6+ things to know in #MiamiTech: News from Yuga Labs, Blackdove, The Source, Global Ventures, Prosal, Kriptos, Pudgy Penguins & more

1 Yuga Labs buys Moonbirds maker

Yuga Labs, one of the largest web3 media companies in an industry still in the depths of a crypto winter, is growing again. The brand – creator of Bored Ape Yacht Club, Otherside, and TwelveFold, and owner of Meebits, CryptoPunks, and 10KTF — has acquired NFT token creator PROOF, best known for its Moonbirds collection.

Yuga will start by bringing Moonbirds into Otherside, its gamefied, metaverse play called Otherside.

The acquisition of PROOF’s assets, which also includes the PROOF Collective, Oddities, Mythics, and Grails exhibition series, and the Proof team, intellectual property, and artistic portfolio, aligns with Yuga’s vision to become the front door of web3, Yuga Labs said in its announcement.

“As a company committed to championing art, culture, and community on the blockchain, we’re excited to have PROOF join the Yuga ecosystem. Moonbirds is a collection with great potential and many unifying brand elements with Otherside,” said Daniel Alegre, CEO of Yuga Labs, in a statement.

Kevin Rose, CEO & Founder of PROOF, will become an advisor to the company. “We’re very excited to bring Moonbirds into Otherside. It’s the perfect home and future for our collectors,” said Rose. “With the PROOF Collective on board, it shows Yuga’s commitment to digital fine art, and our combined resources will allow us to innovate faster and reach more people. It’s going to be an exciting journey.”

Read more in Fast Company.

2 Dubai a cornerstone of Blackdove’s international expansion

Blackdove, a Miami-based startup that has been an industry leader in the rise of digital art, has been selected to exclusively manage the Art Dubai Digital Art Fair March 1-3. Visiting collectors will for the first time in a major art fair have the option to bring home their newly purchased digital works via Blackdove software and enjoy them immediately, the company said.

With more than 25 galleries, 90 artist presentations, and 500 artworks that will be on display at the international fair, and Dubai being a cornerstone of Blackdove’s international expansion, “we believe this incredible Fair will launch the dawn of high-quality digital art installations globally,” the company tweeted. At Art Dubai Digital, the ‘Gallery’ and ‘Collector’ features enable multiple works of art to be displayed on a single high-quality screen.

Blackdove has worked with more than 500 digital artists and managed installations for art fairs such as Untitled, Scope, Art Miami, and Red Dot, and including multiple activations during Miami Art Week. To meet market demand, Blackdove recently expanded its art fair and exhibition management business.

Blackdove’s global dealer network has completed over 1,000 installations of digital art globally. Customers with Blackdove installed in their homes can browse, manage, and display digital art from a growing roster of top digital art galleries and artists. The average Blackdove client today views 300+ works of art per year on their canvas, and with a basic projection of 1 million displays that Blackdove expects to deploy globally with partners, this means that demand for digital art will grow algorithmically, the company says.

“Delivering the absolute best digital art display experience for galleries and collectors is our mission,” said founder and CEO Marc Billings. “Art Dubai Digital has quickly become a must-stop for digital artists and collectors.”

3 The Source opens its doors downtown

The Source Miami, which will serve as a hub to connect entrepreneurs, investors and the local community to bridge the wealth gap in tech and develop local talent, opened its doors Feb 15 after a community event marking the occasion at the new home at 14 NE 1ST Ave. in downtown Miami on Thursday. Along with coworking space, the new facility provides resources, including fundraising assistance, idea incubation and training workshops. “This will be a phenomenal opportunity for founders to get access to the resources they need, “ tweeted Ariana The Techie who attended the opening. The space was founded by Miami philanthropist Ted Lucas, the CEO of Slip-N-Slide Records, and Hilmon Sorey, a Silicon Valley founder and technology veteran. More than 100 people attended the grand opening last week, including leaders from the City of Miami, Venture Miami, Black Professionals Network and other local community organizations, where Lucas and Sorey cut the ribbon:

4 Meet the 4 startups joining Global Ventures

Global Ventures at Florida Atlantic, a leading international soft landing, post-startup incubator based at the Research Park at Florida Atlantic in Boca Raton, Florida, recently announced four new companies. The entrepreneurs will have access to a range of resources, including mentorship, networking opportunities, and funding guidance as well as facilitated introductions to specialized Florida Atlantic faculty and students, to help them scale their businesses. The new arrivals are:

InfraSite, led by CEO Vitaliy Pereverzev, is revolutionizing the digital infrastructure landscape with innovative solutions that seamlessly integrate 5G, data centers and edge computing facilities into urban environments. Its innovative Smart Vault solution allows for the safe and sustainable placement of digital infrastructure practically anywhere.
Fenway Group, led by CEO Martin Santora. The Fenway Group crafts customized solutions that empower businesses to take charge of their digital transformation journey, giving students real world experiences as they go through their educational careers.
Signalic, led by founder & CEO Arash Andalib, is a biomedical tech venture dedicated to personalized pain management solutions using data-driven approaches, to reduce the number of individuals suffering pain or addicted to opioids.
Salus Water, led by president Marcelo Costa, is a company specialized in residential water filtration and purification systems. With a strong presence in the market, the company is recognized for offering cutting-edge technology and providing a comprehensive solution to ensure the quality of the water you and your family consume daily.

