diff --git a/skeleton-esnext-webpack/.babelrc b/skeleton-esnext-webpack/.babelrc
index 6db240c2e..bea317ad7 100644
--- a/skeleton-esnext-webpack/.babelrc
+++ b/skeleton-esnext-webpack/.babelrc
@@ -16,7 +16,12 @@
               ]
             },
             "loose": true,
-            "modules": false
+            "modules": false,
+            "whitelist": [
+              "transform-es2015-literals",
+              "transform-es2015-template-literals"
+            ],
+            "useBuiltIns": true
           }
         ]
       ]
@@ -37,7 +42,12 @@
               ]
             },
             "loose": true,
-            "modules": "commonjs"
+            "modules": "commonjs",
+            "whitelist": [
+              "transform-es2015-literals",
+              "transform-es2015-template-literals"
+            ],
+            "useBuiltIns": true
           }
         ]
       ]
diff --git a/skeleton-esnext-webpack/package.json b/skeleton-esnext-webpack/package.json
index 65373b133..f3648100c 100644
--- a/skeleton-esnext-webpack/package.json
+++ b/skeleton-esnext-webpack/package.json
@@ -68,7 +68,7 @@
     }
   },
   "dependencies": {
-    "aurelia-bootstrapper-webpack": "^1.0.0",
+    "aurelia-bootstrapper-webpack": "^1.1.0",
     "aurelia-event-aggregator": "^1.0.0",
     "aurelia-fetch-client": "^1.0.1",
     "aurelia-framework": "^1.0.7",
@@ -79,9 +79,10 @@
     "aurelia-polyfills": "^1.1.1",
     "aurelia-route-recognizer": "^1.1.0",
     "aurelia-router": "^1.0.7",
-    "aurelia-templating-binding": "^1.0.0",
-    "aurelia-templating-resources": "^1.1.1",
+    "aurelia-templating-binding": "^1.1.0",
+    "aurelia-templating-resources": "^1.2.0",
     "aurelia-templating-router": "^1.0.0",
+    "babel-polyfill": "^6.20.0",
     "bluebird": "^3.4.6",
     "bootstrap": "^3.3.7",
     "font-awesome": "^4.7.0",
@@ -111,12 +112,12 @@
     "aurelia-tools": "^1.0.0",
     "babel-plugin-transform-class-properties": "^6.18.0",
     "babel-plugin-transform-decorators-legacy": "^1.3.4",
-    "babel-preset-env": "0.0.7",
+    "babel-preset-env": "^1.0.0",
     "babel-register": "^6.18.0",
     "concurrently": "^3.1.0",
     "cross-env": "^3.1.3",
     "del-cli": "^0.2.0",
-    "eslint": "^3.10.2",
+    "eslint": "^3.12.0",
     "http-server": "^0.9.0",
     "jasmine-core": "^2.5.2",
     "karma": "^1.3.0",
diff --git a/skeleton-esnext-webpack/webpack.config.babel.js b/skeleton-esnext-webpack/webpack.config.babel.js
index b3ccc82ba..48c93c375 100644
--- a/skeleton-esnext-webpack/webpack.config.babel.js
+++ b/skeleton-esnext-webpack/webpack.config.babel.js
@@ -97,7 +97,7 @@ let config = generateConfig(
 
   aurelia({root: rootDir, src: srcDir, title: title, baseUrl: baseUrl}),
 
-  babel(),
+  babel({ options: { /* uses settings from .babelrc */ } }),
   html(),
   css({ filename: 'styles.css', allChunks: true, sourceMap: false }),
   fontAndImages(),