All applicants for the fund must be a Founding member of the team. The team leader must be a founder, and a currently enrolled student in a degree-pursuing program at Penn. Students on a Leave of Absence are not eligible to be a team leader.

Both Nonprofits and For Profits are eligible.

The venture must be a new and independent venture. Ventures that were launched before a team member enrolled at the University of Pennsylvania are not eligible.

All submitted materials must be the original work of the participating team. By submitting an application, a team and each of its individual members warrants that they do not infringe on any proprietary or other right of others.

Venture Lab uses Survey Monkey as the application platform for all programs and awards. By applying to any of the programs or awards offered by Venture Lab, applicants agree to submit and/or upload data to the Survey Monkey platform, and acknowledge acceptance of the Survey Monkey terms and conditions.

Declined applicants are welcome to reapply at any time, as long as the team meets all the eligibility requirements (ex. haven’t graduated)

International students are eligible. If they are awarded, additional financial paperwork will be required.

Applications for the Validation Phase Award ($500) and Implementation Phase Award ($2500) have no prerequisite.

Applicants are only eligible for the Launch Phase Award ($5000) after receiving the Implementation Phase Award.

Once a team receives an award, they are no longer eligible to apply for a ‘lesser’ award for that venture (ex. Implementation Award winners cannot apply for a Validation Award). Once a team receives a Launch Award, they are no longer eligible for additional Innovation Fund funding.

Innovation Fund awards are intended for early stage ventures. Businesses that have received more than $150k in institutional funding are not eligible, unless the funding was received while the Team Leader/team members were concurrently active students at the University of Pennsylvania.

Validation: Venture should be pre-revenue

Implementation: Venture can be pre-revenue or have minimal revenue from a paid pilot or beta testers

Launch: Venture can be revenue-generating

Appropriate use of funds: Funds provided as direct grants to student-led projects can be used to build, test, and develop prototypes, purchase technical and legal resources, engage software developers or engineers, or for other expenses related to developing the idea or invention. The use of funds should clearly make an impact on venture development. Examples of inappropriate use of funds include reimbursing founders’ personal expenses, paying for a resource students could access free of charge, reimbursing for prior travel expenses, etc. The Investment Team wants to see that the Innovation Fund funding is making a meaningful impact on venture development.

Decisions made by the Innovation Fund Investment Team are final. The Investment Team reserves the right to disqualify any participant, team and/or submission for good cause, including the following reasons:
- violation of the University’s Code of Student Conduct, Code of Academic Integrity or other policy
- violation of any local, state or federal law
- the team or submission has not complied with applicable rules
- the application does not present sufficient content or material appropriate to merit review

Applications are reviewed by the Innovation Fund Investment Team, which is made up of current Penn students.

There are five opportunities to apply each academic year. (see list below)

Evaluation criteria varies per award phase and includes:

• For all award phases

o Innovation: The Innovation Fund Investment Team is most
interested in truly innovative ideas
o Use of funds & impact of Innovation Fund funding

• Validation

o How the identified problem connects to the proposed solution
o The proposed validation plan

• Implementation

o Market
o Business model
o Product development plan
o Validation plan results

• Launch

o Everything listed above plus – Team and Path to financial
sustainability

A venture can meet all of the criteria and receive positive feedback and still not receive an award, as there is a finite amount of funding to distribute each month.

Shortlisted applicants for the Launch Award may be invited to pitch to the Investment Team. Launch Award applicants are expected to be available to attend the meeting date listed below for their particular application cycle. Teams will be notified if they are invited to pitch approximately 1 week before the meeting date.

2022-2023 Important Dates

Application Deadline	Notification Date (Validation & Implementation applicants)	Launch Award Shortlist Meeting Date	Notification Date (Launch applicants)
Sunday, October 9	Wednesday, October 26	Tuesday, November 1	Wednesday, November 2
Sunday, November 6	Wednesday, November 30	Tuesday, December 6	Wednesday, December 7
Sunday, January 22	Wednesday, February 8	Tuesday, February 14	Wednesday, February 15
Sunday, February 19	Wednesday, March 15	Tuesday, March 21	Wednesday, March 22
Sunday, March 26	Wednesday, April 12	Tuesday, April 18	Wednesday, April 19

VALIDATION PHASE AWARD ($500)

The Innovation Fund Validation Phase Award is designed to support student entrepreneurs in the ideation or validation phase of venture development. Apply to the Validation Phase when:

• This is a new idea that you started working on recently.
• You have a clear plan to validate your idea and test your assumptions
• You need funding to run a large scale survey
• You need funding to build a proof of concept

IMPLEMENTATION PHASE AWARD ($2500)

The Innovation Fund Implementation Phase Award is designed to support student entrepreneurs who have a validated idea to develop into a venture. Apply to the Implementation Phase Award when:

• You have a validated idea
  
  • You completed a survey with a large sample size where potential customers (in your target market) indicated their interest
  • You have a list of potential customers who have signed up for a mailing list
  • You have data that demonstrates the need for your product or service
  • You have pre-orders
  • You’ve interviewed a significant number of people from your target market
  • You’ve built and tested a proof of concept
  • You’ve tested and proven a customer’s willingness to pay
  • You’ve discovered a way to make your product/service defensible
  • You’ve mitigated for any major hurdles toward adoption of your product/service
• You need funding to build your product after validating your idea
• You need funding to run a pilot

LAUNCH PHASE AWARD ($5000)

The Innovation Fund Launch Phase Award is designed to support student entrepreneurs who have a venture that has launched or is ready to launch.

• You have already received an Implementation Phase Award.
• You are generating revenue or have an immediate path to generate revenue (will vary by industry)
• You have launched your venture or have an immediate path to launch
• You’ve built and activated your sales pipeline
• You are actively raising a round of seed funding
• You have a viable monetization strategy