The 10th Annual ACC InVenture Prize will be held on Friday, March 27, 2026 at the University of Notre Dame.
Stay tuned for more Participating Team Information!
| Berkeley | Boston College | Clemson | FSU | Georgia Tech | NC State | SMU | Syracuse | University of Miami | UNC | University of Notre Dame | University of Pittsburgh | Virginia Tech | WFU |
University of California, Berkeley
University of California, Berkeley - MOFarm
People’s Choice voting text “Cal”
MOFarm is paying farmers to capture their enteric methane emissions and sell them as renewable natural gas.
Dairy farmers have incredibly tight margins. Expenses are rising and revenue is dropping. Farmers are desperately in need of additional income in order to stay afloat. At the same time, methane abatement solutions fail to capture the enormous value of the 340,000 tons of ultra-low concentration enteric methane emitted annually by 1.7 million American dairy cows. In other words, farmers are struggling to make ends meet while one of their most valuable assets wafts away… and MOFarm can do something about it!
MOFarm utilizes Metal Organic Frameworks, a Nobel-prize winning technology from UC Berkeley, to capture enteric methane in dairy barns and sell it as renewable natural gas. Once installed in dairy barns, our methane-capture system targets this gas that was previously considered commercially out of reach, and converts it into an asset for farmers via the natural gas market. With zero upfront cost and little operational intervention, our novel system transforms methane reduction from a regulatory cost, into a new, recurring revenue opportunity.
MOFarm: Farts into Fuel!
Student Entrepreneurs
Ethan Scott Foong - Data Science
Tom Blake - Data Science
Zac Gibson - Architecture
Ibrahim Noon - Economics and Data Science
Boston College
Boston College - Mako Gear
People’s Choice voting text “BC”
Mako Gear designs advanced outdoor and sporting goods featuring fully waterproof, floatable, and trackable technology, safeguarding essentials across apparel, packs, and protective medical storage.
Nearly 50 million Americans participate in watersports each year, yet enjoying time on the water often comes with a difficult tradeoff: leaving your essentials behind. Inhalers, medications, phones, and other critical technology are frequently too risky to bring along on these adventures, forcing consumers to choose among safety, convenience, and peace of mind. Introducing Mako Gear. Created to eliminate this compromise.
Mako is redefining protection on and around the water with waterproof, floatable, and trackable gear designed for real-world conditions. Built for watersports, outdoor recreation, and unpredictable environments, Mako products ensure that essential belongings remain secure, visible, and recoverable, even when fully submerged. The global waterproof bag market is currently valued at nearly $10 billion and is projected to reach $16.57 billion by 2029, growing at a compound annual growth rate of 5.37%.
Despite this rapid expansion, most existing solutions rely on water-repellent fabrics or traditional dry-bag designs that sink when submerged and offer no way to recover lost gear. Mako Gear sets the new standard. Products are constructed from fully waterproof TPU thermoplastic polyurethane, reinforced with sealed waterproof zippers and buoyant marine foam to ensure flotation in water. Integrated GPS tracking technology keeps gear from ever being truly lost, providing unmatched confidence for users in dynamic and high-risk environments. The durable yet flexible construction allows the gear to stretch and adapt to fit essential items while remaining resilient and stylish in harsh weather and rugged conditions. With Mako Gear, staying prepared no longer means leaving valuables behind. Mako Gear represents the future of waterproof, floatable, and trackable outdoor equipment, engineered to protect what matters most, wherever your adventure takes you.
Student Entrepreneur
Caroline Driscoll - Communications
Clemson University
Clemson University - Crystal-XG
People’s Choice voting text “Clemson”
Crystal-XG is a predictive streamlining service that leverages machine learning trained on large-scale experimental data to guide faster, greener crystal synthesis.
Crystallization is a critical step in drug development, with more than 80% of pharmaceutical products relying on at least one crystallization process. Beyond pharmaceuticals, crystallography underpins innovation in chemistry, materials science, and manufacturing, enabling researchers to design and analyze compounds with desired functionalities. Yet despite over a century of research and thousands of dedicated laboratories worldwide, crystal synthesis remains one of the most inefficient processes in modern science.
Crystal-XG addresses this challenge by transforming crystallization from guesswork into a predictive, data-driven process. We have assembled the world’s largest experimental dataset on crystallization, containing over 10,000 unique experimental records. Using advanced machine-learning models, including neural-network and gradient-boosting approaches, Crystal-XG analyzes patterns on chemical structures, reaction conditions, and synthetic methods to predict optimal crystallization parameters with up to 90% accuracy.
