ANDHealth today announced it has been awarded $33 million from the Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF) to continue and expand ANDHealth+, Australia’s leading health technology commercialisation program.

ANDHealth+ is a non-equity-taking acceleration and incubation program that connects digital and connected health startups with expert support and tranched, non-dilutive funding to address critical commercialisation hurdles. According to an independent assessment, ANDHealth+ companies raise $22.20 in follow-on financing for every dollar of public investment. Companies selected for ANDHealth+ raise up to 13 times more follow-on funding and generate up to 2.9 times more revenue than companies participating in other leading accelerator programs across technology and health.

Under the new funding ANDHealth will provide up to $5 million in flexible, milestone-based non-dilutive funding and access to international markets and industry leaders to 10-15 startups over a two-year, two-stage program.

Selected startups will also receive highly skilled, hands-on project management and support services, leading them to become technically and commercially de-risked, globally connected and with established relationships with critical connections such as professional investors and enterprise customers

Bronwyn Le Grice, Chief Executive Officer of ANDHealth said the grant will further cement Australia on the map globally as an emerging digital and connected health hotspot.

“This MRFF grant recognises the success of the ANDHealth+ program to date and represents a significant milestone in expanding the support available for the most promising digital and connected health innovators in Australia,” Ms Le Grice said.

“By increasing the non-dilutive funding available under ANDHealth+, we're aligning with the growing scale and maturity of the sector and providing a more robust launchpad for companies to secure meaningful private investment, create more jobs and impact more patients.

“We're excited to build on the success of the 28 companies that have participated in the ANDHealth+ program to date and drive even greater innovation in digital health across Australia,” Ms Le Grice said.

Federal Health Minister, the Hon. Mark Butler MP, said the funding provided from the Medical Research Future Fund would see innovative ideas turned into usable and commercially viable solutions to improve the health and wellbeing of Australians.

“We have world-class medical researchers right here in Australia whose ideas can bring better health outcomes for Australians and people around the world. The MRFF Commercialisation Initiative is designed to ensure those great ideas stay in Australia, building our medical manufacturing sector,” Mr Butler said.

Global digital health venture capitalist and Chair of ANDHealth’s International Investment Committee, Lisa Suennen, said the new grant recognised the world-class work ANDHealth was delivering in digital health commercialisation.

“The ANDHealth+ program has been successful because it has great people running it who really know how to leverage contacts, think about strategy, think about commercialisation, think about the whole company, not just a small piece of it,” Ms Suennen said.

“They bring experts together from all around the world that help these companies in a really deliberate and thoughtful manner. Through the program I've seen companies achieve additional capital, gain market entry and reach levels of maturity that they probably weren't going to get to.

“I've been really excited to see that evolution and I think with the new program, it's going to be even better because there's more concentrated capital for companies to really work with them to build,” Ms Suennen said.

The ANDHealth+ program has a history of success, operating since 2017 and having been funded through the MRFF and Department of Health since 2022. An independent economic assessment conducted by consulting firm L.E.K. in 2024 revealed that ANDHealth+ outperformed leading Australian accelerators across the health and technology sectors with between 2.5 to 13 times more follow-on funding raised, 1.6 to 4.7 times more jobs created and 2.2 to 2.9 times more revenue earned. To date, ANDHealth+ companies have raised $187M in follow-on funding, generated $77M revenue, created 507 jobs and impacted 2.9 million patients.

ANDHealth will be opening the application process for the 2025 ANDHealth+ cohort in coming months.

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