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Israeli businesses bring over 8,000 jobs to Florida, and most are in Miami-Dade
Israeli-founded companies are increasingly choosing Florida – and particularly the Miami metro area –as a hub to expand their businesses in the US market, according to a new report by the United States-Israel Business Alliance.
Statewide, 429 Israeli businesses have created 8,190 direct jobs that contribute least $1.8 billion to the state economy, and two-thirds of them are located in Miami-Dade County, the report said. Those Miami-Dade businesses account for more than $6 billion in gross output in the county and pay an average salary of $72,400 – 18% above the county average, according to the South Florida Business Journal. The report also identifies high-growth sectors for these businesses, including space, life sciences, and defense and homeland security.
“Israeli entrepreneurs are looking more and more at Florida as a viable option to grow their businesses in the US as it is also perceived as a pro-Jewish and pro-Israel state during challenging times — although New York and California are still the top two states for Israeli-founded companies,” USIBA president Aaron Kaplowitz told The Times of Israel. “The perception is that if you are Jewish or Israeli, Florida is a comfortable place to do business as you will be embraced with arms wide open, and it feels safe to bring your family right now.”
The report cites Israeli-founded unicorns Momentis Surgical, a medical device company based in Fort Lauderdale, and Flow, a real estate company co-founded by former WeWork CEO Adam Neumann. Refresh Miami has long been documenting the growing presence of Israeli-founded companies, including Insightec, DoorLoop, Spinframe, Tabit, Reeco, Walz, and many others, as well as support organizations, such as soft-landing services, the Florida-Israel Business Accelerator and the recent Israel Tech Week.
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DoorLoop hiring 150, expanding to New York City
DoorLoop, the Miami-based property management software leader, recently announced the opening of its first New York office and its plans to hire at least 150 new team members worldwide in 2025, more than doubling the size of their team. Both its Miami headquarters and Tel Aviv offices have also relocated to larger spaces in the last year to accommodate their growing workforce, the company reports.
“As we continue to transform the property management industry, establishing our presence in the world’s premier real estate market was a natural next step. This New York expansion represents a pivotal moment in DoorLoop’s journey as we continue to grow,” said co-founder and CEO Ori Tamuz, in a statement.
On the heels of its $100 million Series B fundraise in the fall, DoorLoop also announced it has appointed Agatha “Aggie” Asch as Chief Marketing Office, joining the recently appointed Chief Sales Officer Dani Romain. “With additions to our leadership team, we’re not just opening a new office – we’re bringing together the best talent and technology to deliver even greater value to property managers across the globe,” Tamuz said.
DoorLoop was founded in 2019. DoorLoop’s property management tools include automated tenant and lease tracking, rent and fee collection, accounting and reporting, maintenance requests and more, and they are used to manage properties around the world.
3
4ocean, VeChain partner to boost Blockchain-driven sustainability efforts
VeChain, a leading enterprise blockchain platform, announced a partnership with the Boca Raton-based B-Corp 4ocean to drive ocean conservation efforts through blockchain-enabled campaigns. VeChain said the collaboration creates a program that will remove the equivalent of 14.4 million single-use plastic water bottles from the ocean in its first year and preparation to implement blockchain technology to drive measurable environmental impact.
“When purpose drives action, real change happens,” said Alex Schulze, CEO and co-founder of 4ocean. “Through our partnership with VeChain, we’re removing 300,000 pounds of plastic from the ocean — that’s the equivalent of 14.4 million plastic water bottles. We’re also committed to exploring blockchain technology to enhance our tracking and verification systems, providing greater transparency into our cleanup operations. Together, we’re creating new opportunities to engage communities in ocean conservation and create a more sustainable ocean for future generations.”
The 4ocean partnership will also include an 11-month sustainability sweepstakes program running February through December 2025 and the groundwork for implementing VeChain’s blockchain technology to enhance 4ocean’s tracking and verification systems. 4ocean and VeChain will also partner with the UFC Foundation for a high-profile beach cleanup event in Miami, showcasing the initiative’s real-world impact and launching broader initiatives to engage the global crypto community in ocean conservation. The flagship event will leverage an application running on VeChainThor called Cleanify, which tracks and validates environmental impact while incentivizing participation through rewards.
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Hut 8 and Trump sons to launch American Bitcoin company
The publicly traded Miami-based company Hut 8 has joined with President Donald Trump’s sons to launch a bitcoin mining company called American Bitcoin. Hut 8 merged the majority of its mining operations for an 80% stake in American Data Centers, a company formed by a group of investors including Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr. that has been relaunched as American Bitcoin.
American Bitcoin will mainly focus on bitcoin mining while building a strategic bitcoin reserve. The company will be led by CEO Matt Prusak, with Eric Trump serving as the chief strategy officer. Longer term, American Bitcoin plans to be publicly listed to expand its access to capital.
As the crypto industry moves toward mainstream acceptance, the news illustrates the growing involvement of the Trump family in the crypto landscape. “From the start, we’ve backed our conviction in Bitcoin -personally and through our businesses. But simply buying Bitcoin is only half the story. Mining it on favorable economics opens an even bigger opportunity,” Donald Trump Jr. said.
