Tigerlabs launches health IT accelerator in NJ pharma corridor

Tigerlabs has launched a health IT accelerator program, Tigerlabs Health, which is billed as the first such venture to be headquartered in the Garden State's pharmaceutical corridor.

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Close by firms such as Merck, Johnson & Johnson, Bristol Myers-Squibb, Novartis, Novo Nordisk and other pharma, biotechnology and medical device firms, Tigerlabs is well-positioned to capitalize on regional executive and investor relationships to help spur health IT innovation, say Tigerlabs officials.

The entrepreneurship center has opened applications for the three-month program, kicking off in February 2013, which offers $20,000 in seed funding, mentorship, software, professional seminars and co-working facility for health IT innovators. The program culminates with a demo day, to be attended by prominent investors and industry executives.

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“We feel that the Tigerlabs accelerator philosophy combined with our proximity to NJ’s pharma hotbed, offers healthcare IT innovators an incredibly collaborative, supportive and favorable environment to succeed in launching their companies,” said Tigerlabs co-founder Bert Navarrete. “Our goal was not to just create another accelerator, but to actually solve real problems that the industry is facing – and shake up its much maligned and notoriously lengthy development process. So we created a program to connect those who have big ideas with the executives and investors who could help in actually bringing them to market.”

Tigerlabs will be considering an array of health IT initiatives, officials say, such as: