Apply to Jumpstart Foundry Accelerator: Dates, Benefits, and How to Get In (2025–2026)

Apply to Jumpstart Foundry accelerator if you’re building a U.S.-based healthcare startup and want a sector-focused pre-seed partner. Jumpstart Foundry (JSF) is a Nashville-based healthcare innovation fund and accelerator-style founder program that backs early-stage healthtech companies across the country with one clear mission: MAKE SOMETHING BETTER® in healthcare.

Key facts at a glance:

• Location: Nashville, Tennessee, United States
• Program type: Pre-seed fund plus structured founder platform (Jumpstart Insight), functionally similar to a sector accelerator
• Focus: Healthcare technology, digital health, diagnostic devices, and consumer health
• Investment pace: Roughly 30–50 healthcare technology investments annually
• History: Operating since 2009 as part of the Jumpstart Health Investors platform

When you apply to Jumpstart Foundry accelerator, you’re applying to a pre-seed fund that backs you with capital, a healthcare-native network, and ongoing founder support—rather than a one-off demo-day sprint.

If you want to benchmark JSF against other health programs, XRaise’s roundup of the Top 20 Health Tech Accelerators in the United States for 2025 is a useful comparison point.

Program Structure & Focus at Jumpstart Foundry Accelerator

Sector-specific, not generalist

Jumpstart Foundry only backs startups that sit squarely inside healthcare. Their investment criteria highlight four main areas

• Healthcare IT
• Tech-enabled services
• Diagnostic devices
• Consumer health products & services

They explicitly steer away from traditional biotech or pharma plays. If you’re building wet-lab therapeutics, JSF is probably not the right fit. If you’re delivering digital health, remote care, or health data products, you’re exactly in their strike zone.

Stage: pre-seed and early validation

JSF positions itself as a pre-seed fund. Ideal applicants to Jumpstart Foundry accelerator typically have

• A working prototype or MVP
• Early customer discovery, pilots, or initial usage
• At least one full-time founder, ideally a complementary founding team
• A credible plan to translate early traction into a strong seed round

If you’re still at pure idea stage, read XRaise’s data-driven guide When You Should Apply to an Accelerator before you rush into applications. It shows why founders who wait until they have real validation see significantly better acceptance and funding outcomes.

Program format: fund + lifelong platform

Instead of a fixed 12-week class, JSF works more like a fund with a built-in founder operating system:

• You receive pre-seed capital via SAFE.
• You get long-term access to Jumpstart Insight, JSF’s curriculum and support platform for healthcare founders.
• You plug into an active portfolio community across dozens of U.S. states.

This is appealing if you want ongoing healthcare-specific support instead of a one-time accelerator cohort.

Funding, Equity Terms & Perks of Jumpstart Foundry Accelerator

Core terms

The official JSF apply page lays out the main deal clearly:

• Investment amount: $150,000
• Instrument: SAFE note (post-money)
• Valuation: $2,000,000
• Membership fee: $50,000

Practically, this means:

• JSF commits $150K on a $2M valuation via SAFE.
• A one-time $50K membership fee is charged for access to the JSF platform and services.
• Your net new cash after the fee is $100K, plus the non-cash value of the program.

JSF does not publicly state an exact equity percentage. Don’t guess; instead, model the SAFE impact on your cap table under realistic seed-round scenarios and run it by your legal or financial advisors.

What the membership fee buys

The membership fee unlocks the ongoing Jumpstart Insight founder platform and broader JSF ecosystem:

• Structured leadership and management content tailored to healthcare founders
• Access to JSF’s partner network of hospitals, payors, and health systems
• Warm intros to later-stage investors within the Jumpstart Health Investors family
• Vendor discounts and services targeted at healthtech (e.g., compliance, security, analytics)

If you’re evaluating other venture-backed accelerators with different economics, it’s worth reading XRaise’s deep dives on Techstars Chicago and Foundation Capital Accelerator to compare structures and long-term value.

Who Should Apply to Jumpstart Foundry Accelerator

You should apply to Jumpstart Foundry accelerator if you sit near JSF’s “sweet spot” on three dimensions: sector, stage, and intent.

1. Sector fit: real healthcare impact

Good candidates:

• Sell into providers, payors, clinics, or employers.
• Directly affect patient outcomes, access, or cost of care.
• Operate in digital health, data, workflow tools, remote care, diagnostics, or tech-enabled services in healthcare.

If your product would look out of place at a HIMSS or HLTH conference, JSF probably isn’t ideal.

2. Stage fit: pre-seed with evidence

JSF is not a discovery-stage incubator. Strong applicants have:

• A live MVP or working prototype
• Early pilots, proof-of-concept deployments, or at least active user testing
• Founders committed full-time to the company
• A clear GTM hypothesis inside healthcare

3. Intent: long-term partnership

Finally, you should apply to Jumpstart Foundry accelerator if you want:

• A multi-year partner for your healthcare journey, not just a logo on your slide.
• Sector-specific introductions and validation.
• A repeatable framework for fundraising and leadership over the next 3–6 years.

If you simply want a short in-person bootcamp or a generic startup community, other programs may be a better match.

How to Apply to Jumpstart Foundry Accelerator

To apply to Jumpstart Foundry accelerator through XRaise, treat your XRaise profile as the primary application path and use JSF’s own site only as a supporting resource.

Step 1: Create your XRaise founder account

1. First, go to the XRaise startup platform.
2. Next, sign up as a founder and complete your basic profile, including team, product, sector, and stage.
3. Once your profile is ready, it becomes your single source of truth for all accelerator and investor applications.

