, and deploy digital biomarkers using local, low-cost hardware.

Soihtu DTx - Helsinki, Finland – A digital therapeutics company redefining mental health treatment through immersive video games designed to treat major depressive episodes, offering an engaging alternative for patients resistant to conventional therapies.

Demo Day for the 2026 class will take place in early June 2026, where these startups will pitch to a community of mentors, investors, and healthcare industry leaders.

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