Leadership Spotlight

PAWS Pet Insurance, whose business plan is aimed at providing accident and illness pet health insurance to pet owners in the U.S., won the Wharton Business Plan Competition Grand Prize, worth $20,000. The prize was awarded at the annual Wharton Venture Fair on April 28 where, in all, students received more than $45,000 in cash prizes and access to capital.

With its focus on the well-being of dogs and cats, PAWS bucks a trend of Grand Prize winners focused on life sciences; a life science concept, Biogenomix, won second prize.

This year's Venture Fair, the culminating event of the year-long Competition, took place at the School's new academic facility, Jon M. Huntsman Hall, and attracted nearly 300 venture capitalists, business leaders, faculty, and students. Distinguished judges at the Venture Fair came from The Goldman Sachs Group, Johnson & Johnson, Flatiron Partners, Business 2.0, Flagship Ventures, Thomas, McNerney & Partners, and Anthem Capital Management.

An anorexic house cat named "Bodey" inspired its British owners, husband/wife Wharton MBA students Chris and Natasha Ashton, to launch PAWS. After spending $5,000 for Bodey's treatment, the Ashtons, along with team-mates Alex Krooglik and Laura Bennett (an actuary), came together to tap a dearth of pet health insurance options in the U.S. Their insurance products are targeted at segments of the 99% of U.S pet owners who do not own pet health insurance.

For the second year, students were able to enter an "industry track" in partnership with Penn's Graduate School of Education, as part of its goal to encourage participation by all entrepreneurial-minded students at the University of Pennsylvania. The education track is sponsored by The Goldman Sachs Foundation, which is also a Gold Sponsor of the Competition itself.