Founder Institute was proud to partner with the VHA Innovation Ecosystem for this first-ever Breaking Boundaries Collaboration Challenge - the 2 day pitch competition and live healthcare innovation event took place on August 26 & 27th 2021 in partnership with the Veterans Health Administration.
The Veterans Health Administration (VHA) is the largest integrated healthcare system in the United States. In the spirit of collaboration between the public and private sector, this inagural Breaking Boundaries Collaboration Challenge pitch competition served to help kick off the VHA's 2021 Innovation Experience (VHA iEX) event series.
Founder Institute was also proud to be joined by Silicon Valley portfolio Alumni Torrey Smith, Co-Founder & CEO of Endiatx, the featured keynote speaker for Breaking Boundaries.
Watch the full Day 1 event below, including all finalist founder pitches and Endiatx CEO Torrey Smith's keynote address:
Meet the 2021 Breaking Boundaries Finalists:
Winners were announced on Day 2 of the live event, which also featured fireside chat and panel discussions with health and medical technology leaders from across the VHA Innovation Ecosystem - watch the full Day 2 video below:
Congratulations to Cryoscope Medical, Leuko Labs, Oath Aging Care, Braze Mobility, Stabl, Cibus Health, Able Innovations, Invictus BCI, Stanley Healthcare, and Your Vesa, our 2021 Breaking Boundaries Collaboration Challenge winners!
The Breaking Boundaries Collaboration Challenge is an online pitch competition where selected winners have an opportunity to collaborate with the VHA Innovation Ecosystem to advance their solution to the next stages of development. Open to U.S. based companies that are healthcare innovation-focused (including private sector companies, non-profits, entrepreneurs and startups, or academic affiliates, and at the earliest stages of solution design and development), this challenge is an effort to foster collaboration between the public and private sectors, and to further advance healthcare resources provided to U.S. Veterans. Watch the event video to see 20 emerging healthcare innovators pitch their ideas to the VHA IE network and leadership team.
Additional VHA Partner Information:
The Breaking Boundaries Collaboration Challenge is part of an ongoing series of events leading up to VHA Innovation Experience (iEX) on October 27 and 28th, 2021. Other pre-events prior to iEX will include panels on September 15, 2021 “Forging a Healthier Future: Post-Pandemic Care” and on October 13, 2021 “Breaking Boundaries: Using Innovation to Advance Health Equity.
* * *
Graduates of the Founder Institute are creating some of the world's fastest growing startups, having raised over $950M in funding, and building products people love across over 185 cities worldwide.
See the most recent news from our Grads at FI.co/news, or learn more about their stories at FI.co/journey.
