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Zilch, a BNPL unicorn, to hire 100 for its new Miami hub
London-based “buy now, pay later” startup Zilch is opening a US headquarters in Miami – its first office in the US – and plans to add at least100 employees, the Evening Standard reported.
But close readers of Refresh Miami knew this was coming. That’s because Zilch acquired Miami-based NepFin last August, enabling Zilch to access the US market for its rapidly growing BNPL platform. At the time of the deal, CEO and Founder Philip Belamant signaled that he planned to expand in the US, primarily from a Miami hub.
Zilch is a leading UK fintech company, having raised more than $230 million since its founding in 2018. The company became a unicorn last year after closing a $110 million funding round, valuing the company at $2 billion.
Zilch counts more than 2 million customers since its launch in 2020 and is adding over 250,000 new users per month, according to the company. Customers can use the app to pay later at all retail merchants where Mastercard is accepted and benefit from cashback deals and discounts for full repayment.
“With the cost of living going up, and with people paying billions of dollars in fees and interest, we think it’s the perfect time to us to launch a product like ours which eliminates those costs for customers but provides the same benefits,” Belamant said in the Evening Standard.
The new US headquarters will be run out of Miami under US CEO Albert Peru. The company says it is targeting and addressable market of about 125 million users.
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Dental tech startup opens East Coast hub in Miami
tab32, a cloud-based technology platform for the dental industry, today announced the opening of the Sacramento, California company’s new East Coast headquarters in downtown Miami, capping a year that saw 3X year-on-year growth.
tab32 offers both a comprehensive Dental Practice Management System and AI-powered business intelligence to help individual practices and multi-practice dental service operators to streamline operations and coordinate patient care. It has 135 employees.
tab32 has six employees in Miami now and plans to hire up to 20 in the near future, the company said. The startup’s new Miami office will be headed by the company’s newly appointed SVP of Operations,– Daniel Masvidal, who previously was SVP of Client Success for Miami-based CareCloud.
“From our new strategic vantage-point in Miami, tab32 is serving clients across the country, and driving the national transformation of the dental industry,” said Masvidal. “As Florida’s tech epicenter, Miami is the perfect place for us to plant our flag as we bring our cloud-tech revolution to a broader audience.”
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Kevin Harrington invests in Broward-based Psycheceutical
Psycheceutical, a biopharmaceutical company based in Fort Lauderdale dedicated to the development and commercialization of psychedelic medicines, announced that former Shark Tank entrepreneur Kevin Harrington is the company’s newest investor and strategic advisor.
Harrington joins Psycheceutical to provide expertise on the strategy, direction, and execution of the company’s growth and development in pursuit of its mission to accelerate the research, availability, and delivery of safer and more effective psychedelic pharmaceutical medicines.
“It seems clear to me that psychedelics are the future of mental health treatment, but they need to be delivered safely like pharmaceutical medicines, which is why I’m so excited about Psycheceutical,” Harrington said.
Harrington is credited as the the creator of the infomercial and pioneer of the As Seen on TV brand, and his business ventures have launched more than 1,000 products and produced well over $6 billion in global sales. More than 20 of Harrington’s companies have each topped $100 million in revenue.
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TradeStation tech enables crypto donations to Broward United Way
South Florida-based TradeStation Crypto i is providing the technology that now allows the United Way of Broward County to accept cryptocurrency donations. The first donation was recently made by Broward County Mayor Michael Udine, who donated .025 Bitcoin from his personal wallet to the United Way.
TradeStation Crypto provides front and backend support, enabling the United Way of Broward County to accept crypto donations online. Supporters can donate any of the coins TradeStation Crypto currently supports, including Bitcoin (BTC), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Ethereum (ETH), Litecoin (LTC) and Ripple (XRP). The funds are added directly into the non-profit’s crypto account, which the United Way then manages themselves. They are able to trade or liquidate the fund as they wish.
TradeStation Crypto offers this service to support nonprofits. The technical implementation to integrate into a nonprofit’s donation process is relatively simple and free, and the only fees associated with the program are trade commissions.
“The donation process was seamless, safe, and took only a few minutes,” said Mayor Udine. The mayor added, “I believe in the power and possibilities of Bitcoin. I made this gift to kick off the start of United Way of Broward County’s Mayors’ Gala. Whether in crypto or fiat currency, I encourage everyone to consider donating to United Way of Broward County to help them with their mission in the community.”
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SPiCE VC announces Fund 2
SPiCE VC, a VC firm in the blockchain and tokenization ecosystem, announced the launch of SPiCE II, with a focus on identifying innovative companies that stand to benefit the most from the mass proliferation of blockchain technologies across many industries, including digital assets, lending, real estate, infrastructure, gaming and the Metaverse.. A tokenized version of SPiCE II is expected to launch in a few months.
SPiCE I was named the top performing fund in the tokenization and Blockchain market by Security Token Market, and three of its portfolio companies went public in 2021. “Blockchain has improved and disrupted many industries, and SPiCE’s first fund allowed digitally native investors access to that wave. The new fund provides even more exposure to Blockchain and Web3 innovation in a traditional format,” said Carlos Domingo, General Partner and co-founder of SPiCE VC and CEO of Securitize.
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Opportunity knocks
- The Miami-Dade Beacon Council is hosting a webinar Wednesday, May 25, with the BIRD Foundation, Enterprise Florida and the Israeli Consulate about how energy/climate-tech companies can apply for funding of up to $1 million for joint research projects. There will be an explanation of how the application process works, a discussion with two companies (Blink Charging and Zooz Power) currently working on a BIRD research project together, and a review of current climate-tech initiatives in both Miami and Israel. Find out more and register here.
- The Idea Center at Miami Dade College is hosting Activate x Wormhole May 18-22. It is the first multi-chain hackathon bringing together blockchain ecosystems for a week of learning, business and exploring web3. $100K in prizes will be awarded. Read more here: activate.build/miami
- The Algorand Miami Accelerator is looking for the best 10 teams of the American continent and beyond for its 2022 program, which includes 10 weeks of training and mentorship in NFT, Gaming, Defi, Social Impact; $30,000 in cash; and access to the Algorand ecosystem. Learn more and apply before May 22 here.
- BrainStation Miami is offering full scholarships for its full-time bootcamps in Web Development and UX Design that start May 23 at its Wynwood campus. Apply here.
- eMerge Americas and Ironhack are offering $200,000 worth of scholarships for people studying web development, data analysis or UX/UI design. Applications are open until May 19. Apply here.
READ MORE ON REFRESH MIAMI:
- Pigeon Loans lands $2.5M seed round to level up loan platform
- Q&A with Dami OsunSanya, the new director of SB Opportunity Fund
- Like Tinder but for work, Fortuna lets jobs hunters swipe right and connect
- 5 questions with TradeStation’s John Bartleman
- With $1.96M in funding in tow, Wayru spearheads strategy to bring internet to underserved communities
Got news? Follow Nancy Dahlberg on Twitter @ndahlberg and email her at [email protected].
