5 things to know in #MiamiTech: Tech job listings soar, plus opportunities, new hires and more

1

Where the tech jobs are – and who is filling them

The Miami Movement is continuing to show up in job postings in a big way.

There are 18 job postings – 18! – for OpenStore, the new  platform enabling Shopify brands to sell their companies that was  founded by Keith Rabois of Founders Fund and Jack Abraham of Atomic. Among the listings are postings  for full stack and front-end engineers – and, signaling OpenStore is serious about building a big team in Miami, it advertises two recruiter positions. OpenStore already has a team of 16 and plans to rapidly scale.

And that is just one company. So it may be no surprise that job postings in #MiamiTech are way up. Last quarter’s data show the trend.

In Q2, the number of tech job listings in the Miami metro area grew 29% to 14,084 — faster than any other major U.S. city, according to a CompTIA analysis of Burning Glass Technologies Labor Insights data. That was up from 10,945 in last quarter.

Miami topped Silicon Valley on a percentage basis and the Valley essentially matched Miami’s new listing growth on a numeric basis. Silicon Valley had 3,370 new tech job listings during the quarter for a 13% growth rate – less than half Miami’s rate and close to the 3,139 new listings in Miami, according to a post in The Next Miami.

A second report out this week shed light on who is filling those jobs. CBRE’S 2021 Scoring Tech Talent report found that South Florida has more technology degree graduates from underrepresented racial and ethnic backgrounds than any other U.S. metro — 68% of the 2,770 graduates in 2020. Perhaps this is not surprising, but the tri-county area is fourth least diverse markets for women tech graduates with a bachelor’s degree or higher – only 23%. South Florida also has the nation’s second-least diverse tech workforce when analyzed by gender with, again, 23% consisting of women. Read more in Miami Inno.

2

SoftBank-backed Heru fills out its executive team

Heru, the developer of wearable AI-power vision diagnostics and augmentation software, has expanded its executive team, bringing in seasoned leadership from Amazon, Carl Zeiss Meditec, and Topcon Healthcare solutions. This news follows the startup’s recent  $30M Series A funding round that included SoftBank’s Opportunity Fund and its FDA approval.

Heru is a medtech spinout from the University of Miami’s renowned Bascom Palmer Eye Institute, and it is building a next-generation cloud-based AI-powered platform for eye diagnostic and vision correction.  Led by founder and CEO Dr. Mohamed Abou Shousha, Heru’s new team members are:

  • Chief Scientific Officer, Mary Durbin – Joins from Carl Zeiss Meditec and brings more than two decades of experience in algorithm development and clinical science for medical devices
  • Chief Technology Officer, Bob George – Joins from Amazon Studios and brings more than two decades of experience leading product and technology teams to deliver global solutions
  • Chief Customer Officer, Corey Nielson – Joins from Topcon Healthcare and brings nearly two decades worth of driving growth in the healthcare industry.
  • Chief Marketing Officer, John Trefethen – Also joins from Topcon Healthcare and brings 25 years of experience building out healthcare companies in education technology, marketing and design.

3

A two-fer from Endeavor Miami: ScaleUp Program taking application
  • You’re invited to watch the Endeavor Pitch Competition powered by Dell on Wednesday, July 28th at noon. The virtual competition will feature 10 South Florida-based companies competing for $10K in Dell Technology’s products. A panel of judges from the Endeavor and Dell networks will select the 1st place winner and the crowd will select the 2nd place winner. The top two companies will then participate in a final pitch competition hosted by Dell on September 15th, competing for another $15K, $10K and $5K in cash prizes. Pitching are:  Airborne Response, Akcelita, Beyou,  Gaming Frog, Blurb, KAMSA,    Lean Orb,   Letsbox.it,   OpcionYo,   PADL and   Phlex. Register here.
  • Endeavor Miami also opened applications to the ScaleUp Program, Cohort Four. ScaleUp Program is a four-month acceleration program designed to support leading early-stage companies with strong impact potential in the Florida ecosystem to scale. Applicants need to be founders with a minimum of 2 full-time employees. The startup must be based in Miami and have reached product-market fit and making $700K to $2 million in annual revenues. All industries are welcome to apply.. LcoCohort Four will run from August 31 to December 9, and people can apply here

4

BlackTech Week returns next week with virtual fireside chat series

The Center for Black Innovation is bringing back Blacktech Week beginning Monday, and you won’t want to miss its mix of virtual fireside chats and some in-person networking events and workshops at the the center in Overtown.

The fireside chat series will include talks on building generational Black wealth,  “The Politics of Content,” “Buying & Selling Black,” “The Future of Black Medicine” and more. The conference wraps up Friday with  workshops focused on the fashion and beauty industry, including about navigating e-commerce platforms and public relations. Speakers include author A’Lecia Bundles, Claire Sulmers of the Fashion Bomb Daily, Judith Nwandu, reporter for The Shaderoom, and branding influencer Wahdi Woodard, and Philip Gaskin of the Kauffman Foundation.

BlackTech Week, created by Felecia Hatcher and Derick Pearson, first launched in Miami in 2014political  and over the years has expanded to other cities.

Get tickets and see the agenda on  blacktechweek.com.

5

Globant honors 2 South Floridians as Digital Disruptors

Globant  recently announced its inaugural Digital Disruptors award winners and two of the seven North American winners are South Floridians, showcasing the emerging technology talent in the region. They are City of Coral Gables CIO Raimundo Rodulfo, who is being recognized for his innovative efforts using AI and data to power smart and sustainable living for the residents and businesses of Coral Gables, and Chris Todd from Airborne International Response Team (AIRT), for pioneering the use of emerging drone technology to establish his organization as a vital partner in responses to humanitarian catastrophe.

The Digital Disruptors Award recognizes individuals that have championed change and internal disruption through digitization, innovation by leveraging data, operating in an agile way and seamlessly adapting to new market realities. Globally, 22 individuals have been recognized.

Globant, the global publicly traded technology company that helps big brands make successful digital transformations, announced in April that it is growing its Miami footprint with plans to add 150 high-paying tech jobs here over the next three years, increasing its South Florida workforce by 167%. Miami is Globant’s “Smart Venues Hub,”

Bonus

Opportunity knocks: Additional opportunities
  • Miami Dade College’s School of Engineering and Technology (EnTec), The Idea Center @ MDC and Grow with Google have teamed up once again to offer a third Google IT Automation with Python program, which culminates with a professional certificate at no cost. The new 17-week program is scheduled to begin July 26 at The Idea Center.The program is open to anyone 18 and older who is interested in a career in information technology. Candidates should have foundational IT knowledge from previous education or IT-related work experience. To apply and for more information: https://theideacenter.co/programs/googlepython/.
  • 35 Mules, an accelerator program powered by FPL, is taking applications for its second cohort. It offers free workspace, non-dilutive cash grants, access to experts, executive coaching and more. If you have a great idea you want to take to the next level, apply at 35Mules.com.

Have news? Email [email protected] and follow her on Twitter  @ndahlberg. Sign up for Refresh Miami’s free weekly newsletter here.

 

Nancy Dahlberg