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Portrait of Ankur Jain wearing a black shirt and black jeans seated on a chair and holding a microphone.
News

Bilt Rewards

Bilt Rewards launched in 2021 and achieved immediate success in its first year. The startup credit-card rewards program by founder and CEO Ankur Jain W11 makes redeeming points from purchases easy with a unique twist — the card can be used toward rent payments. Jain explains that renters today are living with inflation and rising rent costs, resulting in many who now must pay close to 50 percent of their earned income on rent. Bilt helps this generation build credit while earning rewards that open up affordability in other areas of their lives, such as travel experiences and eventual home ownership.

A woman in a pink shirt and a man in a light green shirt stand together behind a marble countertop that has six jars of coconut spread on it.
News

Kokada

An organic coconut butter with its early roots in Venture Lab’s Food Innovation Lab can now be found in 1,300 stores, including national chains Sprouts and Wegmans. Couple-turned-business-partners Breanna Golestani WG23 and Jared Golestani WG23 founded Kokada in 2020 to provide a healthier alternative to sugar-laden snacks and spreads typically found at the grocery store. Kokada offers a range of coconut butters that are all peanut-free and sugar-free and designed to be enjoyed as a dip, with a treat, or as part of a meal. The company gives back two percent of all sales to SERVE, a certified NGO based in Sri Lanka, where its ingredients are sourced.

Red, white, and black illustration of a doctor and a robot standing side by side and holding hands.
News

Flagler Health

Developed by Albert Katz WG23 and Will Hu GED19, Flagler Health combines patient data and the power of AI to help physicians recommend treatments to their patients. (“It’s like giving a calculator to a mathematician,” says Katz.) Backed by $6 million in funding, Flagler Health now serves more than 1.5 million patients and recently launched a new product that provides remote patients with exercises to keep joints moving pre- and post-op. The startup made the Poets & Quants “Most Disruptive MBA Startups of 2023” list and was a finalist in Penn’s 2023 Venture Lab Startup Challenge.

Conceptual illustration of animals displaying various emotions such as surprise, sadness and delight, with the emotions written across their bodies.
Ideas

Catching Eyes in the Attention Economy

New research shows how to use language to capture audience attention, from word choice to building suspense.

Headshots of Jagmeet Lamba and Dudley Brundige.
News

Certa

Juggling multiple vendors can be daunting for a small-business owner. Certa, led by CEO Jagmeet Lamba WG07 and CFO Dudley Brundige WG07, streamlines relationships with third-party vendors, making onboarding up to three times faster. The platform itself can reduce IT labor needs, allowing users to create personalized workflows. The company also has its own AI technology — CertaAssist — that can fill out supplier questionnaires, consolidate intake requests, and create data visualizations. Certa’s clients include Uber, Instacart, and Box, whose executives have reported reduced cycle times and operating costs after using the procurement software.

Sigo Seguros founders Nestor Hugo Solari and Julio Erdos seated in chairs on a rooftop.
News

Sigo Seguros

Spanish remains the most widely used language in the U.S. behind English, with an estimated 41 million current speakers. But Hispanic immigrants still face cultural barriers when they arrive in the States. Nestor Hugo Solari G19 WG19 and Júlio Erdos C10 ENG10 G19 WG19 created Sigo Seguros, a bilingual Texas-based car insurance technology company, to better serve this population. “Our differentiated product starts with a deep understanding of our community and its needs,” says Solari. The Spanish-language mobile and web portals, coupled with quick payback periods, are particularly appealing to working-class drivers. The “insurtech” company raised $5.1 million in additional pre-seed funding in 2023.

