Newswise — Babson College’s B.E.T.A. (Babson Entrepreneurial Thought & Action®) Challenge Semifinalist Round takes place at the Venture Expo on April 3, 2019 at Babson’s Wellesley Campus in Olin Hall beginning at 4:30 p.m.
Presented by the Arthur M. Blank Center for Entrepreneurship, the B.E.T.A.Challenge recognizes major milestones Babson businesses have achieved by taking action. Winners of the graduate, undergraduate, and alumni B.E.T.A. Challenge tracks each win a grand prize of $20,000 in cash, plus “services in kind” donations from corporate sponsors respectively. In addition, $2,500 is awarded to the two finalist ventures in each of the three tracks. The cash prizes and “services in kind” total over $200,000 in value.
Following the Venture Expo event, nine finalist businesses will compete in the B.E.T.A. Challenge finale on Thursday, April 11, 2019 immediately following Babson’s Blank Center’s Founders Summit.
2019 B.E.T.A. Semifinalists
Alumni Challenge
Artyfactos (Angela Sanchez MBA’11 and Jaime Gomez)
Forefront (Yulkendy Valdez ’17 and Josuel Plasencia ‘17)
Legably (San Dahan MBA’17, Daniel Reilly, and Bill Maya)
Perzilla (James Cantoni ‘17, Jeremy Gislason, and Simon Hodgkinson)
Pikurate (Elvis Ge MBA’17 and Leo Song MBA’17)
Graduate Challenge
BikeLord (Jake Maude MBA’19 and Ty Filsinger ‘19)
Dottie (Meagan Priest MS’19 and Oscar Flores MS‘19)
Jiwo Paro (Dancan Ogendo Onyango MBA’20)
Monitaur (Jose Lorido MBA’20, Ricardo Aitken, and David Restainer)
Tax Advisor Inc. (Thiago de Faria Dias MS’19)
Taylor Custom Rings (Ashley Taylor MBA’20 and Jerry Taylor)
Undergraduate Challenge
Goba Tea (Noah Doris ‘20 and Byron D’Mello)
LOU (Rachel Pardue ’19 and Kyle Lawson ’18)
Nectar CBD Superdrink (Trevor Grode ‘19, Ryan MacDonell ’20, Jack Rokous ’20, and Roberto Salinas ’19)
Smask (Dillon Galynsky ‘20 and Leny Prog)
TastePal (Ralph Haddad ’20 and Maria Kahale) Yad (Deborah Cohen ‘19)
About The Arthur M. Blank Center For Entrepreneurship
The Arthur M. Blank Center for Entrepreneurship accelerates the practice of entrepreneurship by providing Babson’s emerging entrepreneurs with access to events, workshops, mentoring and competitions that enable them to test and refine their founder skills. The Butler Launch Pad is the hub of this entrepreneurial ecosystem, connecting our students and alumni with the broader business and entrepreneurial community through a series of programs and learning experiences that support our entrepreneurs along their journey. Included in these programs are two of Babson’s Signature Events: Rocket Pitch and B.E.T.A. Challenge, as well as the highly regarded Summer Venture Program that accelerates the top 15 student ventures at Babson each year.
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.