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2019 ANNUAL INSIGHTS REPORT
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eMERGE INSIGHTS 2019 ANNUAL INSIGHTS REPORT
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TableOf Contents
LETTER FROM THE eMERGE AMERICAS TEAM 4
ABOUT eMERGE AMERICAS 5
LETTER FROM THE EDITOR 6
2019 HIGHLIGHTS 8
METRO AREAS AND STATE RANKINGS FOR VC 9
FLORIDA SNAPSHOT 10
SOUTH FLORIDA SNAPSHOT 12
LET’S DIG DEEPER 14
STARTUP SPOTLIGHT 20
SPOTLIGHT ON LATIN AMERICA 24
A YEAR IN REVIEW 29
METHODOLOGY 38
eMERGE INSIGHTS 2019 ANNUAL INSIGHT REPORT
TABLE OF CONTENTS2
eMERGE INSIGHTS 2019 ANNUAL INSIGHTS REPORT
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AbouteMerge Americas
eMerge Americas is the premier technology event connecting
the Americas, held annually at the Miami Beach Convention
Center. By connecting global industry leaders and investors
with corporate business executives, government leaders, and
entrepreneurs, eMerge Americas is transforming Miami into
the tech hub of the Americas. In 2019, eMerge Americas
attracted more than 16,000 attendees and more than 400
participating companies from over 40 countries. eMerge
Americas serves as a catalyst to propel innovation and
investment in South Florida and Latin America. The eMerge
Americas founding partners include: Medina Capital, A-Rod
Corporation, Greenberg Traurig, Knight Foundation, Miami-
Dade County, and the Miami Herald. For more information
about eMerge Americas, please visit: emergeamericas.com
OUR TEAM
FELICE GORORDO MELISSA MEDINAPRESIDENT, eMERGE AMERICAS
DIANE VIDONICOO, eMERGE AMERICAS
ASHLEY ABDULLAHDIRECTOR OF MARKETING, eMERGE AMERICAS
NANCY DAHLBERGINSIGHTS EDITORCEO,
eMERGE AMERICAS
LetterFrom The Team
eMerge Americas is much more than an event
- we are a platform that fosters innovation and
serves as a catalyst for investment throughout the
Americas. Seven years ago, eMerge Americas was
launched to establish Miami as the tech hub of
the Americas - not to compete with Silicon Valley
but, rather, to create a launchpad of ideas from a
diverse and inclusive entrepreneurial ecosystem.
2019 was a record-breaking year: $2.39 billion was
invested in South Florida startups. The Miami-Ft.
Lauderdale metro area ranked seventh in the U.S.
for dollar value of deals, besting Austin, Chicago
and Washington D.C.
Left to right: Melissa Medina, President of eMerge Americas; Felice Gorordo, CEO of eMerge Americas; Diane Vidoni, COO of eMerge Americas
As a community, we are now facing a new set
of challenges to recover from the impact of the
COVID-19 global pandemic. Now is the time to
pivot, not pause. eMerge Americas is committed
to continue connecting the dots between
entrepreneurs, investors, government officials,
higher education institutions, and corporate
enterprises.
Our community will emerge stronger and more
resilient than ever before. Our strength is, and
has always been, our resiliency.
FELICE GORORDO MELISSA MEDINA DIANE VIDONICEO, eMERGE AMERICAS PRESIDENT, eMERGE AMERICAS COO, eMERGE AMERICAS
ABOUT eMERGE AMERICASLETTER FROM THE TEAM
Now is the time to pivot, not pause.
eMERGE INSIGHTS 2019 ANNUAL INSIGHTS REPORT
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Letter
A Record-Smashing Year for South Florida VC
From the Editor
For the Greater Miami ecosystem, 2019 was a year for the record books. In this report, you will read
about some incredible venture capital investments during a year in which $2.39 billion in venture capital
flowed into South Florida companies, besting 2018 by about a cool billion. Two of South Florida’s
unicorns – REEF Technology and Magic Leap – contributed greatly to the 2019 total but even if you
excluded mega-rounds, South Florida had its strongest year yet, as measured by dollars. While there
were fewer funding rounds in total than in recent years, the number of later-stage rounds surged. Yet
we’re still young: half of the rounds were from angel investors. Healthcare is once again the most active
sector for venture in South Florida.
Powering the strong venture results were
a number ecosystem milestones. SoftBank
established a hub for the Americas in Miami,
under Marcelo Claure, with a large team
focused on investing in Latin American startups
as well as helping them expand into the U.S. Its
new $5 billion Latin American fund, announced
in the spring, has already been lobbing mega-
rounds to the region. Also in the spring, eMerge
Americas convened a record 16,000 people for
its 6th annual conference, and Steve Case and
Revolution’s Rise of the Rest bus rolled into
town the same week to inspire startups and
collaborate with ecosystem leaders.
General Assembly expanded to Miami in
October, vowing to help close the skills gap.
“There is a growing need for digital skills in
today’s workforce, but the supply and demand
we’re seeing in the labor market is simply not
matching up,” said GA’s CEO Jake Schwartz.
Diversity and inclusion were hot topics in the
ecosystem, with 500 Startups hosting a one-
day conference on the topic and groups such
as Black Men Talk Tech, Latinas in Tech and Out
in Tech establishing chapters. South Florida
companies grabbed headlines, including Jaclyn
Baumgarten of Boatsetter, Maxeme Tuchman of
Caribu and Olivia Ramos of DeepBlocks being
named in the 100 top female founders by Inc
Magazine. The arrival of early-stage funds such
as Animo Ventures, networks such as University
of Miami’s Cane Angels and more serial
If companies are having a hard time finding
talent here, don’t tell these companies. The
Seattle unicorn OfferUp chose Miami to open
its first tech office outside Seattle. It expects
to have a tech staff of 50 by the end of this
year. What’s more, multinational IT firm Kaseya
(Miami is its U.S. headquarters) announced
last summer it would be doubling its local
headcount and launching Kaseya Tech Hub, a
Miami tech incubator and innovation center.
