Announcing NextView’s Health and Sustainability Accelerator

Last spring, we at NextView announced a new, virtual “Everyday Economy” accelerator at the height of the initial pandemic lockdown. It quickly became a success.  Out of hundreds of applications, we selected six pre-seed stage teams building companies shaping a brighter collective future by combining software and creativity to drive change in the lives of everyday people — their businesses include everything from empowering local main street businesses to making automobile insurance more accessible. These startups completed an intense 10-week program featuring hands-on, personalized engagement from NextView partners to push the company forward, peer communications, expert education sessions, advisor introductions, and more.  The majority of our accelerator companies have raised additional capital with our support in the process, or are in the process of doing so. We look forward to announcing those raises soon. 

On the heels of this experience, we’re excited to launch the next iteration of our virtual accelerator.  It will continue NextView’s thematic approach towards investing in the Everyday Economy, but with an added focus on health and sustainability.  In short, we’re seeking to invest in early-stage startups that are leveraging digital technologies to improve the health and wellbeing of people and our planet.

While some healthcare venture investors aim towards investing in molecules which will become FDA-approved therapeutics, our sights are oriented toward investing in digital bits which transform people’s lives into healthier habits and behaviors.  Examples of such companies in our portfolio include WHOOP, which delivers personalized health insights via a wearable device, Devoted Health, which assists seniors in accessing Medicare Advantage, and Mighty Health, which helps individuals find a healthier path through coaching. At NextView we have also invested in a number of condition-specific telemedicine offerings such as Monument for alcohol dependence, Form Health for medical weight-loss, and Dear Brightly for skin care.  

Along the same lines, our investments in companies advancing our planet’s health and sustainability are not classic capital-intensive “clean-tech” projects; instead, they include everything from the world’s largest natural household and personal care e-commerce brand in Grove Collaborative, to Tap Project, offering solutions to eliminate the single-use plastic water bottle, and Benchmark Labs, harnessing weather data for more productive agriculture.  We believe that what’s good for our planet is also good for us, which is why we’ve also invested in companies like Bobbie, which produces an organic infant formula.  All of the enumerated examples share a glimpse of the types of startups which excite us in the realm of health and sustainability.

We know that there are many more exceptional founders focusing their businesses on helping all of us live healthier and more sustainably. We could not be more excited to take part in this innovation.

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Starting today, we will begin accepting a cohort of startups into the accelerator program:

• WHO: Pre-seed and seed stage startups located anywhere focused on the US market who could benefit from capital and engaged hands-on mentorship from the NextView partnership and extended advisor network.  Consumer and SaaS B2B companies leveraging digital technologies drive a brighter collective future for the health of our planet and the people in it.
• THE GOAL: The culmination of this accelerator program ISN’T a demo day or a big show. Instead, the sole goal with of the program is RESULTS, namely:

1. Demonstrably advancing startups towards true product-market fit
2. Further capitalizing the company for success

• THE DEAL: All startups receive $200K for 8% of the company upon acceptance into the program. We will leverage the standard YC post-money SAFE document with a valuation cap and no discount.
• THE REAL DEAL: Unlike most accelerators in which participants are shepherded along a programmatic path within a large cohort of peer companies, the NextView Health and Sustainability Accelerator is about hands-on personalized engagement to push the company forward.  For an initial three-month period all participant founders will be scheduled into weekly hands-on Zoom mentorship meetings with at least one NextView Partner to push strategic thinking, drive accountability, and provide access to the broader NextView network.  Beyond scheduling product and go-to-market sessions with our Operator Guild members, who hail from companies like Slack, Wayfair, and HubSpot, we’re assembling an extended network of domain-specific mentors for supplemental mentorship and business development.
• OUR BRAND PROMISE*: To avoid signaling issues, we intentionally will not lead the next round of financing for our accelerator participants.  However, we will strive to work with all accelerator companies to shape the underlying business, craft the fundraising pitch, and make introductions for new downstream investors until the company is subsequently financed.  Participants are empowered to market that we are willing to do at least our pro-rata in the next round.
• WHERE: This acceleration program is entirely virtual from application through selection and participation. No startup relocation, temporary or permanent, is necessary or requested.
• WHO WE ARE: Everyone on the NextView team has deep operating experience as founders and operators scaling high-growth internet companies (e.g. LinkedIn, PayPal, eBay, Blue Apron), and being hands-on investors is part of our core DNA.
• WHEN AND HOW: Applications are open now until end of day on Tuesday, March 16. Notification to those companies who are invited to interview will be shared within two weeks of closing.

Apply Now

* Of course, we can’t guarantee success.  While each participant will receive access to the full compliment of preseed support we provide, variations are bound to exist among participants in how that support is utilized and the results it produces.  Moreover, we may not be able to find suitable financing for a participant’s next round, and participants should not expect NextView to step into that breach.