CancerX Launches 2025 Accelerator to Drive Innovation in Oncology

Chosen startups focus on enhancing access to treatment, speeding up clinical trials, and providing personalized care

NASHVILLE, Tenn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--CancerX, a public-private partnership designed to accelerate innovation in the fight against cancer, announced today the launch of its 2025 Accelerator cohort, featuring an incredible group of digital health and artificial intelligence startups dedicated to addressing critical challenges in oncology. This year’s cohort will focus on improving cancer care by improving access to treatment, accelerating clinical trials, and providing personalized, connected care for patients beyond the clinic.

The CancerX Accelerator is a flagship program for CancerX, designed to match unmet needs within Champion organizations with suitable innovations from startups in the field. Startups can be championed by one or more organizations and are offered a range of support, from mentorship and product feedback to conducting pilots and signing commercial agreements. This 4-month program also provides startups with a weekly educational curriculum covering four tracks: working with health systems, working with industry, working with the public sector, and a speaker series on scaling their business within oncology.

“Innovation thrives when startups have the right champions in their corner. Through the CancerX Accelerator, these champions serve as mentors, partners and force multipliers, helping startups move faster and scale farther than they could alone. For the second consecutive year, Advocate Health is proud to champion CancerX, a cornerstone program of our expanding national innovation network,” said Rasu Shrestha MD, MBA, chief innovation and commercialization officer, executive vice president at Advocate Health. “The first Accelerator cohort in 2024 saw some incredible results. The startups raised over $40M, signed 11 definitive contracts with champion organizations, and completed many successful pilots. Building on our success, we have more than doubled the number of champions in the program this year and are excited to match these companies with meaningful support and opportunities with our incredible new and returning champion organizations.”

What to Expect from the 2025 Cohort

“The Champion-startup matchmaking process is a unique differentiator in our program that enables startups to get hands-on support from their target customers,” said Nainesh Parikh, MD, assistant chief medical officer at Moffitt Cancer Center and chair of the CancerX Accelerator Steering Committee. “This year we received over 100 applications, had 47 live pitch sessions with 45 judges from more than 14 organizations. Although every single start-up demonstrated incredible talent and innovation, 14 were ultimately selected based on a number of factors including CancerX theme alignment for 2025 and significant organizational support from several Champions.”

In addition to Moffitt Cancer Center, Advocate Health, Oncology Ventures, MassChallenge, and the Assistant Secretary of Technology Policy, this year the program added Dana Farber Cancer Institute, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK), Johnson & Johnson, Elevance, Innsena, CEI Ventures, Flare Capital Partners, Mercury, and KidsX, a nationally recognized network of pediatric hospitals dedicated to accelerating innovation. Through our partnership with KidsX, companies in the 2025 cohort will receive additional tailored mentorship from KidsX hospitals and programming specific to pediatric oncology.

Driving Impact, Delivering Results

CancerX has a proven track record of supporting startups that make a real impact in cancer care. Past participants have formed valuable partnerships with health systems, secured significant investments, and advanced clinical trials for their innovations. Through continuous guidance from mentors and experts, these companies are prepared to scale their solutions and deliver real-world results for patients and providers.

"We are excited to be chosen in this cohort of the CancerX Accelerator. This program is giving us unparalleled access to key partnerships within the clinical, pharma, and patient advocacy arenas. The response from the champions has been remarkable—we have NINE champions across the ecosystem, including seven health systems and hospitals— which is just an unprecedented level of interest we have received," said Jim Foote, CEO and co-founder of First Ascent.

Looking Ahead

This year’s final cohort includes: First Ascent Biomedical, We Are Here, Xploro, Fifth Eye, Encapsulate, Nen, Recursive Health, Gabbi, Dyania Health, AIQ Solutions, Manta Cares, Arcascope, Citrus Oncology, and mPATH Health.

To learn more about the CancerX accelerator or this year’s cohort, please visit www.cancerx.health/accelerator.

About CancerX

CancerX is a groundbreaking public-private partnership designed to accelerate innovation in the fight against cancer. Hosted by the Moffitt Cancer Center, in collaboration with the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) and the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health (OASH), CancerX is part of the InnovationX program launched in 2018.