As Boston-area universities take their classes, incubator programs and even graduation ceremonies virtual, Babson College has launched "Summer Catalyst," a 10-week virtual accelerator designed to replace the school's renowned Summer Venture Program.
The new accelerator is structured similarly to the Summer Venture Program: It includes elements like Hot Seat, office hours and dedicated advisors but is delivered completely online, according to a press release from Babson.
Leading Summer Catalyst as director is Bob Stringer, who was tapped last year to direct the Summer Venture Program. Stringer is the founding general partner of Sherbrooke Capital, LLC, a $100 million venture capital firm and has been an organizational consultant and faculty lecturer at Babson and Harvard Business School.
Intralinks head of innovation Eric Braun, former Gradifi CEO David Chang and Babson entrepreneurship lecturer Beth Goldstein will all serve as advisors.
The program will run from June 1 through Aug. 7.
Read about the participating teams below. Descriptions provided by Babson College.
Activly: Activly's mission is to continuously find and develop tools to guide and motivate youth towards a more active lifestyle through our app, which allows users to create and share workout plans and track their fitness data and goals. Founders: Anna Bilha '21, Sarah Tarta '20, Ambra Curetti Politecnico di Torino
Avanti: Avanti connects K-12 students with peer tutors for local, private tutoring. Founder: Alexander Fantappie '22
Bonami Food Products: We produce and sell delightful seafood products and use part of our profit to provide underprivileged communities access to quality food, fostering business creation and economic opportunities through four social programs: local suppliers, livelihood creation, access to capital and access to market. Founders: Jose Antonio A. Morente, Félix Guelfucci MSEL'20, Raed Attia MSEL'20, Franziska Ibscher MSEL'20, Mikel Bdiola MSEL'20
Cabana Health: Cabana Health is a social health platform that brings communities together based on your holistic health profile. Founders: MacBrennan L Peet' 22 and Tom Liu
CNF/Rhinno Industries: We develop carbon-negative composite materials used to replace carbon positive materials. Founders: Wenlin Wu '21, FengYi Zhou '20, Bruce Dietzen
Disliz: Disliz is a watch brand featuring your favorite characters from popular media. Founder: Pablo Uribe Haghenbeck MBA'21
Idle System: We are building a tax documentation system for public accountants. Founders: Andi Deng'20, Yifei (Aiwen) Ai, Sangwu Lee
Leue Home: Leue Home is a company dedicated to the commercialization of household products via online through direct selling with ambassadors. Founders: Juan Leon MBA'20, Sebastián Wiesner
LIT Learning: We provide an online pathway to language proficiency through digital stories. Founders: Mati Amin MSF'20, Chelsea Clater
Mai Soli Foundation: We are a global movement tackling gender inequality and the cycle of dependency amongst young women, through a combination of empowerment and entrepreneurship, transforming themselves, their communities and the next generations of young women to come. Founders: Aria Mustary '21, Aaron Wendell '20, Glen Ged '21, Amanda Rodante '22
MATR: MATR is on a mission to end food waste by turning scraps into mushrooms. Founders: Padraig M Duna MBA’21, Tom Coughlan
ReServe: ReServe offers innovative, stylish, and sustainable products for trendsetters who want to "be the change" they wish to see in the world, to reduce single-use plastic trash and preserve the environment for future generations. Founders: Mild Suwanpimolkul MBA'21, William Barber MBA'21, Plern (Chanisorn) Kasemsuth MBA'21, Jeremy Jordan CAM'20
Sentinel: Sentinel is the leader in transparent, end-to-end, encrypted VPN technology. Founders: Dan Edlebeck MBA'20, Srinivas Baride, Humam Malas, Tom David, Consolata Amode
TicketRev: TicketRev makes the process of buying and reselling tickets more convenient. Buyers create bids on events, enabling sellers to accept bids instantly. Founders: Jason Shatsky '21, Andrew Duca
UNfabricated: UNfabricated creates authentic, unique, socially and environmentally sustainable products by up-cycling ‘usable’ waste fabrics generated in textile manufacturing firms and by employing women from low-income families in India. Founders: Prabaarja Bedi MBA'20, Rachna Bedi
VADATI: Reinventing the way you present, VADATI allows you to see your audience before your big day using virtual reality technology and an advanced heart rate analysis algorithm to provide accurate feedback. Founders: Sree Dasari '23, Liam Clancy
