In the summer of 2023, we marked a special milestone for the Summer Venture Program: We welcomed the 15th cohort of the program. We took this opportunity to conduct a longitudinal survey of the past cohorts to better understand SVP’s impact on our participating founders and their ventures and entrepreneurial goals.
We augmented our survey findings with publicly available information from Pitchbook.
The Survey:
of SVP ventures
are operational today
of these ventures
are planning to grow
in the next three years
most frequently reported growth goal
by these ventures
is to grow sales
Raised by all SVP ventures*
*Reported by Pitchbook as of August 2025. Includes equity investment, grants, accelerator funding, and crowdfunding/equity crowdfunding. Excludes funds awarded by Babson College in competitions, accelerators, and other programs.
30% of SVP founders reported raising equity investment for their SVP ventures. SVP founders also reported accessing other diverse sources of capital, including grants, awards/competition prizes, accelerator funding, personal savings, debt or business loans, crowdfunding/equity crowdfunding, investment by other companies, advisor funds, and revenue.
SVP gave me the confidence to be a start-up founder and equipped me with the framework and toolkit I needed.
SVP founders rated pitch practice and presentation skills as the #1 most helpful program takeaway on average. We focus on developing these skills through our signature Hot Seat pitch practice format and founder-to-founder feedback and we build towards a showcase event which concludes the program.
SVP offered me a laboratory where I could experiment and make mistakes freely.
Nearly 1/3 of SVP founders reported advancing the UN Sustainable Development Goals in their SVP ventures. SVP demonstrates an alignment with Babson's mission to prepare and empower entrepreneurial leaders who create lasting economic and social value.
of SVP founders reported
currently working on
a new venture
of SVP founders reported
having interest in pursuing
entrepreneurship in the future
Being around so many dynamic people in one place for 10 weeks was an amazing learning experience.
of SVP founders reported still being in touch with fellow cohort members