Cure by Deerfield MEHA Demo Day. Photo: Cure.
Overview
Three biotech and digital health startups emerged as winners of Cure’s MEHA Demo Day, reflecting the region’s growing healthcare innovation ecosystem.
The Cure by Deerfield Middle East Health Accelerator has named three startups as winners of its inaugural cohort’s Demo Day competition, spotlighting companies it considers well positioned to scale clinically grounded healthcare solutions across the region.
The selections were announced during Demo Day on January 29 in Qatar, where the Accelerator’s 13 companies pitched before a judging panel of regional healthcare, investment, policy stakeholders and approximately 150 members of the audience.
The top-ranked companies reflected the cohort’s diversity, spanning biotech, advanced therapeutics, and digital health.
Cohort stats
15 companies selected from a pool of more than 100, of which 13 completed the Accelerator program
Sectors represented include biotech, medtech, and digital health
Countries represented include the United States, United Kingdom, Spain, Tunisia, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and India
$131.35 million in disclosed funding across the 2025 cohort
The Winners of the 2025 Cohort
Atomistic Insights, an Atlanta-based startup focused on AI-powered drug discovery, was the winner of the Demo Day competition. The company’s physics-based technology integrates atomic forces, thermodynamics, and molecular motion into a machine learning framework in an effort to reduce time and cost barriers in therapeutic discovery. The founding team includes Dr. Katie Kuo, Dr. Shiyao Bao, and Prof. JC Gumbart.
Dr. Katie Kuo of Atomistic Insight presenting at Demo Day. Photo: Cure.
Runner-up VentriNaya is a biotech startup working to build scalable, off-the-shelf regenerative gene and cell therapy platforms to treat cardiovascular diseases. Co-founded by Hina W. Chaudhry, MD, the New York City-based company focuses on regenerating heart tissue following injuries such as myocardial infarction rather than slowing disease progression.
Dr. Hina Chaudhry of VentriNaya.
The second runner-up is the Virginia-based EndoMD Health, a digital-first endocrinology platform that aims to deliver in-network care for children and young adults with metabolic conditions. Co-founded by Karim Ginena, PhD, the company works to reduce long wait times many families face by offering telehealth services.
Dr. Karim Ginena of EndoMD. Photo: Cure.
The winning company will receive a package designed to support continued growth and regional engagement.
What It Took to Stand Out and What Founders Gained
From the beginning, the Accelerator’s selection process aimed to prioritize companies that had moved beyond the idea stage and were preparing to scale. Dr. Mussaad Al-Razouki, Operating Partner at Deerfield Management, explained that the Accelerator was focused on startups with a minimum viable product, early revenue, and proof of unit economics. Therapeutics companies were also expected to demonstrate a strong scientific foundation.
“The idea is to work with companies whose solutions have the potential to become the next standard of care or meaningfully solve a real healthcare problem,” Al-Razouki said.
The composition of the cohort was another key consideration. Startups at different stages, ranging from companies that had raised less than $500,000 to those with more than $30 million in funding, were intentionally grouped together to encourage peer learning and knowledge sharing.
“There’s a lot of learning that happens just from hearing how others are approaching similar problems,” said EndoMD’s Ginena. “Being able to discuss challenges together makes the experience much more practical.”
To further support the Accelerator’s multi-faceted learning environment, the program brought in more than 40 mentors from the broader global healthcare ecosystem.
Ibrahim Al’Abri, Business Development Manager of the participating startup Arbor Bio, said the Accelerator helped his team navigate a new market shaped by different regulatory frameworks, cultural norms, and operational requirements than those in the West.