Our platform allows researchers to identify ideal crystallization conditions before entering the lab, dramatically reducing experimental failures, resource waste, and development timelines. We envision that our approach will fundamentally transform the $2 billion field of crystallography, replacing centuries-old trial-and-error methods with intelligent prediction tools that help bring new scientific breakthroughs to market faster.
Student Entrepreneur
Lukas Alejo Garcia - Chemistry
Florida State University
Florida State University - KeyRise
People’s Choice voting text “FSU”
KeyRise is an agentic AI platform that gives everyday investors the power to find, analyze, and execute high quality real estate deals with institutional level intelligence.
For decades, institutional real estate firms have had access to powerful data, analytics, and deal-sourcing tools that everyday investors simply do not. As a result, millions of aspiring homeowners and small investors are locked out of opportunities before they even see them. The system favors those with capital, connections, and proprietary technology.
KeyRise changes that.
KeyRise is an AI powered guide to real estate investing that gives everyday investors the same intelligence once reserved for institutional firms like Blackstone and KKR. Our platform helps users discover off market properties, analyze deals with institutional level underwriting tools, and take action through an integrated, agentic CRM that guides them step by step.
Instead of juggling spreadsheets, scattered data sources, and guesswork, users receive clear insights, automated deal analysis, and structured workflows that simplify complex investment decisions. KeyRise reduces information asymmetry, saves time, and increases confidence by transforming overwhelming real estate data into actionable opportunities.
Our mission is simple but ambitious: democratize access to real estate investing and empower more people to build wealth responsibly. By equipping retail investors with better tools, education, and clarity, KeyRise aims to expand ownership, unlock overlooked properties, and create a more transparent and inclusive real estate market.
We believe ownership builds stability. KeyRise helps more people achieve it.
Student Entrepreneur
Hugo Davies - STEM Entrepreneurship and Computer Science
Georgia Tech
Georgia Tech - Towbotics
People’s Choice voting text “GT”
TowBotics is a retrofit, remote-controlled trailer hitching system that empowers RV owners to maneuver, lift, and hitch safely - improving safety and restoring travel independence without physical strain.
TowBotics is a robotic retrofit system that transforms the most dangerous and physically demanding part of RV travel - hitching - into a safe, accessible, one-person process.
For many travel trailer owners, hitching is more than a hassle - it’s a major barrier to mobility. Aligning a 2-inch coupler onto a hitch ball requires inch-level precision while bending and kneeling between vehicle and trailer, hands inches from moving steel components. For many owners, especially those older or with limited mobility, this step is physically painful, dangerous, and often the deciding factor in whether they keep RV traveling or give it up entirely.
From over 100 interviews with RV owners, the message was consistent: hitching isn't just frustrating - it’s the reason many stop using their trailers. Owners described it as “the last step before freedom,” but also the most frustrating and riskiest one.
This is where Towbotics comes in. Towbotics replaces the traditional tongue jack with a powered robotic system that lifts and micro-aligns the trailer using a handheld remote. Its precision actuators offer inch-level positioning, while built-in safety features - like stop-on-disconnect and dead-man controls - ensure safe operation even on uneven terrain. The system retrofits directly onto standard tongue-jack mounts, requiring no truck-side changes.
In testing on full-size class 3 trailers, TowBotics enabled first-time users to consistently hitch solo in under three minutes with minimal instruction. By removing physical strain and operational guesswork, it restores confidence and independence to a generation of RVers.
Student Entrepreneurs
Aiden Devins - Mechanical Engineering
Baker Brown - Mechanical Engineering
Justin Hunter - Mechanical Engineering
Jaden Anaiah McGowan - Mechanical Engineering
Sia Michael - Computer Science
University of Miami
University of Miami - EndoAdvance
People’s Choice voting text “Miami”
EndoAdvance is a mechanically assisted device that automates endoscopic biopsy instrument deployment to reduce physician strain, shorten procedure time, and improve workflow efficiency and patient outcomes in endoscopy.
EndoAdvance is a mechanical assist device that automates the delivery of instruments through the biopsy channel of endoscopes. By reducing instrument insertion time per biopsy, the system streamlines workflow, shortens total procedure and anesthesia time, and decreases the risk of musculoskeletal strain for physicians. These improvements enhance operational efficiency, safeguard physician wellbeing, and accelerate patient recovery, ultimately expanding the capacity of endoscopy services and improving patient-centered outcomes.
