Max Kopp Selected for 2025 Philly Inno’s 25 Under 25, Honored
The Business Journal and PHL Inno annually recognize promising young entrepreneurs and innovators in the region for the Inno Under 25 awards. This year, the program’s fifth, we’re recognizing 10 impressive individuals 25 years old or younger for their accomplishments.
The honorees span an array of industries, from health care to accelerators to media and content creation. Our 2025 class includes high school and college students as well as recent graduates, each looking to drive innovation and advancement with their nascent ventures.
Max is the founder and CEO of VitaSense, a research venture dedicated to building smart, lightweight sensing platforms for non-invasive glucose monitoring and spacecraft safety. At just 17, he has already earned multiple science awards, holds two U.S. patents pending, and is preparing a non-provisional patent for his most recent innovation: an ink-printed structural sensor system designed for deep space missions.
Entrepreneurship & Venture Overview
Max Kopp is not only a researcher—he’s a founder on a mission to bring breakthrough innovations to the real world. Entrepreneurship is at the core of how Max operates. Whether he’s refining a prototype or pitching to investors, he’s driven by the belief that science shouldn’t sit on a shelf. His ventures are designed to solve pressing problems, especially in healthcare and aerospace.
Why Entrepreneurship?
Max’s innovations address real pain points: painful glucose monitoring, inaccessible technology, and unsafe spacecraft. To scale these solutions beyond the lab, he created startups focused on taking them to market. His entrepreneurial journey began at age 16, and since then, he’s pitched in front of global judges, venture capitalists, and research panels—earning recognition at competitions like the Conrad Challenge, Diamond Challenge, and GYEC.
Max’s Startup Philosophy
Every venture Max builds is grounded in three principles:
Real-world relevance: Solving tangible, human problems
Scientific credibility: Grounded in research, validated by peers
Accessibility: Designed to scale and reach underserved populations
Introducing
Vitasense
Max’s current company, Vitasense, aims to disrupt the $14B diabetes technology market by offering a non-invasive, affordable, and accurate alternative to traditional continuous glucose monitors. What began as a science fair project is now a pre-seed med-tech startup with a mission to improve lives worldwide.
