TORq Interface Wins $100K in Babson College ePitch Competition

WELLESLEY, Mass., Oct. 14, 2019 /PRNewswire/ — During its Centennial Celebration, Babson College hosted ePitch: Second Century Challenge, a new pitch competition, and awarded the $100,000 grand prize to TORq Interface, a surgical scheduling platform. TORq Interface was represented in the competition by founder Joanna Geisinger, Babson MBA’17.

Reflecting on the competition, Babson College President Stephen Spinelli Jr., PhD remarked on its entrepreneurial spirit and scale: “The world is changing rapidly and entrepreneurship is more important than ever. Entrepreneurial leaders have the potential to tackle grand challenges, advance progress, and improve the human condition. This competition showcased Babson College’s culture of entrepreneurship by highlighting our emerging leaders and helping them to accelerate – a fitting way to celebrate our Centennial and ongoing leadership in entrepreneurship education.”

The competition took place during Babson Connect: Worldwide, one of three signature events that made up Babson’s historic Centennial Celebration. To power the event, Babson tapped eTower, its undergraduate living-learning entrepreneurial community, the Arthur M. Blank Center for Entrepreneurship, and the President’s Centennial Committee. In a highly competitive process, three finalists were chosen among Babson-affiliated companies of different stages, sizes, industries, and locations around the world to pitch “Shark Tank” style for a $100,000 equity-free prize.

The well-known panel of judges included: Jamie Siminoff ’99, CEO and chief inventor of Ring; Tim Chae ND ’13, 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. Not only were the finalists competing for the $100,000 prize, but they were also eligible to receive investment offers. Two of the finalists – Arist, a text message learning platform, and TORq Interface – received various investment offers from the judges, pending due diligence.

TORq Interface

TORq Interface connects hospitals and medical device representatives to streamline surgical scheduling, automating communications and updating in real time in order to save hospitals, medical device companies, and patients time and money in the process. The venture has been bootstrapped to date. Geisinger intends on using the prize money to staff her business in anticipation of major organizational developments in 2020. About the competition, Geisinger said, “ePitch was an incredible opportunity. While I was at Babson, the entrepreneurial culture and community meant the world to me as I was developing my venture. Now, as an alumna, to have the chance to pitch for and win this prize is game changing.”

About Babson College

Babson College is the educator, convener, and thought leader for 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.

View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/torq-interface-wins-100k-in-babson-college-epitch-competition-300937985.html

SOURCE Babson College