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South Florida companies attracted $5.8B in VC in 2022, a new record, eMerge Americas report shows

Nancy Dahlberg
Nancy Dahlberg
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By Nancy Dahlberg

It’s a record very unlikely to be topped this year, but venture capital in the Miami-Fort Lauderdale area hit a new milestone in 2022, according to a new report released by eMerge Americas today. Last year, $5.8 billion flowed into South Florida companies across 426 deals, up from 2021’s $5.3 billion. In 2022, the Miami metro area ranked 7th in the nation.

Florida also had a very good year  with $8.1 billion logged across 703 deals. That was up from $7.1 billion in 2021. Florida’s results tied for No. 6 in the nation.

We’ve come a long way since 2013, when the total for the Miami-Fort Lauderdale metro area was $609 million and statewide it was $1.1 billion.

I provided the data for the new 2022 eMerge Insights report,  as I have done for the last 5 years, and I have been following South Florida venture capital for a decade. The report is a comprehensive look at all the statistics and trends driving funding in 2022, including top deals, venture flows over the last 10 years, deeper looks into top sectors, exits, statewide trends, funding of women-led companies and more. It also includes a look back at some of the major ecosystem news in 2022.

One of the most interesting findings was just how the Miami area surged when the funding was down by 31% nationally, and even more in some tech hubs.

Here are a few other interesting trends in the year 2022:

  • Fintech continued its reign as the top sector, securing 41% of the dollars following to South Florida companies. The sector attracted $2.38 billion – or 41% of the dollars.
  • Healthcare technology company pulled in $541 million for South Florida venture capital, down sharply from $1.1 billion in 2021, but there were more deals.
  • Even amid crypto winter, and fallout from FTX, South Florida companies in blockchain, crypto or web3 drew more venture capital in 2022 than in 2021: $965 million, up from $859 million. Yuga Lab’s $450 million raise was the top deal.
  • Media continued to be strong, with not as many deals as fintech or healthtech, but large ones, like Recurrent Ventures’ $300 million raise. Proptech, cleantech and edtech showed acceleration over past years.
  • Not all was rosy in 2022’s report: Female-founded companies – defined here as startups having at least one female founder on the team – attracted just 11% of the venture deals. All-female teams attracted just over one-half percent of the pie. Both percentages are much lower than the national trendline, which is dismal as well.

My findings, including the $5.8 billion total, are higher than Pitchbook’s findings, mainly because venture trackers miss deals because of the mass migration our area has recently experienced. I researched databases and reports from Pitchbook, Crunchbase and CB Insights, as well as my used own research, much of it stemming from my reporting for Refresh Miami. Venture data lags and is constantly revised, and this report used data that was available on or before Feb. 1.

There is so much more in the report. Download the 2022 Emerge Insights report here.

Obviously, the road ahead will not be easy, with a probable recession bearing down, a continued crypto winter and now the SVB fallout. Local fundings for the first 2.5 months of this year are about 20% of what they were last year at this time, unfortunate but not surprising.

For ongoing coverage of venture capital in the Miami area, watch Refreshmiami.com where my Refresh News team posts funding, startup and ecosystem news. Follow me on Twitter @ndahlberg and email me at [email protected].

Both graphics are from the 2022 eMerge Insights Report.

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