HealthCatalyst Northwest Arkansas Selects Seven Startups for $20,000 Community Pilot Projects
Bentonville, Ark. — FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – August 24, 2026 — HTA and NXTUS, Inc. today announced the seven early-stage companies selected for the inaugural HealthCatalyst Northwest Arkansas (NWA) pilot cohort, made possible by the Walton Family Foundation.
The startups were selected by Arkansas non-profit organizations to implement $20,000 innovation projects in Northwest Arkansas, with the funding distributed between the startup and its community partner. Together, they will test solutions designed to enhance the local organization’s capabilities and improve the health and economic vitality of the region. Over the coming months, each startup will work alongside its community partner to test its solution in a real-world setting, with pilot impacts and continuing commercial partnerships to be announced at the HealthCatalyst NWA Innovation Showcase on September 29 at the Heartland Whole Health Institute in Bentonville. Registration for the Innovation Showcase is open here.
The seven companies were selected from a pool of 228 competitors representing 33 states and 25 countries.
HealthCatalyst NWA is modeled after NXTUS's NXTSTAGE Community Health and Vibrancy Pilot Competition program, which has launched more than 77 pilot projects designed to improve population health and remove barriers to community growth in Kansas. This unique pairing of leading innovators with community organizations has spread to Northwest Arkansas, where HTA’s network of community organizations are leaning into technology initiatives to enhance their services and drive growth for the region.
“Northwest Arkansas has the community partners, problems worth solving, and the will to do something about it,” said Jeff Stinson, Director, HTA. “The quality of companies that chose to bring their work here, out of more than 200 applicants from around the world, is a real signal that this region is becoming a proving ground for health innovation that matters. We're proud to launch this program here and excited to see what these pilots produce.”
“This program promises a triple win for Northwest Arkansas,” said Mary Beth Jarvis, President and CEO of NXTUS. “Startups get a chance to gain customers and see how they can thrive here, community organizations get to be early adopters of technology tools that can help them improve and expand their operations, and residents get the benefit of both improved services for them and economic growth around them. We look forward to this fall’s Innovation Showcase, at which everyone can get a look at these exciting innovators and the future-minded organizations piloting their solutions.”
Sixteen Northwest Arkansas healthcare providers and community organizations are participating in the program as community partners:Arisa Health, Arkansas Behavioral Health Integration Network, Arkansas Department of Health, Arkansas Rural Health Partnership, Children's Safety Center, Communities Unlimited, Community Clinic, EverHope, Havenwood, Jones Center, Mercy, Our Blood Institute, Spring Creek Food Hub, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, UpSkill NWA, and Washington Regional Medical System.
The 2026 HealthCatalyst NWA cohort companies and their pilot projects are:
Ashmi Health (Boston, Mass.): Personalized AI nutrition guidance for women's hormonal and metabolic health. Piloting with the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences to deliver voice-first blood pressure and glucose monitoring, photo-based meal logging, and dietitian-reviewed nutrition content to pregnant and postpartum patients, integrated into CHW workflows at UAMS's Center for Women and Infant’s Health.
GaitIQ (San Antonio, Texas): AI-powered mobility health platform for adults 55+. Piloting with the Jones Center to integrate objective mobility measurement into existing fitness and wellness programming, establishing participant baselines and supporting earlier identification of mobility decline.
Huml Health (Bentonville, Ark.): Wearable AI platform enabling proactive addiction recovery care. Piloting with Arisa Health on a six-month post-discharge monitoring program for NWA substance use disorder patients, using LTE-enabled smartwatches to track real-time biometrics and flag anomalies for Arisa's care teams.
Life Startup Essentials (Phoenix, Ariz.): Essential home kits that help transition from homelessness to housing. Piloting with Havenwood to provide complete houseware kits to program graduates as they move to permanent housing, removing a key financial barrier to independent living.
Pear Suite (Tulsa, Okla.): AI-powered care navigation platform and management services for community health workers. Piloting with EverHope to conduct a billing readiness assessment and provide technical assistance to help EverHope access Medicaid and other reimbursement pathways for services it is already delivering.
We The Village (New York, N.Y.): Scaling evidence-based family engagement in addiction recovery. Piloting with the Arkansas Behavioral Health Integration Network to train NWA community leaders in the CRAFT family program, equipping families with skills to support loved ones with substance use disorders and expand pathways to treatment in Benton and Washington counties.
Welfie (San Diego, Calif.): Building and empowering the future healthcare workforce. Piloting with the Arkansas Rural Health Partnership to launch the Arkansas Rural Health Academy, a training and job placement pipeline for healthcare workers with a specific pathway to place graduates in NWA communities.
In addition to funding from the Walton Family Foundation, HealthCatalyst NWA is supported in part by Simmons Foods, a family-owned Arkansas company headquartered in Siloam Springs that has invested in the health and vitality of NWA communities for more than 75 years. This program also collaborates with Visit Bentonville, The Collaborative, NWA Council, and Startup NWA. To learn more about HealthCatalyst NWA, visit https://hta.health/healthcatalyst-nwa.