News Polsky Center Launches Podcast to Mark 25 Years of The New Venture Challenge: “It’s Really Magical.” Startups weren’t so sexy 25 years ago. It was pre-Google, pre-dot-com bubble, pre-unicorn. The University of Chicago’s business school, renowned for finance, didn’t offer an entrepreneurship concentration. Steven Kaplan, a...
News 12 Startups to Compete for At Least $1 Million in the 25th Anniversary Finals of the Edward L. Kaplan, ’71, New Venture Challenge The Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation is pleased to announce the 12 teams selected to compete in the finals of the 25th annual Edward L. Kaplan, ’71, New Venture...
News Record $1.6 Million Awarded in the 25th Anniversary Finals of Chicago Booth’s New Venture Challenge; First-Place Winner Andes STR Lands More Than $660,000 The Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation at the University if Chicago has announced a record-breaking investment of $1.6 million in the winners of the 2021 Edward L. Kaplan, ’71, New...
News Edward L. Kaplan, ’71, New Venture Challenge Investment Pool Swells to $1.73 Million After Additional Funding Rolls In; First-Place Winner Andes STR Gets $681,000 The record investment pool in the 25th annual Edward L. Kaplan, ’71, New Venture Challenge (NVC) jumped to $1.73 million this week after investors put additional money into the finalist...
News It’s High Season for New Venture Challenge Finals. Watch and Learn From the Startups Competing For Investment. The end of spring quarter is high season for the New Venture Challenge, the Polsky Center’s flagship accelerator program. From mid-May through early June, four of the five tracks of...
News Oncology Startup Takes Home First Place at 2023 Edward L. Kaplan, ’71, New Venture Challenge as Judges Award $1.4M in Total Investment Alnair Therapeutics, a startup developing a platform technology to improve the delivery of drugs to difficult-to-treat cancers, has won first place in the 27th Annual Edward L. Kaplan, ’71, New...
News Supply Chain Software Startup Takes First Place at 2024 Edward L. Kaplan, ’71, New Venture Challenge as Judges Award Record-Breaking $1.9M in Total Investments FreshX, a startup developing a supply chain software that helps food companies and freight brokers easily book and manage cold chain transportation and storage, has won first place in the...
News Record $2.267 Million Awarded at 2025 Edward L. Kaplan, ’71, New Venture Challenge, B2B SaaS Company Takes First Rayni, a B2B SaaS company, has won first place in the 29th Annual Edward L. Kaplan, ’71, New Venture Challenge (NVC), during which a record-breaking more than $2.2 million was...
News AI-Driven Psychiatry Platform Takes First Place at 18th Annual Global New Venture Challenge The 18th Annual Global New Venture Challenge (GNVC) has awarded first place to mental health diagnostic tool Kivira. Kivira was awarded the top prize and $50,000 for its AI-powered platform...
News $2.1 Million Awarded at the 2026 Edward L. Kaplan, ’71, New Venture Challenge; Cancer Pathology AI Company Takes First Slideflow Labs, a cancer pathology AI company, has won first place at the 30th Annual Edward L. Kaplan, ’71, New Venture Challenge (NVC), during which $2.1 million was awarded to...
News Record-Breaking $435,000 Awarded at 19th Annual Global New Venture Challenge; Phinorm, Morton Labs Tie for First Place Phinorm provides on-device drone detection software for defense sensors, while Morton Labs is building computational infrastructure to accelerate fusion energy research. The Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation today announced...
News Impact in Action: Polsky Center Annual Report (FY26) July 1, 2025 to June 30, 2026 This past year (July 1, 2025 to June 30, 2026) at the Polsky Center was defined by expansion, from expanding UChicago innovation well beyond Chicago to deepening our impact at home.