Meanwhile, the South Florida Business Journal
recently reported that Magic Leap moved
about 400 employees from Silicon Valley to its
headquarters in Plantation, where about 1,000
work today. Also at or near the 1,000-employee
club: Boca Raton-based Modernizing Medicine.
ModMed and dozens of other startups are now
based in the new BRIC (Boca Raton Innovation
Center), the same campus where IBM invented
the PC.
entrepreneurs moving to South Florida brought
more power to the ecosystem, and a number
of tech companies announced exits, including
YouVisit, Willing and Entic. Ron Antevy, co-
founder of e-Builder that was sold to Trimble
in 2018 for $500 million, believes enterprises
looking to acquire are taking notice of South
Florida’s entrepreneurial chops: “We’re
scrappy. We are just trying to make it happen.”
A record year in VC is another ecosystem
milestone to celebrate. So come along as we
analyze the trends of venture capital in 2019.
--Nancy Dahlberg
LETTER FROM THE EDITOR LETTER FROM THE EDITOR
Lil Roberts, Founder and CEO of Xendoo, a South Florida-based tech company,won the Rise of the Rest Pitch competition - held in Miami on May 2, 2019 - with a prize of $100,000 and a spot in the elite Revolution Fund.
Note: This column was written Jan. 21, 2020, and all interviews for the spotlights in this report were conducted in January, well before coronavirus was a global pandemic.
Left to right: Felice Gorordo, CEO of eMerge Americas; Melissa Medina, President of eMerge Americas; Lil Roberts, Founder and CEO of Xendoo, alongside her team and Steve Case, AOL Co-founder and Revoution Chairman & CEO.
eMERGE INSIGHTS 2019 ANNUAL INSIGHTS REPORT
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eMERGE INSIGHTS
$2.39 BILLION, a record, was invested in South Florida startups and later-stage companies in 130 deals.
The Miami-Fort Lauderdale metro area ranked No. 7 in the U.S. for dollar value of deals in all of 2019, besting Austin, Chicago and Washington D.C. As in 2018, it’s No. 1 in the Southeast.
REEF Technology’s Q1 mega-round, estimated by Pitchbook as $900 MILLION from SoftBank and other funders, and $780 MILLION raised in two rounds by spatial computing startup Magic Leap accounted for 70% of South Florida’s deal dollars and 51% of the state’s dollar volume. REEF (formerly ParkJockey) is reinventing the common parking lot as logistics hubs for food delivery, mobility and other services.
Startups based in the Greater Miami area snagged 72% of the state’s venture capital take in dollars and nearly half of the deals.
One third of the deals were healthcare related – either health tech, biotech, pharma or healthcare services – in 2019 in South Florida.
66% of the 2019 deals in South Florida were angel or seed stage deals, up slightly from 2018. But 21.5% of deals were later stage in 2019, sharply up from 13% in 2018.
Mega-rounds boosted venture capital to record levels in 2019 for the Miami-Fort Lauderdale metro area and the entire state. Once again, healthcare-related sectors showed the most strength.
2019Highlights
$2.39 BILLION
DEALS1307
66%
TH
I N V E S T E D
IN THE NATION
V C I N V E S T M E N T SB Y D O L L A R V O L U M E
ANGEL OR SEED STAGEDEALS
Metro Areaand State Rankings for VC
2019 ANNUAL INSIGHTS REPORT
While more than 65% of U.S. venture capital dollars came from San Francisco-Silicon Valley, New York
and Boston, for the first time the Miami metro area came in at No. 7 in the country, powered by mega-
deals in REEF Technology and Magic Leap. Florida ranked 6th in the country by deal volume.
Nationally, 2019 saw $136.5 billion invested in 10,777 deals, the second year in a row where dollars
exceeded $130 billion.
METROAREAS
DOLLARS (BILLIONS) DEALS
San Francisco $ 50.7 2,448
NYC Metro Area $ 27.5 1,301
Boston $ 10.7 716
Los Angeles $ 5.7 340
Seattle $ 3.6 385
San Diego $ 3.4 250
Miami $ 2.39 130
Austin $ 2.2 272
Chicago $ 2.1 275
Washington D.C $ 1.9 258
STATE DOLLARS (BILLIONS) DEALS
California $ 63.7 3,623
New York $ 27.1 1,315
Massachusetts $ 10.8 740
Washington $ 3.8 430
Texas $ 3.7 424
Florida $ 3.31 265
Colorado $ 2.5 390
Illinois $ 2.2 299
Pennsylvania $ 1.9 286
Georgia $ 1.8 168
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
2019 HIGHLIGHTS METRO AREA AND STATE RANKINGS FOR VC8
*Source: Pitchbook * Reported by CB Insights
eMERGE INSIGHTS 2019 ANNUAL INSIGHTS REPORT
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FloridaSnapshotA record total of VC dollars flowed into the Sunshine State in 2019, with help from REEF Technology,
KnowBe4 and Magic Leap mega-rounds that made up nearly two-thirds of the total deal value.
