Healthbox, a leading business accelerator that fosters earlystage healthcare companies, and their anchor partner Florida Blue, have introduced applications for a 16-week accelerator programme located in Jacksonville, Florida.

Adding to the success of their 2012 accelerator programmes located in Boston, Chicago and London, Healthbox is expanding to Florida to support entrepreneurs throughout the state, expose the local healthcare community to new and innovative solutions and help the two segments work together.

Nina Nashif, Healthbox founder and CEO said, “Our goal at Healthbox is to establish regional hubs of healthcare entrepreneurship throughout the country and across the globe to help build sustainable companies and ultimately improve healthcare outcomes.” Nashif further added, “We are excited for the opportunity to enter Florida with the backing of Florida Blue, bringing the industry together to support entrepreneurs and ultimately making a difference.”

Healthbox encourages all passionate entrepreneurs with early-stage healthcare startups aiming to deliver solutions to healthcare’s largest challenges, to apply. The selected companies will receive $50,000 in seed capital and participate in an intensive 16-week programme. Receiving strategic guidance from leading industry experts during the programme, these startups will learn how to grow their companies within the complex healthcare industry. Towards the end of the four months, the companies will also participate in a large-scale Innovation Day, bringing together hundreds of investors, healthcare leaders and entrepreneurs to hear the pitches of Healthbox companies in the context of their industry needs.

“We’re excited to partner with Healthbox to launch the healthcare accelerator business model in Florida. We see this as an opportunity to bring together currently siloed healthcare hubs across the state to create one common ecosystem, and this project ties directly to our vision of being a leading innovator enabling healthy communities,” said Pat Geraghty, chairman and CEO of Florida Blue. “In addition to aiding the healthcare industry, this programme will also stimulate the state’s economy by creating new jobs and promising, scalable businesses.”

Ranked in the top 10 of most entrepreneurial states by the Kauffman Index of Entrepreneurship, home to over 200 hospitals and 16 Fortune 500 companies, and providing a unique patient population and policy environment, Florida offers healthcare technology entrepreneurs the necessary foundation to grow sustainable companies within a complex healthcare industry.

Healthbox stimulates early-stage innovation, enabling entrepreneurial success while creating a collaborative, global ecosystem to catalyze change in the healthcare industry.

Florida Blue, Florida’s Blue Cross and Blue Shield company, is a leader in Florida’s health care industry. Its mission is to help people and communities achieve better health.