Wharton Business Plan Competition chooses 25 Semi-Finalists

Participation this year increased nine percent over 2008, to a total of 366 students in early phases of the Competition, most of them focused on Internet, Biotech and IT concepts. This year, however, nearly thirty-eight percent of the submissions were aimed at finding a solution to some social problem. For the semi-finals, judges chose ventures serving specific market niches like medical devices, regionally focused services, disease management therapies. For the first time in the Competitions’ history, a non profit concept was selected.

Among the Wharton Business Plan Competition semi-finalists six teams are led by undergraduates, three are members of the Wharton Venture Initiation Program educational incubator and four are based at Wharton West, the Wharton School’s San Francisco based campus. Some of them include:

a Neuroderma: Injectable toxin formation for better cosmetic results with fewer side effects
a CuddleBots: Robotic toy and online community for kids and young adults
a Sustainable Solar: Devices for landowners to turn unused property into solar afarmsa
a DocASAP-Online medical appointment scheduling services notifies patients of last-minute openings
a Zecotech-Patented zebra fish risk assessment tool shows water pollution as live fish change color
a Apples for Angels-Online system facilitating donations to teachers who on average spend $500/year out of pocket for needed supplies.

The Venture Finals, the Competition’s culminating event, consists of the eight finalist teams, selected from among the 25 semi-finalists, facing off with 20-minute presentations to the judges. The Venture Finals takes place at the Wharton School’s Dhirubhai Ambani Auditorium and annually attracts over 200 entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, investment bankers, alumni, faculty and students.

For the past decade, the Wharton Business Plan Competition, which is open to any University of Pennsylvania student and managed by Wharton Entrepreneurial Programs, has seen numerous student teams go on to become successful businesses including PetPlan USA, PayMyBills.com, BuySafe, NetConversions, Stata Labs, DealMaven, Verge Solutions and MicroMRI. Information about past participants is available on the Wharton BPC Web site: http://bpc.wharton.upenn.edu