DEAL FLOW INTO FLORIDA COMPANIES, BY NUMBER OF DEALS AND DOLLARS, BY YEAR
Dollar Value by Year ($M USD) Number of Deals by Year
2013 20162014 20172015 2018 2019
350
300
250
200
150
100
50
0
3500
3000
2500
2000
1500
1000
500
0
308
229
288256
289276 265
$1107
$1669
$944.6
$1551
$2115$1864
$3312
*Source: Historical data tracked by Pitchbook (includes Pitchbook revisions); 2019 data from Pitchbook but includes 4 deals tracked by
CB Insights or author’s research
Top Florida DealsOutside South Florida, 2019
COMPANY ROUND SECTOR HQ
$300 million Cybersecurity Training Clearwater
$100 million Autonomous Tech Orlando
$50 million Life Sciences/Cannabis Tampa
$50 million Cybersecurity Training Clearwater
$36 million Business Productivity Software Tampa
$30 million Fintech Jacksonville
$28 million Health Tech Kissimmee
$21.4 miillion Industrials Orlando
$20.28 million Health Tech Tampa
$20.05 million Business Productivity Software Tampa
*Source: Pitchbook * Reported by CB Insights
ACTIO
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
FLORIDA SNAPSHOT FLORIDA SNAPSHOT
eMERGE INSIGHTS 2019 ANNUAL INSIGHTS REPORT
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South FloridaSnapshotDeal flow through the years, some with mega-rounds
180
160
140
120
100
80
60
40
20
0
3000
2500
2000
1500
1000
500
0
Dollar Value by Year ($M USD) Number of Deals by Year
2013 20162014 20172015 2018 2019
*Source: Historical data tracked by Pitchbook (includes Pitchbook revisions); 2019 data from Pitchbook but includes 4 deals tracked by
CB Insights or author’s research
MIAMI-FORT LAUDERDALE METRO AREA
$607.8
$468.3
$1290
$598.8
$1418
$2391
$1330
123
166
139
118
144154
130
Top Funded South FloridaCompanies in 2019
COMPANY ROUND SECTOR HQ
$900 million Application Software/Infrastructure Miami
$500 million AR/Spatial Computing Plantation
$280 million AR/Spatial Computing Plantation
$100 million Biotechnology Jupiter
$82.25 million Biotechnology Miami
$50 million Software/Fintech Miami
$48 million Cannabis Boca Raton
$33.15 million Health Tech/Software Miami
$33.11 million Surgical Devices Dania Beach
$30 million Surgical Devices Miami
$24 million E-commerce North Miami
$18.70 million Digital Media Miami
$18 million InsurTech Miami
$17.26 million Diagnostic/Oncolgy Fort Lauderdale
$15 million Life Science/Oncology Miramar
$15 million Aerospace Sunrise
*Source: Pitchbook * Pitchbook estimated the debt and equity round at $900 million, made in two tranches: Dec. 2018
and March 2019.
SOUTH FLORIDA SNAPSHOT SOUTH FLORIDA SNAPSHOT
eMERGE INSIGHTS 2019 ANNUAL INSIGHTS REPORT
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Let’s
What did South Florida funding rounds look like? Where are the startups based?
Dig Deeper
50.8 %
21.5 %
12.3 %
15.4 %
SOUTH FLORIDA FUNDING ROUNDS
2019
STARTUPLOCATIONS
2019
PALM BEACH
ANGELS
SEED ROUNDS
EARLY STAGE(SERIES A)
LATER STAGE
BROWARD
MIAMI-DADE
19.2%
34.6%
46.2%
2019 ANNUAL INSIGHT REPORT
Most Active Industry:
healthcare bythe numbers39 – Healthcare-related venture deals in South Florida
in 2019, comprising 30% of the South Florida deal total. This is up from 23% in 2018.
$408M – Venture dollars that flowed into South Florida healthcare-related companies in 2019, representing 17% of the total deal-value pie. Leaders were TissueTech ($82.5 million), CareCloud ($33 million) and Neocis ($30 million) in Miami-Dade, OrthoSensor ($33 million) in Broward, and Detraxi ($100 million) in Palm Beach County.
18 – Deals in biotech, life sciences or pharma. Number of those deals focused on oncology: 11
14 – Deals in heath tech, which comprises 11% of all South Florida fundings in 2019. That compares to a rate of 3% nationally, and it is a sector on the rise, nationally and locally.
This all shows that healthcare is one of the areas of
promise and impact for South Florida economic
development, as accessible, affordable healthcare is out
of reach for many. Miami already has the second largest
health district in the U.S., South Florida’s universities
and colleges have a growing number of programs and
degree curriculums serving the growing industry, and
the diverse population base along with the number of
senior citizens who call South Florida home make for
a compelling place to test and roll out new healthcare
solutions. Significantly, fast growing elder-care tech
startups Papa and CarePredict each pulled in about $10
million in funding in 2019.
The venture numbers are in, and once again, healthcare-related companies showed outsized strength in the Miami-Fort Lauderdale startup ecosystem. Health tech, medical device, biotech/pharma and health/wellness services companies encompassed nearly a third of the total venture
deals in South Florida in 2019. By the numbers:
DEALS
DEALS
DEALS
39
18
14
$408MV E N T U R E D O L L A R SH E A LT H C A R E S E C T O R
H E A LT H C A R E S E C T O R
B I O T E C H , L I F E S C I E N C E S O R P H A R M A S E C T O R
H E A LT H T E C H S E C T O R
S O U T H F L O R I D A
S O U T H F L O R I D A
S O U T H F L O R I D A
LET’S DIG DEEPER LET’S DIG DEEPER
eMERGE INSIGHTS 2019 ANNUAL INSIGHTS REPORT
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Top Trends to Watch:Later Stage Deals Rising
The Miami-Fort Lauderdale metro area is a hot market for angel and seed stage deals. This shouldn’t
be a surprise because the metro area often ranks at the top in the U.S. for new business creation and
in the past few years, new funds serving up seed or Series A investments have formed too.
