$100K–$10M direct investment on a standard SAFE document. No limit.
Applications open · closes Aug 1, 2026Cycle № 04
Every year, the world of innovation in healthcare opens its doors. Some of you will get the gilded keys.
$100K–$10M check. The customers. The strategics.
Pitch DateOct 9–11, 2026
ProgrammeVortex (Venture Forum 2026)
In partnership with100+ institutional and individual investors including WestBridge Capital and Hitachi Ventures
StageThe Yale Club, NYC
DatesOct 9–11, 2026
The thesis
Most healthcare pitch events are showcases. Venture Forum places one $100K–$10M check, decided by operators and a growth-stage fund, in a room of hospital systems, payors, and 100+ institutional and individual investors including WestBridge Capital and Hitachi Ventures writing your next round.
the check$100K–$10Mdirect investment
the room500seats · 200 decision makers
the stage5finalists, 1 winner
2025 winnerRead Sensible’s full story →
Sensible
“Make your period count.”
A menstrual pad that doubles as a diagnostic. Sensible turns a routine sample — blood healthcare systems otherwise throw away — into life-saving screening data for cervical cancer, endometriosis, and other under-diagnosed conditions in women’s health. Lab-free, pain-free, equity-forward.
1 in 10have endometriosis
7–9years to diagnose
0pain-free options today
“The check mattered. The room mattered more — we left with conversations we’d been trying to start for a year.”— Nandini Kanthi, Co-founder & CEO, Sensible
01 / Sept 2022Lemelson-MIT National Winner. One of ten teams nationally; presented at EurekaFest at MIT.
02 / Sept 2023USA Today feature: “A menstrual pad that tests for cervical cancer? These teens are inventing it.”
03 / Nov 2024UNC Gillings Pitch — 1st place. Recognized by the School of Global Public Health for diagnostic-tech impact in women’s health.
Apply once. Walk out with four things.
200 decision makers — hospital CMOs, health-plan CFOs, integrated networks, and operators who’ve built and sold healthcare companies — in one room across 500 seats.
Corp dev from J&J, Roche, Optum, the teams that signed the last decade’s notable digital-health acquisitions.
100+ institutional and individual investors— WestBridge Capital, Hitachi Ventures and others — writing this year’s Series A and B follow-ons, evaluating you alongside operators who know the category.
What’s at stake
The check, the room, the stage.
Three things make Venture Forum different from every other pitch event in healthcare. The check is the headline. The room is the moat. The stage is where the work gets evaluated.
$100K–$10M
A direct investment from 100+ institutional and individual investors including WestBridge Capital and Hitachi Ventures into the winning company on standard SAFE terms — no fund-of-funds, no clawback, no committee. Diligence is compressed to four weeks. Capital lands by January.
WestBridge & Hitachi Ventures · Series A leadThe Room
500 seats. 200 decision makers — hospital system CMOs, health-plan CFOs, strategic acquirers from J&J and Roche, operators who’ve built and sold healthcare companies, and the growth-stage funds writing this year’s Series A and B rounds. The same people every healthcare founder is trying to reach.
200 decision makers · 500 seatsYale Club
Two days, five finalists, a single live panel. Ten-minute pitch, fifteen-minute operator Q&A, no slides on the second round. Decided in the room, announced before dinner on day two.
October 9–11, 2026 · NYCThe Room · 2026
Operators decide. Not committees.
The panel that picks the winner is the same panel a healthcare founder needs to know — growth-stage investors, hospital-system executives, and operators who have built and sold companies in this category.
Co-leadMalak Atut
Co-lead, Venture Forum
Operator-first. Designs the program each cycle, recruits the panel, reads every application end-to-end.
Co-leadGautam Bazaz
Co-lead, Venture Forum
Two healthcare exits. Active angel across the US and India. Sits on the panel and writes the cheque.
JudgeCraig Cooper
Entrepreneur, Investor · Co-Founder, Boost Mobile
Built and sold one of the defining mobile brands of the 2000s. Now backs operator founders across consumer health and care delivery.
JudgeDr. Annu Navani
Medical Director, Le Reve Regenerative Wellness
Practising clinician turned operator. Buys what works on the clinical floor; will not greenlight a tool she wouldn't use herself.
JudgeReima Shakeir
Clinical Professor, NYU Stern School of Business
Bridges academia, capital, and operating teams. Runs the founder-readiness lens on every finalist.
JudgeSava Kobilarov
Founder & Managing Partner, Vault Advisors
Underwrites for clinical-outcome data, not headcount. Decisive — issues term sheets in the parking lot.
JudgeDr. Girish Juneja
Co-Founder, Grand Rapids Pain Center
Built a specialty practice from the procurement side in. Decides whether software ships on the floor or stays in a pilot.
