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Accelerating successful digital health startup-pharma partnerships
PharmStars is the pharma-focused accelerator for digital health startups, dedicated to driving digital health adoption to improve patient outcomes. We educate and mentor digital health startups seeking engagement with pharma and biotech firms. We are supported by our pharma members who are committed to working with startups that graduate from our accelerator.
PharmStars’ mission is to facilitate and accelerate successful partnerships between digital health startups and pharma, leading to greater success for each and faster adoption of digital health to improve patient outcomes.
8
Cohorts
completed
91
Startups
graduated
99%
Graduation
rate
$900M+
Cumulative
funding
raised by alumni
100+
Pharma Deals
Among first 35 graduates
20%
Acceptance
rate
Digital health has the potential to transform the pharmaceutical industry and the patient experience. Digital health and pharma firms are eager to engage with one another. Yet both have found it challenging to create successful partnerships.
PharmStars is the only digital health accelerator aimed at bridging the pharma-startup gap to drive greater adoption of digital health. Our 10-week accelerator is designed to prepare startups for more productive engagements with pharma, teaching them how drugs are developed, how pharma is organized, and about the biopharma industry. The program culminates with the Showcase Event. Startups present their solutions to our pharma members and then have the opportunity to meet individually with them.
Our next cohort is about to launch! Digital health startups with market-ready solutions in our theme area and interested in engaging with pharma, are encouraged to apply. Please refer to our Accelerator Terms for the detailed requirements.
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The pharmaceutical industry generates and relies on vast amounts of data to develop and commercialize new drugs. However, the collection, management, and application of this data remain far from optimal. Life science companies face significant challenges in scaling, integrating, and effectively utilizing large, complex data sets.
Although pharma is awash in data, much of it remains fragmented or unusable, resulting in a lack of actionable insights. The pharma industry’s demand for innovative solutions that unlock the full potential of data to support and enhance decision-making across the drug development lifecycle is growing.
Pharma needs novel tools to collect, manage, and derive insights from data.
PharmStars’ Fall 2025 cohort theme, “Innovations in Data Management & Insights,” focuses on the critical challenges facing biopharma in leveraging data. Areas of interest include, but are not limited to:
Data Management Tools for:
Insight Generation and Applications of:
June 16
July 13
August 25
September 10-11
Sept 15 - Nov 13
November 2025
The centerpiece of the PharmStars accelerator is PharmaU: a unique, comprehensive educational program. Its three components are a curriculum for startups, mentoring for startups, and "Executive Ed" programming for pharma leadership. PharmaU’s courses are developed and led by PharmStars’ experienced team of former pharma executives with deep expertise in digital health, innovation, and startups.
Courses for startups about how to engage pharma successfully include topics such as:
Individualized coaching from our PharmStars staff on how startups can successfully engage pharma. We guide startups on applying their PharmaU education, from building a compelling value proposition through crafting an effective pharma-oriented pitch.
Workshops and seminars for pharma members, providing insight and peer-to-peer discussions on digital health innovation and startup partnerships.
