MedStartr

What MedStartr does

MedStartr, Inc. is a privately held, New York-based company that operates the first medical innovation crowdfunding platform, launched in 2012. The platform enables healthcare startups, clinicians, patient advocates, and nonprofits to run campaign-based crowdfunding to fund digital health, medical device, biotech, and healthcare service innovations. Beyond crowdfunding, MedStartr extends into enterprise open-innovation sourcing through Crowd Challenges — programs for governments, corporations, and associations to crowdsource, validate, and select healthcare innovations — and supports the ecosystem with a mentor network, the MedMo World Tour events, regional communities across multiple US cities plus a global footprint, and the Power Women Collective sub-community.

The company monetizes through three primary streams: (1) transaction-based platform fees on crowdfunding campaigns, (2) returns from MedStartr Ventures (held via the wholly-owned MedStartr Venture Funds, LLC) which invests in crowd-validated companies, and (3) enterprise professional-services revenue from sponsored Crowd Challenges. Reported platform-facilitated funding totals $2,574,614 cumulatively since inception, with MedStartr Ventures having invested $4,735,049 across portfolio companies; the highest single campaign funded $1,307,586. The company self-reports 250,000+ members in its healthcare innovation community.

MedStartr maintains strategic relationships with a broker-dealer (Young America Capital) for securities compliance on funding activities, and recurring enterprise challenge sponsors including AMIA, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana, Ochsner Health System, Tulane Health System, Lafayette General Foundation, and Takeda Pharmaceuticals. Headcount is reported as 1-10 employees, consistent with a lean operating model centered on platform facilitation, challenge programming, and fund management rather than heavy internal infrastructure build-out.

Name

MedStartr

Legal name

MedStartr, Inc.

Website

https://medstartr.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2012

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

MedStartr operates the first medical innovation crowdfunding platform, enabling healthcare startups and nonprofits to raise capital via campaigns while providing enterprise open-innovation sourcing through Crowd Challenges, backed by MedStartr Ventures and a 250,000-member healthcare innovation community.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Healthcare Crowdfunding and Innovation Platform

NAICS

Grantmaking and Giving Services (81321), Health and Welfare Funds (52512), Social Assistance (624)

SIC

Services-Health Services (8000), Investment Advice (6282), Services-Prepackaged Software (7372)

akta.pro primary industry

Health & Medical Research Grantmaking Foundations (BPAGAKAL)

akta.pro secondary industries

Chronic Disease & Health Promotion Program Funding (HLAJALAJ), Patient Advocacy, Navigation & Access to Care (BPAGACAH)

Keywords

• Healthcare crowdfunding platform
• Medical innovation funding
• Crowd challenges
• Healthcare venture capital
• Enterprise crowdsourcing solutions

Headquarters

HQ city

New York

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Operations, Others

Revenue model

1. Crowdfunding Platform Fees: MedStartr operates as a crowdfunding platform where healthcare innovators can raise funds. The platform facilitates campaigns with various funding goals and takes a percentage of successful campaigns.
2. Investment Fund Returns: MedStartr Ventures invests in crowd-validated healthcare companies. The fund targets ideas that succeed on the MedStartr platform, leveraging the observation that companies that win pitch contests or perform well in crowdfunding are over 20 times more likely to succeed in later funding stages.
3. Enterprise Crowdsourcing Solutions: The company offers enterprise-level open innovation sourcing services to governments, corporations, and associations through Crowd Challenges, providing First Looks, First Access, and Faster Innovation opportunities.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

MedStartr operates a healthcare-focused crowdfunding platform that enables medical startups and digital health innovators to raise capital through campaign-based funding. Beyond crowdfunding, the company runs Crowd Challenges for governments, corporations, and associations, providing open innovation sourcing, validation, and selection services, and operates MedStartr Ventures, an investment fund that backs crowd-validated healthcare companies.

Product overview

MedStartr is a comprehensive healthcare innovation ecosystem combining crowdfunding, crowd challenges, and investment services. The core platform (MedStartr.com) enables healthcare startups to get funded through campaign-based crowdfunding, while MedStartr Ventures provides investment capital and the Acceleration Program offers startup support. The ecosystem includes Crowd Challenges for open innovation sourcing, Enterprise Crowdsourcing Solutions for organizational needs, and a global Healthcare Innovation Community with over 250,000 members. Supporting features include MedStartr Mentors for advisor connections, the Power Women Collective for diversity-focused collaboration, and the MedMo World Tour for pitch events and networking.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• MedStartr.com Crowdfunding Platform The core MedStartr.com crowdfunding platform where healthcare startups, digital health founders, medical device inventors, biotech firms, and patient-led projects create campaigns to raise seed funding and build an early-adopter community. Campaigns have ranged from a few thousand to over one million dollars, with a total of $2,574,614 funded across the platform to date.
• MedStartr Ventures Venture capital fund that invests in healthcare companies that succeed on the MedStartr crowdfunding platform or in its Crowd Challenges, leveraging the observation that crowd-validated companies are reported as over 20 times more likely to succeed in later funding stages. Total investment through the fund is reported as $4,735,049.
• MedStartr Acceleration Program Accelerator program for healthcare startups providing mentorship, resources, and access to MedStartr Ventures investment, designed to compress the time healthcare innovations take to reach market.
• Crowd Challenges Open innovation challenges that crowdsource, validate, and select healthcare innovations for sponsoring organizations, including named challenges like the AMIA Pitch IT Competition, Takeda MDD Challenge, Navigator Challenge, Diabetes Care Challenge, and Real Time Results Challenge.
• Enterprise Crowdsourcing Solutions Enterprise open innovation services providing First Looks, First Access, and Faster Innovation for healthcare organizations, governments, and corporations seeking to source and validate external healthcare innovations through the MedStartr community and challenge infrastructure.

