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Vance Chang in a chef hat and Dine Brands Global uniform
Blog Network

The Future of Fast Food

Alumni dish on the industry's digital transformation.

Anima Iris
News

Anima Iris

On a meteoric rise through the fiercely competitive luxury retail market, high-end handbag brand Anima Iris has been picked up by Nordstrom, Saks Fifth Avenue, and even Beyoncé. With geometric and bold designs, founder Wilglory Tanjong G22 WG22 expresses her ancestry in a fashionable and sustainable way. The bags are made in Senegal by expert craftspeople who have honed their techniques over decades and draw inspiration from centuries of heritage. The leather and other materials are sourced through local African business merchants. Anima Iris is environmentally friendly and employs a zero-waste model that ensures all materials are used and that no two products are the same.

Bilt Rewards
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.

Kokada
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.

Flagler Health
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.

Catching Eyes in the Attention Economy
Ideas

Catching Eyes in the Attention Economy

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

Jagmeet Lamba WG07 and Dudley Brundige WG07
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.

United for a Brighter Future
News

United for a Brighter Future

Dean Erika James reflects on opportunities for the Wharton community to come together and lead.

On the Scene 2
News

On the Scene

From Hong Kong to New York, Wharton alumni unite for Impact Tour gatherings, GOLD events, good music, and more.

Sigo Seguros
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

CancerIQ
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.

Yuval Shmul Shuminer
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.

Heidi Block WG95 standing in front of pickleball 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.

GreenLite
News

GreenLite

Obtaining the correct building permit at the right time is crucial, and a lack of permits can grind construction to an expensive stop. To make the process faster, easier, and more transparent, Ben Allen WG17 and James Gallagher C09 launched GreenLite. Their team — made up of planning, construction, and development professionals — has experienced permitting challenges firsthand and built that knowledge into the construction-permitting and plan-review platform. The company has raised $8 million in seed funding since launching in October.

Octave
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.

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Spring/Summer 2024

A Culinary Calling

Five Wharton restaurateurs from Philadelphia to Paris share their unique stories — of dishes inspired by family recipes, sprawling national franchises, and award-winning cuisine that leaves foodies hungry for more.

Digital Exclusives

The latest online-only content from Wharton Magazine

Innovation/Tech April 19, 2024

The Future of Fast Food

Alumni dish on the industry's digital transformation.
Leadership March 26, 2024

Breaking Gender Barriers in the Board Room

How Ellen Stafford-Sigg WG88 influenced the leadership of Deloitte over 35 years
Innovation/Tech March 13, 2024

Using GenAI as a Collaborative Teammate

The technology can fill critical gaps and build trust.
News View all News
Teaching Finance, Transforming Lives 2
Finance

Teaching Finance, Transforming Lives

A new Wharton program sends MBAs to visit a state prison, where they share skills for professional success with incarcerated individuals. The result is an experience with profound impact, not only on the students behind bars, but also on the student mentors.

Wharton's Global Impact: From Sydney to São Paulo 8
Leadership

Wharton's Global Impact: From Sydney to São Paulo

Impact Tour events, a regional club’s relaunch, and a preview of the upcoming Wharton Global Forum in Brazil

Full-Circle Founders
Entrepreneurship

Full-Circle Founders

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

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Watchlist
New and notable ventures from Wharton alumni
Anima Iris

High-end handbags that honor heritage

Bilt Rewards

Getting rewarded for renting

Kokada

Guilt-free coconut butter with a mission

See the Watchlist
Ideas View all Ideas
Faculty Book Excerpt: Decision-Driven Analytics
Alumni Authors

Faculty Book Excerpt: Decision-Driven Analytics

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

Meeting Customers Where They Are
Marketing

Meeting Customers Where They Are

People want to be recognized and respected by the businesses they interact with. Professor Cait Lamberton explains how organizations can get it right.

Clash Point
Research

How to Resolve Conflict in Business

Five Wharton faculty share insights about conflict in its many forms and how to navigate it, resolve it, reframe it, or even avoid it entirely, for better results.

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People View all People
Against All Odds
Careers

My Journey From Africa to Wharton

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

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Careers

Life Lessons: Shattering Ceilings and Living Fearlessly

Myrna De Jesus WG70, the first woman president of the Wharton Club of New York, on following passions, trying new things, and her most difficult decision

Of Industry And Artistry
Media/Arts

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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Class Notes
Share updates with fellow Wharton alumni

In the News

Janet Truncale W92 has been elected the next global chair and CEO of EY, making her the first woman to be appointed to the head of a Big Four audit firm.

Headshot of Janet Truncale in a light blue blazer and plain white shirt.

On Social Media

David Mussafer WG90, chairman and managing partner of Advent International, speaks in Advanced Topics in Private Equity, taught by professor Burcu Esmer.

A man and woman stand with students crowded behind them for a photo.
See All Class Notes
The cover of the Spring Summer 2024 edition of Wharton Magazine featuring restaurateurs Ellen Yin and Steve Cook, as well as an inside spread of the magazine depicting bread, cheese, and a pitcher of water on a table.
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