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6+ things to know in #MiamiTech: New venture fund, plus news from FAU, I Squared Capital, Arcadia Capital, Kaseya, eMerge Americas & more

Nancy Dahlberg
Nancy Dahlberg
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1

Palm Tree Crew raises $32M venture fund, closes funding round

Palm Tree Crew, a Miami-based entertainment, hospitality and investment holding company, recently announced they raised a $32 million venture fund.

Palm Tree Capital focuses on providing capital to disruptive early-stage brands across the consumer and technology space. The vehicle offers portfolio companies access to global marketing (via its events platform), strategic talent partners via its network of celebrities, athletes, and influencers and business development support to facilitate capital and commercial relationship-building, the company said. The portfolio spans a diverse set of consumer categories, including beauty, consumer technology; food and beverage and sports lifestyle. Miami gaming startup Betr is a portfolio member.

Founded by global music icon, Kyrre Gørvell-Dahll, aka Kygo, and his manager Myles Shear, and led by CEO Michael Diaz, Palm Tree Crew is a diversified holding company that operates a global live events and hospitality business, a lifestyle consumer brand, and a multi-stage investment platform.

Separately, Palm Tree Crew recently closed a $6 million funding round at a $150 million valuation, the company reports. Backers included Barry Sternlicht, Keith Rabois, Brad Garlinghouse, David Adelman, Jim Coulter, Jonathan Kraft and Michael Meldman, among others. The company will use proceeds to accelerate growth and expansion of its global live events and hospitality businesses, as well as its continued diversification into adjacent and synergistic verticals.

2

FAU wins $2.6M grant for cybersecurity scholarship program

The College of Engineering and Computer Science of Florida Atlantic University received a $2.6 million grant from the National Science Foundation  to establish a scholarship program in the burgeoning and critical field of cybersecurity. The NSF’s CyberCorps Scholarship for Service program seeks to increase the number of qualified cybersecurity professionals working for federal, state, local, territorial and tribal governments.

The program is managed by the NSF in collaboration with the United States Office of Personnel Management and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. FAU is one of only six universities to receive the NSF CyberCorps award this year.

Designed to increase the volume and strength of the nation’s cybersecurity workforce, the program provides full scholarships and stipends to students pursuing studies at the intersection of cybersecurity. According to the National Initiative for Cybersecurity Careers and Studies, there are more than 570,000 open cybersecurity positions in the U.S. with an increase of 35 percent in the last year.

“The cybersecurity talent gap is a major concern for our nation,” said Stella Batalama, dean of the FAU College of Engineering and Computer Science, in a statement. “As cyber threats continue to become increasingly complex, our project will help to prepare a well-trained cybersecurity workforce in Florida that will serve the federal and state government.”

Activities for professional development, including certifications will be integrated into the program to prepare scholarship recipients for a cybersecurity career in the federal government. This project further leverages the deep faculty expertise and course offerings to drive student training and skill development at the intersection of cybersecurity and thematic areas of AI, post-quantum cryptography, and hardware security. Students will gain a broad understanding of cybersecurity opportunities in the federal government and will be trained to compete and secure jobs in the federal government.

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3

Tech investment bankers launch Arcadia Capital

Tech investment bankers Mike Parker and Tristan Snyder announced the launch of Arcadia Capital to offer strategic advice and investment banking services to mid-market technology and software companies.

Arcadia Capital has secured investment from some of the most prominent founders, technologists and investors in the ecosystem to disrupt the mid-market tech investment banking industry globally. The Miami-based firm will advise its clients on strategic M&A, recapitalization and/or growth capital raises, among other services and business lines to be rolled out in the near future.

The co-founders are leveraging a combined 40 years of experience advising technology and software businesses on transformational capital markets transactions. They have advised clients on more than 100 completed transactions representing over $30 billion in aggregate deal value, and have extensive experience executing cross-border transactions across the U.S., Canada, LatAm, Europe and Oceania.

