The Louisville Entrepreneurship Acceleration Partnership (LEAP) announces its next phase and the launch of a new effort that will provide even more support for founders.

LEAP will focus on providing support to meet the needs of promising local and regional healthcare founders and startups, while a new effort, Amplify Louisville, will work to strengthen the broader entrepreneurial ecosystem.

LEAP, now known as Louisville Entrepreneurship Acceleration Programs, will be led by the Louisville Healthcare CEO Council (LHCC) and the University of Louisville’s Office of Research and Innovation. LEAP will offer resources including educational series, networking events and mentorship opportunities tailored for healthcare startups of all stages.

“When we launched LEAP, our vision was to grow and support Louisville’s entrepreneurial ecosystem in new, bigger and better ways,” said Tammy York Day, president and CEO of LHCC. “This next stage of growth is part of that vision. LEAP and Amplify are doubling down on these efforts, creating more resources to better serve Louisville’s startup ecosystem.”

LEAP efforts will include the continued development of LHCC’s recently announced Corporate Innovation Center, with entrepreneurial programs for healthcare startups, such as the newly formed Chairman’s Circle, a group of healthcare executives who will provide mentorship for entrepreneurs.

Other efforts will include UofL’s entrepreneurs-in-residence program, whose rotating experienced founders work to commercialize university technologies, and LHCC’s second annual health-tech startup pitch competition, CareTech2.0, in September. CareTech will issue a global call for innovations addressing social determinants of health this week.

Amplify, led by executive director Larry Horn, will focus on broader ecosystem development efforts, providing diverse programming, access to customers, talent, and capital for non-industry specific tech-enabled, scalable startups in our community.

“I’m excited to continue supporting entrepreneurs, innovators, and founders ranging from napkin sketch to Series A,” Horn said. “This is the natural evolution for LEAP to continue their focus on healthcare entrepreneurship while supporting and impacting companies in a wider range of stage / lifecycle.”

Learn more about LEAP at LouisvilleLEAP.com, or follow @LouisvilleLEAP on Twitter and /LouisvilleLEAP on Facebook and LinkedIn. Learn more about Amplify Louisville at AmplifyLouisville.com, or follow @AmplifyLouisville on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, or @AmplifyLou on Twitter.