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About Merck Accelerator
Merck Accelerator, an accelerator and incubator program founded in 2000, is based in Darmstadt, Germany. With a presence in 16 countries, it has supported around 44 startups in sectors like HealthTech, Enterprise Applications. As of Apr 2026, Merck Accelerator has witnessed 3 portfolio exits. Most notable companies in
its portfolio include Wellthy Therapeutics, Wingcopter and Clustermarket. The program is backed by a team of 1 people who primarily support Seed startups based in Switzerland. Its latest investment was a Undisclosed Seed round in Dicronis on Jan 15, 2019.
Key Metrics
Founded Year
2000
Location
Darmstadt, Germany
Portfolio Companies
Sectors of Investment
Stages of Investment
Seed
Locations of Investment
Merck Accelerator's List of Top Investments
Merck Accelerator has a portfolio of 44 companies. Their most notable investments are in Dicronis and Hafnium Labs.Their portfolio spans across Germany, United States, United Kingdom and 13 more locations. They have invested in HealthTech, Enterprise Applications, Life Sciences and 11 other sectors, across stages such as Seed stage. Here is the list of top investments by Merck Accelerator:
Provider of a health monitoring app for chronic health patients and providers. The platform allows gets integrated into the smart devices for tracking and monitoring the health vitals of patients. The data can be remotely visualized by providers, and caregivers for tracking patients' diabetic health, hypertension, heart failure, and more. It provides a lifestyle management program for people with chronic diseases like chronic kidney disease (CKD). It also offers the provider dashboard to keep track of their patient's progress.
Key facts about Wellthy Therapeutics
- Founded Year: 2015
- Location: Mumbai (India)
- Annual Revenue: ₹6.84Cr as on Mar 31, 2025
- Last Known Valuation: $*****
- Stage: Acquired
- Total Funding till date: $8.91M
- Employee Count: 25 as on Aug 31, 2025
- Investors: India Infoline, IIFL Finance and 32 Others
- Latest Funding Round: Seed, Jun 15, 2023, $*****
- Highlight: Acquired
2. Wingcopter
Creates and produces unmanned eVTOL delivery drones for industrial and charitable uses. It specializes in streamlining medical supply chains and the logistics of supplies that are urgently required. Healthcare, parcel and e-commerce, groceries and food delivery, and intersite logistics are some of its use cases.
Key facts about Wingcopter
- Founded Year: 2014
- Location: Weiterstadt (Germany)
- Stage: Series B
- Total Funding till date: $110M
- Employee Count: 136 as on Mar 31, 2026
- Investors: Expa, Nordic Secondary Fund and 17 Others
- Latest Funding Round: Series B, Jun 27, 2025, $*****
- Highlight: Editors' Pick
Cluster Market provides an online sharing platform for life scientists to list, discover and book resources within their institution or cluster. Users can search assets and request them and make payments as may be required, Providers can list the available products, accept or reject requests and send pre-approvals to the users and clients. It aims at improving and making B2B sharing easy for life science research.
Key facts about Clustermarket
- Founded Year: 2015
- Location: London (United Kingdom)
- Stage: Series A
- Total Funding till date: $3.81M
- Employee Count: 23 as on Aug 20, 2025
- Investors: London Co-Investment Fund, 24 Haymarket and 26 Others
- Latest Funding Round: Series A, Jun 24, 2021, $*****
- Highlight: Editors' Pick
Digital women's health management software for employers and individuals. The company has developed an app called "SORA" which is a virtual health assistant and management tool. Users are allowed to track, monitor, and manage health symptoms, access medical services, and get fertility & pregnancy support. The software has features for telemedicine, community-based support, virtual consultation, and more.
Key facts about Syrona Health
- Founded Year: 2018
- Location: Newcastle Upon Tyne (United Kingdom)
- Valuation: $*****
- Stage: Seed
- Total Funding till date: $575K
- Employee Count: 5 as on Jun 30, 2021
- Investors: Startup Creasphere, Fast Track Malmo and 19 Others
- Latest Funding Round: Seed, Mar 29, 2022, $*****
5. Pear Bio
Pear Bio develops microfluidic chip for cancer drug research. The device combines tissue engineering, microfluidics, and biomaterials to represent how drugs are infused, distributed and exposed to the tumor over multiple passes during a chemo regimen. It also maps the spread of cancer using 3D imaging.