4

I Squared Capital establishes $1.2B DFC Climate Fund

Miami-based I Squared Capital, with over $38 billion in assets under management, announced that it has closed its first dedicated Climate Fund set up in conjunction with U.S. International Finance Development Corporation (DFC). The DFC will commit $300 million alongside commitments from funds led by I Squared Capital of $900 million to invest in climate related infrastructure projects.

“The opportunity to invest alongside DFC underscores the importance of public private partnerships as vehicles to support sustainable infrastructure in the markets that need it most. It also mitigates regulatory and political risk and enables investments in infrastructure-related sectors at attractive risk adjusted returns in high growth emerging economies,” said Sadek Wahba, Chairman of I Squared Capital, in a statement.

A leader in infrastructure investments in emerging economies, over the past decade, I Squared Capital funds have committed $7.9 billion to infrastructure investments in emerging markets across a diverse group of sectors including energy, utilities, transportation, social infrastructure, digital infrastructure, and environmental infrastructure.

5

eMerge Americas conference to include AI + Quantum Village

eMerge Americas keeps on rolling out news announcements about its upcoming conference on April 18-19 at the Miami Beach Convention Center. The latest is that the conference will include the AI + Quantum Village, an interactive pavilion powered by Strangeworks that will highlight the explosive growth in these emerging technologies and their impact in the world we live in.

In addition to exhibits and activations, features in the pavilion will include a stage for speakers on topics like the emerging frontier in AI, the intersection of AI and Quantum computing, and AI for good, and a spotlight on disruptive startups in the space.

Last month the organization announced the eMerge Americas conference will also feature an expansive pavilion called the Healthtech Innovation Hub.

6

More #MiamiTech news to note

  • This week Kaseya, the Miami-based IT software giant with more than $1.5 billion in ARR, announced the expansion of its c-suite with the promotion of Joe Smolarski to President and Chief Customer Officer. Over the last five years, Smolarski has led various departments across Kaseya and most recently served as Kaseya’s Chief Operating Officer. Smolarski will bring to this role a customer-first approach and will be focused on helping enhance and better the customer’s partner experience.
  • Miami-based Blankfactor, a company that provides services to top-tier financial services and life sciences companies, helping them scale and deliver products faster through end-to-end product development and consulting services, is continuing its global expansion. This week the company announced it was expanding to Bangalore, India’s vibrant technology and innovation hub with “an abundance of engineering talent.” Last year, founders Michael Wear and Melody Pack were selected as Endeavor Entrepreneurs.

PLUS

Opportunity knocks

  • Applications are now open for the Built in Miami 2024 program, a collaboration between Venture Miami and The Shrimp Society. The free program is designed to guide you step-by-step on taking your business idea from an idea to a validated product or service prototype. Find out more and apply here.
  • Retail tech company Shipt is opening applications for its small business accelerator LadderUp for retailers in 10 US metro areas, including Miami and Fort. Lauderdale. Selected retailers will receive a $5,000 investment from Shipt and will participate in an 8-week course. Find out more and apply here by Feb. 16.
  • Merge Americas opened applications for its 2024 Startup Accelerator and Showcase. Entrepreneurs have the chance to win a $520,000 investment for their venture. Joining forces with Florida Funders, Medina Ventures and BIP Ventures, eMerge will select 110 startups from across the world for a seven-week program that will culminate in a pitch competition in April. All selected startups will also receive 2 free Tech Passes and prime exhibit space at eMerge Americas. Find out more and apply here by Jan. 31.
  • America’s Seed Fund Week 2024 takes place January 23 – 25 and serves as the official kick-off for the 2024 SBIR Road Tours. This free online event connects entrepreneurs working on advanced technologies to America’s Seed Fund, the country’s largest source of early-stage funding through the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs. Learn more and register here.

ICYMI

Have news to share? Email Nancy Dahlberg at nancy@refreshmiami.com and follow her on Twitter @ndahlberg

Nancy Dahlberg
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