Yet, in 2019, we saw a significant movement on the other end of the startup investment spectrum:
Later stage deals, defined here as Series B or higher. 28 of the deals – comprising 21.5% of the
deal value total – were later stage. That’s a big jump from the 13% in the 2018 eMerge Insights
Report. What’s more, it’s nearly on par with national trends; in the U.S., 24% of the deals were later
stage. Among those funded: REEF, Magic Leap, Technisys, Neocis, Vix, Healthcare.com, Pixeom and
Bidtellect, among many others.
Notably, nearly half of the later stage deals were in health tech, biotech, healthcare services or
life sciences.
We have a new unicorn
More women-led companies are getting funded - slowly
Other trends to watch:
The Miami metro area is still a young market
As we spotlighted in the mid-year eMerge Insights Report, South Florida has
another unicorn. REEF Technology, headed by CEO Ari Ojalvo, is transforming
urban parking real estate into hubs that serve the staging needs of businesses,
on-demand transit and other services for people, and is deploying them across
North America.
Pitchbook reports that the company raised $900 million, in debt and equity,
which is consistent with media reports that have estimated the funding as
between $800 million and $1 billion.
In 2019, 19 of the 130 venture-backed deals (14.6%) were led by females. By deal
dollars, they took in $136 million, just 5.7% of South Florida’s venture pie. While
exact comparisons are not available, we can tell you that nationally, teams with at
least one female co-founder took in 14% of the deals and 22% of the deal value,
according to Pitchbook. All-female-founded teams nationally took in 6.8% of the
deals and 2.7% of the deal value. All national figures rose slightly from 2018.
The top deals in South Florida: TissueTech, the Miami-based life sciences company
led by CEO Amy Tseng, $82.25 million; Bolt Mobility, the Miami Beach-based
micro-mobility (electric scooters) startup led by CEO Julia Steyn, $12 million; and
Boatsetter, the peer-to-peer boat rental platform led by Jaclyn Baumgarten, $10
million. Other female-led companies funded in 2019 (some with two rounds) were:
CEEK VR, Sonavation, Kairos, Xendoo, HealthSnap, Caribu, Shoot My Travel, Aura
Salonware, Canvas GFX, Peekaboo Ice Cream, BioCurity, Wherehab and Alterna
Card Services. A few additional funded companies, such as Vigilant BioSciences
and Meditation.live, have female co-founders.
In 2018, financial technology companies made up 18% of the South Florida deals,
but in 2019 there were 12 deals making up 9%. Still, one of the highest valued deals
of the year was a late-stage fintech player: Miami’s Technisys raised $50 million.
11% of the funded companies identified themselves as AI, machine learning or
big data companies. 6% described themselves as gaming or entertainment related
companies. Among the 130 deals, 7 were by e-commerce companies, including
Arteza pulling in $24 million from Volution Capital. Ad-tech players Bidtellect and
VuPulse, both based in Palm Beach County, pulled in funding. In South Florida, 66% of the deals logged in 2019 were angel or seed rounds,
about the same pace as last year. Compare that to the national picture, where
42% of deals were angel or seed rounds.
DEALS66%S O F L O A N G E L O R S E E D S R O U N D S
19OF130
$136M
DEALS14%
6%
11%
C O M PA N I E S L E D B YF E M A L E S
D E A L D O L L A R S
G A M I N G O R E N T E RTA I N M E N T R E L AT E D C O M PA N I E S
A I C O M PA N I E S
T E A M S W I T H AT L E A S T O N E F E M A L EC O - F O U N D E R
LET’S DIG DEEPER LET’S DIG DEEPER
eMERGE INSIGHTS 2019 ANNUAL INSIGHTS REPORT
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It wasn’t a stellar year for South Florida exits. The top exits in the state
recorded by Pitchbook for 2019 were ConnectWise, a Tampa-based workflow
software company that sold for a cool $1.5 billion, and Sarasota-based Voalte
reportedly selling for $195 million.
We had several tech startup exits with undisclosed sales prices in South Florida:
Pembroke Pines-based Entic, a prop-tech startup backed by Blackstone Group,
announced it was acquired by Aquicore.
Software firm BrightGauge and shipping logistics startup Octopi, both
bootstrapped, announced their sales to Continuum and Cargotec, respectively.
Tesser Health, a Miami-based health tech startup focused on lowering
prescription drug prices, was purchased by ELMC Risk Solutions.
YouVisit, the Endeavor-backed VR ed-tech company, was acquired by
Washington DC.- based EAB.
Willing, the Y-Combinator backed startup simplifying estate planning, was
acquired by financial services giant MetLife.
Top exits
Other deals of note
Kaseya, a multinational company that located its U.S. headquarters in Miami,
received a $500 million investment from TPG and Insight Partners. Kaseya, an
IT infrastructure management solution for both MSPs and IT departments, has
been on a hiring spree in Miami.
