Newswise — Three finalists have been chosen to compete for upward of $100,000 at Babson College’s biggest pitch competition yet, the ePitch: Second Century Challenge.
On September 20, we will welcome to the stage:
- Arist—a text message learning platform led by Michael Ioffe ’21, Ryan Laverty ’20, and Maxine Anderson ’22. All three are recent Summer Venture Program (SVP) alumni.
- Gentreo Inc.—an estate planning software led by Renee Fry and Mary Kate D’Souza, WIN Lab®Boston alumni.
- TORq Interface Inc.—a real-time surgical scheduling resource for hospitals and vendors led by Joanna Geisinger, MBA’17 another SVP alumna and 2017 B.E.T.A. Challenge winner
The competition will take place on Babson’s Wellesley campus during Babson Connect: Worldwide, one of three signature events that make up Babson’s upcoming Centennial Celebration, September 18–22, 2019.
These entrepreneurs plan to pitch, and hopefully win over, a panel of well-known judges, including:
- Jamie Siminoff’99, CEO and chief inventor of Ring;
- Tim Chae, general partner, 500 Startups;
- Diane Hessan, founder and chairman of C Space,
- Fred Kiang ’70, MBA’75, H’19, founder of Sunrise Duty Free;
- Alicia Castillo Holley MBA’96, founder and CEO of Wealthing Institute and member of Sand Hill Angels, and
- Edward Marram, entrepreneur and senior lecturer at Babson.
The concept took off in late 2018 as Babson planned for its Centennial year events, and tapped into eTower—the College’s student-led, entrepreneurial powerhouse of a living-learning community.
Founded in 2001, eTower houses some of the most dedicated student entrepreneurs to ideate, take action, and learn from one another’s ventures.
“We were super interested in this idea from the start,” said Sumukh Setty ’21, current eTower president and CEO of TILE. “To be involved in something of this caliber, during Babson’s biggest and most exciting year yet … this is an unmatched opportunity in terms of visibility, access, and experience.”
Students, alumni, parents, faculty, and staff were all eligible to apply. A panel of eight judges reviewed 78 applications, representing companies of various stages, sizes, and industries from around the world. Of the 12 semifinalists chosen, 75 percent had a woman on the founding team.
About Babson College
Babson College is the educator, convener, and thought leader of Entrepreneurship of All Kinds®. The top-ranked college for entrepreneurship education, Babson is a dynamic living and learning laboratory where students, faculty, and staff work together to address the real-world problems of business and society. We prepare the entrepreneurial leaders our world needs most: those with strong functional knowledge and the skills and vision to navigate change, accommodate ambiguity, surmount complexity, and motivate teams in a common purpose to make a difference in the world, and have an impact on organizations of all sizes and types. As we have for nearly a half-century, Babson continues to advance Entrepreneurial Thought & Action® as the most positive force on the planet for generating sustainable economic and social value.
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