In Miami, Babson Entrepreneurs Make an Impression at eMerge

Senior Journalist

John Crawford

A writer for Babson Thought & Action and the Babson Magazine, John Crawford has been telling the College’s entrepreneurial story for more than 15 years. Assignments for Babson have taken him from Rwanda to El Salvador, from the sweet-smelling factory of a Pennsylvania candy maker, to the stately Atlanta headquarters of an NFL owner, to the bustling office of a New York City fashion designer. Beyond his work for Babson, he has written articles and essays for The Philadelphia Inquirer, Notre Dame Magazine, The Good Men Project, and other publications. He can be found on Twitter, @crawfordwriter, where he tweets about climate change.

| May 29, 2024

Cristian Morales stands on stage and speaks to an audience of people

Cristian Morales MBA’24 delivers a pitch about Eyefly Technologies, a virtual and augmented reality company, at the eMerge Americas Conference + Expo in Miami. Eyefly was one of a number of Babson ventures represented at the event.

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Babson students and alumni made an impressive showing last month in Miami at the eMerge Americas Conference + Expo, an annual global technology event bringing together investors, entrepreneurs, and industry experts.

Six Babson ventures were among the 110 chosen to participate in the event’s Global Startup Accelerator and Showcase. Of those six, three were selected as one of the top 25 startups, while another won a prestigious award in artificial intelligence.

The showcase proved intense and rewarding. “This conference was incredibly competitive. Students from all over the world flew in to represent their startups,” says Anastacia Yefimenko ’25, the co-founder and CEO of Elcove, a provider of sustainable cleaning products.

Elcove not only placed in the top 25 of startups overall, but it also was selected for the top five in the competition’s university startup track. “Being a young entrepreneur, it can be hard at times to show what you are doing matters,” Yefimenko says. “For me to be recognized in the top five truly means the world. It is showcasing that what I am working on with Elcove matters.”

“This conference was incredibly competitive. Students from all over the world flew in to represent their startups”
Anastacia Yefimenko ’25, the co-founder and CEO of Elcove

Six Babson Startups

Besides Elcove, the other Babson startups in the competition included BOND, a team-building app (Chloe Samaha ’25, CEO and co-founder); BuildrFi, a provider of financial management tools for construction projects (Stephanie Del Valle MBA’21, co-founder and COO); Eyefly Technologies, a virtual and augmented reality company (Cristian Morales MBA’24, CEO and partner); Legislaide, an AI legislative aid for local governments (Vivian Nguyen ’22, co-founder), and Portalys, a tool for creating personalized live events (Thomas Thiry ’25, CEO and co-founder).

In an impressive recognition, Legislaide won the competition’s Archie $10K AI Challenge award. Meanwhile, Eyefly, like Elcove, was named to the overall top 25 startups and to the top five of the competition’s university startup track. It also was selected to the top five of the Archie AI Challenge.

One other Babson venture was named to the overall top 25 startups: BuildrFi. It also secured a spot in the top 10 of the competition’s early-stage startups track.

Anastacia Yefimenko ’25 of Elcove, a provider of sustainable cleaning products

Participating in the showcase competition required a strong pitch. On the first day before the judges, Yefimenko delivered a four-minute pitch followed by a question-and-answer session. Elcove and the other top 25 startups were then selected to pitch again in front of the public on the competition’s last day.

“I had a chance to pitch on the biggest stage I’ve ever pitched, in front of hundreds of people,” Yefimenko says. “This ended up being such a great opportunity, and I met so many people from them seeing my pitch. I even met some Babson alumni that saw my pitch and came up to me.”

Yefimenko also experienced another noteworthy meeting at the conference. “I was recognized by a customer who I didn’t know in person for the first time,” she says. “They ran over to my booth and said they loved our products.”

Posted in Community, Entrepreneurial Leadership

Tagged Alumni, Entrepreneurship of All Kinds, Graduate, Startups, Undergraduate, Entrepreneurship