An Acquisition, a Launch, and a Pitch: An Entrepreneurial Story from eMerge
March was a wild ride for the Babson entrepreneurs behind Stuvi.
Stuvi is a platform that connects musicians with studio space. At the end of last month, the venture was set to participate in a prestigious startup showcase and competition at the eMerge Americas Conference + Expo, an annual global technology event in Miami.
That promised to be a great opportunity, but then with eMerge mere weeks away, something happened that altered that plan: Stuvi was acquired.
The entrepreneurs, however, weren’t about to pass up the chance to pitch at eMerge. So, right after Stuvi was acquired in the beginning of March, they began to work on an entirely new venture called Clave.
“This was the birth of Clave,” says Mateo Acosta-Rubio ’27, who co-founded Clave with his two fellow entrepreneurs from Stuvi: his brother, Tadeo Acosta-Rubio MSEL’24, and Carlos Emanuele MSEL’24. The team is rounded out by lead developer Valentina Casteline.
Clave is an AI-powered platform providing real-time actionable insights to operators of quick service restaurants. The brothers saw a need for this service while working in their family’s business, ChurroMania, a restaurant franchise serving churros.
In only a few weeks, the Clave entrepreneurs built a minimum viable product and prepared for eMerge. “Pitching a completely new business for the first time with such high stakes felt intimidating at first,” Mateo Acosta-Rubio says, “but it flowed so naturally since Clave is solving a problem we understood inside out.” Besides, the Clave team has plenty of pitching experience, particularly during Babson events such as the Summer Venture Program. “I’d argue Tadeo and I are most comfortable with a mic in our hands,” Acosta-Rubio says.
The work paid off. At eMerge, Clave was selected as one of the top 25 startups and in the top five of the competition’s university startup track. The venture’s strong showing capped off what was an overall impressive representation of the Babson entrepreneurial community at the event.
A Big Babson Presence
Babson has had a presence at eMerge, a popular gathering of investors, entrepreneurs, and industry experts, since 2018, says Carla Curiel ’05, director of Babson Miami.
A highlight of eMerge is the Global Startup Accelerator and Showcase, which featured 100 ventures from a wide range of industries. Besides Clave, seven other startups with Babson ties competed in the competition. That tops last year’s total of six Babson startups.
“Every year, we seem to make a mark in both scale and visibility,” Curiel says. “To have eight Babson ventures in the competition underscores the strength of our entrepreneurial community and how deeply our students are engaging with real-world innovation.”
Before the event, Babson Miami identified five promising Babson ventures, assisting them with their application and preparation for the competition. Besides Clave, those startups included Glidely, an AI assistant that handles incoming sales inquiries (Shu Oikawa MBA’24, co-founder); NeaterNotes, an app that transforms handwritten notes into aesthetically pleasing copy (Zavier Smith MSEL’24, founder); Petch, which offers simplified medical reports for veterinarians (Tina Lee MBA’24, founder), and Wasabil, software that automates financial and tax processes (Benjamin Perez Pereira MBA’26, founder).
Additionally, three other Babson ventures participated in the competition: BuildrFi, a financial management hub for the construction industry (Stephanie Del Valle MBA’21, co-founder); Coally, an AI assistant for career development (Andres Joya Mosquera MSEL’19, co-founder); and Extinguisher 360, an app to streamline fire extinguisher inspections (Jonathan Bournigal Read ’07, co-founder).
Beyond the competition, Rafic Faraj MBA’25, co-founder of Fastxo, participated in eMerge’s SMB Growth Lab, an inaugural program that aims to help small and mid-sized businesses scale. Fastxo specializes in providing data-driven strategies for businesses.
Just the Beginning
Out of those many Babson ventures, Clave certainly had one of the busiest, most memorable run-ups to eMerge. While Acosta-Rubio says he and his team felt gratitude about having Stuvi acquired, they prefer not to offer many details on the acquisition. Instead, they’re looking forward to their new entrepreneurial journey with Clave. “We are excited for the opportunity to start from scratch,” he says.
The Acosta-Rubio brothers bring their restaurant experience to bear on the startup. As they sold Stuvi, launched Clave, and made the mad dash to eMerge, the entrepreneurs focused on a problem they’ve noticed for a long time, that of restaurant decisions being made with a lack of data.
“To have eight Babson ventures in the competition underscores the strength of our entrepreneurial community and how deeply our students are engaging with real-world innovation.”
Carla Curiel ’05, director of Babson Miami
“There had been this one burning problem, the type that keeps you up at night, that Tadeo and I had been experiencing for our entire life in our family business,” Acosta-Rubio says. “As we worked in different roles in the business, we noticed a lot of crucial store-level decisions were being made by gut instinct or experience instead of data-backed, informed analysis.”
After its successful showing at eMerge, Clave has received a lot of investor interest, Acosta-Rubio says. He and his fellow entrepreneurs are proud of what they’ve accomplished so far but are eager to keep Clave’s momentum going. “This is just the beginning,” Acosta-Rubio says.
Posted in Community, Entrepreneurial Leadership