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FAU lands $1.3M NIH grant for rapid HIV self-test
Florida Atlantic University’s College of Engineering and Computer Science, in collaboration with FAU’s Schmidt College of Medicine, received a three-year, $1.3 million grant from the National Institutes of Health for an automated HIV self-testing assay. Another $1.3 million will potentially be awarded after a programmatic review of the progress made in phase I.
With this grant, researchers are developing an affordable, disposable self-testing HIV-1 chip that can selectively detect HIV from whole blood samples, be highly sensitive to detect HIV during the acute infection, treatment and viral rebound; be rapid within 40 minutes; highly stable without requiring refrigeration; and fully automated providing true sample-in-answer-out ability.
As of 2020, there were 37.7 million people globally living with HIV and 680,000 people died from AIDS-related illnesses last year. Since the start of the epidemic, more than 36.3 million people have died from AIDS-related illnesses. Although antiretroviral therapy is effective in saving AIDS patients’ lives, implementing the therapy worldwide has been drastically hampered by the lack of treatment monitoring diagnostics and disease management. According to recent statistics by USAIDS, the coverage of antiretroviral therapy is still only 59 percent, despite being affordable or freely available in most countries. Moreover, worldwide, about 1 in 4 people who have contracted the virus are unaware of their HIV status. Read more here.
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I Squared Capital receives $300M investment
Miami-based private equity firm I Squared Capital received a $300 million investment from Rest, an Australian pension fund. I Squared Capital focuses on infrastructure investments and has $40 billion in assets under management in 81 companies across 71 countries in the utilities, energy, environmental infrastructure, transportation and social infrastructure sectors. “The investment highlights the growing appetite for infrastructure debt opportunities among large and sophisticated limited partners,” David Rosemblum, a fund partner at I Squared Capital, said in a statement.
Rest committed the funds to I Squared’s credit strategy, an investment platform for debt and related assets, the South Florida Business Journal reported. Last year I Squared Capital, founded in 2012, secured $600 million from the Qatar Investment Authority and Mubadala Investment Authority to build out last-mile supply chain solutions for logistics companies.
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Jobs, Jobs, Jobs
Boats Group – Lifecycle Operational Manager
Boats Group – Software Developer
Chewy – Data Engineer III
Chewy – Software Engineer I
HotelPlanner – Director of Operations
Novo – Customer Support Specialist
Paysend – Operations Analyst
Pipe – Fraud Operations Analyst
Royal Caribbean Group – Graphic Designer
Royal Caribbean Group – Social Media Copywriter
Royal Caribbean Group – Sr Global Intelligence Analyst
Find more jobs on Refresh Miami’s job board here.
8-PLUS
Opportunity knocks
- Endeavor Miami is accepting applications for its next ScaleUp Program. Apply for the ScaleUp program here. Endeavor Miami is also taking applications for two of its upcoming 2025 EndeavorLab programs for earlier state startups. Apply here by May 9h for the EndeavorLab Black Founders cohort and apply here by August 22 for the EndeavorLab Women Founders cohort.
- Miami founders, are you ready to take your startup to the next level? Reefside Ventures is launching its Spring 2025 Incubator program designed specifically for post-product companies based in South Florida. Learn more and apply here.
- Black Ambition is accepting applications for its 2025 Black Ambition Prize Competition with a $1 million grand prize and other prizes and services awarded. The call for entries is for startups in consumer products and services, healthcare, media and entertainment, technology and AI. There is an information session scheduled for April 22: Find out more and apply here by May 2.
- The Cade Prize for Inventivity, named after Dr. Robert Cade, lead inventor behind Gatorade, celebrates inventors and entrepreneurs, who, through an innovative invention, demonstrate a creative approach to addressing problems in their field of expertise. Each year, Cade Prize winners receive over $100,000 in cash prizes and legal services with no strings attached. Find out more and apply here by July 10.
- Are you a pre-Series A startup founder looking to make your mark on a global stage for a $100,000 equity-free priae? Applications for TechCrunch Startup Battlefield 200 are now open. Go to the Startup Battlefield 200 page to learn more and apply by June 9.
ICYMI
- Latest funding news: Bliss Aesthetics secures $17.5M to bring AI to cosmetic surgery
- A fintech founder turned down $200 million. Here’s why he doesn’t regret it.
- Miami Tech Summit served up experts on our region, crypto, AI and more – plus human connections
- This Miami startup wants to change how the world’s biggest companies manage cash
- Urbint makes key acquisition in mission to increase resiliency to extreme weather
- Rock beats plastic as Okeanos shakes up the packaging industry
- Happy V: The Miami-based startup spearheading solutions for vaginal health
- Special report: Miami’s women in VC are rewriting the investment playbook
- And much more #MiamiTech news here.
Have news to report? Email Nancy Dahlberg at nancy@refreshmiami.com and follow her on X @ndahlberg. Subscribe to Refresh Miami’s free weekly newsletter here featuring startup news, tech job opportunities and events. Thank you for supporting Refresh Miami.
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