The University of Pennsylvania’s Graduate School of Education (Penn GSE) and the Milken Family Foundation recently announced the winners of the sixth annual Milken-Penn GSE Education Business Plan Competition (EBPC). As the largest competition of its kind, the EBPC awards prizes in two categories: idea-stage companies that are just getting started, and ventures, which already have revenues, grants, customers or investments.

Venture Path Winners:

Milken Family Foundation Grand Prize ($40,000) and American Public University System Prize ($20,000):

Tassl LLC, of Philadelphia, an alumni engagement technology solution that helps universities and their alumni groups engage with graduates in more meaningful ways outside of donations.

ACT Prize ($20,000):

Pivot Interactive, SBC, of Afton, Minnesota, which develops interactive resources for science learning, including Direct Measurement Videos and Pivot Player.

ChanceLight Behavioral Health and Education Prize ($10,000 each):

Communication APPtitute, of Towson, Maryland, an educational technology company filling a void in the literacy market by creating two unique, visual methods for teaching vocabulary and semantic skills.

OgStar Reading LLC, of Owings Mills, Maryland, an app that provides a self-correcting, multisensory reading game for dyslexic students, English language learners and those with limited language exposure using the Orton-Gillingham approach.

McGraw-Hill Education Prize ($20,000):

Caseworx, of Long Beach, California, which takes case study learning off the page and into a video-based, interactive collaboration space for all types of learners.

Voter’s Choice Prize ($1,000):

TalkingPoints, of San Francisco, a multi-lingual texting platform that educators use to communicate with families via text messages with automatic translation.

Idea Path Winners:

Milken Family Foundation Grand Prize ($10,000):

Torus Teens, of New York, a marketplace that connects teens with afterschool and summer programs so they can explore interests and develop skills outside of formal schooling.

Additional Idea Prizes ($2,000 each):

URead, of Rydal, Pennsylvania, a mobile app designed to help adults reading at the fourth-grade level equivalent and above improve their reading skills.

Toolbox for Teachers, of Philadelphia, a series of workshops and resources designed to promote educator resiliency and trauma sensitivity in urban and low-income schools.

Mindright, of Palo Alto, California, a mobile app and data platform service that helps youth overcome the impacts of trauma and empowers schools to meet students’ needs arising from trauma.

Kids Code, of Charlottesville, Virginia, an interactive board game that teaches children to think like computer programmers and practice programming skills. Kids Code also won the Voter’s Choice Prize ($1,000).