Babson Entrepreneurs Join 2014 MassChallenge Accelerator Class

WELLESLEY, Mass., June 9, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Six Babson startups were among the 128 global finalists chosen to advance to the MassChallenge 2014 Accelerator Program.

This year's class was selected from more than 1,600 applicants, making it the most competitive applicant pool in the program's five year history.

Beginning in June, finalists will participate in the four-month accelerator, held for the first time at MassChallenge's new headquarters at the Boston Innovation & Design Building.

MassChallenge 2014 Accelerator Program - Babson Alumni Participants

CrowdComfort - Eric Graham M'04 and Kevin Loos M'13, Co-founders.

CrowdComfort is crowd sourcing building management. Report, manage, and respond, all in one simple, easy to use smartphone application. @crowdcomfort http://crowdcomfort.com/

Faze1 - Marc Guy M'12 and Eliot Goodwin M'12, Co-founders.

Faze1 is a provider of enterprise analytic technologies for the home services industry. @Faze1Data http://www.faze-1.com/

HigherMe - Rob Hunter M'14 and Evan Lodge M'14, Co-founders.

HigherMe is a recruiting platform that uses data and video to help retail and service employers find, screen, and interview better employees faster. http://masschallenge.org/startups/2014/profile/higherme

ModelRisk Analytics - Sri Krishnamurthy M'11, Founder.

ModelRisk Analytics offers quantitative analytics for model risk assessment for financial institutions. http://masschallenge.org/startups/2014/profile/modelrisk-analytics

RaceHQ - Anton Villatoro M'02, Founder.

RaceHQ is the first-of-its-kind cloud based project management collaboration, task management, and market hub tool for participatory events. @Race_HQ http://racehq.com/

ZOOS, LLC- Niari Keverian M'12 and Kristina Tsipouras, Co-owners.

ZOOS is a first-to-market, all natural, real brewed, caffeine-free, ready-to-drink Greek Iced Tea that is Yia-Yia approved! @DRINKZOOS http://www.drinkzoos.com/

"We are incredibly grateful to our judges and partners for helping us to identify the startups that will drive global impact," said MassChallenge Founder and President Akhil Nigam. "We look forward to working with the MassChallenge community and this incredible group of entrepreneurs as they strive to achieve their goals of growth and innovation."

The 128 startups represent a wide range of industries. Thirty-two percent are in high tech, twenty-nine percent are healthcare and life sciences, seventeen percent are social impact, fourteen percent are general, retail and consumer goods, and eight percent are cleantech and energy.

The MassChallenge finalists also come from all over the world. The startups have headquarters in eleven countries and seventeen states.

The 2014 accelerator will include highprofile speakers and expert mentors, such as Paul English, Diane Hessan, Colin Angle, Bob Caspe and many more. The program culminates October 29 at the MassChallenge Awards Ceremony, where winners will vie for over $1.75 million in cash awards.

For more info, visit http://bit.ly/1kk4Oqn

About MassChallenge

MassChallenge is the world's largest startup accelerator and the first to support high-impact, early-stage entrepreneurs with no strings attached. Over $1 million in cash prizes is awarded annually to winning startups, with zero equity taken. Additional benefits for startups include world-class mentorship and training, free office space, access to funding, legal advice, media attention, and over $10 million of in-kind support. MassChallenge is a 501(c)3 nonprofit. All proceeds support the startups via the accelerator program. MassChallenge does not take equity or place any restrictions on participating startups.

About Babson College

Babson College is the educator, convener, and thought leader for Entrepreneurship of All Kinds(tm). The College is a dynamic living and learning laboratory, where students, faculty, and staff work together to address the real-world problems of business and society--while at the same time evolving our methods and advancing our programs. We shape the 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 create economic and social value. As we have for nearly a half-century, Babson continues to advance Entrepreneurial Thought and Action(r) as the most positive force on the planet for generating sustainable economic and social value. Visit www.babson.edu

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CONTACT: Michael Chmura, 781-239-4549, [email protected]

SOURCE Babson College