Nurse Capital announced a new collaboration with the University City Science Center in Philadelphia to help nurse-founded startups develop into scalable, investor-ready businesses through the Science Center’s Capital Readiness Program (CRP).
The initiative was announced as Nurses Month comes to a close and is focused on supporting nurse entrepreneurs working across healthcare devices, diagnostics, and digital health. The CRP is a five-day, in-person due diligence bootcamp designed to prepare healthcare startups for their first major venture capital financing round of more than $1 million.
The program is highly selective and offered at no cost to participants. Nurse Capital said the collaboration aims to identify promising nurse-founded companies that could benefit from the program’s commercialization and fundraising support infrastructure.
According to the announcement, many nurse founders are currently bootstrapping their companies, securing grants, raising angel investments, piloting products, and participating in pitch competitions. However, the firm noted that many still face challenges transitioning from early-stage innovation into venture-scalable businesses.
The CRP includes one-on-one mentoring with Science Center Investors-in-Residence and industry experts covering fundraising essentials such as cap table development, intellectual property protections, board management, and investor expectations. Participants also engage in case studies and stress-test exercises designed to simulate real-world startup challenges while gaining perspectives from healthcare payors and providers.
The next Capital Readiness Program cohort is scheduled for December 7-11, 2026, with applications due by August 21.
KEY QUOTES:
“Many nurse founders are bootstrapping, securing grant funding, raising small angel investments, piloting products, and winning pitch competitions to fund their startups. Yet for many of these founders, there exists a significant gap between early innovation and readiness for institutional venture capital.”
“Nurse founders often bring deep clinical expertise and firsthand understanding of healthcare delivery. Many also possess meaningful operational leadership experience inside complex healthcare systems. Their challenges are gaining access to the commercialization strategy, investor readiness, fundraising structure, scaling support, and go-to-market infrastructure needed to transition from promising healthcare innovation into a venture-scalable business.”
Beth A. Brooks, PhD, RN, FACHE, Co-founder and General Partner, Nurse Capital
“We strongly believe that healthcare innovation, and especially nurse-led healthcare innovation, benefits from more specialized founder-development infrastructure than what is often available through generalized startup incubators and accelerators. This collaboration with the Science Center is another step forward in our efforts to build a stronger network of support around nurse-specific innovation and entrepreneurship.”
Dan Weberg, PhD, MHI, RN, FAAN, General Partner, Nurse Capital
