Pharmaceutical company Johnson & Johnson (J&J) has partnered Hax, an accelerator for hardware startups, to launch a program that will nurture companies focused on consumer healthcare devices.
Hax Health is a strategic collaboration with Johnson & Johnson Consumer Companies, J&J’s consumer healthcare products segment, and is facilitated by Johnson and Johnson Innovation (JJI), an investment subsidiary. The new accelerator will be housed at Hax’s hardware incubator in Shenzhen, China.
The goal of Hax Health is to grow startups developing technologies in areas of interest to J&J’s consumer healthcare unit, which makes products such as skin care, baby care, wound care, oral care and women’s healthcare.
JJI and Hax will work together to select qualifying startups. In exchange for equity, Hax will provide early-stage seed funding, office space, mentoring, training, networking and marketing services.
Executives from JJI will mentor selected consumer health-tech companies to speed up the commercialisation of their products.
Startups wishing to take part in Hax Health’s spring 2017 batch must submit their information by December 21 2016. A proof-of-concept prototype must be provided, and startup teams must be prepared to relocate to Shenzhen for the duration of the program.
Hax Health is not the only J&J initiative aimed at expanding the company’s access to startups of interest from around the world. J&J’s pharmaceutical research unit Janssen Pharmaceuticals partnered venture capital firm Bioqube Ventures to launch an incubator called JLinx in Beerse, Belgium in March 2016.