Wharton Stories: Startup Challenge

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This year’s finalists tackled firefighter cancer, frontline medical devices, maternal nutrition, global healthcare access, and more.

4 Startup Challenge Finalists Share What Inspired Their Ventures

Instahub Light Switch

Michael Wong, W’19, co-founder and CEO of Hult Prize Ivy winner InstaHub, talks about learning from setbacks and the future of a simple device that saves energy one light switch at a time.

How This Wharton/Penn Team Rebounded From a Loss to Win a Social Enterprise Competition

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The second year of the Penn Wharton Entrepreneurship Startup Challenge, a 2.0 version of the Wharton Business Plan Competition, brings together Penn entrepreneurs and alumni investors to help student startups break through.

What You Can Expect at the Penn Wharton Startup Showcase

Two people in business attire standing together indoors, with a blue geometric design on the left side of the image.

InstaHub, the winner of the Hult Prize Ivy League competition, creates simple solutions to automate energy savings. The team of Wharton and Engineering students developed an occupancy sensor that snaps directly onto existing light switches, providing instant light automation without the logistical and financial bottlenecks involved in replacing and rewiring conventional light switches.

InstaHub: Automating Energy Savings