JudgeKamal Singh
Investment Professional, WestBridge Capital
Underwrites the WestBridge cheque on behalf of the firm. Closes the diligence inside four weeks of finals day.
Executive DirectorDr. Nikki Bajaj
Executive Director, Global Health Forum
Founder of Hope Oncology and Cancer Clarity MD. Practising oncologist; reads every application.
OperatorAbhishek Shankar
Technical Co-founder, GHF Ventures
Technical co-founder. Builds the backbone of the program and its diligence.
Sector leadDr. AJ Rastogi
Sector Lead, Care Delivery
Led scaling of specialty clinics across multi-state networks. Knows a real risk-bearing P&L.
JudgeDr. Aviral Roy
Clinical Lead
Clinical lead. Pressure-tests where software actually lands on the floor.
OperatorEdward Chan
Operator, GHF Network
Operator across healthcare ventures. Reads go-to-market before the deck.
JudgeDr. Annapoorna Kini
Director, Cardiac Catheterization, Mount Sinai
Interventional cardiologist at Mount Sinai. The clinical-outcomes lens.
Investor
Shub Bhowmick
Investment Professional
Healthcare investor. Underwrites for durable economics, not headline growth.
OperatorMichael Kopko
Operator-Investor
Operator-investor in healthcare ventures.
OperatorSashi Reddi
Investor & Operator, GHF Network
Investor and operator. Backs founders across the GHF network.
The team
Operators behind the program.
A trustee, co-chairs, a venture advisor, five sector leads, and a wider team of healthcare operators, clinicians, and investors. Listed in full below — no associates behind the curtain.
01
GHF Trustee
Dr. Achintya Moulick
GHF Trustee — clinical and academic leadership anchor of the Global Health Forum.
02
Co-Chairs
Malak Atut
Co-Chair, Venture Forum
Gautam Bazaz
Co-Chair, Venture Forum
03
Venture Advisor
Craig Cooper
Venture Advisor — operating partner and hospital-system integrator.
04
Sector Leads
Dr. Anil Joshi
Digital Health & Health IT
Dr. AJ Rastogi
Healthcare Services & Care Delivery Innovation
Dr. Shyam Visweswaran
Medical Groups / Hospital Mgmt. (AI/Analytics)
Hitesh Vachharajani
Bio, Pharma, & Medtech (Devices & Diagnostics)
Anshul Debuka
Health Insurance & Payor Tech
05
Team Members
24 operators & clinicians- Suvajit Basu
- Shalvi Singh
- Mahesh Chand
- Dr. Shane Creado
- Ranju Das
- Justin Drew
- Dr. Nidhi Goel
- Dr. Vivek Gumaste
- Dr. Avinash Jayaswal
- Sava Kobilarov
- Dr. Aman Mahajan
- Dr. Dipak Nandi
- Aloke Nandy
- Girish Navani
- Dr. Nikki Bajaj
- Dr. Sumul N. Raval
- Sashi Reddi
- Edward Chan
- Dr. Aviral Roy
- Sandeep Sinha
- Anish Sankhavaram
- Dr. Deepak Sharma
- Abhishek Shankar
- Zain Raza
Sectors we back
Six categories. One thesis lead each.
Every application is read end-to-end by the sector lead. They decide which companies advance to the panel. If your category isn’t on this list, the program is not for you this cycle.
Digital Health & Health IT
Software that touches the clinical workflow. EHR-adjacent. Sold to providers, not patients.
Dr. Anil Joshi · LeadMedical Groups & Hospital AI
Operational AI for hospitals and large medical groups — throughput, scheduling, denials, documentation.
Dr. Shyam Visweswaran · LeadBiotech, Pharma & Medtech
Platforms with clinical data behind them. Computational biology, novel modalities, devices with real evidence.
Hitesh Vachharajani · LeadCare Delivery
Vertically integrated care models. Specialty groups, value-based clinics, virtual-first practices with in-network economics.
Dr. AJ Rastogi · LeadPayor Tech
Tools for payors and self-insured employers. Utilization, prior auth, plan design, network adequacy.
Anshul Debuka · LeadHealth & Wellness
Consumer health with real outcome data and a defensible distribution model. No DTC supplements.
Sector lead announced soon
Apply · Cycle 2026
Process and criteria.
One application per company. Read by the sector lead, then by the co-chairs, then by the panel. We do not run a deck-only round. Founders interview live with the sector lead before any shortlist.
May 6, 2026
Applications open
Single form. Eight questions. No deck required for the first round.
Aug 1, 2026
Applications close
Hard deadline at 11:59pm ET. We do not extend.
Aug 25, 2026
Sector interviews
45-minute conversation with the sector lead. Operators in the room, not associates.
Sep 30, 2026
Five finalists notified
Each finalist gets a working session with co-chairs to refine the pitch.
Oct 9–11, 2026
Finals · Yale Club, NYC
Live pitch and panel. Winner announced before dinner on day two.
