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Bucking the trends, Miami Angels posted a record 2023, a strong start in ’24, and more

Nancy Dahlberg
Nancy Dahlberg
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By Nancy Dahlberg

Jared Schwitzke took the helm of Miami Angels last year amid a steep downturn in venture capital globally. But the angel network, one of the largest in the country, has emerged stronger, logging a record year for investments in 2023 and on track for another one.

 “Under Jared’s leadership, we’re in the midst of Miami Angels 3.0. We weathered the nuclear winter in the VC market beautifully and beat previous capital deployment records,” said Mark Kingdon, Board Chairman of Miami Angels.

“Our membership is a very solid group of successful professionals and business people, high net worth individuals and family offices and, increasingly, substantial funds. We’ve benefitted tremendously from the recent influx of talent and money in our space,” said Kingdon, a prolific angel investor and three-time tech CEO who moved to Miami in 2014.

A few highlights:

  • Miami Angels investors deployed over $5.5 million in 2023, its highest deployment year yet. 
  • This year, Miami Angels has committed about $2 million to date, which is more than 10x what the group had deployed over the same period in 2023. 
  • Miami Angels has also attracted a number of VC new firms joining the organization recently, including founders or partners with Elevate VC, DeepWork Capital and Brass Ring Ventures. 

While the market is challenging, one of the best aspects of being part of Miami Angels is being able to meet together in person and discuss deals, said Schwitzke, who joined Miami Angels as principal in 2022 and ascended to managing director a year later.

“We’ve been able to hit our stride, bringing back a more structured approach now that we can all meet in person on a more regular basis. I think the results are speaking for themselves, and a lot of it is also because of the new investors that have been coming into town,” said Schwitzke, in an interview with Refresh Miami.

Indeed, the Miami Angels are 130 members strong now. Some of the recent Miami tech investments have been Marco, Flowlie, Mavi, Cubbo and FanBasis, Schwitzke said. So far in 2024, the group has made 11 investments, a mix of new investments and follow-ons.  In total, Miami Angels’ portfolio contains more than 70 active startups.

“The MA team has built a new platform and processes to support our growth, and make the entire sourcing, evaluation and investment process smooth and efficient,” Kingdon said.

Guillermo Gomez, a Colombia native and Babson alum, came aboard as a venture operations associate for Miami Angels last year, and with his help, the Miami Angels have been seeing more and better deals and setting their sights on new frontiers, Schwitzke said. More specifically, the angel group has started exploring the Latin American market, and two of the deals this year have been from Latin America.

“We’re very long on Latin America, in terms of the potential for that region to see some strong growth with respect to early-stage venture.  And obviously, being here in Miami, it just doesn’t make sense not to take a look at that region, especially when there’s so many great entrepreneurs coming out of it,” Schwitzke said.

Looking ahead, “our goals are to continue expanding upon all this,” he said. “We want to obviously support Miami founders to the extent that we can, and we want to help bring Latin American founders into Miami. We’d love for them to consider having a base of operations here in Miami.”

Photo at top of post: Miami Angels Managing Director Jared Schwitzke speaks at The Family Office Club’s Super Summit in Fort Lauderdale in December.

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Nancy Dahlberg
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