There is a well-documented need for ergonomic and efficiency improvements in endoscopy. A significant proportion of endoscopists report work-related musculoskeletal injuries, particularly in the wrists and thumbs, often due to the force and repetition required to manually insert instruments. Musculoskeletal injuries among endoscopists are alarmingly prevalent, with studies reporting injury rates as high as 89% over a physician’s career. These injuries contribute to early career attrition, reduced procedural volumes, and long-term disability. By automating one of the most physically-demanding steps in the procedure, EndoAdvance aims to mitigate this risk and extend physician career longevity, while also enhancing procedural precision and consistency.
In addition to improving physician health and performance, EndoAdvance contributes to shorter procedure and anesthesia times. Even modest reductions in anesthesia duration have been associated with lower risk of sedation-related complications such as hypoxemia and hypotension, particularly in elderly or medically-complex patients. Faster recovery times also enable higher patient satisfaction, reduce post-anesthesia monitoring, and improve efficiency in high-volume endoscopy units. EndoAdvance is poised to become an essential tool for endoscopy centers aiming to enhance patient safety, reduce costs, and support physician wellbeing.
Student Entrepreneurs
Ashley Garcia - Neuroscience
Valentina Londoño - Biochemistry
Nicholas Lamadriz - Biomedical Engineering
NC State University
NC State University - Sylva Systems
People’s Choice voting text “NCSU”
Sylva Systems provides an autonomous drone service that inspects tree-farms, utilizing machine learning to detect tree health, damages, along with precise location of these — eliminating hours of manual inspections a farmer typically needs to perform.
Tree farmers currently face a time-consuming challenge: manually inspecting every tree in their orchards. They ride ATVs through rows of trees, visually assessing each one for signs of disease, pest damage, broken branches, and other health issues. This process becomes even more critical after major storms, when entire days must be dedicated to surveying damage and determining which trees need immediate attention. With the average tree farmer in the US managing 150,000 trees, this manual approach is not only physically demanding but also prone to human error and inconsistent documentation. In North Carolina alone, there are nearly 18 million acres of timberland delivering a value of $1.2 billion to the state. The death of even a single tree can wipe out over a decade of work and resources for a farm.
Our service aids farmers by combining autonomous flight technology with advanced machine learning algorithms. The drone follows predetermined flight paths through tree farms, avoiding obstacles, and capturing video footage of each tree from multiple angles. This footage is stored on the drone's internal hard drive for processing later.
Once collected, the video data is analyzed by our algorithm in order to detect and identify individual trees, note their location, and spot any and all health concerns that require intervention. This transforms days of manual inspection into hours of automated data collection, providing farmers with detailed, consistent reports on their entire stock. Our mission is to save tree farmers time, money, and most importantly, trees.
Student Entrepreneurs
Nathan Hattrup - Electrical Engineering
Cole Malinchock- Mechanical Engineering
Kevin Spencer - Computer Engineering
Tyler Danner - Industrial and Systems Engineering
Quinn Hilligoss - Industrial and Systems Engineering
Hank Madden - Industrial Engineering
University of North Carolina
University of North Carolina - Sensible
People’s Choice voting text “UNC”
Sensible is a pad-attachable menstrual patch that turns menstrual blood into meaningful health and wellness insights.
Many people track their health using apps, wearables, and self-reported symptoms, yet one of the most information-rich monthly signals—menstrual blood—is largely ignored. As a result, individuals are left with fragmented, subjective insights into their bodies and limited tools to understand long-term wellness patterns. Sensible is a menstrual wellness platform that transforms an everyday menstrual pad into a passive source of biological insight. Using a disposable, pad-attachable patch, Sensible collects menstrual blood during normal use and converts it into simple, readable wellness signals—without requiring behavior change, clinical visits, or invasive testing.
By embedding wellness tracking into a product people already use, Sensible makes longitudinal health awareness more accessible, private, and comfortable. Over time, these signals can help individuals better understand changes in their bodies, recognize personal patterns, and make more informed wellness decisions. Sensible’s approach reimagines menstrual care as an opportunity for proactive self-understanding rather than reactive care, creating a scalable, non-invasive foundation for the future of menstrual wellness.
Student Entrepreneurs
Nandini Kanthi - Neuroscience & Community and Global Public Health
Vaishnavi Kode - Economics & Biology
Vrutika Soneji - Health Policy and Management Major
University of Notre Dame
University of Notre Dame Team - Azam Healthcare
People’s Choice voting text “ND”
Azam is a subscription-based telehealth platform providing affordable, culturally aligned care to underserved Hispanic patients in the U.S. through a cross-border network of Latin American clinicians.