Collage with headshots of Sam Altman, David Hsu, and Shellye Archambeau.
Ideas

Supercharge Your Startup

Resources to help you jump-start your venture’s growth

Red, white, and black illustration of a medical professional staring up at a large microscope with cells under the glass.
News

CancerIQ

Cancer can bring your life to a screeching halt. Along with the burden of navigating through new medical terminology and uncertainty, a positive diagnosis can generate feelings of loneliness and isolation. CancerIQ was founded by Feyi Olopade Ayodele W05 WG12 to offer a supportive and more strategic solution for health-care providers working with patients in early cancer detection and prevention. As a software platform, CancerIQ offers hyper-personalized care plans and assesses risks in patients by avoiding the one-size-fits-all approach. The tool focuses on early detection with more precise screening. CancerIQ has been implemented in more than 200 clinic locations across the U.S.

Headshot of Yuval Shmul Shuminer in a white formal jacket.
News

Piere

Every day seems to bring a new way to send, receive, or manage money. Managing cash flow on numerous platforms has become quite onerous, non? Au contraire. Piere, an AI-powered app founded by Yuval Shmul Shuminer W19, analyzes past transactions to create a customized budget in two taps. It’s a peer-to-peer facilitator (for such tasks as getting reimbursed for a group meal) and a spending tracker in one. Since Intuit shut down its popular Mint budgeting app, Piere is reported to be the ideal successor: News outlets have featured the app as part of the “loud budgeting” social media trend, and financial publications highlight it as a valuable tool for monitoring spending.

Portrait of Heidi Block wearing a black Play-PKL shirt and standing in front of her business's apparel.
News

Play-PKL

Heidi Block WG95 and her family first got hooked on pickleball during the COVID-19 lockdowns, when they played the sport together at home in New Jersey to pass the time and stay active. But when Block couldn’t find apparel specifically designed for pickleball, she decided to make her own. Along with her eldest son, Max, she founded Play-PKL, an online retailer selling premium pickleball equipment and stylish outfits for recreational players. The site also offers tips and lessons for beginning pickleballers.

Sandeep Acharya in jeans and a button-down shirt seated in front of a wall with an Octave logo on it.
News

Octave

Inspired by the musical term, Octave offers mental health care that can be finely tuned. Co-founded in 2018 by Sandeep Acharya EAS03 W03, Octave matches individuals, couples, and families with a provider to meet their unique needs. The company also addresses common challenges that providers face by pioneering relationships with insurers, which in turn leads to coverage for high-quality individual or couples therapy. Last year, Octave secured $52 million in Series C funding for its plan to serve all 50 states. That rapid growth earned it a spot on the LinkedIn Top Startups 2023 list.

A photo of a young Temitope Akande jumping in front of green foliage, compared with a photo of a Wharton graduate Temitope in a suit and graduation stole.
People

My Journey From Africa to Wharton

Big dreams and determination led Temitope Akande WG21 from poverty in Lagos to Locust Walk.

Five pairs of white high-top shoes stacked on top of each other in a column.
Ideas

Brand-Building in a Brave New World

Today’s companies need to convey a clear purpose to maintain loyalty.

Portraits of Wharton alumni Justin Silver, Shanel Fields, and Rui Jing Jiang.
News

Full-Circle Founders

Alumni entrepreneurs who launched successful startups through Venture Lab return to guide a new wave of student innovators.

Conceptual illustration of people in business attire running down a runway that is a robot's arm, juxtaposed against other people in business attire diving off of the robot's other hand.
Ideas

Faculty Book Excerpt: Decision-Driven Analytics

Companies have more data than ever before, yet studies show that many fail to extract real value from it. A new book argues that these times demand analytics driven by decisions, not data.

A woman in a blue suit jacket, red leggings, and silver shoes sits on a bed with books and jewelry around her and holds up a pearl necklace.
People

What to Do When You're Part Poet, Part Quant?

A junior grapples with whether her business pursuits and creative passions can meaningfully co-exist.

No more results.
Portrait of Ankur Jain wearing a black shirt and black jeans seated on a chair and holding a microphone.
News
/
Entrepreneurship
Spring/Summer 2024

Bilt Rewards

Bilt Rewards launched in 2021 and achieved immediate success in its first year. The startup credit-card rewards program by founder and CEO Ankur Jain W11 makes redeeming points from purchases easy with a unique twist — the card can be used toward rent payments. Jain explains that renters today are living with inflation and rising rent costs, resulting in many who now must pay close to 50 percent of their earned income on rent. Bilt helps this generation build credit while earning rewards that open up affordability in other areas of their lives, such as travel experiences and eventual home ownership.