$1.5B
$195M
$500M
S O L D F O R
S O L D F O R
I N V E S T M E N T
A C Q U I R E D B Y
P U R C H A S E D B Y
A C Q U I R E D B Y
A C Q U I R E D B Y
A C Q U I R E D B Y
LET’S DIG DEEPER
2019 ANNUAL INSIGHTS REPORT
eMERGE INSIGHTS 2019 ANNUAL INSIGHTS REPORT
20 21
Startup Spotlightsin Innovation
Putting Miami on the biotech map: TISSUETECH
An e-commerce player inspired by Chewy’s success: ARTEZA
Making an impact in elder-care: PAPA
Miami’s star is rising in biotech and life sciences
innovation, and that’s thanks to pioneering
companies such as TissueTech.
TissueTech closed an $82.25 million Series
C financing round in June. The Miami-based
company, a pioneer in the development and
clinical application of regenerative human birth
tissue products, will use the new capital to
add employees and perform clinical trials as it
seeks approvals from the FDA, co-founder and
CEO Amy Tseng recently told the South Florida
Business Journal. “I’m very proud we can build
a biotechnology company here in Miami and I
hope we can participate and contribute to the
growth of our technology ecosystem,” she said.
TissueTech, founded in 2001 and now with more
than 260 employees, has made a number of key
Arteza offers affordable arts & crafts supplies via
its direct-to-consumer e-commerce model, and
it’s working. The North Miami-based company
offers more than 750 products and has more than
2 million customers worldwide. Arteza heavily
leverages social media, and its blog and official
YouTube channel provide free video tutorials
and inspiration for its artistic customer base. The
company has always been profitable. Its secret
sauce? It’s a one-stop shop for dabbling hobbyists.
“Whatever your thing is, we should have it on the
shelf,” said CFO Lars Spaten. Arteza also offers
“great products, great prices” and the final key
ingredient is customer experience. “We want to
wow the customer and we want them to love us.”
Arteza, founded by Mike Koshatko and Jurgis
Plikaitis in 2015, announced in November it
had raised $24 million in Series A funding from
Volition Capital, an early investor in Chewy. “We
liked Volition because they had experience with
e-commerce, with branding and in Florida,”
Spaten said. “We all know Chewy is a fantastic
growth story and business case.”
In the past 8 months, Arteza has tripled its product
inventory, improved its website experience, moved
to larger offices and quadrupled its employee base
to 200, split between South Florida and Eastern
Europe. “The vision is to become the go-to brand
of our core customers – people passionate about
creating art.”
Papa makes life easier, safer and happier for senior
citizens. The Miami-based startup connects them
with college students, called Papa Pals, for help
with tasks, transportation and companionship.
Papa, a Y-Combinator graduate, has been busy
partnering with health insurers — Florida Blue,
Humana and Aetna among others – which in turn
offer the services free to their Medicare Advantage
members. In October, Papa raised $10 million in
Series A funding.
Though many people think of Papa as a B2C
company, it’s health insurance companies that are
driving growth, helped by a recent law change
that makes it possible. Papa employs more than
50 people and recently brought its engineering
team in-house.
“We have the best team that has allowed us to
hit our goals. … And we have 5,000 20-year-olds
in the field [Papa Pals] with our app all day every
day providing us feedback in real time. The best
way to build a business is to get feedback from
users,” founder and CEO Andrew Parker said.
“Papa solves a real problem,” said Alexis Ohanian
of Initialized Capital. “Any startup that can be
successful and genuinely argue why it is good for
the world has an advantage now.”
executive hires recently, including a Chief
Commercial Officer and VPs for Product
Development, Quality Assurance, HR and
Government Affairs.
The roots of TissueTech and its subsidiaries,
including Bio-Tissue, date back to 1986 with
research by Dr. Scheffer Tseng, TissueTech’s co-
founder and chief technology officer. Its research
has been supported by the National Institutes
of Health for more than three decades. Today,
more than 300,000 patients have been treated
with TissueTech products designed to provide
better surgical and therapeutic outcomes for eye
injury and disease, chronic and complex wounds,
orthopedics, sports medicine, general surgery
and other indications.
STARTUP SPOTLIGHTS IN INNOVATIONSTARTUP SPOTLIGHTS IN INNOVATION
Award-winning artist, producer, and song writer Imogen Heap concluded a main stage keynote session at the 2019 eMerge Americas conference by performing “Just For Now” with her patented mi.mu gloves after demonstrating the technology behind them.
eMERGE INSIGHTS 2019 ANNUAL INSIGHTS REPORT
22 23
Taking a bite from Apple’s growth: ADDIGY
A winning passion to help small businesses: XENDOO
eMERGE INSIGHTS
A RECORD-SMASHING YEAR
Addigy provides cloud-based Apple Device
Management solutions for IT teams in enterprise,
education, and MSP environments. The young
Miami-based company serves more than 3,000
customers in the rapidly growing Apple world,
with Best Buy, Harvard, Goodwill, Citrix, Perry
Ellis, the Cleveland Cavaliers and high-growth
tech companies among them.
Jason Dettbarn, founder and CEO, has always
been squarely focused on execution since he
launched the fast-growing company in 2014. He
bootstrapped Addigy until 2019, when he raised
more than $9 million in venture capital to fuel “a
major global expansion.”
In late 2019, Apple made software changes
that made it harder for many of Addigy’s
competitors. But not Addigy. “We are unique in
that we built technology where we can manage
all the Apple computers and devices live and we
patented that. It has changed the way people
manage things. We will see that turning into a
lot more capabilities for IT, security, and a better
experience,” Dettbarn said.
Addigy is also a very Miami story. Indeed,
50% of its current and former employees are
FIU students or alumni. Dettbarn himself is an
engineering alum. Addigy employs 70 people
now, and has a second office in Minneapolis,
where Cuban coffee is always brewing. In 2019,
the company grew 3X, Dettbarn said. “2020 is
going to be an insane year for us.”