An estimated 55% of the more than 65 million Hispanics living in the U.S. are inadequately insured, while 57% report persistent communication difficulties with their healthcare providers. For millions of families, this does not simply mean higher copays or longer wait times—it means delayed diagnoses and untreated chronic conditions. Language barriers, cultural mismatches, and unfamiliarity with U.S. healthcare processes often prevent patients from clearly describing symptoms, understanding medical advice, or adhering to treatment plans.
As a result, preventable conditions escalate into emergency-room visits, driving worse health outcomes for patients and significantly higher costs for the system as a whole. At Azam Health, we seek to connect underserved Hispanic communities in the U.S. with our network of Latin American physicians at the touch of a button, delivering affordable and seamless care that breaks traditional language and cultural barriers. A low-cost subscription provides patients with access to telehealth appointments with physicians, psychologists, and nutritionists. Our patients will also receive access to on demand prescriptions and a mini Electronic Health Record (EHR) with follow up care.
Student Entrepreneur
Alejandro Siman - Finance & Political Science
Southern Methodist University
Southern Methodist University - InfoSavvy
People’s Choice voting text “SMU”
InfoSavvy develops AI-powered solutions designed to streamline academic advising and campus resource management, reducing information overload for students and administrative burden for advisors.
InfoSavvy addresses the challenges faced by universities, including high student-to-advisor ratios and the overwhelming amount of information students must navigate. Our AI-driven platform offers real-time, personalized guidance, connecting students to resources, event details, and academic advice while easing the workload of academic advisors. By providing 24/7 assistance and actionable data insights to administrators, InfoSavvy aims to enhance the student experience, improve retention, and reduce burnout among advisors. With an AI solution tailored for higher education, we are bridging the gap between students and academic advisors, one ask at a time.
Student Entrepreneurs
Yaw Boateng - Electrical and Computer Engineering
Ameen Zia - Electrical and Computer Engineering
Syracuse University
Syracuse University - SipSafe+
People’s Choice voting text “Syracuse”
SipSafe+ is developing proprietary detection technology as a discreet, cost-effective solution for bars, restaurants, and hospitality venues to reduce drink spiking and promote safer social spaces.
In a study of 45,000 young adults, 18% reported having their drink spiked at least once. Behind that number are real people, real trauma, and real consequences that nobody should ever face. Current solutions fail where it matters most. Test kits are clumsy, complicated, and nearly invisible in dimly lit environments. Meanwhile, establishments face millions in lawsuits and suffer irreparable reputational damage for something entirely preventable.
SipSafe+ changes that. Using proprietary nanotechnology, our products detect benzodiazepines through an instant, visible fluorescent glow, elevating the patron experience by turning a simple stir into a moment of confidence and peace of mind. Our flagship product, the SipSafe+ swizzle stick, is sleek, discreet, and designed to blend seamlessly into any bar environment allowing both patrons and staff to identify tampered beverages with minimal effort and zero disruption .For business owners, it's a shield against devastating litigation and reputational collapse.
For patrons, it's something far more personal: the freedom to enjoy a night out without fear. SipSafe+ operates on a scalable B2B model, making deployment simple and cost-effective for bars, nightclubs, and hospitality venues of every size. Our mission is simple: to make nightlife safer for everyone. Because safety shouldn’t be a luxury—it should be the standard.
Student Entrepreneurs
Lindy Truitt - Communications Design
Anjaneya Sanjay - Information Systems
University of Pittsburgh
University of Pittsburgh - abdOguide
People’s Choice voting text “Pitt”
abdOguide is a first-of-its-kind transabdominal ultrasound needle guide that empowers a single fertility specialist to perform IVF egg retrieval for patients whose ovaries are otherwise unreachable via the transvaginal approach by aiming to reduce procedural complexity, expand access to reproductive care, and lower clinic staffing costs.