A woman in a pink shirt and a man in a light green shirt stand together behind a marble countertop that has six jars of coconut spread on it.
News
/
Entrepreneurship
Spring/Summer 2024

Kokada

An organic coconut butter with its early roots in Venture Lab’s Food Innovation Lab can now be found in 1,300 stores, including national chains Sprouts and Wegmans. Couple-turned-business-partners Breanna Golestani WG23 and Jared Golestani WG23 founded Kokada in 2020 to provide a healthier alternative to sugar-laden snacks and spreads typically found at the grocery store. Kokada offers a range of coconut butters that are all peanut-free and sugar-free and designed to be enjoyed as a dip, with a treat, or as part of a meal. The company gives back two percent of all sales to SERVE, a certified NGO based in Sri Lanka, where its ingredients are sourced.

Red, white, and black illustration of a doctor and a robot standing side by side and holding hands.
News
/
Entrepreneurship
Spring/Summer 2024

Flagler Health

Developed by Albert Katz WG23 and Will Hu GED19, Flagler Health combines patient data and the power of AI to help physicians recommend treatments to their patients. (“It’s like giving a calculator to a mathematician,” says Katz.) Backed by $6 million in funding, Flagler Health now serves more than 1.5 million patients and recently launched a new product that provides remote patients with exercises to keep joints moving pre- and post-op. The startup made the Poets & Quants “Most Disruptive MBA Startups of 2023” list and was a finalist in Penn’s 2023 Venture Lab Startup Challenge.

Conceptual illustration of animals displaying various emotions such as surprise, sadness and delight, with the emotions written across their bodies.
Ideas
/
Research
Spring/Summer 2024

Catching Eyes in the Attention Economy

New research shows how to use language to capture audience attention, from word choice to building suspense.

Headshots of Jagmeet Lamba and Dudley Brundige.
News
/
Entrepreneurship
Spring/Summer 2024

Certa

Juggling multiple vendors can be daunting for a small-business owner. Certa, led by CEO Jagmeet Lamba WG07 and CFO Dudley Brundige WG07, streamlines relationships with third-party vendors, making onboarding up to three times faster. The platform itself can reduce IT labor needs, allowing users to create personalized workflows. The company also has its own AI technology — CertaAssist — that can fill out supplier questionnaires, consolidate intake requests, and create data visualizations. Certa’s clients include Uber, Instacart, and Box, whose executives have reported reduced cycle times and operating costs after using the procurement software.

Sigo Seguros founders Nestor Hugo Solari and Julio Erdos seated in chairs on a rooftop.
News
/
Entrepreneurship
Spring/Summer 2024

Sigo Seguros

Spanish remains the most widely used language in the U.S. behind English, with an estimated 41 million current speakers. But Hispanic immigrants still face cultural barriers when they arrive in the States. Nestor Hugo Solari G19 WG19 and Júlio Erdos C10 ENG10 G19 WG19 created Sigo Seguros, a bilingual Texas-based car insurance technology company, to better serve this population. “Our differentiated product starts with a deep understanding of our community and its needs,” says Solari. The Spanish-language mobile and web portals, coupled with quick payback periods, are particularly appealing to working-class drivers. The “insurtech” company raised $5.1 million in additional pre-seed funding in 2023.

Collage with headshots of Sam Altman, David Hsu, and Shellye Archambeau.
Ideas
/
Entrepreneurship
Spring/Summer 2024

Supercharge Your Startup

Resources to help you jump-start your venture’s growth

Red, white, and black illustration of a medical professional staring up at a large microscope with cells under the glass.
News
/
Entrepreneurship
Spring/Summer 2024

CancerIQ

Cancer can bring your life to a screeching halt. Along with the burden of navigating through new medical terminology and uncertainty, a positive diagnosis can generate feelings of loneliness and isolation. CancerIQ was founded by Feyi Olopade Ayodele W05 WG12 to offer a supportive and more strategic solution for health-care providers working with patients in early cancer detection and prevention. As a software platform, CancerIQ offers hyper-personalized care plans and assesses risks in patients by avoiding the one-size-fits-all approach. The tool focuses on early detection with more precise screening. CancerIQ has been implemented in more than 200 clinic locations across the U.S.

