Top Resources For Founders
Embark on your entrepreneurial journey with VIP-C. Whether you're a first-time founder or second-time entrepreneur, VIP-C offers an inclusive space for abundant learning, networking, and community-building.
Innovation Fund
The Innovation Fund exists to fund creative and meaningfully innovative ventures from the Penn student community.
The Summer Venture Award (SVA) of $10,000 is intended to assist students financially over the summer in lieu of full-time internships so that they can concentrate on developing their entrepreneurial ventures.
This award is now offered to participants of the Startup Challenge
This award is now offered to participants of the Startup Challenge
VIP-Incubator (VIP-INC)
Our 3-month, cohort-based incubator is designed to help founders transform strong ideas into market-ready solutions and tactfully navigate the challenges of launching a new business.
The Startup Challenge is a competition for Penn student-founded ventures where student entrepreneurs pitch to a live audience and alumni judges to show their startups are ready to become the next big thing!
For dedicated student and alumni entrepreneurs with advanced startups, VIP-X propels your venture towards rapid growth and investment readiness with targeted support, non-dilutive funding, and other resources.
The Food Innovation Lab is an 800-sq. ft. facility that supports a unique cohort of food and beverage startups at Penn.
Now Accepting Applications For Fall 2022
Now Accepting Applications For Fall 2022
Our Retail Lab is a flexible retail space to showcase successful alumni and student ventures, to inspire Penn students and provide active learning opportunities.
The Wharton Scale School workshop series in San Francisco guides entrepreneurs making the transition from a successful startup to a large enterprise. Hear from experts who share solutions to critical challenges faced by rapidly growing companies.
Compete for a slice of more than $300,000 in cash and in-kind awards to help launch your venture!
Founder Events & Workshops
26
September
Navigating the legal world while launching or growing your startup can be a labyrinth.
Have all of these questions or more? Gain some clarity with a 1:1 Meetings with Venture Lab’s first Legal Visiting Expert of the semester, Abe Kwon, Partner at Lowenstein Sandler LLC who specializes in startup law.
Have all of these questions or more? Gain some clarity with a 1:1 Meetings with Venture Lab’s first Legal Visiting Expert of the semester, Abe Kwon, Partner at Lowenstein Sandler LLC who specializes in startup law.
15
October
Join us for an info session about Venture Lab's Bet on Entrepreneurship program. Attend to learn about the program and application process, and hear from alumni of the program.
02
November
Applications due by November 2nd, 2025 11:59PM EST
The Bet on Entrepreneurship Program provides students in the classes of 2028 and 2029 who identify as First-Generation and/or Limited Income (FGLI) with education around the entrepreneurial ecosystem and facilitated access to professional entrepreneurial spaces. The Program does this by supporting students through an introductory Spring Bootcamp and a subsequent 8-week placement within a local Philadelphia-area startup.
The Bet on Entrepreneurship Program provides students in the classes of 2028 and 2029 who identify as First-Generation and/or Limited Income (FGLI) with education around the entrepreneurial ecosystem and facilitated access to professional entrepreneurial spaces. The Program does this by supporting students through an introductory Spring Bootcamp and a subsequent 8-week placement within a local Philadelphia-area startup.
30
September
Watch student founders pitch their startups live, followed by an Ask Me Anything session with founder and investor Mona Bijoor, C’98, WG’05.
17
September
Join Venture Lab for a Fireside Chat with Marc Lore
Retail Lab Founder Series: Fernando Rojo, CEO of Patos
Fernando Rojo, C’19, CEO of PATOS has been featured in Forbes, Inc. Magazine, Business Insider, Huffington Post, Refinery29, Buzzfeed, NBC News, CNBC, and more. Patos provided work for over a dozen local artisans in Peru's impoverished cities to handcraft sneakers for PATOS.
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Related Articles & Stories
Find out what's happening with founders across the #entrePENNeur community! Want to tell your story? Contact us at venturelab@upenn.edu.
Two Venture lab alumni are among this year’s 84 Scholars from 25 countries!
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PHILADELPHIA, MAY 02, 2025–The University of Pennsylvania’s Venture Lab is pleased to announce the 2025 winner of its annual Startup Challenge: Sync Labs, founded by Melanie Herbert, EE'25
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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.
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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.
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Through the four-year consulting program at Penn, undergrads get real-time experience with startups almost from the minute they step on campus.
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via Kelly Yang, The Daily Pennsylvanian
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