With over 430,000 IVF cycles performed annually in the U.S. and demand expected to keep rising, oocyte retrieval remains one of the most critical steps in the fertility process. While transvaginal ultrasound-guided retrieval is the standard, approximately 0.4-1.6% of patients have ovaries that are transvaginally inaccessible due to anatomical variations such as Müllerian anomalies, surgical transposition, or prior hysterectomy. For these patients, a transabdominal approach becomes necessary, but no dedicated needle guide currently exists for abdominal ultrasound probes. Physicians are forced to improvise with transvaginal equipment and often must recruit a second highly trained clinician to manually stabilize the needle, increasing procedure time, reducing accuracy, and limiting access at clinics without the staffing for a two-operator setup.
abdOguide is the first dedicated transabdominal ultrasound needle guide designed to solve this problem. The device mounts directly onto the GE 4C-RS convex probe and features a fixed 53° needle trajectory aligned with the ultrasound's existing on-screen guide projection, enabling a single clinician to confidently direct an 18-gauge retrieval needle to the target follicle. Its extended guide length accommodates the longer needle path required for abdominal insertion, and a secure locking mechanism ensures stability under clinical loads without obstructing grip or imaging quality.
Developed through ethnographic research at UPMC Magee-Womens Hospital and backed by a comprehensive Design History File with formal verification and validation protocols, abdOguide transforms a complex two-operator procedure into a streamlined single-clinician workflow. Thus, expanding fertility access for underserved patients while reducing procedural costs for hospitals nationwide.
Student Entrepreneurs
CJ Shores - Bioengineering
Ashlyn Odenwald - Bioengineering
Sydney Barber - Bioengineering
Ishan Patel - Bioengineering
Cyrus Shams - Bioengineering
Lyric Zimmermann - Bioengineering
Virginia Tech
Virginia Tech - Sentivity.ai
People’s Choice voting text “VT”
Sentivity.ai transforms real-time social and news data into predictive sentiment intelligence that empowers decision-makers to anticipate consumer behavior, prevent costly missteps, and act before public opinion moves markets.
Markets move on emotion before logic. Yet most companies rely on outdated surveys, lagging sales data, or shallow social listening tools that only tell them what already happened. By the time a shift in public sentiment becomes visible in revenue or reviews, the opportunity is gone or the crisis has begun.
Sentivity.ai detects, tracks, and predicts sentiment online in real time.
Our proprietary Sentiment Intelligence Framework ingests millions of conversations daily across social media, forums, and news sources. Using a hybrid machine learning pipeline combining transformer-based natural language processing and gradient boosted forecasting models, we identify emerging pain points, track narrative shifts, and predict how public opinion will evolve weeks in advance.
This intelligence powers Overwatch, our enterprise dashboard for product leaders, brand strategists, and executives. Overwatch surfaces the emotions, narratives, and influencers shaping perception, benchmarks competitors in real time, and alerts teams before backlash or surges in support peak. Companies can simulate strategy, test messaging, and quantify return on investment before making high cost decisions.
Our pilots demonstrate up to 97 percent forecasting accuracy, detection of emerging issues two weeks faster than public reviews, and a predicted average savings of $750,000 per product line through avoided returns and crisis costs.
In a world where consumer sentiment drives markets, Sentivity.ai gives businesses the eyes and ears to listen and the foresight to act before emotion becomes impact.
Student Entrepreneur
Rowan Martnishn - Computational Modeling and Data Analytics
Vishal Green - Computer Science
Wake Forrest University
Wake Forest University - Mira
People’s Choice voting text “WFU”
Mira is an at-home personal styling system that gives you real-time visual and heat insight into your hair, empowering you to take full control of your look while preventing damage and protecting long-term hair health.
Every day, millions of people style their hair without truly knowing what’s happening beneath the surface. They cannot see the back of their hair, they don’t know what’s happening to the composition of each strand, they guess at heat levels, and they often realize there’s damage only after it has already occurred. Professional stylists achieve better, healthier results because they have full visibility, expertise, and control, advantages that consumers simply do not have at home.
Mira changes that.
Mira is an AI-powered at-home hair-styling device that delivers professional-level insights directly to the user. Through real-time visual feedback and thermal awareness delivered via a connected app, Mira allows individuals to see exactly what is happening as they style. What was once guesswork becomes informed precision. Instead of reacting to damage after it occurs, users can prevent it before it happens.
Mira transforms hair styling from a trial-and-error routine into a controlled, data-driven experience. The system enables users to monitor heat exposure, identify high-risk areas, and receive personalized guidance tailored to their hair type and goals. With greater awareness comes smarter decisions, consistent results, and long-term protection of hair health.
More than a styling device, Mira places salon-level visibility and proactive protection directly in the user’s hands. Individuals are no longer dependent on estimation or habit; they can now style with intention, protect their hair in real time, and build lasting confidence through control. Mira doesn’t just improve how people style their hair; it sets a new standard for intelligent, preventative personal care at home.
Student Entrepreneur
Sophia Baltzan - Business and Enterprise Management