Photo Credit: James Graves @ Motorcar Media Co
PHILADELPHIA, May 5, 2026 – The University of Pennsylvania’s Venture Lab is proud to announce the winner of its tenth annual Startup Challenge: Cloak, founded by Rishi Ambavanekar, ENG’29, W’29, and Tyler Sacharow, C’29.
Cloak works with publishers, ranging from news to novels to screenplays, to protect content against AI scraping. The startup’s algorithm offers either full protection or opt-in monetization of training and inference. For online publishers, this creates a major opportunity to block or monetize AI activity.
Cloak was selected from a field of eight finalist teams, including Atelic, OnGov and Paulze, after advancing through a highly competitive process that began with nearly 30 semifinalist ventures. For the fifth consecutive year, the Startup Challenge took place on May 1, 2026, at Tangen Hall, Penn’s home for student entrepreneurship and innovation.
During the final competition, teams pitched live before a panel of distinguished alumni judges and an audience of nearly 200 attendees, competing for more than $200,000 in cash and prizes to help accelerate the launch and growth of their ventures.
The Startup Challenge represents the capstone of Venture Lab’s year-round commitment to entrepreneurship at Penn. Across disciplines and schools, students and alumni are transforming ideas into ventures with real market potential, supported by a robust ecosystem of mentorship, funding, programming, and community. As Penn’s hub for student entrepreneurship and innovation, Venture Lab continues to equip founders with the resources, relationships, and platform needed to build ventures that can scale in Philadelphia and beyond.
The 2026 Startup Challenge winners are:
- Perlman Grand Prize: $75,000 to Cloak, founded by Rishi Ambavanekar, ENG’29, W’29, Tyler Sacharow, C’29
- William G. Simpson and R. Drew Kistler Runner Up Prize: $50,000 to Serpent Robotics, founded by Margaret Zhu, W’26, Steyn Knollema, GEN’26 (IPD), Jason Li, GEN’26 (IPD), Kevin (Yiran) Xuan, GEN’26 (IPD)
- Linn Family Innovation Prize: $10,000 to Orble, founded by Corina Chen, ENG’28, W’28, Nastassja Kuznetsova, ENG’23, GEN’24
- The Robert S. Blank New Venture Collaboration Award: $10,000 to Cloak, founded by Rishi Ambavanekar, ENG’29, W’29, Tyler Sacharow, C’29
- Frederick H. Gloeckner Undergraduate Award: $10,000 to Cloak, founded by Rishi Ambavanekar, ENG’29, W’29, Tyler Sacharow, C’29
- The Jacobson Social Impact Prize: $10,000 to Chloropept, founded by Mustafo Mustafokulov, C’27, W’27, Lisa Sun, C’27, ENG’27, GEN’27, Pedram Bayat ENG’27, GEN’28
- Khan Family AI for Business Award: $10,000 each to:
- Lucy, founded by John Hopcroft, ENG’28, W’28, Andrew Mao, EE’26, W’26, GEE’27
- Cengine, founded by Joshua Folarin, WG’26
- Wharton Impact Climate Award: $10,000 to Serpent Robotics, founded by Margaret Zhu, W’26, Steyn Knollema, GEN’26 (IPD), Jason Li, GEN’26 (IPD), Kevin (Yiran) Xuan, GEN’26 (IPD)
- Weiss Audience Choice Award: $10,000 to Serpent Robotics, founded by Margaret Zhu, W’26, Steyn Knollema, GEN’26 (IPD), Jason Li, GEN’26 (IPD), Kevin (Yiran) Xuan, GEN’26 (IPD)
- Summer Venture Awards, sponsored by Mr. and Mrs. William F. Holekamp, WG’72: $10,000 each to:
- Storiara, founded by Nick Harty, EE’27, W’27, Spencer Kaufman, C’26, Charlie Hirschhorn, C’27, W’27
- The Zillennial Advisors, founded by Kevin Russell, WG’27
Previous winners of the Startup Challenge include Sync Labs, a healthtech company building AI-powered monitoring systems to address the caregiver shortage in senior living, and Nirby, a real-time soil analytics and farmland management tool for large agricultural enterprises, leveraging satellite data and proprietary drone systems to deliver actionable insights within minutes.
2026 Startup Challenge Finals judges were:
- Bikram Bakshi WG’05 | Co-Founder at ColoWatch and Partner at Blu Ventures
- Ethan Beard W’94 | Co-Founder, Yoz Labs, Investor & Advisor
- Mona Bijoor C’98, WG’05 | Founder at Sol TV and JOOR, Partner at Kings Circle Capital
- Allison Goldberg W’98 | SVP & Managing Partner, Comcast Ventures and Startup Engagement
- Alexander Schuth WG’05 | Co-Founder and COO/CFO at Denali Therapeutics
2026 Startup Challenge & Showcase Sponsors:
- In-kind Sponsors: Duane Morris LLP, KPMG, Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP, Morrison Cohen LLP
Note on abbreviations:
- C – Penn College of Arts & Sciences alum (bachelor’s)
- EE – Electrical Engineering (bachelor’s)
- ENG – Penn Engineering
- GEE – Electrical Engineering (master’s)
- GEN – Engineering and Applied Science (master’s)
- G – Penn College of Arts & Sciences (master’s)
- IPD – Integrated Product Design (master’s)
- PAR – Penn Parent
- W – Wharton undergraduate student/alum
- WG – Wharton MBA student/alum
About Venture Lab
Venture Lab is a partnership by the Wharton School, Penn Engineering and the Stuart Weitzman School of Design at the University of Pennsylvania. A resource for any Penn student who is interested in entrepreneurship and innovation, Venture Lab maximizes the ability of 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 doctoral students. 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.
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