Key facts about Pear Bio
- Founded Year: 2017
- Location: London (United Kingdom)
- Stage: Series A
- Total Funding till date: $14.2M
- Employee Count: 33 as on Dec 31, 2024
- Investors: Compound, Emerge and 8 Others
- Latest Funding Round: Series A, Apr 14, 2023, $*****
- Highlight: Editors' Pick
Merck Accelerator's Year-on-Year Investment Trends
Its most recent first time investment was in Dicronis.Year | No. of Investments | ||
|---|---|---|---|
1st Round | Follow-on | Total | |
2026 (YTD) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
2025 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
2024 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
2023 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
2022 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
2021 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
2020 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
2019 | 7 | 0 | 7 |
2018 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
2017 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
Merck Accelerator's Investments by Stage
Merck Accelerator has made 9 investments in Seed stage with an average round size of $54K.Merck Accelerator's Investments by Sector
Merck Accelerator has a diverse portfolio, with companies operating in the Life Sciences, Enterprise Applications, HealthTech, Artificial Intelligence - Industry Applications and Chemicals and Materials Tech. Notably, it has invested in 42 Tech companies, 38 Enterprise (B2B) companies, 24 Software companies and at least 14 companies focusing on Consumer (B2C).Sector | No. of Investments |
|---|---|
Life Sciences | 7 |
Enterprise Applications | 3 |
HealthTech | 3 |
Artificial Intelligence - Industry Applications | 1 |
Chemicals and Materials Tech | 1 |
Others | 4 |
Note: We have considered here, only first round of investments
Merck Accelerator's Investments by Geography
Merck Accelerator has made most investments in Switzerland (2), followed by Denmark where it has made 1 investment.Country | No. of Investments |
|---|---|
Switzerland | 2 |
Denmark | 1 |
Germany | 1 |
India | 1 |
Netherlands | 1 |
Others | 3 |
Note: We have considered here, only first round of investments
Merck Accelerator's recent investments
Merck Accelerator has not made any investment in 2026 so far.Here are the most recent investments by Merck Accelerator:
Filter this listDate | Company | Location | Round Details | Round Amount | Co-Investors |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Jan 15, 2019 | Switzerland | Seed | 9097 | - | |
Jan 15, 2019 | Denmark | Seed | 1800 | - | |
Jan 15, 2019 | Netherlands | Seed | 8582 | - | |
Jan 15, 2019 | United States | Seed | 8640 | - | |
Jan 15, 2019 | United Kingdom | Seed | 8437 | - |
IPOs and Publicly Listed companies in Merck Accelerator's Portfolio
2 of Merck Accelerator's portfolio companies have become public. iXensor got listed on the Taipei Stock Exchange (TT), in Jun 2019.Here are Merck Accelerator's portfolio companies that went public:
Company | IPO Date | First Invested on | First Round of Investment | Round Size |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Jun 28, 2019 | - | - | 9387 | |
- | - | - | 9338 |
Acquired companies in Merck Accelerator's Portfolio
1 company from Merck Accelerator's portfolio has been acquired. The most recent acquisition were Wellthy Therapeutics in Feb 2024 by TruDoc.Here are Merck Accelerator's portfolio companies that got acquired most recently:
Company | Acquisition Date | First Invested on | First Round of Investment | Round Size |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Feb 12, 2024 | - | - | 4403 |
Team profile of Merck Accelerator
Merck Accelerator has a team of 1 member located in Kenya. Merck Accelerator's team does not sit on the board of any company as of now.Co-investors of Merck Accelerator
Over the past 9 years, 24 investors have co-invested in Merck Accelerator's portfolio companies. This includes funds and angels.
- Invested before Merck Accelerator: K-Startup Grand Challenge, Startupbootcamp and 8 others have invested in rounds before Merck Accelerator. There is 1 company where K-Startup Grand Challenge has invested before Merck Accelerator and 1 company where Startupbootcamp has invested before Merck Accelerator.
- Invested after Merck Accelerator: A total of 14 investors have invested in Merck Accelerator's portfolio after their investments. Top Investors include Europa (3 companies) and EIC Fund (3 companies).
