KidsUP Accelerator: revolutionising child health technology development

In Autumn 2024, Sheffield Children’s – in partnership with UP Ventures and Par Equity – launched the KidsUP™ accelerator which brought together healthtech starts-ups from across the UK and Europe to tackle some of the biggest health challenges faced by children and young people.

Built around an intensive 12-week programme, the KidsUP™ accelerator’s mission is to support early-stage healthtech businesses to develop and scale innovative child health technologies for the NHS and the global healthcare market.

KidsUP™ was designed by UP Ventures, a leading accelerator specialist, and delivered in partnership with Sheffield Children’s, and Par Equity, a venture capitalist investment company. This unique collaboration provided the successful cohort with access to a dedicated programme of expertise, resources and opportunities – it has strengthened products with clinical rigour, provided investor exposure, and highlighted the importance of collaborations to set a new standard for the development of child health technologies.

A total of £115k was invested by the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority, Sheffield City Council and Brabners Solicitors to support with the delivery of the accelerator and to build on Sheffield and South Yorkshire’s reputation as leading locations for child health technology development.

Sheffield Olympic Legacy Park was the home of the KidsUP™ accelerator across four months, and it took place alongside the development of the National Centre for Child Health Technology—a Sheffield Children’s initiative which opens at the Park in 2026 to revolutionise children’s healthcare.

Twelve start-ups from across the UK and Europe were successfully selected to take part and collectively they address some of the biggest health challenges faced by children and young people. They are:

1. Applied Nanodetectors (London): Breath-analysis for asthma prediction
2. DG Global (Leeds): “Digibete”—a digital diabetes self‑care platform
3. Hypoplas (Manchester): Redesigned hospital gowns for dignity and sustainability
4. Interlinked (Stockholm): Break-away IV connectors (ReLink)
5. Peili Vision (Finland): ADHD screening tool using executive function simulation
6. Rebel Bionics (Leeds): Lightweight bionic hands for children
7. Seluna (Glasgow): AI-driven sleep disorder diagnostics
8. SleepCogni (Sheffield): Hand‑held insomnia aid
9. SurePulse Medical (Nottingham): Wireless neonatal monitoring
10. Tiny Medical Apps (London): Digital Asthma Passport
11. TriMedika (Belfast): Non-contact thermometer for neonatal use
12. XR Therapeutics (Newcastle): Immersive therapy for phobias and anxiety

Together the companies experienced specialist mentorship from clinicians, NHS senior leaders, investors and industry leaders including Dell for Startups and Nvidia, gaining insight to support the development of their products and to accelerate their impact for children and young people. The cohort of companies also gained unique access to NHS pilots, national academic and industry networks, and the opportunity to pitch showcase events targeting venture capitalist investors for post-programme funding.

A stand-out feature of the programme was the Young Person’s Advisory Panel, featuring 13–18 year-olds from the UTC Sheffield Olympic Legacy Park. After a competitive selection process, the panel provided critical feedback throughout the programme involving testing products and experiencing pitches from the companies. Their feedback supported the companies to shape product usability, marketing strategies, and has also shown the power of collaborative child-centred innovation where young people help co-create health solutions designed for them, with them.

Since the accelerator’s final showcase event, companies have continued to go from strength to strength – connections made throughout the accelerator are supporting companies to secure funding, develop new opportunities within the NHS and in some cases, exploring the option of relocating to Sheffield to develop their products further.

Phillippa Takhar, Head of implementation at XR Therapeutics, said: “Innovation is like a contact sport – you have to be around the right people and the right networks that are open to collaboration and real conversations about unmet needs, to see how tech can resolve those challenges. The KidsUP accelerator had a huge impact on our business growth and engagement with the child health technology community.”

Ari Billig, UK Country Manager at Peili Vision, said: “We had a really, really great experience with the accelerator. It was so helpful to get further support about how we communicated what we do. It felt like we finished with a much better understanding of strategy and how to work with the NHS.”

Dr Greg Burch, co-founder and joint CEO of Tiny Medical Apps, said: “It’s been fantastic to be surrounded by so many experts in so many fields – to have such great mentoring made it a really valuable programme for us. Learning about how to find investors that are right for you and aligned with your ideals and mission was especially useful. Another massive bonus was learning from people who don’t just talk about innovation but from those who have lived it – they’ve been through regulation and through scaling up and in some cases even gone on to sell their businesses.”

Ambitions to launch a second accelerator continue to be explored, and the NCCHT will also provide opportunities for leading companies to develop their products, and to elevate Sheffield—and the UK—as a global leader in children’s healthcare delivery and technology.

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To get an insight into the experience throughout the accelerator, watch this video.

To hear more about the involvement of young people, watch this video.