1
Endeavor Miami announces EndeavorLAB Boca Raton cohort
Through Endeavor Miami’s partnership with the City of Boca Raton’s Office of Economic Development, Endeavor Miami has selected seven startups from the city to participate in the upcoming cohort of its EndeavorLAB accelerated growth program.
“The partnership between the City of Boca Raton and Endeavor will help foster Boca’s robust entrepreneurial ecosystem. The growth of these early stage companies will build upon the rich history of innovation in Boca Raton,” said Boca Raton Mayor Scott Singer.
Founders participating in EndeavorLAB’s Boca Raton cohort will undergo an 8-week program of education and mentorship addressing their path to scale.
“Boca Raton is thriving, with many tech and scaleup companies bringing their headquarters to the city,” said Claudia Duran, Managing Director of Endeavor Miami. “We are excited to help facilitate growth with a program built on Endeavor’s expertise on high-impact scaleup companies and global network of vetted mentors and entrepreneurs.”
The startups are (descriptions provided by Endeavor):
Flo-Ops: Flo-Ops increases student engagement by merging the academic and non-academic world into a modern and intuitive mobile app. Flo-Ops is a one-stop-shop app that consolidates all EdTech solutions through REST APIs while creating a community for both the instructional and non academic activities through communication, organization and collaboration. The company is led by Giovanni Estrada, CEO and Founder.
GetSpeedBack: GetSpeedBack takes the hassle out of employee performance management by collecting feedback and data within your workflow. By replacing the traditional performance review process, GetSpeedBack increases employee engagement and organizational efficiency while saving time. The company is led by Matthew Meadows, Co-Founder & CEO, and Mihai Oprescu, Co-Founder & CTO.
ReachLink: ReachLink provides online therapy services for people seeking assistance with improving their mental health. The company is led by James Farese, Founder & CEO.
Securi.ly Inc.: Securi.ly enables founders to scale their business by offering an integrated, streamlined path to achieve and show proof of a solid security posture to their clients in only a few days. The company is led by Orit Benzaquen, Co-founder & CEO, and Cariel Cohen, Founder & CTO.
Synchronyx: Synchronyx designed a novel medication companion and digital connected health solution for healthcare stakeholders and their patient populations with chronic and medically complex conditions. Through the integration of smart labels and action-driven algorithms, its platform empowers teams to proactively identify nonadherence, worsening outcomes, and barriers to care, and ensure timely care connections with automated and human touchpoints. The company is led by Tamar Sapir, PhD, CEO & Founder.
Total Brokerage: All-in-one back office for real estate brokerages. The company is led by Michael Mosseri, CEO, and Ben Schachter, Head of Sales.
Ultimaxx Health: Ultimaxx Health is a privately held early stage Pharma Company that develops, and partners with developers of, innovative plant-based medicines, products and natural solutions for pressing public health problems, chronic conditions and general health and wellness. The Company is also engaged in other relevant research, strategic partnerships and business development activities that benefit and or are synergistic with its mission and overall objectives. The company is led by Lenny Lomax, MD, President & CEO.
2
1909 buys Clematis Street building for 30,000-sq-foot innovation hub
Only a block from Clematis Street where the building called the Thoroughfare stands, the coworking space and innovation hub, 1909, is now fully at capacity and can no longer accommodate additional startups and small businesses it aims to support. But earlier this month, the West Palm Beach City Council voted to approve 1909’s offer to purchase a property on 314 Clematis Street. The 30,000 square foot historic building in the heart of Downtown West Palm Beach will eventually be the organization’s new home while also providing space for hundreds of local small businesses.
1909’s offer included $10 million in cash and over $12 million in services that will be provided to the community. 1909 will be the owner/operator of the building, alongside a local financing partner, Third Seven Capital. 1909 will use this building as a safe space for small businesses and startups in Palm Beach County. Plans include areas for local restaurants that have been or expect to be priced out of their current locations in the urban core.
“We plan to preserve and reimagine this 99 year old building in order to create a vibrant destination that celebrates design, character, and intentional tenant curation,” said Danielle Casey, 1909’s co-founder. Read the rest of this story in South Florida Tech Hub News.
3
InvestReady buys up rival EarlyIQ
InvestReady, a Miami-based third-party provider of accredited investor verifications, announced today that it is acquiring its rival EarlyIQ, growing its customer base and team capabilities. The California-based EarlyIQ also provides accredited investor verifications, as well as “Bad Actor” background checks and company diligence reports, InvestReady announced today. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Over the next few months, InvestReady (formerly known as Accredify) will be taking over operations of the EarlyIQ service and providing support for EarlyIQ customers to change services. “We’re going to have a database of over 50,000 accredited investors by the time things are finalized and more combined experience verifying accredited investors than any other company out there,” said InvestReady CEO Adrian E. Alvarez.
Both companies specialize in verifying investors under U.S. SEC Regulation D, 506c, which allows issuers to legally advertise their offering but requires them to take “reasonable steps” to verify that investors participating in the offering are accredited. “We’re also both unique in that we provide the accreditation service but are not also affiliated broker-dealers, making us a neutral party that other brokers can trust will not try and take their investors,” Alvarez added.
4
Argo AI vehicles go driverless in Miami
In Miami, there’s no doubt autonomous vehicles are better drivers than the human kind. Argo AI’s vehicles are going driverless.
AV tech company Argo AI commenced driverless operations in Miami and Austin, two of the eight global cities where it is developing its technology. “Argo is first to go driverless in two major American cities, safely operating amongst heavy traffic, pedestrians and bicyclists in the busiest of neighborhoods,” said Bryan Salesky, Founder and CEO, Argo AI. “From day one, we set out to tackle the hardest miles to drive — in multiple cities — because that’s where the density of customer demand is, and where our autonomy platform is developing the intelligence required to scale it into a sustainable business.”
Reaching the point to operate without a driver, during daytime business hours, while sharing the road with many others, is the result of more than five years of progress on the Argo Autonomy Platform, with multiple customer-facing pilot programs operating in Miami and Austin. Argo operations span some of the largest rideshare and goods delivery markets in the U.S., including Miami, which was the country’s second largest rideshare market in 2021.
5
South Florida tech job postings continue to boom
Year-to-date, South Florida tech job postings are up 51% over the same period in 2021, according to the latest data from IT trade association CompTIA. In total, Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach companies had 22,735 listings between January and April. In Florida, tech job postings were up 56% during the same time period and 40% nationally.
6
MDC launches Cloud Skills Challenge
Miami Dade College, together with Microsoft, is launching Cloud Skills Challenge, a 30-day accelerated learning environment where participants acquire and expand skills in cloud computing, cybersecurity, artificial intelligence and data analytics through Microsoft Learn modules, online workshops and in-person courses, all while competing with others. Free and open to the public, the Challenge begins June 2.
Those who complete a Challenge course are eligible to sit at no cost for the Microsoft certification related to the course, including Microsoft Azure Fundamentals, Azure AI Fundamentals and Security, Compliance, and Identity Fundamentals. More information:
visit Miami Dade College’s Cloud Skills Challenge.
Got news? Email Nancy Dahlberg @[email protected] and follow her on Twitter @ndahlberg.
- Human ingenuity, inspiration, a call to action: Miami Tech Talent Coalition takes the stage at eMerge Americas - April 24, 2024
- Miami Tech Month, where developers get their own conference, VCs take the stage, and anything is POSSIBLE - April 23, 2024
- Full circle moment for Johanna Mikkola, the new CEO for Tech Equity Miami - April 22, 2024