Step 2: Open the Jumpstart Foundry program page on XRaise

1. After logging in, visit the Jumpstart Foundry Pre-Seed Accelerator page on XRaise: Apply to Jumpstart Foundry via XRaise.
2. Then, review the “About This Program,” key benefits, and eligibility section to confirm that your startup fits the focus on health technology, digital health, diagnostic devices, or consumer health.

Step 3: Prepare a strong application package

Before you hit Apply Now on XRaise, make sure these pieces are ready so your application is complete on the first pass:

• A clear deck or memo explaining the problem, solution, ICP, traction, regulatory path, and why now.
• A product demo link or video that shows how your solution works in practice.
• Traction proof such as pilots, usage graphs, LOIs, or testimonials from clinicians or buyers.
• A concise team story showing why you are uniquely suited to solve this healthcare problem.

Additionally, you can use XRaise’s guide “When You Should Apply to an Accelerator” as a readiness checklist to double-check problem clarity, technical validation, early customers, and your 12–18 month roadmap.

Step 4: Submit and track your application in XRaise

1. When everything is ready, click Apply Now on the Jumpstart Foundry page inside XRaise.
2. Then, complete the questionnaire, upload your deck and demo links, and submit your application.
3. From that point on, use your XRaise dashboard to track status updates and reuse the same profile for future accelerator applications.

Step 5: Visit the Jumpstart Foundry website for extra context

Finally, after you have applied through XRaise, you can visit the Jumpstart Foundry website once more to explore their broader mission, portfolio, and healthcare philosophy in greater depth.

Application Timeline & Key Dates to Apply to Jumpstart Foundry Accelerator (2025–2026)

JSF runs four application cycles per year, mapping to quarterly investment decisions rather than a single annual cohort.

However, the site does not publish exact day-month deadlines for each 2025–2026 cycle. Instead:

• Applications are effectively accepted on a rolling basis.
• The team groups decisions by quarter.
• Specific cutoff dates vary by year and may shift based on pipeline.

How to plan your timing

Because precise deadlines aren’t public, think in terms of readiness windows:

1. Work backwards from your fundraising needs.
   If you want JSF onboard ahead of a Q4 2025 seed, target a Q2 or Q3 2025 JSF decision and apply roughly 60–90 days before.
2. Use XRaise timing data.
   XRaise’s article When You Should Apply to an Accelerator shows that founders who apply after initial validation, but before major burn increases, see 2×–3× better outcomes across many programs. The same logic applies when you apply to Jumpstart Foundry accelerator.
3. Watch the macro environment.
   The broader AI and healthtech funding landscape is changing quickly. For context on how much capital is flowing into AI and where the risks are, read:
   • AI Funding Boom 2025: Opportunity or Overhype?
   • $400B into AI, Is Big Tech Fueling the Next Bubble?

Both pieces will help you decide whether to accelerate your fundraising timeline or pace it more cautiously.

Alumni, Outcomes & Success Stats

JSF doesn’t publish acceptance rates or total follow-on capital, but it does give you a sense of scale and breadth:

• 150+ healthtech startups backed across 35+ U.S. states
• Annual investment pace of 30–50 companies in healthcare technology

Representative portfolio companies include:

• Ovum Health – virtual fertility and full-lifecycle pregnancy care.
• MobilityZ Health – AI-driven remote screening and monitoring for mobility and diagnostics.
• Pills2Me – prescription delivery and medication adherence support.
• Navipoint Health – precision health analytics using multi-dimensional clinical data.

Together these show JSF’s comfort with regulated environments, complex B2B2C models, and AI-heavy healthtech.

To see how JSF sits alongside other medtech and health programs, check XRaise’s detailed guide to ZeroTo510 Accelerator – The No-Nonsense 2024 Guide for Medtech Founders and the broader Top 20 Health Tech Accelerators in United States for 2025.

Should You Apply to Jumpstart Foundry Accelerator?

When JSF is a strong yes

You should apply to Jumpstart Foundry accelerator if:

• You’re a U.S.-based healthtech startup in healthcare IT, tech-enabled services, diagnostics, or consumer health.
• You’re at pre-seed, with an MVP and early validation.
• You want a healthcare-native investor whose network opens doors to real-world pilots and enterprise customers.
• You value platform-style, long-term support more than a short bootcamp.

When you might look elsewhere

You may want to prioritize other programs if:

• Your startup is not clearly in healthcare (e.g., generic SaaS or consumer apps).
• You’re uncomfortable with a membership-fee model where part of the check funds program access.
• You need a fully in-person, time-boxed accelerator for personal or operational reasons.

Either way, treat JSF as one node in a broader strategy. Use XRaise’s guide When You Should Apply to an Accelerator plus the AI funding pieces to decide how JSF fits into your capital stack, especially in a 2025 landscape where AI healthtech is both hot and increasingly competitive.

Next Steps to Apply to Jumpstart Foundry Accelerator

If you’re ready to move from research to action, here’s a simple next step stack:

1. Apply via XRaise so you can compare programs
   • Go to the Jumpstart Foundry accelerator profile on XRaise.
   • Use XRaise’s structured flow to apply to Jumpstart Foundry accelerator and keep your profile ready for other healthcare and AI programs.
2. Explore more accelerators and tools on XRaise
   • Browse the full XRaise Accelerator Directory to discover comparable programs in healthtech, AI, and climate.
   • Use the XRaise startup platform as your home base for tracking applications, perks, and fundraising.

If you’re building something that can genuinely make healthcare better, now is the moment to apply to Jumpstart Foundry accelerator and use XRaise to architect the rest of your accelerator and funding path with intention.