PHILADELPHIA, May 5, 2026 — The University of Pennsylvania’s Venture Lab is proud to announce the winner of its tenth annual Startup Challenge: Cloak, founded by an all freshmen team, Rishi Ambavanekar, ENG'29, W'29, and Tyler Sacharow, C'29.
Cloak works with publishers, ranging from news to novels to screenplays, to protect content against AI scraping. The startup’s algorithm offers either full protection or opt-in monetization of training and inference. For online publishers, this creates a major opportunity to block or monetize AI activity. For the fifth consecutive year, the Startup Challenge took place on May 1, 2026, at Tangen Hall, Penn’s home for student entrepreneurship and innovation
Selected from a field of eight finalist teams, including Atelic, OnGov and Paulze, Cloak advanced through a highly competitive process that began with nearly 30 semifinalist ventures. During the final competition, teams pitched live before a panel of distinguished alumni judges and an audience of nearly 200 attendees, competing for more than $200,000 in cash and prizes to help accelerate the launch and growth of their ventures.
The 2026 Startup Challenge winners are:
- Perlman Grand Prize ($75,000):
- Cloak, founded by Rishi Ambavanekar, ENG'29, W'29, Tyler Sacharow, C'29
- William G. Simpson and R. Drew Kistler Runner Up Prize ($50,000):
- Serpent Robotics, founded by Margaret Zhu, W'26, Steyn Knollema, GEN'26, Jason Li, GEN'26, Kevin Xuan (Yiran Xuan), GEN'26
- Linn Family Innovation Prize ($10,000):
- Orble, founded by Corina Chen, ENG'28, W'28, Nastassja Kuznetsova, ENG'23, GEN'24
- The Robert S. Blank New Venture Collaboration Award ($10,000):
- Cloak, founded by Rishi Ambavanekar, ENG'29, W'29, Tyler Sacharow, C'29
- Frederick H. Gloeckner Undergraduate Award ($10,000):
- Cloak, founded by Rishi Ambavanekar, ENG'29, W'29, Tyler Sacharow, C'29
- The Jacobson Social Impact Prize ($10,000):
- Chloropept, founded by Mustafo Mustafokulov, C'27, W'27, Lisa Sun, C'27, ENG'27, GEN'27, Pedram Bayat ENG'27, GEN'28
- Khan Family AI for Business Award ($10,000 each) to:
- Lucy, founded by John Hopcroft, ENG'28, W'28, Andrew Mao, EE'26, W'26, G'EE27
- Cengine, founded by Joshua Folarin, WG'26
- Wharton Impact Climate Award ($10,000):
- Serpent Robotics, founded by Margaret Zhu, W'26, Steyn Knollema, GEN'26, Jason Li, GEN'26, Kevin Xuan (Yiran Xuan), GEN'26
- Weiss Audience’s Choice Award ($10,000):
- Serpent Robotics, founded by Margaret Zhu, W'26, Steyn Knollema, GEN'26, Jason Li, GEN'26, Kevin Xuan (Yiran Xuan), GEN'26
- Summer Venture Awards, sponsored by Mr. and Mrs. William F. Holekamp, WG’72 and Marc B. Wolpow W'80, PAR'14 & Robin S. Wolpow PAR'14 ($10,000 each) to:
- Storiara, founded by Nick Harty, EE'27, W'27, Spencer Kaufman, C'26, Charlie Hirschhorn, C'27, W'27.
- The Zillennial Advisors, founded by Kevin Russell, WG'27.
Previous winners of the Startup Challenge and Showcase include Sync Labs, a healthtech company building AI-powered monitoring systems to address the caregiver shortage in senior living, and Nirby, a real-time soil analytics and farmland management tool for large agricultural enterprises, leveraging satellite data and proprietary drone systems to deliver actionable insights within minutes.
2026 Startup Challenge Finals judges were:
- Bikram Bakshi WG‘05 | Co-Founder at ColoWatch and Partner at Blu Ventures
- Ethan Beard, W’94 | Co-Founder, Yoz Labs, Investor & Advisor
- Mona Bijoor C’98, WG’05 | Founder at Sol TV and JOOR, Partner at Kings Circle Capital
- Allison Goldberg W’98 | SVP & Managing Partner, Comcast Ventures and Startup Engagement
- Alexander Schuth WG’05 | Co-Founder and COO/CFO at Denali Therapeutics
2026 Startup Challenge In-kind Sponsors:
2026 Startup Challenge Photo Highlights
What is Venture Lab?
Venture Lab is a resource for any Penn student who is interested in entrepreneurship and innovation. We maximize the ability of our students and alumni to address important challenges through entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial thinking. Ignited by great ideas, our faculty, students, and alumni turn innovative concepts into scalable and sustainable businesses and bring entrepreneurial development to existing companies eager for change. In a world hungry for productive innovation, our disciplined approach challenges concepts, focuses ideas, and provides the know-how to turn fledgling businesses into strong, enduring organizations.
Note on abbreviations:
- C-Penn College of Arts & Sciences alum (bachelor’s)
- ENG - Penn Engineering
- GEE - Electrical Engineering (master’s)
- GEN - Engineering and Applied Science (master’s)
- G-Penn College of Arts & Sciences (master’s)
- IPD - Integrated Product Design (master’s)
- W-Wharton undergraduate student/alum
- WG-Wharton MBA student/alum
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