Startup Zone

Name: HLTH USA 2026
Start: 2026-11-15
End: 2026-11-18
Location: The Venetian Expo Center

Where healthcare's boldest builders come to prove it

The Startup Zone is the beating heart of innovation at HLTH USA. This is where the next generation of healthcare companies get discovered — by the investors ready to back them, the enterprise buyers ready to adopt them, and the peers ready to learn from them. The pilot era is over. This is where startups that are built to last come to show what they’ve got.

Everything for the Healthcare Startup, in One Place

Startup Theater Sessions

Focused sessions featuring founders, investors, and operators tackling the real questions of building and scaling a healthcare company from landing your first enterprise customer to navigating the AI hype to crossing the Series B finish line.

Investor Connect Program & Lounge

The home base for HLTH's premier startup-investor matchmaking program. Over 1,645 curated 1:1 meetings were facilitated through Investor Connect at HLTH USA 2025 between startup founders and leading VCs. The lounge is where deals start, relationships form, and the next wave of digital health gets funded.

Club Startup

A dedicated cluster of kiosks on the show floor where early-stage companies showcase their solutions side by side, creating an energetic, discovery-driven environment for buyers, investors, and partners to find what's next. Open to startups less than 4 years old or Series B companies less than 6 years old.

Startup Pitch Tournament

The boldest healthcare startups go head-to-head across eight competitive categories: AI Innovations, Employer Solutions, Consumer Wellness, Health Equity, Healthy Aging, Precision Health Solutions, Provider Solutions, and Women's Health. Learn more about the Startup Pitch Tournament and see how you can get involved.

Peer Connections

The zone draws founders at every stage alongside the investors, health system operators, and corporate development leaders who are actively sourcing their next deal or partner — creating the organic, high-quality connections that define HLTH.

The People in this Zone

The Startup Zone brings together the full ecosystem of builders, backers, and buyers at the most consequential moment in healthcare innovation.

Startup Founders & Executives: CEOs, CTOs, COOs, and co-founders from pre-seed through Series C companies building the next generation of digital health, AI, and medtech solutions

Investors & VCs: Managing Partners, GPs, and investment directors from VC firms, PE funds, corporate venture arms, and accelerators actively sourcing and closing healthcare deals

Health System & Enterprise Buyers: CIOs, Chief Innovation Officers, and digital health leaders from health systems and payers evaluating the next generation of solutions to deploy at scale

Product & Commercial Leaders: VP-level product, growth, and BD leaders from growth-stage companies building distribution, landing enterprise customers, and scaling partnerships

The Conversations Happening Here

The Startup Zone tackles the questions that keep founders up at night and investors sharpening their theses.

Building & funding AI-native healthcare companies
Landing enterprise health system customers
Navigating the VC funding landscape
M&A, IPOs & digital health exits
Founder journeys & lessons learned

Proving ROI to enterprise buyers
AI hype vs. real value creation
Diverse founder funding gaps
Going direct-to-consumer in healthcare
From pilot to production at scale

The Conversations We're Known For

A snapshot of the Startup focused sessions that defined HLTH 2025. Expect the same energy and candor in 2026. (Click on the session title to watch!)

✔️ So You Want to Build an AI Company?

✔️ Mad Healthcare Money: Investor Hot Takes

✔️ When M&A Rains, IPOs Drizzle

✔️ If Everything Is AI, Then Nothing Is AI

✔️ How to Win Contracts and Influence People

✔️ Built to Last Startups

✔️ The Trillion-Dollar Blind Spot

✔️ The New Healthcare Deal