Nashville · applications open

International companies know the U.S. healthcare opportunity. Few know the way in.

LIGHT is an open-ended landing program for international healthcare companies entering the U.S. market through Nashville — the city where the buying and adoption decisions actually get made.

Apply to LIGHT Get the details

No cost to participate in Year One. First member companies in residence by 15 September 2026.

The ABHI delegation at Belmont University — the conversation LIGHT was built out of.

Why Nashville

$97B

Annual revenue from healthcare companies headquartered here

500+

Healthcare companies operating across the region

Publicly traded healthcare companies HQ'd in the city, including HCA

$1.6B

Healthcare venture capital invested here over the past decade

Nashville is where U.S. healthcare operates.

Not where it is studied — where it is bought, run and scaled.

HCA Healthcare, Ardent Health, the country's largest senior living provider and one of its largest behavioural health groups are all headquartered here. Anchored by Vanderbilt Health, Sarah Cannon Research Institute and three university medical schools. Host to the Global Health Innovator Summit, ViVE and ABHI.

What member companies get

An open-ended landing, built around where you are.

Not a cohort. Not a curriculum. A base of operations, and the introductions that turn into pilots.

01 Warm introductions to U.S. decision-makers Curated, context-rich introductions to health system leaders, investors and strategic partners — plus immersion visits to Nashville-area systems.
02 A desk in the LIGHT bay Dedicated workspace at the Entrepreneur Center with 24/7 access and a Nashville mailing address. Up to eight desks, fifteen companies.
03 Full Entrepreneur Center membership 200+ mentors and advisors, the capital connector network, weekly programming and a community of 300+ founders.
04 LIGHT-specific programming A monthly founders board of member CEOs, plus sessions built around the companies actually in residence.
05 Project Healthcare crossover Selective access to sessions from the EC's healthcare accelerator, including the Michael Burcham workshop.
06 Onboarding concierge In your first 30 days: pre-briefed meetings with a U.S. attorney, an accountant and a go-to-market advisor.
07 Global Health Connector network Membership at no cost, structured introductions across the Global Health Innovators network, and links to other U.S. innovation regions.
08 Nashville's healthcare calendar A ticket to the Global Health Innovator Summit on 16 September 2026, plus Entrepreneur Day, investor matchmaking and partner events.
09 A 12-month market-entry partnership The EC is your lead contact and navigator. When you need a specific meeting, we use the full weight of the coalition to get it.
10 U.S. market intelligence Payment methodologies, federal policy, CMMI, and programmes like Rural Healthcare Transformation. The rules of the market, not just the rooms.

An immersion visit inside a Nashville health system. This is what “curated introductions” looks like in practice.

The alternative

Three ways into the U.S. market.

Most international companies take the first by default — usually because they don't know there is a third.

Alone

$175K–$235K. Eighteen months. Mostly in airports.

Cold outreach into health systems that don't open. Most don't make it, and decide the U.S. wasn't right for them — when the problem was never the product.

A short boot camp

Five days. A binder. A few introductions.

Useful orientation, not a relationship. You leave with a notebook and nobody in Nashville to call next week.

LIGHT

A desk in Nashville and the relationships you came for.

A landing program, not a classroom. Workspace, membership and the introductions that become pilots and partnerships.

Voices from the building

LIGHT is not Project Healthcare. It runs on the same access.

These are Project Healthcare founders — same building, same rooms, same operators that LIGHT member companies walk into.

Michael Burcham presenting a customer journey map to a seated room of Project Healthcare founders. — The Michael Burcham workshop — open to LIGHT members.

The Nashville Entrepreneur Center, a red brick building on the corner of Peabody Street. — 41 Peabody Street, where the LIGHT bay sits.

Project Healthcare wasn't so much about the curriculum as it was about access to a trust layer that we'd otherwise have no way to reach. The advisor and founder network connected us with multiple contacts at VUMC, USVetServ, Legion Fund and more — introduced by people they trust.

Andrew HogueNEUROFIT · Project Healthcare

I've valued the conversations within the curated Project Healthcare network: introductions to Lifepoint Health, advice from Bobby Frist, lessons from Michael Burcham, tours of the Belmont simulation center. I would not have been able to engage within the healthcare space in the same way from another program.

James ValenciaRadical Shoots · Project Healthcare

Had some really good meetings with Vanderbilt — which was our #1 goal for the program.

Laura EpsteinPulse Charter Connect · Project Healthcare

The most valuable part has been access to mentors and peers who understand the realities of scaling impact-driven ventures. The connections have helped refine Deaftronics' growth strategy and opened doors to partnerships that will make our solar-powered hearing aids more accessible across Africa.

Tendekayi KatsigaDeaftronics · Project Healthcare

The coalition

A coalition, not a single program.

The Entrepreneur Center and the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce are co-founding partners, the Chamber also serving as economic development lead. Global Health Connector is anchor partner.

Founding & anchor

Nashville Entrepreneur Center Co-founding partner. Host and program operator.

Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce Co-founding partner. Economic development lead.

Global Health Connector Anchor partner. International recruitment and ecosystem.

Academic medical centre partners

Vanderbilt Health Academic medical centre partner Thomas F. Frist, Jr. College of Medicine at Belmont University Academic medical centre partner

Building the wider coalition

AcademicTennessee universities and graduate programmes

CommunityNashville civic and ecosystem organisations

CorporateHealth systems, payers, providers and adjacent enterprises

CapitalHealthcare venture, growth equity and corporate venture

Get the details

Tell us where you are. We'll send the rest.

One email with everything you need to decide — no deck, no drip sequence. It comes from Dakota Simpson, our Chief Program Officer, and you can reply straight to her.

Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis. There is no deadline.

Who is LIGHT for?

Growth-stage international healthcare companies — digital health, medtech, health IT and adjacent services — that are revenue-positive at home and entering the U.S. for the first time. Proven products, not pre-revenue startups. If you already operate in the U.S., or you're a domestic company, Project Healthcare is the better fit.

What does it cost?

Nothing in Year One. The Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce underwrites participation — the equivalent of $15,000 per company, roughly half the benchmark rate for comparable U.S. market-entry support. That covers the desk, membership, introductions, programming and the full benefit set.

How long is the program?

Each company's engagement runs up to 12 months. LIGHT itself is open-ended and ongoing, not a fixed-term cohort. You keep your home operations running and rotate executives through the Nashville bay as needed.

Which countries are you recruiting from?

Year-one recruitment focuses on the United Kingdom, Ireland, Canada and the European Union, but LIGHT is open to international healthcare companies from any market and is designed to be market-agnostic over time.