Dec 2026
WestBridge & Hitachi Ventures diligence
Four-week compressed diligence. Capital lands in January 2027.
Cohort 2025
Five finalists. One winner. Real outcomes.
The 2025 cohort closed $42M in follow-on capital within nine months of the finals. Three of the five non-winners are mid-Series-A as of writing.
SensibleSensible
A menstrual pad that screens for cervical cancer and endometriosis. Lemelson-MIT, USA Today, UNC Gillings.
Biotech / Medtech Avedian
Avedian
Prior-auth automation for specialty practices.
Payor Tech Blue Light
Blue Light Health
Behavioral health platform for primary care groups.
Care Delivery Cohere Med
Cohere Med
Clinical-trial enrollment for community oncology.
Biotech mHeart
mHeart
Continuous cardiac monitoring with reimbursement built in.
Medtech Uncover
Uncover Wellness
Specialty dermatology, in-network. 22 clinics in 14 months.
Health & WellnessThe network
Hospital systems, payors, and strategics.
Twenty-five organizations across the GHF Venture Forum network — not logos on a page, but the people who attend, evaluate, and follow on.
“Hospital systems, payors, and strategic partners across the GHF Venture Forum network.”
UPMC
Mount Sinai
Cleveland Clinic
Johns Hopkins
Kaiser
Northwell
Ascension
HCA Healthcare
UnitedHealth
Optum
Cigna
Humana
Anthem
Aetna
BCBS
Centene
Johnson & Johnson
Roche
Pfizer
Abbott
Microsoft
AWS
Google Health
Oracle Health
Truveta
Questions
What founders ask, answered.
Eleven things that come up most often. If yours isn’t here, write to info@globalhealthforum.com — we read everything.
01How do I apply?
Click Apply for Vortex 2026 anywhere on this page. The screening form takes 15–20 minutes — eleven questions covering team, traction, and how you’d use the room. Your sector lead reads every submission end-to-end.
02When are applications due?
Saturday, August 1, 2026 at 11:59pm ET. Hard deadline — we don’t extend. Most applicants hear back within five business days of submitting; sector interviews are scheduled rolling through August.
03How can I get tickets to attend?
The Venture Forum sits inside the Global Health Forum at the Yale Club, NYC. Public tickets to the wider Forum — panels, workshops, and the Venture Forum itself — are at globalhealth-congress.org/tickets. Capacity is limited; early registration is recommended.
04Where and when is the forum?
Yale Club of New York, 50 Vanderbilt Ave. The first round runs 5:00–6:00 PM ET on Friday, October 9, 2026. Finals are 3:45–4:45 PM ET on Sunday, October 11.
05Who is eligible?
Two tracks. Early-stage: under $1M ARR, pre-seed through early-stage. Growth-stage: $1M–$15M ARR with proof of category-fit. HQ in the US or India, or shipping to US health systems with a US entity. One of the six investment sectors. Selling into healthcare directly — not adjacent fintech that touches HSAs.
06What does the application ask?
Eleven questions across four sections: the team lead, company basics, your sector and stage, and a short narrative — how you’d spend the check, who in the room you most want to reach, and the strongest signal a customer has given you in the last 90 days. Optional upload: a deck, one-pager, or clinical-evidence document.
07How are companies selected?
Three rounds. Sector lead screens every application. Shortlisted founders interview live with the lead — 45 minutes, no slides. Five finalists are invited to NYC. The panel — operators, hospital-system executives, and growth-stage investors — picks the winner in the room.
08What happens after I apply?
Within five business days you’ll get a personal note from your sector lead — either a next step or a no, with feedback. Even non-finalists get a written read on the application. We don’t ghost.
09What do companies gain?
Capital ($100K–$10M direct from WestBridge Capital and Hitachi Ventures if you win), customers (200 decision makers in the room), strategics (corp dev from J&J, Roche, Optum), and investors (growth-stage funds writing this year’s Series A and B). Beyond the check — the relationships compound. Three of last year’s five non-winners are mid-Series-A as of writing.
10Does presenting guarantee investment?
No. Only the winner receives the $100K–$10M check. Five finalists pitch; one wins. Non-winners regularly close follow-on rounds with judges’ funds, but nothing about presenting is a commitment to fund.
11What about IP and confidentiality?
Submissions are read in confidence by sector leads, co-chairs, and the panel. We don’t sign NDAs at the application stage — keep what you share pitch-friendly, not patent-grade. Live pitches are room-only; we don’t record. Decks shared with the panel are returned or destroyed at your request.
A note · GHF
The best founders aren’t just moving faster — they’re in the right race. It’s like slamming an accelerator after you’ve already picked the right ladder to climb.
Dr. Nikki Bajaj
Executive Director, Global Health Forum
- Founder, Hope Oncology
- Founder, Cancer Clarity MD