Walgreens wants to stay on top of startups in the healthcare space, and it's working with Chicago healthtech incubator MATTER to make sure it doesn't miss the next big thing in health innovation.
Walgreens and MATTER announced the partnership Tuesday, and Walgreens will collaborate with MATTER entrepreneurs and provide mentorship and other resources to the incubator’s more than 150 startups.
“We’re looking forward to working with MATTER and uncovering new innovation that can help shape the future of healthcare, technology and pharmacy,” Brad Fluegel, senior VP and chief healthcare commercial market development officer at Walgreens, said in a statement.
Walgreens said it also wants to help strengthen the healthcare ecosystem in the Chicago area, and it has joined as a founding member of the recently launched Health Care Council of Chicago, an organization co-created by MATTER and Leavitt Partners to raise Chicago’s profile as an "American healthcare epicenter."
“Walgreens has been a retail pharmacy pioneer for more than a century,” added Steven Collens, MATTER CEO. “The opportunities, insights, and perspectives that Walgreens provides will prove invaluable to the innovators at MATTER and to the Healthcare Council of Chicago.”
Walgreens, of course, had a high-profile swing-and-miss with Theranos, a blood testing startup that has now been infamously discredited. Walgreens invested in the startup and planned to open Theranos “Wellness Centers” at its locations, but is now suing the company for $140 million.
“We look forward to supporting MATTER’s community efforts to help push the status quo of healthcare forward through innovation and technology,” added Nimesh Jhaveri, Walgreens divisional vice president, health services development. “Collectively, with MATTER and its members and partners, we will focus on helping to address some of the pressing healthcare challenges the industry is facing today, to better serve patients and our communities.”
