A Florida State University student created a buzz by impressing a panel of judges at the Shark-Tank-style ACC InVenture Prize competition held at the University of Notre Dame.
Hugo Davies, majoring in STEM entrepreneurship with a concentration in computer science, earned the coveted People’s Choice Award at the competition. He received the most votes of any ACC competitor after delivering a dynamic pitch about his artificial intelligence startup called KeyRise.
The agentic AI platform is built to give investors the power to find, analyze and execute high-quality real estate deals with institutional intelligence. Davies looks at real estate as an industry that favors certain investment firms, hoping that his AI startup can help level the playing field for all investors.
“Real estate is a very bureaucratic, handshake-style business,” Davies said. “There’s a real opportunity here to leverage the developments in AI and bring that into the hands of investors so that they can have that same power that institutions have always had.”
The ACC InVenture Prize is an innovation competition in which teams of undergraduates representing each ACC university pitch their inventions or businesses before an audience, a panel of judges and on national television.
Davies was inspired to compete after learning about the process through the Jim Moran College of Entrepreneurship. Ken Baldauf, director of FSU’s Innovation Hub, has spearheaded FSU’s participation in the ACC InVenture Prize competition since FSU first started sending students to pitch.
“I got involved through the college of entrepreneurship,” Davies said. “Getting involved in the ecosystem, doing pitch competitions, micro grant applications, and eventually they brought me this opportunity.”
Building a strong pitch is labor-intensive. You need to master public speaking while doing your best to sell your product to an audience that can be naturally skeptical. Davies rehearsed and received feedback from faculty at the Jim Moran College of Entrepreneurship.
“It was weeks of practice with pitching to professors, mentors, advisers, investors and countless nights meeting with beta users on our platform, iterating on what they want and what’s really going to provide them value,” Davies added.
Davies is reaching the finish line of earning his Bachelor of Science degree, excelling in the college of entrepreneurship and in computer science classes within the FSU College of Arts and Sciences. He serves as an AI researcher in the FSU Division of Research and is an incoming associate product manager at Salesforce, the world’s leading cloud-based Customer Relationship Management (CRM) platform.
Davies, winner of the People’s Choice Award, exemplifies FSU’s mission to foster research and entrepreneurship among its students.
“Hugo’s recognition with the People’s Choice Award highlights his exceptional talent,” said Dean Susan Fiorito of the Jim Moran College of Entrepreneurship. “We are incredibly proud of how he represented Florida State University and the Jim Moran College of Entrepreneurship on such a competitive stage.”
“Hugo’s recognition with the People’s Choice Award highlights his exceptional talent. We are incredibly proud of how he represented Florida State University and the Jim Moran College of Entrepreneurship on such a competitive stage.”
– Susan Fiorito, dean of the Jim Moran College of Entrepreneurship.
Through all the work, Davies learned to not let anything deter his path from being successful at the ACC InVenture Prize competition. During his pitch, he spoke passionately about how KeyRise will be a game changer in the real estate industry.
The entrepreneurial advice he received leading into the competition was indispensable, he said, as proven by the results.
“Stick with it and really focus on what the customers want,” Davies said of the advice he received. “Focus on what matters and make sure we’re really helping everyday people buy property.”
Davies’ success underscores a simple truth: When talent meets mentorship at Florida State University, big ideas don’t just compete — they win.