Winning eMerge America’s Startup Competition
in April 2018 opened doors for Lil Roberts,
founder and CEO of Fort Lauderdale-based
fintech startup Xendoo. After that win, Roberts
participated in the Silicon Valley LAUNCH
accelerator of Jason Calacanis, who was an
eMerge judge. In May 2019, she won the Rise
of the Rest Miami pitch competition and took
home the big check for Xendoo: $100 grand.
Then, in December, Xendoo raised $3.5 million
in an oversubscribed seed+ round, laying the
groundwork to scale.
The Fort Lauderdale-based startup offers a
cloud-based monthly subscription providing
bookkeeping and tax services for small
businesses. Roberts has been a small business
owner herself and when she exited her last
business in print manufacturing – a sector that
was disrupted – Roberts said she looked for an
opportunity that was scalable, that helps small
business owners and that can change an industry.
Xendoo, which launched in 2017, helps more
than 600 client businesses. The startup, which
aims to be a 50-person company by the end of
2020, recently relocated to larger offices. “We
are positioned for growth,” Roberts said. “We
proved product market fit, we have customers
in 45 states and 8 or 9 countries, and now this is
about the early days of scaling.”
Roberts added: “We are extremely grateful for
all the opportunities and support we have in
South Florida and we want to build a world-class
company here.”
eMERGE INSIGHTS
STARTUP SPOTLIGHTS IN INNOVATION
Spotlight onLatin America
eMerge Americas, a platform which fosters innovation and serves as a catalyst for investment throughout the Americas, formally kicked off their annual multi-city tour to host startup pitch competitions throughout Latin America in October 2019. Pitch competitions were held in Mexico City, Mexico, São Paulo, Brazil, and Santiago, Chile in partnership with the University of Miami.
eMERGE INSIGHTS 2019 ANNUAL INSIGHTS REPORT
24 25
Loft, Grow, Wildlife Studios, QuintoAndar, Nubank
and Rappi.
Another trend is the rise of corporate co-
investments with VCs. General Atlantic & Banco
Vorantim in Brazil led a R$400m round in Neon, a
fintech (about $100m US). Tencent and SoftBank
led a US$150m round in Uala, an Argentine fintech.
Femsa Ventures in Mexico participated in a US$10m
round in Justo, a grocery delivery startup by the
former head of Tabify. These are three sizable
examples of CVCs stepping in, in meaningful ways
alongside traditional VCs.
3
Venture capital in Latin America is roaring ahead to record levels, pushed higher by huge rounds
led by SoftBank’s $5 billion Latin America fund. The region now boasts about a dozen unicorns, with
several more on the threshold.
VC investment in Latin American startups quadrupled since 2016 to a record US$2 billion in 2018. At
the time of publication of this report, results for the full year of 2019 were not yet available, but in the
first half, VC investments reached $2.6 billion, significantly more than all of 2018. Collectively, Brazil,
Mexico and Colombia made up 91.9% of the dollars invested and 84.9% of the deal count during the
first half, according to LAVCA’s research.
To gain some perspective about the recent surge in Latin America venture capital, we spoke with Julie
Ruvolo, Director of Venture Capital for LAVCA, or The Association for Private Capital Investment in
Latin America. LAVCA produces well-respected research on venture capital and the startup ecosystem
in the region.
Spotlight onLatin America
Q. What are some key trends you saw develop or accelerate in 2019?
No. 1 is the emergence of at least five new
unicorns. This is just night and day from a
few years ago for the Latin American tech
ecosystem. Unicorns require growth capital to
create unicorns, they don’t just appear out of the
ether. We’ve seen hand in hand a rise of growth
equity rounds and unicorns. For 2019, on our
radar are [new unicorns] Ofo, Gympass, Loggi,
QuintoAndar and Wildlife Studios.
Paired with that trend are at least 15 disclosed
VC deals over US$50 million in 2019: Neon, Uala,
VTEX, Konfio, MadeiraMadeira,
Resultados Digitais, Creditas, Clip, Technisys,
We are also seeing a rise of debt and alternative
investment for Latin American startups. Nubank
raised R$375m using a Brazilian form of a fixed-
income issuance. Loft in 2019 raised R$216m in
an FII, which is like a real estate investment fund,
to acquire real estate; Klar raised a US$50m
debt round alongside a US$7.5m equity round;
Goldman extended credit lines to Konfio in
Looking at our 2019 Startup Directory, if you
look at the composition of 331 startups that had
at least a million in financing by the end of 2018,
that composition would be: 19% fintech; 13%
When we stripped out SoftBank funding, we
were still up, there was still growth. I would look
at the SoftBank effect in two pieces. First, what’s
the capital SoftBank has put to work, which is
significant, game-changing? And the second
is to what extent has the party changed with
SoftBank’s arrival? The SoftBank effect includes
potentially signaling to other global investors
who begin investing in the region. SoftBank
actually began investing in the region in 2017.
In 2018, for example, the second consecutive
year of doubling dollars invested year over year,
Mexico, Credijusto and MercadoCredito, an arm of
MercadoLibre. The debt rounds are of significant
size – we weren’t seeing this kind of action a few
years ago. The debt money is going primarily, but
not only, to fintechs and real estate startups.
SaaS; 8% marketplace; 7% biotech or health tech;
7% ecommerce. Ed-tech and ad-tech were each
about 5%. We are happy to see the emergence of
health tech, ed-tech and ad-tech.
there were unicorns starting to emerge and $100
million rounds, but when we analyzed by stage of
investment, there were records broken in all stages.
