By Krysten Brenlla
On a beautiful Wednesday evening in Miami’s vibrant arts district, six tech founders gathered at Arlo Wynwood to deliver their three-minute startup pitches. Throughout the night, these founders shared their stories with an audience of tech community members, potential investors, enthusiasts, and friends.
Presented by eMerge Americas, its Celebrate! events aim to help unite #MiamiTech by spotlighting the community throughout the year. In February, Celebrate! – organized in partnership with Chris Adamo and Natalia Martinez-Kalinina — honored Black History Month with a pitch showcase featuring Black entrepreneurs who are shaping both Miami and the nation’s technology landscape.
Let’s meet the founders and startups that pitched:
- Mudyz, a startup founded by Chelsey Campbell of Fort Lauderdale, leverages technology to make practicing healthy coping skills for mental health accessible, easy, and affordable. The technology is integrated with a physical product – when anyone taps their phone against their products, like Apple or Google Pay, a window pops up on their phone with access to a library of resources and treatment models.
- Rely, (which stands for Real Estate Logistics for You) a startup founded by Ashley Keyes, is a digital rental passport that allows users to have their rental application information all in one place, such as credit scores, rental history, and employment references. Landlords will also have access to the rental passports to screen potential tenants, while showcasing their property profiles through the Rely portal.
- Rental PI, founded by Elizabeth Trader, uses data transparency to provide renters with a property’s actual condition, including quality, safety, and the integrity of the apartment complex. The technology aggregates verified information from sources such as code enforcement, lawsuits, and police reports for an easy-to-read snapshot.
- Social Wellbeing, founded by Chonda and Nelson Naissant, is a community-driven health and wellness platform that makes it easy for users to search for doctors, and have health-focused discussions at no cost to its users. The Boca Raton-based company offers three different subscription models.
- Syotos Technology, founded by Trei McMullen, offers secure and safe rideshare environments with law enforcement, first responders, and veterans as drivers. Through the app’s features, such as the protection protocol, passengers can identify if they run into a problem after drop-off through the application’s ‘safe, stay, or help’ buttons. Additionally, the technology also monitors the location of passengers and drivers to prevent dangerous situations from arising, and conducts background checks on drivers.
- Wrth, founded by Jahreem Samuels and Justin Elliott, is an application that uses artificial intelligence (AI) technology to identify and authenticate the value of an item, such as a pair of collector’s shoes or watches. With the Miami startup’s app, the user can simply take a photo of the item, and after the AI technology authenticates the item, the user can add their item to their WRTH portfolio or sell it on the WRTH marketplace.
After the startups gave their pitches, a panel of judges — led by Ken Miller, lead of the Google Cloud Startup Partnerships and Sales team for Florida and Georgia, Veronica Hennig, senior redevelopment specialist for the City of Miami Beach, and Silvia Clarke, director of partnerships at eMerge Americas — deliberated on the winner of a $2,500 prize, and the opportunity to showcase their startup at this year’s eMerge Americas Startup Showcase.
And the winner was … drumroll please … Rely.
“As a small landlord for the first time, I found that there’s a huge lack of trust and transparency for both sides of the marketplace – so, with Rely, we decided to do something about it,” Keyes shared with Refresh Miami. “We built a platform that gives both sides of the marketplace the ability to search and connect with one another through a streamlined process, ultimately reducing fraud and eviction rates for property owners and renters.”
Rely is currently in pre-seed, and is raising $1.5 million to integrate within three rental markets in California. “Miami is one of our top ten markets for go-to market strategy because of the amount of students and universities that are in the area, as well as the amount of rental fraud,” Keyes said. “We’ve been following eMerge Americas for quite some time, and we’re so excited to be in Miami, sharing our product, networking, and learning about the Miami market so we can better our product as we further develop it.”
READ MORE IN REFRESH MIAMI:
- Access Built transforms accessible living in South Florida using virtual tours and inspections
- EpiPaws helps owners know and understand what their pet’s age might mean
- How the Florida-Israel Business Accelerator helps fuel the rise of Israeli tech in South Florida
- 3 things we learned from Shark Tank’s Daymond John at The Big Pitch Night
- UM students launch AIdMD, reimagining electronic health records with built-in AI - February 27, 2026
- Six women founders pitched at eMerge Americas’ SHINE! competition. And the winner is … - December 19, 2025
- UM grad’s safety app helps students stay protected and connected. Now with seed funding, he’s expanding access - November 12, 2025