🚀 From Penn State Student to CTO
One of Penn State’s most compelling entrepreneurship success stories is Nikhil Bharadwaj, Co-Founder and CTO of Xeal. Along with fellow Penn Stater Zander Isaacson, who serves as CEO, they launched the company.
When Nikhil took Engineering 310: Entrepreneurial Leadership, he made a bold declaration:
“I want to be the face of clean energy.”
That vision became reality.
✅ 2016: Studied Energy Engineering at Penn State & won the Student Sustainability Leadership Award
✅ 2019: Co-founded Xeal, an EV charging company
✅ 2025: Secured $54 million in funding & deployed 10,000+ chargers across 60 metro areas
Xeal: Solving a Billion-Dollar Problem
Before Xeal, the EV charging industry had a huge problem:
Up to one-third of EV chargers were offline at any given time.
Chargers relied on internet connections, which frequently failed.
Drivers were left stranded, and companies lost millions in downtime.
Nikhil and his team built a Xeal solution.
💡 Xeal developed a patented self-reliant computing protocol that allows chargers to operate without internet connectivity.
💡 This system provides industry-leading uptime, making Xeal’s chargers more dependable than any competitor.
💡 Their innovation is now expanding beyond EV chargers to smart city infrastructure.
🔹 This is the kind of problem-solving taught in Engineering 310.
🔹 This is the impact Penn State entrepreneurs are making.
🔹 And this is why entrepreneurship is the future of higher education NOW.
Nikhil credits Engineering 310 as a defining moment:
“This course played a crucial role in shaping my approach to innovation and problem-solving. Moreover, it allowed me to clearly define my life plan and vision, setting the direction for the next decade of my journey.”
Now, he is giving back. This spring, Nikhil is returning as a volunteer to Penn State to mentor the next generation of entrepreneurs.
Penn State’s Competitive Advantage: Industry + Education
The Penn State Engineering Entrepreneurship minor does not just teach entrepreneurship, it connects students with real-world innovators who have built transformative companies.
That is why Nikhil Bharadwaj, former E.V. Bishoff Entrepreneur in Residence, has returned to Penn State once again to help shape the next wave of founders.
This semester, he is:
✅ Coaching students on their startup concepts
✅ Helping them to solve real-world business challenges
This is the future of higher education: Industry and academia collaborating—right now—to create the next generation of entrepreneurs.