For seed and incubator stage, 2018 was a record
year in terms of deals and dollars and for early
stage, 2018 was a record year for deals and
dollars, and in 2018 expansion stage was a record
by dollars and not deals. What I take from that, it is
not just mega-rounds driving the growth: Growth
was record breaking across all stages, which to me
points to a pretty healthy ecosystem.
Q. What sectors are on the rise in the Latin American startup ecosystems?
Q. Besides the SoftBank effect, what has contributed to this growth?
STARTUP SPOTLIGHTS ON LATIN AMERICA STARTUP SPOTLIGHTS ON LATIN AMERICA
JULIE RUVOLODIRECTOR OF VENTURE CAPITAL FOR LAVCA
eMERGE INSIGHTS 2019 ANNUAL INSIGHTS REPORT
26 27
Tech has been growing consistently and to the
right in terms of dollars invested. It is interesting
to me that despite economic and political
change in the major markets of the region, tech
continues to grow. One area we will be looking
at is the extent that continues to be the case. We
are very interested in looking at the syndicates
-- the co-investments -- that are happening
between local and global investors. In 2018,
$1.2 billion of the $2 billion invested were
global-local syndicates. We’ll also be looking at
corporate-venture syndicates, and also Impact
Fund-VC syndicates. Generally if you are solving
a big problem, it’s also having an impact effect.
That is not necessarily the case in the U.S., when
you look at the types of companies getting
funded.
In our startup survey last year, we asked startups
‘are you impact focused, profit focused or
focused in both equally?’ If you look at the
startups that said ‘we are very profit focused,’
about half of them were measuring an impact
indicator anyway, financial inclusion being one
of the big ones. In developed markets, generally
speaking, there [is a] sense that VCs invest for
returns and impact investors invest for good, but
in the Latin American context, if you look at that
interplay between those types of investors, it is
much more aligned.
Q. Looking ahead, what do you think could be challenges for venture in the region?
A sampling of notable 2019venture deals in Latin America
INVESTOR(S) PORTFOLIO COMPANY USD INVESTED SECTOR COUNTRY
SoftBank Rappi $1,000,000,000 Logistics & Distribution Colombia
SoftBank, General Atlantic, Valor Capital, Atomico Gympass $300,000,000 B2B Brazil
SoftBank Creditas $231,000,000 Fintech Brazil
Undisclosed Grow Mobility $150,000,000 Transportation Mexico
SoftBank, GGV Capital, Fifth Wall, Velt Partners, Microsoft Loggi $150,000,000 Logistics &
Distribution Brazil
Fifth Wall Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz, QED Investors Loft $70,000,000 Proptech Brazil
Riverwood Capital Technisys $50,000,000 Fintech Argentina
The Craftory, Bezos Expeditions, Maya Capital, KaszeK Ventures NotCo $30,000,000 Foodtech Chile
QED Investors, Invus Opportunities, KaszeK Ventures, Redpoint eventures, Global Founders Capital
Escale $22,600,000 CRM Brazil
Performa Investimentos Home Agent $15,000,000 CRM Brazil
Portland Private Equity, Endeavor Catalyst Merqueo $14,000,000 E-commerce Colombia
Propel Ventures, FEMSA Comercio, Variv Capital Conekta $13,000,000 Fintech Mexico
Acumen LATAM Capital Partners, DILA Capital, Mountain Nazca Mexico,Rethink Education, Howzat Partners
Crehana $4,500,000 Edtech Peru
Global Founders Capital, Canary Creditoo $1,200,000 Fintech Brazil
Canary Shopper $1,160,910 E-commerce Brazil
Dark Horse Ventures, Finnovista Tu Identidad $500,000 Digital Security Mexico
Bossa Nova Investimentos, EDP Ventures, BMG Uptech Delfos $409,590 Artificial
Intelligence Brazil
Dux Capital Trato $350,000 Legaltech Mexico
Odiseo, Capria Mesfix $320,000 Crowdfactoring Colombia
GV Angels, ACE, MOR Capital, Allievo Ventures, M3 PackID $288,000 Logistics &
Distribution Brazil
Bossa Nova Investimentos Play2Sell $186,837 HRtech Brazil
*Source: LAVCA
STARTUP SPOTLIGHTS ON LATIN AMERICASTARTUP SPOTLIGHTS ON LATIN AMERICA
eMERGE INSIGHTS 2019 ANNUAL INSIGHTS REPORT
28 29
VC Investment TrendsLatin America (2011-1H2019)
*Source: LAVCA/ © 2019 LAVCA Industry Data
1 H 2 0 1 9
2 0 1 8
2 0 1 6
2 0 1 7
2 0 1 5
2 0 1 4
2 0 1 3
2 0 1 2
2 0 1 1
$ 5 0 0 $ 1 0 0 0 $ 2 0 0 0 $ 3 0 0 0
$ 2 , 5 6 8
$ 1 , 9 7 6
$ 1 , 1 4 1
$ 5 0 0
$ 5 9 4
$ 5 2 6
1 6 0
4 6 3
2 4 9
1 9 7
1 8 2
1 8 6
1 1 9
1 1 1
6 9
$ 4 2 5
$ 3 8 7
$ 1 4 6
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A Yearin Review
STARTUP SPOTLIGHTS ON LATIN AMERICA
Dollar Value by Year ($M USD) Number of Deals by Year In 2019, the eMerge Americas conference attracted over 16,000 attendees and more than 400 companies represented from over 40 countries.
eMERGE INSIGHTS 2019 ANNUAL INSIGHTS REPORT
30 31
Cyberfraud has increased or remained steady,
say 80% of banks surveyed in 2019. Nearly half
experienced a loss of productivity and 19%
suffered a reputational loss. These are results of a
Cyxtera study, called the Faces of Fraud, in which
the company surveyed 150 key security executives
at financial institutions.
