Health Wildcatters is leaving the location it shares with Tech Wildcatters at Alto 211 to open what it hopes will become a health innovation hub.
“For our region, it will mean we will have a resource center,” Health Wildcatters CEO Hubert Zajicek said. “In healthcare, there isn’t a place (for startups) to move to where there’s all the resources.”
The Dallas health accelerator company will take over the 20th floor—about 16,620 square feet—at Pacific Place Tower, 1910 Pacific Ave. in downtown Dallas later this month. It previously shared two floors (about 13,000 square feet) in the aquamarine tower at 211 N. Ervay, with Tech Wildcatters. That building also houses other startups. Developer Mike Sarimsakci intended for it to become a “Tech Mecca.” The two accelerators, which each used to run during the other’s another’s off season, provide startup participants space during their programs.
With its new office, Health Wildcatters intends to offer space to recent program graduates and its partners, which could include investors, health tech advocates, and other resources that will, Zajicek hopes, create a hub for healthcare innovation. In addition the dozen or so companies that will occupy the space during the 12-week accelerator program, Health Wildcatters plans to house about another 12 groups in its office. It now has the room to host larger events, workshops, and other programs, which could include a second accelerator. Details are still being determined.
“In healthcare, it’s much more complex and stakes are higher because you’re dealing with human lives,” Zajicek says. “So it creates a barrier of entry. They need more resources to shake down an idea.”
Health Wildcatters’ move is expected to be completed Aug. 15. It will join current startup tenants Zerologic, Deep Rapid Design Studio, Twentynine Thirty Creative, and Launch DFW. Boxer Property, which owns Pacific Place, is aiming to cater to more startups by providing flexible office space.
Health Wildcatters partnered with architecture and engineering firm Page to design the space. The firm has worked with The Center for BrainHealth’s Brain Performance Institute at The University of Texas at Dallas, Baylor Medical Center Uptown, Baylor Regional Medical Center at Plano, Children’s Health System of Texas’ Plano Campus, and Frisco-based Gearbox Software. The majority of the space will be multi-purpose and flexible, with open coworking space and locked offices so that companies could move into different options as they grow.
Health Wildcatters is in its fourth year and has graduated 32 companies from its program. Graduates have raised in excess of $12 million since participating in the accelerator. The group is still accepting applications for its fourth class, which will begin in mid-August.
