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8+ things to know in #MiamiTech: News from Apricus Generation, Muck Rack, Citadel, Betr, Guident, Fortuna Investments & more

Nancy Dahlberg
Nancy Dahlberg
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1

Energy startup closes Series A round

Apricus Generation, a Miami-based startup focused on building a national distributed solar and battery development platform and Independent Power Producer, today announced the closing of its Series A funding round led by new investor Blue Marlin Partners and Current Yield with Participation (CYwP) Fund, an existing investor. With this closing, the company said it has already raised the majority of Series A capital and is over-committed toward its $100 million corporate equity capital raise goal.

The Apricus platform enables consumers and businesses to participate in the energy transition by providing solar and battery storage developers with management expertise and capital to advance their project pipeline to generation. 

Apricus Generation did not disclose the amount of the round, however Pitchook reported that Apricus raised $28 million in a Series A round earlier this year.

“We have been exploring entry into the solar and battery energy distributed generation market for some time now. With Apricus, led by industry veterans Gautam Chandra and Ravi Thuraisingham, we have found the right mix of an innovative business plan, founders with a proven execution track record with successful exits, and the perfect timing,” said Peter Kirsch, founder and Managing Partner of Blue Marlin Partners.

The funds will be used to accelerate Apricus’ business plan and support the growth of its recent acquisition of a controlling interest in Nexus Renewables,  a Toronto-based developer of US solar and energy storage projects. This capital raise will also fuel additional acquisitions and the buildout of solar and battery energy systems, advancing the company’s strategic goals.

2

Muck Rack acquires social listening platform

Muck Rack, the Miami-based company that enables organizations to build trust and tell their stories through its public relations  and communications management software, announced that it has acquired Keyhole, the social listening and analytics platform that provides real-time insights on social media data. The purchase – Muck Rack’s first – closed on Aug. 31. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Muck Rack said it will continue supporting the Keyhole product and will start integrating its tools into the Muck Rack platform immediately. To learn how their brand is perceived across social channels, PR and corporate communications teams can easily add social listening to their Muck Rack subscription, and soon will be able to access social listening insights directly within the Muck Rack platform.

“Social listening is a key part of the communications workflow, and as the consumption of news on social media continues to increase, PR professionals need to understand how social and news coverage work together in the broader media ecosystem. By integrating Keyhole’s technology, we’ll be able to build social listening tools specifically for the PR and communications user, providing them with insights that can help them spot a potential crisis, inform earned media strategy and analyze key social media KPIs,” said Gregory Galant, cofounder and CEO of Muck Rack, in a statement.

Muck Rack customers will be able to monitor direct and indirect brand mentions, hashtags, influencers and keywords across Instagram, X, TikTok, YouTube and Facebook. Muck Rack’s already provides expansive global media monitoring, which includes more than 600,000 global news sources and more than 3.5 million articles daily.

Muck Rack raised $180 million in venture capital in 2022 and remains founder-controlled, majority-founder owned and profitable. Its software supports the entire PR workflow, including combining media database, pitching, monitoring and reporting to generate press coverage, protect brand reputation and boost PR performance.

3

Citadel’s new Miami HQ expected to break ground next year

Ken Griffin, the billionaire founder of hedge fund Citadel and market maker Citadel Securities, is expecting to break ground in the third quarter of 2025 on a waterfront 54-story tower in Miami that will serve as headquarters of his Citadel financial empire. The proposed building at 1201 Brickell Bay Drive will have 1.7 million square feet, combining offices and a roughly 413,000-square-foot hotel on the upper floors, according to plans filed with Miami-Dade County and first reported by Bloomberg.

The building, set to be one the city’s tallest, will “redefine the Miami skyline,” a Citidel spokesperson said, adding that it will bolster Miami’s reputation as a “destination for talented professionals and their families, businesses and culture.” The building will also include retail and waterfront restaurant space and a public pedestrian path along the water. Read more here.

4

A triple helping of Betr news

Betr, a leading sports gaming and media company, announced the launch of its peer-to-peer product “Group Mode” for Betr Picks, as well as the soft launch of the new Betr Sportsbook, just in time for the NFL season. With the launch of Group Mode, Betr Picks is now live in Florida and Massachusetts, with Virginia, Arizona, Tennessee, Missouri, Alabama, West Virginia, New Hampshire, and Delaware to be launched imminently, which will have Betr Picks live in 33 states plus Washington, D.C. The new Betr Sportsbook has soft launched in Ohio and Virginia, with more state launches planned over the coming months. The news comes on the heels of the Miami-based startup’s recent announcement that it acquired Huddle Tech’s sports gaming technology, allowing the company to utilize and build upon the IP to power the company’s sports gaming platform.

In a third recent news development, Betr, announced the addition of viral internet sensation and social media superstar Haliey Welch, known as the face of the biggest meme in the history of the internet, ‘Hawk Tuah’, to its expanding roster of top-tier content creators in the Betr Media family. Welch will debut her new weekly podcast, “Talk Tuah,” under the Betr Media banner, with the first episode to premiere on Tuesday, September 10th across social, digital, and audio platforms. “Talk Tuah” marks the latest expansion of the company’s roster of premium original digital IP,  joining viral shows BS w/ Jake Paul, Twin Talk with Hanna and Haley Cavinder, Nickals and Dimes with Bo Nickal and Caps Off with Adam Tabatchnick and Jack Parodi. Betr Media’s deal with Welch comes on the heels of the company’s latest strategic expansions to its monetized content portfolio, including the acquisition of the Caps Off and Hot Corner podcasts from The Game Day.

