The American Heart Association has selected eight companies to join the Heart and Brain Health Accelerator, a specialty track within the 2026 MedTech Innovator (MTI) Accelerator. The track is designed to advance novel medical or digital health technologies aligned with the Association's mission to improve cardiovascular and brain health. The companies were chosen from a highly competitive global pool as part of MTI's overall 2026 cohort, representing some of the most promising early- and mid-stage medical technology startups.
Through this collaboration with MTI, American Heart Association Ventures and the Association's Studio Red continue to identify and support innovation that aims to improve patient outcomes, expand access to care, and address critical gaps in cardiovascular and neurological health. American Heart Association Ventures is the mission-driven venture capital program of the American Heart Association.
“Novel approaches to tackling today's most pressing challenges are what will drive us forward in addressing the age-old challenges of improving heart and brain health,” said Lisa Suennen, managing partner of American Heart Association Ventures. “Through the Heart and Brain Health Accelerator, we are connecting high-potential companies with the expertise, resources and networks needed to bring more trustworthy, rapid and impactful product and service advancements to patients and the clinicians who care for them.”
The 2026 cohort includes eight companies: Cerevia Neurosciences (North Bethesda, Maryland), developing a non-invasive, mobile, image-guided closed-loop neuromodulation platform to restore cognitive function in dementia; Chambertech (Richmond, United Kingdom), creating a minimally invasive one-step hybrid ablation for persistent atrial fibrillation; Envera Medical (Irvine, California), focusing on a neurovascular balloon catheter for intracranial embolization; Eupnoos (London, United Kingdom), with non-invasive acoustic breath biomarkers to detect early cardiopulmonary changes of heart failure and drug-induced lung injury at home; Flux Robotics (Enschede, Netherlands), developing magnetically guided systems for safer navigation of instruments through complex arteries; Lucentia (New York, New York), whose software turns routine non-contrast CT scans into virtual CCTA for early heart disease detection; OMINI (Suresnes, France), offering a portable point-of-care platform to measure multiple blood biomarkers for chronic diseases like heart failure; and Prima Medical (Cleveland, Ohio), providing real-time AI treatment guidance for pulsed field catheter ablation.
The cohort was selected by an American Heart Association advisory committee of clinical, investment and industry experts, who evaluated applicants based on innovation, clinical impact and potential to improve patient care. As members of the Heart and Brain Health Accelerator, companies will receive specialized mentorship, coaching and capacity building from American Heart Association Ventures, customized to their focus on cardiovascular and/or brain conditions.
The selected health tech companies also become official members of the MedTech Innovator program for this year, which includes access to networking opportunities, funding and increased visibility within the medical technology industry. As participants, they qualify to compete in the MedTech Innovator Competition Finals, held at the MedTech Conference on October 18-21, 2026, in Boston. Participants are also included in the inaugural MTI Index, a new recognition platform highlighting the most promising medtech companies advancing innovation and commercialization.
For leaders in business and technology, this announcement underscores the growing convergence of AI, digital health, and medical devices in tackling cardiovascular disease—the leading cause of death globally. The accelerator provides a pathway for startups to scale solutions that could reduce healthcare costs, improve early detection, and enable remote monitoring. For the industry, it signals increased venture investment in mission-driven health tech and the importance of strategic partnerships between non-profits and innovators.
