Eye Health Accelerator – Call for Applications

About the Accelerator

The Eye Health Innovation Accelerator is a Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) program supporting firms that develop scalable, inexpensive, and impactful improvements in eye well being.

The program presents:

• Technical help to validate options and strengthen enterprise fashions
• Catalytic capital to help early development
• Deep market entry to scale throughout LMICs

It is carried out by Villgro Africa, in partnership with The Fred Hollows Foundation, with a concentrate on ventures that exhibit:

• Strong market match
• Sustainable development potential
• Significant well being affect.

 Background

Avoidable imaginative and prescient impairment impacts 1.1 billion folks worldwide, with projections rising to 1.8 billion by 2050. The majority of those instances happen in low- and middle-income nations (LMICs), the place challenges equivalent to:

• Limited diagnostic capability
• Shortages in educated workforce
• Weak information techniques
• High prices of care fashions

limit entry to well timed eye-health companies.

While digital innovation, synthetic intelligence (AI), and technology-enabled care fashions maintain transformative potential, only a few ventures in LMICs attain scale. Barriers embrace:

• Limited entry to early-stage capital
• High investor threat notion
• Fragmented well being techniques

To tackle these gaps, Villgro Africa and The Fred Hollows Foundation (FHF) have designed the Eye Health Innovation Accelerator. This program strengthens, invests in, and scales high-impact eye-health applied sciences throughout Africa.

 

 Program Focus

The Accelerator helps ventures delivering technology-enabled options that broaden entry to screening, prognosis, remedy, and administration of eye situations throughout LMICs.

Focus areas embrace:

• AI-driven instruments and options for eye well being
• Community-level screening units and transportable diagnostics
• Digital eye-care platforms, teleophthalmology, and distant screening
• Data administration techniques, digital well being data (EHR), and workflow instruments
• Affordable or tech-enabled assistive applied sciences
• Hybrid “brick-and-click” fashions for major and specialised eye care

  Who Should Apply?

The Accelerator seeks African startups with validated options and demonstrated traction. Applicants ought to:

• Be legally registered in a Sub-Saharan African nation
• Have a founder or senior chief who’s a resident of Africa
• Offer a confirmed, tech-enabled eye-health answer addressing main imaginative and prescient challenges
• Demonstrate adoption, partnerships, and early income
• Show clear potential for scaling throughout LMIC markets
• Align with accountable innovation ideas, information safety, and public well being priorities

  Selection Criteria

Applications will likely be assessed primarily based on:

• Impact & outcomes: Evidence of improved entry, high quality, or affordability
• Technical high quality: Innovation aligned with eye-health wants
• Traction: Demonstrated adoption, income, or lively pilots
• Scalability: Clear potential to copy in LMIC markets
• Team capability: Strong management and operational readiness
• Investment readiness: Ability to soak up catalytic capital and develop sustainably
• Health system alignment: Fit with nationwide eye-health priorities

 What the Program Offers

Selected ventures will profit from:

• Participation in a growth-focused program with market entry and funding readiness help
• Technical help from main eye-health and digital well being specialists
• Eligibility for catalytic seed funding between $100,000 – $250,000, with potential follow-on funding
• Access to accomplice and co-investor networks
• In-person bootcamps and peer-learning classes
• Mentorship from clinicians, technologists, and well being system specialists
• Support in navigating authorities engagement and public well being pathways
• Connections to hospitals, NGOs, analysis establishments, and referral networks

  Expected Outcomes

By the tip of this system, taking part ventures are anticipated to attain:

• Refined enterprise fashions and investment-ready methods
• Secured seed funding and potential co-investments
• Strengthened market entry pathways
• Enhanced credibility via partnerships and skilled mentorship

  Application Process

Applicants should submit:

• A firm pitch deck
• A 2-minute video demo or founder pitch (optionally available)
• A accomplished on-line application type
• Additional paperwork upon request throughout screening

Non-eligible candidates embrace:

• Biotech R&D initiatives
• Pre-revenue ideas
• Academic prototypes with no market use
• Purely donor-dependent fashions
• Solutions unrelated to eye care

  Key Dates

• Information Session: December 17, 2025
• Application Deadline: January 14, 2026

The Eye Health Innovation Accelerator is a novel alternative for African startups working in eye well being to entry funding, mentorship, and market pathways. With a powerful concentrate on AI, digital platforms, and inexpensive applied sciences, this system goals to rework eye care throughout LMICs.

By combining technical help, catalytic capital, and deep networks, Villgro Africa and The Fred Hollows Foundation are paving the best way for scalable, sustainable options that tackle some of the urgent well being challenges of our time. Apply now.