Programs for Founders
The Startup Challenge is Venture Lab at The University of Pennsylvania’s flagship event, which brings together successful entrepreneurial alumni and Penn student entrepreneurs to showcase the best student-founded ventures from across Penn’s campus. This comprehensive platform helps Penn student entrepreneurs and their teams progress their businesses, and competing teams have the opportunity to pitch to a live audience at the Startup Showcase to win cash and in-kind prizes from an award pool of over $150,000.
The 2024 Penn Wharton China Entrepreneur Award. is given by Venture Lab and recognizes entrepreneurial achievement in China and worldwide.
VIP-X is an intense, 3-month accelerator program for the most dedicated student entrepreneurs and the most advanced startups.
The Penn Wharton Entrepreneurship Alumni Achievement Award is given by Venture Lab and recognizes excellence in the Wharton and University of Pennsylvania startup community. Recipients are chosen by the Venture Lab Advisory Board.
The Penn Wharton Innovation Fund exists to fund creative and meaningfully innovative ventures from the Penn student community while giving students on the investment team the opportunity to develop skills that will benefit them when pursuing a career in early-stage investing.
The Venture Initiation Program (VIP) is where Penn’s boldest founders turn ideas into impact. Whether you're just starting out or scaling fast, VIP is your launchpad—a high-energy, founder-first ecosystem designed to help you build, test, and grow.
The social entrepreneurship programming is available to all of the Penn community, inclusive of undergraduate students, graduate students, and alumni. Financial award opportunities are open to all students who are enrolled full time in a University of Pennsylvania academic program.
Wharton Scale School, hosted in conjunction with Wharton’s Lifelong Learning initiative in San Francisco, is designed to guide Bay Area entrepreneurs making the crucial transition from successful startup to scalable enterprise. Our series addresses the critical challenges faced by rapidly growing companies and provides actionable insights and solutions from industry experts.
This program is specifically tailored for startup founders, industry executives, senior management, and leadership teams in the San Francisco/Bay Area who are committed to scaling their businesses effectively and sustainably.
This program is specifically tailored for startup founders, industry executives, senior management, and leadership teams in the San Francisco/Bay Area who are committed to scaling their businesses effectively and sustainably.
Latest Founders Events
20
February
Interested in a 1:1? Sign up here: https://go.oncehub.com/AarthiSrinivasan
This is an ideal opportunity for students interested in AI-driven product innovation, scaling startups, and the future of consumer technology at Target, AWS and Amazon.
This is an ideal opportunity for students interested in AI-driven product innovation, scaling startups, and the future of consumer technology at Target, AWS and Amazon.
19
February
Interested in a 1:1? Sign up here: https://go.oncehub.com/AjayGandhi
This is an ideal opportunity for students interested in marketing strategy, software VC, and technology leadership.
This is an ideal opportunity for students interested in marketing strategy, software VC, and technology leadership.
18
February
Interested in a 1:1? Sign up here: https://go.oncehub.com/MattIdema
This is a great opportunity for students interested in marketing tech, product strategy, and scaling businesses.
This is a great opportunity for students interested in marketing tech, product strategy, and scaling businesses.
12
February
Are you a student interested in joining a venture team or working on a project for a Penn startup?
The 2025 Venture Lab Joiner Fair is a pilot showcase event that provides Penn students the opportunity to meet founders and hear about the exciting ventures currently spinning out of Penn.
The 2025 Venture Lab Joiner Fair is a pilot showcase event that provides Penn students the opportunity to meet founders and hear about the exciting ventures currently spinning out of Penn.
13
February
This is a great opportunity for students interested in technology + consumer goods, operations, Uber/GoodRx, and scaling high-growth businesses.
Latest Founders News
Joseph Kemp, JD, MBA, MSEd (GSE '21), has been recognized on Forbes' 2025 30 Under 30 list in the Games category for his company, Games That Matter, a testament to his innovative approach to gamified education. As the creator of DISBARRED: The Card Game™, Kemp has successfully leveraged his education and the resources at Penn’s Venture Lab to transform how people engage with essential legal knowledge.
PHILADELPHIA, PA — The Penn Center for Health, Devices, and Technology (Penn Health-Tech) and Venture Lab are excited to announce the launch of the Emerging Leaders in Health Innovation, Technology, and Entrepreneurship Fellowship at the University of Pennsylvania (Penn ELITE Fellowship). This new initiative will prepare the next generation of health-tech innovators and support the commercialization of university-developed technologies, bridging academia and the healthcare industry.
via Daily Pennsylvanian
Alumni entrepreneurs who launched successful startups through Venture Lab return to guide a new wave of student innovators.
Jochi, founded by Yash Dhir, SEAS'24, and Rahul Nambiar, SEAS'24, has been making waves in the Penn startup scene, securing multiple awards and recognition, including Venture Lab's 2024 Startup Challenge's Launch Award, The AI at Wharton Award, The Audience Choice Award, the Draper Bridge Fund Award and has also taken home the prestigious President's Innovation Prize!
PHILADELPHIA, APRIL 16, 2024–The University of Pennsylvania’s Venture Lab is pleased to announce the winner of its annual Startup Challenge: Nirby, founded by Piotr Lazarek SEAS'25 W'25. Nirby is 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. The tool enables up to 40% savings on fertilizer expenses and up to 15% increase in crop yields.
news provided by Kasa Living
by Jeff Schmitt, Poets&Quants
