Innovate UK Biomedical Catalyst Accelerator - Medtech Venture Kickstarter

Starting November 2025 – applications open

The Innovate UK Biomedical Catalyst Accelerator MedTech Venture Kickstarter (MVK) is a new, intensive, structured 4-month (Nov 2025 to Feb 2026) programme delivered by LIHE on behalf of the Health Innovation Network South London (HIN) to provide MedTech ventures the confidence to proceed at pace in taking their innovation to market.

Funded by the Innovate UK Biomedical Catalyst, the programme is FREE for all ventures selected through a highly competitive application process. LIHE welcomes ventures commercialising a medical device to apply.

Open to ventures from across the UK, the programme aims to de-risk and accelerate the commercial readiness of your medical device. We achieve this by stress-testing and robustly validating your venture’s commercialisation roadmap, giving you the best chance of success in positively impacting patients.

Successful ventures will become embedded into the LIHE ecosystem, participating in weekly activities including masterclasses, workshops, and bespoke guidance from in-house translation experts in regulatory and quality management, health technology assessment, clinical translation and more. Each venture will be matched with a dedicated Expert-In-Residence (EiR), who will act as a strategic navigator with MedTech expertise, supporting your venture.

Important note: Ventures completing the programme will be eligible to apply for a closed feasibility grant competition by Innovate UK.

Apply now

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What we offer

Access to the LIHE Ecosystem

All ventures joining the programme will be permitted for up to 2 team members to use the desk space, 1-day per week at the London Institute for Healthcare Engineering for the duration of the programme.
Join a number of industry-specific, in-person events
Engage with funding opportunities
Connect with key stakeholders

Workshops

Attend weekly in-person masterclasses and workshops at LIHE
Expert delivered content covers Quality & Regulation, Intellectual Property, Health Technology Assessment, Clinical Adoption & Reimbursement, International Strategy, Fundraising and more
Interactive sessions complemented by topic-based tasks, ensuring you actively apply what you learn

Expert Guidance

Connect to an Expert-in-Residence with deep MedTech expertise
Obtain hands-on strategic milestone development and 1-2-1 translation support from LIHE teams
Validate your commercial plan with guidance from Experts in Residence and the LIHE team

Health Technology Assessment Support

Access to a specialist Health Technology Assessment (HTA) platform
Conduct a gap analysis for the NHS
Receive a personalised report for evidence generation plan

For more details on the programme, join our drop-in session on the 22nd of September.

Key outcomes and dates

By participating in the MedTech Venture Kickstarter your venture will have:

developed core knowledge and skills in MedTech translation
a meaningful understanding of how to navigate NHS adoption and procurement
strengthened your technology’s value proposition and commercial resilience
a robust, stress tested and validated commercialisation roadmap
de-risked your proposition for investment

By completing this programme, your venture will be in a stronger position to fundraise.

The programme culminates in eligibility for a closed feasibility grant competition by Innovate UK.

Key application dates for the MedTech Venture Kickstarter

Eligibility

The MedTech Venture Kickstarter invites applications from:

UK-based registered companies commercialising a medical device as defined under the UK (Directive 93/42/EEC on medical devices) and EU (Medical Devices Regulation (EU) 2017/745) regulatory framework(s)
Early market validation e.g. clinical partnership, current pilot, letters of intent (LOIs)
Institutional or non-institutional intellectual property acceptable
Agnostic on funding stage, but with enough runway to complete the programme
Software as a Medical Device (SaMD) companies are strongly recommended to apply
Companies with innovations in the following focus areas are explicitly invited to apply: Cancer; Regulated Women's Health; Surgery.

Important note: In-vitro diagnostics and unregulated digital health technologies are not eligible.

Minimum requirements to apply

For registered companies only
Technologies should be at minimum proof of concept stage (TRL ≥4) with initial evidence
Cross-functional leadership team in place with complementary skills, clinical lead as part of the team is advisable
Shareholding agreed between founders
Commitment expected: Min of 1 day a week in-person at LIHE (LONDON) for the duration of the programme (Nov 2025 to Feb 2026)

Important note: all sessions are delivered in person at LIHE in London. At least one member of your team must be present in person at each session.