5

Guident’s Space Florida Grant extended

In June, the Boca Raton-based autonomous vehicle technology startup, Guident, completed the “Space Connectivity for Autonomous Vehicles and Devices Safety” project, a significant achievement made possible by the support of the Space Florida-Israel Innovation Partnership program. The project demonstrated the viability of geostationary (GEO) satellite connectivity as a diverse backup to cellular connections, particularly in areas with cellular dead zones or lack of coverage.

Recently, Guident’s work with the Space Florida-Israel Innovation Partnership program was extended with a second award to advance its teleoperation system architecture and enhance communication for autonomous vehicles through low-latency satellite connectivity.

 The Space Florida-Israel Innovation grant will fund the development and deployment of an advanced system architecture utilizing non-geostationary satellite technology. This innovation significantly enhances communication for autonomous vehicles by providing a dependable and redundant connection to Guident’s Remote Monitor and Control Centers, ensuring smooth vehicle operations in areas with limited terrestrial network coverage.

6

Miami Beach venture firm is betting on women’s sports

With interest in women’s sports on the rise,  Fortuna Investments, a venture capital firm that which opened an office in Miami Beach last year, plans to explore opportunities to invest in team ownership, financing, stadium development, media and other business related to women’s sports and female athletes, the South Florida Business Journal reported.

The company aims to initially make a $10 million to $50 million equity investment in the WNBA. Said Fortuna Investments founder and CEO Justus Parmar: “We’re just starting to scratch the surface of all the growth potential here.”

Founded in 2015, Fortuna invests in high-growth sectors such as space, electric vehicles, robotics, metals and mining, clean tech and agriculture tech. It has offices in Canada, Miami Beach and Los Angeles. Read more here.

7

Florida No. 1 for starting a business

According to research from Lendio, “Florida is the best state to start a business due to a low corporate tax rate (5.5%) and the mass migration of consumers and companies to the state. The Sunshine State sees more than half of its startup businesses survive for at least five years. It’s also a top recipient of SBA loan dollars (12th compared to other states) and ranked 2nd for the number of loan offers facilitated through Lendio’s marketplace.”

In 2023 Florida ranked No. 2 behind Texas. Now Texas is No. 2 with North Carolina following up in third place.  Sources of the data include government and nonprofit sources such as venture capital disbursed per $1 million of GDP 2022; the National Science Foundation; educated worker mobility from the Census Bureau; and small business incentives from Council for Community and Economic Research.

Meanwhile, Miami came in No. 8 in a ranking of top cities for startups, according to research from Coworking Mag. The report cited Miami’s accelerators, incubators and critical mass of early-stage entrepreneurs for its ranking. As a surprise to no one, San Francisco was No. 1.

8–PLUS

Opportunity knocks

  • The Latinx/e Startup Hub Tour 2024, a nationwide initiative celebrating and supporting Latinx/e entrepreneurship, is set to conclude with a grand finale event in Miami on Nov. 13, 2024. This event, co-hosted by Babson College Miami, Mana Tech, and Inicio Ventures, will include a pitch competition with $35,000 in prizes, a workshop and panel discussions, and will be held at the Babson Miami campus. The competition is open to early-stage Latinx/e-led startups from the US and Latin America, with annual revenues under $1 million and less than $500,000 in total capital raised. Applications for the pitch competition close on Sept. 13. Find more information on the event and pitch competition here.
  • The first Startup World Cup Regional Final is coming to Miami Sept. 14. 10 startups – chosen from a pool of 130 startups applicants from 17 industries – will compete for the chance to pitch at the Startup World Cup finals for a $1 million prize. The Regional Final is hosted by The Source Groups. RSVP to attend here.
  • The South Florida Tech Hub Hackathon returns Sept. 20-21 with the theme “Civic Hacking: Uniting South Florida Cities.” Projects should address issues faced by South Florida’s cities/counties/municipalities and could include cyber hacking and ransomware, transportation and smart cities initiatives. Teams will collaborate to build a solution to support local South Florida communities and compete for a chance to win cash and in-kind prizes. Find out more and enter here.
  • The Florida Venture Forum is now accepting presenter applications for the  2025 Florida Venture Capital Conference  March 3-5, 2025at the Loews Coral Gables.  Apply here.
  • Endeavor Miami  is accepting applications for its next ScaleUp Program. Apply for ScaleUp here.
  • The Miami Downtown Development Authority is offering $1.1 million in incentives to attract businesses seeking to move to or expand their operations to Downtown Miami’s Central Business District, Arts & Entertainment District or Brickell. The program offers grants up to $25,000 per business for startups, and is flexible to allow businesses to either operate out of a co-working space or lease their own dedicated office space. Grants up to $50,000 are available for mid-size businesses and ground floor retail operators moving into downtown. Learn more here.
  • As part of its 100 Startup Project Scholarship Program, The Levan Center of Innovation is offering 10 entrepreneurs a one-year membership to the Levan Center of Innovation, thanks to the support of Memorial Healthcare System. Apply here.

ICYMI

Have news to report? Email Nancy Dahlberg at [email protected] 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.

Nancy Dahlberg
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