CDL-Berlin Health

For founders developing solutions to the macro-healthcare challenges facing the European Union in human disease prevention, diagnosis, and treatment

Run in collaboration with:

The Health Stream at CDL-Berlin supports early-stage founders building science- and technology-driven ventures at the intersection of healthcare, life sciences, and deep tech. The stream focuses on translating cutting-edge academic and clinical research into scalable companies capable of addressing Europe’s most pressing health challenges.

The mission of the Health Stream at CDL-Berlin is to bridge Europe’s long-standing commercialisation gap between scientific excellence and entrepreneurial execution. Our goal is to enable the creation of massively scalable ventures that leverage deep technologies to tackle the most challenging human diseases and contribute to improved healthspan and longevity.

CDL achieves this by providing structured mentorship from a global network of serial entrepreneurs, experienced operators, scientists, technologists, and investors who have played critical roles in building leading health and life science companies. Participating startups work closely with these mentors to refine objectives, prioritise time and resources, validate technical and commercial assumptions, raise capital, and engage with experts operating at the forefront of research and innovation.

Startups participate in five in-person objective-setting sessions held between October and June. CDL is a non-profit organisation: there are no participation fees, and CDL does not take equity. Learn more about the CDL program.

Who Should Apply?

The stream aligns ventures to four system-level impact objectives listed below. Each addresses structural constraints in critical industries. This stream is tailored towards early-stage companies (early venture or growth) or even projects (pre-incorporation); however, startups at all levels of maturity will be considered.

Example Innovation Areas

Big Data Diagnostics & Decision Support. Focus: Ventures leveraging Big Data, AI, and machine learning to improve early disease detection, automate clinical workflows, and enhance diagnostic accuracy. Example Startups: AI-powered imaging analysis, biomarker-based disease prediction, real-time clinical decision support systems.
Drug Discovery & Development. Focus: Startups pioneering R&D, drug discovery, and drug development tools through genomics, proteomics, multi-omics, and advanced platforms. Example Startups: AI-driven, high-throughput drug discovery, optimization, and design; genomics & multi-omics tools for cell and drug-target discovery.
Next-Gen Molecular & Non-Invasive Diagnostics. Focus: Startups developing liquid biopsy, single-cell sequencing, and non- invasive molecular diagnostics to enable earlier disease detection and personalized treatment plans. Example Startups: Early-stage cancer detection through liquid biopsy, proteomics-based neurological disorder diagnostics, multi-omics blood testing for real-time pediatric health monitoring.
Real-World Data & Digital Health Platforms Focus: Companies harnessing electronic health records (EHRs), wearable devices, and real-world patient data to improve treatment outcomes, enable predictive medicine, increase hospital system efficiency, and support clinical studies. Example Startups: Digital twin models for patient simulations, AI-powered chronic disease management platforms (e.g. type 1 diabetes), federated learning for multi-institutional research, and AI tools for data annotation.

The list above is not exhaustive. Contact bhargavi.murthy@creativedestructionlab.com to discuss the program and your venture with someone from the Health Stream.

Our Mentors

CDL mentors include accomplished entrepreneurs, experienced operators, active angel and venture investors, world-leading scientists, engineers, and economists. Mentors and founders meet every eight weeks across Germany to help founders set objectives over the program’s six-month duration.