Company Culture

A coworking space with childcare won Georgetown’s Bark Tank pitch competition

The January 16 event, funded through an entrepreneurship initiative created by Georgetown alum Ted Leonisis, featured eight student teams.

Hatch founders Kelsey Lents and JP Coakley pitch at the Bark Tank Pitch Competition at Georgetown University, Jan. 16, 2018. (Photo by James Cullum)

A D.C.–based coworking space/childcare startup, took home the grand prize of $30,000 at the 2018 Bark Tank Pitch Competition at Georgetown University on Wednesday.

“My seven-month-old just started daycare after 14 months on a wait list,” said Hatch Workspace cofounder Kelsey Lents. “We get parents back into the workforce while eliminating their commute. Winning this is validation that this is an actual issue that everyone understands. When we walk into a room of parents and they get excited about Hatch it invigorates us.”

Lents, who has a waitlist of 70 parents, will use the funds to finalize a deal for a 12,000 sq. ft. location in Tenleytown.

The competition is funded by former AOL chief executive and current Wizards/Capitals owner Ted Leonsis, through the annual Leonsis Family Entrepreneurship Prize. Leonisis is a Georgetown grad.

Eight student teams, each of whom walked away with funding, competed in front of a packed audience in the Rafik B Hariri building at Georgetown’s McDonough School of Business, and had three minutes to pitch their startups.

The finalists and judges of the Leonsis Family Entrepreneurship Initiative's Bark Tank Pitch Competition at Georgetown University, Jan. 16, 2018. (Photo by James Cullum)

The finalists and judges of the Leonsis Family Entrepreneurship Initiative’s Bark Tank Pitch Competition at Georgetown University, Jan. 16, 2018. (Photo by James Cullum)

More winners:

$25,000 

  • Claudia Recchi (B’17) of Class Pulse

$15,000 

  • Jaclyn DiGregorio (B’17) of Cusp 365

$5,000 

  • Melissa Antal (MBA’19) of Foublie
  • David Patou (COL’18), Daniel Testa (COL’19), and Jackie Sideris (COL’18) of Campus Sherpa
  • Ramya Possett (MBA’17) of Galapagos Strategy
  • Shivum Bharill (COL’17) and Rainier Go (B’17) of Quoral Health
  • Sunny Gupta (MBA’19) and Chris Johnson (MBA’19) of Edible Finance.
Companies: Georgetown University

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