New Venture Challenge

The Edward L. Kaplan, '71, New Venture Challenge (NVC) is a startup accelerator and investment program run by the Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, founded in 1996 in Hyde Park, Chicago. The NVC is consistently ranked among the top university-based business-plan competitions and accelerators in the nation, placing alongside Y Combinator and Techstars in the Seed Accelerator Rankings Project. Since inception, more than 230 NVC-backed startups remain in operation, having collectively raised over $915 million in follow-on capital and generated more than $13 billion in exits. The program is led by Polsky Center Executive Director Starr Marcello, with deep adjunct faculty involvement from Mark Tebbe. The NVC operates multiple tracks: the flagship graduate program, a Social NVC in partnership with the Rustandy Center for Social Sector Innovation, a Global NVC for Executive MBA students, a College NVC for undergraduates, and an Alumni NVC launched in 2018 for UChicago graduates worldwide. The 29th annual competition in June 2025 awarded a record $2.267 million to ten finalists — the largest prize pool in the history of any university-based business-plan competition — with B2B SaaS company Rayni taking first place and $835,000. Other 2025 finalists included NutraCareU, MOOJ, and relos. Prizes typically range from seed grants of a few thousand dollars up to six-figure investments. Breakout NVC alumni include Grubhub, the 2006 winner that completed an IPO; Simple Mills, the 2014 winner acquired by Flower Foods for $795 million; and Braintree. The program has become a material generator of venture-backed companies from the University of Chicago community.