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6+ things to know in #MiamiTech: News from CodePath, MoonPay, Avenue Z, Testaify, Beacon Council, Digibee and more

Nancy Dahlberg
Nancy Dahlberg
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1

MoonPay launches a venture investment arm

MoonPay, the Miami-based Web3 infrastructure company, announced the launch of its investment arm, MoonPay Ventures, to support trailblazing early-state startups across the Web3 and fintech ecosystems. Beyond capital, MoonPay Ventures will offer portfolio companies access to top-tier teams, ideas, emerging business models, and go-to-market playbooks in Web3, allowing startups scale faster with the goal of faster adoption of Web3 technology.

MoonPay Ventures will be led by Abhay Mavalankar, who joined MoonPay after a decade in investment banking and venture capital at Morgan Stanley, Centerview, and Cisco Investments. MoonPay Ventures has already made investments in several companies including BCB Group, BRUT, BeatClub, absolute labs, Create/OS, BridgeTower Capital, and Mythical Games.

“As we continue building at MoonPay, we’re also committed to uplifting the standout players in our ecosystem so we can collectively work toward mass Web3 adoption. Launching MoonPay Ventures is a major milestone in bringing this vision to life,” said Ivan Soto-Wright, CEO & Co-Founder at MoonPay.

MoonPay is backed by more than $640 million in venture capital, with investors that include Tiger Global Management.

2

CodePath receives $15M grant from Mackenzie Scott

Over the next 20 years, 3 million new software engineers will enter the tech industry.  Yet employment statistics show that, while Black employees make up 13% of the workforce, they account for only four percent of tech workers — and even though Hispanic workers make up 17 percent of the workforce, they hold just 8%  of STEM jobs.  The tech-focused nonprofit CodePath changes that by providing these students with the tools they need for success, including industry-relevant knowledge, connections, specific hard and soft skills, and an understanding of how to navigate the job search and technical interview.  

Today, CodePath announced it received a $15 million gift from philanthropist Mackenzie Scott — the largest single gift in the organization’s history — recognizing the nonprofit’s work to reprogram higher education and provide students with opportunities to achieve tech excellence.

The donation will enable CodePath to accelerate work toward the organization’s goal of reaching all college computer science students in the United States with innovative and industry-leading coursework, internship experience and career support. CodePath has been very active in South Florida, preparing students at Florida International University and other schools for tech jobs.

 “Through this generous unrestricted funding, we will invest in our organizational infrastructure to have a deeper economic impact in communities across the country and embed AI technologies across our curriculum and strategy — we will both reimagine what the computer science degree should be and ensure diverse talent helps drive innovation and progress forward,” says Michael Ellison, CodePath’s co-founder and CEO and a Miami resident.

To date, CodePath has reached more than 20,000 students, and has alumni from 500 colleges working at 2,000 companies — 64 percent of the organization’s alumni are Black, Latino/a, Indigenous, low-income, or first-generation.

3

Avenue Z makes 3rd acquisition in 2023

 The Avenue Z Network, a strategic communications and marketing advisory, this week announced the acquisition of a leading digital marketing and SEO company, Orlando-based DesignZillas. Marking its third acquisition this year, Avenue Z is acquiring specialized marketing firms at a rapid pace and plans to rebrand DesignZillas to Avenue Z by the end of the year. 

Avenue Z CEO Jeffrey Herzog said the talent pool in Orlando for creatives with Disney, Planet Hollywood, and Universal Studios all based there is deep. Following the acquisition, Avenue Z plans to move into new office facilities in the downtown Orlando area with space for 100 employees. The Orlando office will be home to Avenue Z’s digital excellence and AI teams. There are currently over a dozen full-time positions open.

4

Miami-based Testaify raises $650K in pre-seed funds

Testaify, a Miami-based provider of an AI-driven software testing platform, raised $650K in pre-seed funding. The angel investors were not disclosed. The company plans to use the funding for its marketing and AI/machine learning expansion.

Led by founder  Rafael E. Santos, Testaify provides an AI-based testing platform that delivers comprehensive testing enabling software development companies to measurably improve product quality.

 “AI gives us the power to model the product, design test cases, generate test scripts, and execute tests in a fraction of the time, freeing developers to build features.  Because our AI offering intrinsically understands all of the testing methodologies, companies will achieve their quality testing goals while releasing better software more quickly,” said Santos, who is an alum of e-Builder and Ultimate Software.

5

County makes moves to compete for medtech, pharma

To recruit and retain more medtech and life sciences companies in the region, Miami-Dade County aims to compete with hubs such as New York, Boston and the North Carolina Research Triangle in a bid to attract those businesses, according to a report the Miami-Dade Beacon Council.

“Miami-Dade County offers certain unique opportunities for expanded efforts to recruit and grow life science companies, but we also have challenges that would require increased resources and sustained focus to seriously compete for business location with other established life science hubs,” Beacon Council CEO Rodrick Miller wrote in a letter attached to the report.

Miami-Dade is home to more than a thousand life sciences businesses, a vertical that includes pharmaceutical, medical device and biotechnology companies. Those ventures employed more than 12,000 employees who earned an average annual salary of $89,322 in 2021, when the report was drafted. Read more in the South Florida Business Journal.

RELATED STORY: Beacon Council’s new leader: ‘The tech sector is essential’ for Miami’s economic growth

6

Other startup news to note

 Digibee, an integration platform as a service (iPaaS) company for enterprises, announced the appointment of Paulo Veloso to Chief Revenue Officer. The new hire comes after Digibee led the largest funding raise in South Florida in Q2, which peaked Veloso’s interest in the company. Veloso brings over a decade of sales leadership and sustained annual sales growth of 20% to more than 100% in his previous roles, Digibee said. In addition to focusing on Digibee’s U.S. market growth, Veloso will also create a high-performance sales team.

PLUS

Opportunity knocks

  • Lab22c opened nominations for the 2nd annual Moonshot Awards, a program that recognizes top innovators, builders and institutions in the South Florida innovation economy. This year there are seven award categories. “We are looking to recognize top innovators/builders/institutions who are moving our ecosystem forward. Nominate someone you think who is deserving of the recognition,” said Lab22c founder Saif Ishoof. Learn more and submit your nominations here. 
  •  ShellHacks, Florida’s largest  student hackathon,  is returning for its seventh year and will be held in person at Florida International University in Miami from September 15-17. It is being hosted by INIT, Students from around the state and beyond, as well as recent grads and those attending bootcamps, are invited to participate, learn new skills and potentially win prizes. It is open to all skill levels and majors. To secure your spot, visit http://shellhacks.net and submit your application.
  • The Venture Miami Scholarship Fund provides tuition support to provide gap funding for at-need City of Miami residents who have been accepted into STEM or defined-demand occupation programs at participating colleges and universities, including Florida International University, Florida Memorial University, Miami Dade College, and the University of Miami. How to apply: Students who meet the program requirements and are interested in applying to the Venture Miami scholarship are encourage to complete this survey to begin the application process.
  • The Alan B. Levan/NSU Broward Center of Innovation is accepting applications for the 100 Startup Project. Applicants who are accepted will receive a yearlong membership to the Levan Center of Innovation. Apply here. 

ICYMI

Got news? Email Nancy Dahlberg at [email protected] and follow her on X @ndahlberg

Nancy Dahlberg
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