Quantifiable outcome

• Total funded across platform: $2,574,614
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers6 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature1 record

Partnerships

Nine partnerships are on record, tiered minor and major.

• iHealth TrustminorOthersListed as a supporter and partner on MedStartr's footer, representing a healthcare-focused organization aligned with MedStartr's mission
• Telehealth & Telecare AwareminorOthersPartner organization focused on telehealth and telecare, aligned with MedStartr's healthcare innovation ecosystem
• pDev HealthTech AlphaminorGTM or Marketing PartnerPartner platform for MedStartr 2025 initiatives, supporting healthcare technology innovation and promotion
• AMIA (American Medical Informatics Association)majorStrategic or Co-development PartnerAnnual co-host of AMIA Pitch IT Competition, a medical informatics innovation challenge attracting entrepreneurs with new applications of medical informatics at point of care
• Blue Cross and Blue Shield of LouisianamajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerSponsor of multiple healthcare challenges including Diabetes Care Challenge presented jointly with Ochsner Health System
• Ochsner Health SystemmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-sponsor of Diabetes Care Challenge and Social Determinants Data Challenge with Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana
• Tulane Health SystemmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerSponsor of The Navigator Challenge and Affordable Choices Challenge for healthcare innovation
• Lafayette General FoundationmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerSponsor of The Inter-Operability Challenge and Real Time Results Challenge for healthcare innovation
• Takeda PharmaceuticalsmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerSponsor of Takeda MDD Challenge for major depressive disorder innovation

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• HeroX: Open innovation and crowdsourcing platform that runs prize-based challenges for organizations, including healthcare. Comparable as an enterprise-facing crowdsourcing/challenges business targeting innovation sourcing — directly overlapping MedStartr's Crowd Challenges product.
• InnoCentive (now Wazoku): Enterprise open innovation platform that runs crowdsourced challenges for corporations and governments, with extensive healthcare and life sciences deployments. Comparable as an enterprise crowdsourcing platform with a challenges/innovation-sourcing model targeting large organizations.
• Republic: Equity and rewards crowdfunding platform with a strong healthtech vertical and curated investor community. Comparable as a regulated, community-driven crowdfunding platform targeting health and tech startups, including investment-oriented offerings.
• StartEngine: Leading equity crowdfunding platform in the US that has hosted healthcare and biotech raises. Comparable as a regulated platform enabling community participation in startup investing, including in healthcare ventures.
• Wefunder: Equity crowdfunding platform with active health and biotech deal flow under Reg CF/A+. Comparable as a community-driven capital-raising platform where retail backers invest alongside funds, overlapping MedStartr's venture-crowdfunding hybrid model.
• Experiment (formerly Microryza): Crowdfunding platform dedicated to scientific research and early-stage science projects, with significant health-adjacent deal flow. Comparable as a niche, community-led crowdfunding platform for research-oriented projects, similar to MedStartr's healthcare-specialist positioning.

Regional players

• Crowdcube: UK-headquartered equity crowdfunding platform with healthtech deal flow. Comparable as a regulated equity crowdfunding platform serving health and tech startups, though primarily operating in the UK/Europe rather than the US market where MedStartr is focused.

Broad incumbents

• Kickstarter: Largest rewards-based crowdfunding platform globally. Comparable as a direct alternative channel for healthcare innovators raising capital from a consumer audience, though it lacks healthcare-specific curation and community.
• Indiegogo: Major rewards-based crowdfunding platform with established health and tech categories. Comparable as a general-purpose alternative for healthcare crowdfunding campaigns, but without MedStartr's healthcare-specialized community and challenges.
• GoFundMe: Dominant consumer donation-based crowdfunding platform with a large medical fundraising category. Comparable as a default destination for individuals seeking healthcare-related funding, though its model is donations rather than rewards or equity.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/MedStartr
• Facebookfacebook.com/medstartr
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/medstartr

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles5 records

Subsidiaries1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds1 record

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about MedStartr