Headshot of Yuval Shmul Shuminer in a white formal jacket.
News
/
Entrepreneurship
Spring/Summer 2024

Piere

Every day seems to bring a new way to send, receive, or manage money. Managing cash flow on numerous platforms has become quite onerous, non? Au contraire. Piere, an AI-powered app founded by Yuval Shmul Shuminer W19, analyzes past transactions to create a customized budget in two taps. It’s a peer-to-peer facilitator (for such tasks as getting reimbursed for a group meal) and a spending tracker in one. Since Intuit shut down its popular Mint budgeting app, Piere is reported to be the ideal successor: News outlets have featured the app as part of the “loud budgeting” social media trend, and financial publications highlight it as a valuable tool for monitoring spending.

Portrait of Heidi Block wearing a black Play-PKL shirt and standing in front of her business's apparel.
News
/
Entrepreneurship
Spring/Summer 2024

Play-PKL

Heidi Block WG95 and her family first got hooked on pickleball during the COVID-19 lockdowns, when they played the sport together at home in New Jersey to pass the time and stay active. But when Block couldn’t find apparel specifically designed for pickleball, she decided to make her own. Along with her eldest son, Max, she founded Play-PKL, an online retailer selling premium pickleball equipment and stylish outfits for recreational players. The site also offers tips and lessons for beginning pickleballers.

Sandeep Acharya in jeans and a button-down shirt seated in front of a wall with an Octave logo on it.
News
/
Entrepreneurship
Spring/Summer 2024

Octave

Inspired by the musical term, Octave offers mental health care that can be finely tuned. Co-founded in 2018 by Sandeep Acharya EAS03 W03, Octave matches individuals, couples, and families with a provider to meet their unique needs. The company also addresses common challenges that providers face by pioneering relationships with insurers, which in turn leads to coverage for high-quality individual or couples therapy. Last year, Octave secured $52 million in Series C funding for its plan to serve all 50 states. That rapid growth earned it a spot on the LinkedIn Top Startups 2023 list.

A photo of a young Temitope Akande jumping in front of green foliage, compared with a photo of a Wharton graduate Temitope in a suit and graduation stole.
People
/
Careers
Spring/Summer 2024

My Journey From Africa to Wharton

Big dreams and determination led Temitope Akande WG21 from poverty in Lagos to Locust Walk.

Five pairs of white high-top shoes stacked on top of each other in a column.
Ideas
/
Marketing
Spring/Summer 2024

Brand-Building in a Brave New World

Today’s companies need to convey a clear purpose to maintain loyalty.

Portraits of Wharton alumni Justin Silver, Shanel Fields, and Rui Jing Jiang.
News
/
Entrepreneurship
Spring/Summer 2024

Full-Circle Founders

Alumni entrepreneurs who launched successful startups through Venture Lab return to guide a new wave of student innovators.

Conceptual illustration of people in business attire running down a runway that is a robot's arm, juxtaposed against other people in business attire diving off of the robot's other hand.
Ideas
/
Alumni Authors
Spring/Summer 2024

Faculty Book Excerpt: Decision-Driven Analytics

Companies have more data than ever before, yet studies show that many fail to extract real value from it. A new book argues that these times demand analytics driven by decisions, not data.

A woman in a blue suit jacket, red leggings, and silver shoes sits on a bed with books and jewelry around her and holds up a pearl necklace.
People
/
Media/Arts
Spring/Summer 2024

What to Do When You're Part Poet, Part Quant?

A junior grapples with whether her business pursuits and creative passions can meaningfully co-exist.

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