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, GEN'26.
Sync Labs is a healthtech company building AI-powered monitoring systems to address the caregiver shortage in senior living. Its platform, Alice, uses proprietary edge-based computer vision to detect critical daily activities like meals, bathroom use, and medication intake—without recording video. By combining real-time behavioral insights with health data, Alice enables personalized, proactive care at scale. The system improves staff efficiency, reduces turnover, and supports up to three times more seniors per caregiver. With seven pilots launched and three generating revenue, Sync Labs is poised to scale across a $35.6 billion market.
Herbert and Sync Labs advanced their venture through Venture Lab's VIP-X program, a competitive, application-based accelerator that provides advising, resources, and a supportive founder community to help student entrepreneurs grow and scale their startups.
For the fourth year in a row, the Startup Challenge was held in Tangen Hall, the university’s hub for student entrepreneurship and innovation on May 2, 2025.
Sync Labs was selected from a field of eight finalist teams, which advanced from 30 semifinalists. For the finals, teams pitched a panel of alumni judges and a live audience of nearly 150 attendees as they competed for over $150,000 in cash prizes, in-kind support, and other invaluable resources to launch their startups.
“This year’s Venture Lab Startup Challenge put a spotlight on the creativity and problem-solving mindset of our student ventures,” said Lori Rosenkopf, Simon and Midge Palley Professor of Management and Vice Dean of Entrepreneurship at the Wharton School. “It’s inspiring to see these teams innovate with purpose and determination, and we are deeply grateful to our judges and the Venture Lab team for championing their work.”
The Startup Challenge marks the end of another exciting year of entrepreneurship across the Penn community. Students engaged in entrepreneurial programming are founding, developing, and scaling companies utilizing the multitude of resources available within the Penn and Philadelphia ecosystems. Venture Lab, powered by the Wharton School, is proud to continue to be a leader in entrepreneurship education.
The 2025 Startup Challenge winners are:
- Richard Perlman Grand Prize: $50,000 to Sync Labs; Melanie Herbert, EE'25, GEN'26
- William G. Simpson and R. Drew Kistler Runner Up Prize: $25,000 to Quok.it; Ahmed Abdellah, ENG'25, GEE'26, Alexander Cho, ENG'25, Tarunyaa Sivakumar, EE'25, GEE'25, Yiting Shen, ENG'25, GEN'26
- Linn Family Innovation Prize: $10,000 to Guide Genetics: Matt Liebers, WG'26
- The Robert S. Blank New Venture Collaboration Award: $10,000 to Serpent Robotics; Margaret Zhu, W'26, Steyn Knollema, GEN'26, Jason Li, GEN'26, Yiran Xuan, GEN'26
- Frederick H. Gloeckner Undergraduate Award: $10,000 to Sync Labs; Melanie Herbert, EE'25, GEN'26
- The Jacobson Social Impact Prize: $10,000 to Sync Labs; Melanie Herbert, EE'25, GEN'26
- Khan Family AI for Business Award: $10,000 each to:
- KAL Robotics; Tejendra Patel, C25, W25, Kevin Paulose, GEN'25
- Sync Labs; Melanie Herbert, EE'25, GEN'26
- Weiss Audience’s Choice Award: $10,000 to Serpent Robotics; Margaret Zhu, W'26, Steyn Knollema, GEN'26, Jason Li, GEN'26, 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:
- certitude.; Maxence de Lanversin, W'26, Chafic Akhras, ENG'25, Ahmetcan Akdemir, ENG'25
- Guide Genetics; Matt Liebers, WG'26
- Vado; John Shotton, WG'26
Previous winners of the Startup Challenge includeNirby, a startup that leverages satellite data and proprietary drone systems to deliver actionable real-time soil analytics and farmland management tool for large agricultural enterprises, andToxisense, a startup that aims to improve the endotoxin testing required for drinking water and biopharma products
This year's Startup Challenge Finals judges:
- Bikram Bakshi, WG‘05 | Co-Founder at ColoWatch and Partner at Blu Ventures
- Mona Bijoor C’98, WG’05| Founder at Sol TV and JOOR, Partner at Kings Circle Capital
- Allison Goldberg, W’98 | SVP and Managing Partner at Comcast Ventures
- Vivek Sagi WG’06 | CTO at Eventbrite
- Alexander Schuth, WG’05 | Co-Founder and COO/CFO at Denali Therapeutics
In-kind Sponsors include Duane Morris LLP, KPMG, Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP, and KPMG.
Note on abbreviations:
- C - Penn College of Arts & Sciences student/alum (bachelor’s)
- EE - Electrical Engineering undergraduate student/alum
- ENG - School of Engineering and Applied Science undergraduate student/alum
- GEE - Electrical Engineering master’s student/alum
- GEN - School of Engineering & Applied Science master’s student/alum
- PAR - Parent of student/alum
- W - Wharton undergraduate student/alum
- WG - Wharton MBA student/alum
About Venture Lab at The University of Pennsylvania, Powered by the Wharton School
Venture Lab at the University of Pennsylvania, powered by the Wharton School, 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.
About the Wharton School
Founded in 1881 as the world’s first collegiate business school, the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania is shaping the future of business by incubating ideas, driving insights, and creating leaders who change the world. With a faculty of more than 235 renowned professors, Wharton has 5,000 undergraduate, MBA, executive MBA, and doctoralstudents. Each year, 100,000 professionals from around the world advance their careers through Wharton Executive Education’s individual, company-customized, and online programs, and thousands of pre-collegiate students explore business concepts through Wharton’s Global Youth Program. More than 105,000 Wharton alumni form a powerful global network of leaders who transform business every day. For more information, visit www.wharton.upenn.edu.