Global Ventures at Florida Atlantic will host its annual open house on March 20 at 5:30 PM for the community to meet its entrepreneurs. For more information, visit www.ResearchParkFAU.com/Global-Ventures.

5 Prosal closes out seed round at $1.58M

Prosal, a Miami-based provider of a Request for Proposals (RFPs) platform for agencies, reached $1.58 million in Seed funding with a new influx of $400,000.

The round was led by Fusen Fund, with participation from a consortium of investors including Recursive Ventures, Brickyard Fund, Alumni Ventures, Mana Ventures, and Raiz Capital, complemented by a group of angel investors. Refresh Miami already reported on the first $1.18 million in this seed round.

Led by CEO Nicholas Lopez and CTO Nyle Malik, Prosal provides smaller agencies with a platform featuring advanced algorithms and a user-friendly interface, which automates and simplifies complex RFP tasks. This technology allows smaller agencies to save time and resources while offering insights and analytics for improved proposal decision-making, to streamline their business development processes, and to compete effectively with larger counterparts.

6 More #MiamiTech news to note

Google for Startups launched its second Growth Academy: AI for Cybersecurity program,a three-month program providing 17 promising startups in Europe and the U.S., that are using AI technology to grow and innovate responsibly in the Cybersecurity market, with essential growth skills, AI tools, internationalization strategies, and Google products to help them scale. Selected as one of the few participants is Miami-based Kriptos is a software that analyzes, classifies and labels documents automatically using AI. Kriptos prevents data leakage, enhances cybersecurity strategies and achieves compliance regulations. Kriptos, the only startup from Florida in the international cohort, will have the opportunity to benefit from mentorship across Google, workshops that span soft and technical skills, and the Google for Startups network. [READ MORE: You have hundreds of thousands of files on your computer. Kriptos wants to know: Are they secure?]
ResultsCX, a Fort Lauderdale-based provider of transformational CXM (Customer Experience Management) services to global brands led by CEO Rajesh Subramaniam, acquired Huntswood, a Berkshire, UK-based consulting and customer solutions company. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but with the acquisition, ResultsCX will expand its service capabilities in the banking, financial services, and Insurance sector, and its connections with energy and water companies in utilities. For 30 years, ResultsCX provides CXM solutions to 75+ global brands, including Fortune 100 and 500 companies.
Leading web3 domain names and digital identity provider Unstoppable Domains has partnered with Miami-based web3 brand Pudgy Penguins, marking its first foray into NFT collections with the addition of “.pudgy,” the 10th top-level domain in UD’s partner portfolio. Pudgy fans and community members can now proudly voice support and display their NFTs and .pudgy address on X, as well as earn special Pudgy badges to facilitate unique messaging and interactions within their group. This partnership also enables the use of crypto transactions under the .pudgy domain and paves the way for future integrations, such as signing into the forthcoming Pudgy World metaverse experience. [READ MORE: Meet the 25-year-old entrepreneur out to transform brand ownership with NFTs]

PLUS

Opportunity Knocks

Shine! Pitch Competition: In celebration of Women’s History Month, eMerge Americas is offering female founders an opportunity to showcase their startup. Six companies will pitch live on March 20^th and the winner of the Shine! pitch competition will receive a $2,500 grant prize. Apply here by March 6.
Levan Innovation Center Ideate Cohort: A five-week program that assists entrepreneurs with development of an idea that is tech enabled or a new innovation. This is done through design thinking and prototyping. This is a pre-seed stage where entrepreneurs have access to resources to identify and validify a clear idea to commercialize. Apply by February 16.
EndeavorLAB Black Founders Cohort: A cohort based program to support underrepresented founders in Florida in building a foundation for scale. Endeavor selects 10 companies following its global selection for high-impact entrepreneurs. Applicants submit an application online. Finalists are interviewed by Endeavor Staff. Apply by May 5.

ICYMI

Have news to share? Email Nancy Dahlberg at [email protected] and follow her on X @ndahlberg. Subscribe to Refresh Miam’s weekly newsletter.

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Nancy Dahlberg

I am a writer and editor with extensive media experience and a passion for journalism and serving the community. Most of my career has been spent with the Miami Herald in business news, and my expertise is writing about tech and entrepreneurs. I love hosting this blog for Refresh Miami and we aim to be the go-to site for South Florida startup and tech news, features and views. Have news? Contact me at [email protected]. Thanks for reading!

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