What’s clear is as cyber fraudsters get more and
more sophisticated, enterprises’ attack strategies
have to evolve faster to stay ahead of them. Manny
Medina founded Cyxtera in 2017 to provide
enterprises and government agencies around the
world with secure data centers for their data, as
well as to offer anti-fraud products and services.
In November 2019, Cyxtera announced the spin-
off of its cybersecurity business into a separate
company, called AppGate, to accelerate its efforts
in the fast-changing cybersecurity industry. The
goal: to allow each company to pursue the most
appropriate business strategy to leverage its
respective market opportunity.
AppGate is composed of four cybersecurity
units: AppGate SDP, a secure-access system for
software and apps; Total Fraud Protection, which
detects and prevents fraud attacks; Brainspace,
a data analytics platform; and Immunity, a
threat assessment tool. Today, these products
secure more than 1,000 organizations across 40
countries. AppGate’s CEO is Mike Aiello, a 20-
year cybersecurity executive most recently with
Google.
Cyxtera and AppGate share the same ownership
structure, which is led by private equity firms
S P O N S O R E D F E AT U R E S P O N S O R E D F E AT U R E
BC Partners and Medina Capital. Cyxtera and
AppGate will work closely as strategic partners,
with AppGate leveraging the data center leader’s
highly connected global footprint to accelerate
deployments and Cyxtera integrating AppGate
products into its ecosystem of capabilities,
providing customers with a cyber-resilient data
center platform.
“Customers and partners are looking for a clear
leader in the emerging Zero Trust cybersecurity
landscape, and we believe the time to accelerate
mind and market share is right now,” Manny
Medina, CEO of Cyxtera, said when the deal was
announced. “The new company will intensify our
efforts in this arena, bringing a dedicated focus
to helping protect enterprise and government
information systems from today’s emerging threats,
and providing the ability to act with precision and
agility in a rapidly changing market.”
Medina, who also founded Terremark and
eMerge Americas, launched Cyxtera in 2017 and
introduced it to the world that year at eMerge.
Today, Cyxtera is valued at nearly $3 billion and its
services are used by more than 3,500 enterprises,
including government agencies. Its mission and
vision haven’t changed.
“We believe the next revolution is the era of
cybersecurity. We believe security has to be
adaptive and intelligent ... but also made for
the cloud,” Medina said then. “This is a giant
opportunity and we are in the forefront and it will
be based in Miami.”
Cyxtera spins off AppGate under same ownership Miami Dade College drives into future with ground-breaking Tesla program
At Miami Dade College, the future is now. In 2019,
Tesla chose MDC as one of just six colleges
nationwide to launch the Tesla START program,
an intensive, 15-week certificate course that
trains students to become electric vehicle
technicians. The course gives students hands-
on experience on Tesla models even before they
are available to the public and they learn from a
curriculum designed by the leader in electric car
design and manufacturing.
“This is a great example of the integration of
industry and education, and how we can partner
a leading company in electric vehicles with
the largest college in the nation to create a
pathway for technicians that didn’t exist,” said
Antonio Delgado, MDC’s Dean of Engineering,
Technology and Design. “We are talking about
three to four months and our students can
potentially get a job with Tesla. That’s a huge
impact and we are very proud of that.”
The cutting-edge program, announced at
eMerge Americas in 2019, graduated its first
cohort in December 2019 and launched a second
class in January. It plans three cohorts a year and
classes are kept to 10-15 students. Tesla updates
the curriculum constantly as new vehicles and
features roll out, and students get hands-on
learning at the college’s state-of-the-art Electric
Vehicle Training Center on MDC’s West Campus
– built to be identical to service centers across
the country – and at Tesla’s Coral Gables Service
Center. Delgado said MDC is exploring ways to
expand the program so even more students
can benefit. Within months after graduation,
all students from the first cohort landed jobs
at Tesla Service Centers across the country. For
more information, visit www.mdc.edu/tesla.
For MDC, partnering with industry leaders to
prepare its largely minority and low-income
student body for good-paying careers is in
its DNA. MDC’s School of Engineering &
Technology (EnTec), for example, offers a variety
of degree and certificate programs, including in
cybersecurity, data analytics, cloud computing
and AR/VR with Florida Power & Light, IBM and
AWS, among others.
“We see this as the future -- to learn a new trade
or skill to help you to get a job and continue
learning in the future. What better way to do it
that than through a partnership between industry
and education?” Delgado said. “We are happy
to be leading that at the forefront, not only with
Tesla but many companies.”
A YEAR IN REVIEWA YEAR IN REVIEW
Within months after graduation from the Tesla START program at Miami Dade College, all students from the first cohort landed jobs at Tesla Service Centers across the country.
eMERGE INSIGHTS 2019 ANNUAL INSIGHTS REPORT
32 33
Caption: A. (Left to Right) Alex Estevez, Venture Partner at Accel; investor, entrepreneur, and Grammy award-winning artist Armando Christian Perez (Pitbull); Danya Sherman, founder of Knonap; Jack Selby, Managing Director at Clarium Capital Management LLC; Melissa Medina, President of eMerge Americas; and Felice Gorordo, CEO of eMerge Americas B. On Saturday, April 27, eMerge Americas kicked off with the #ConnectingMiami to the World Hackathon. The event, led in partnership with Wyncode Academy, and sponsored by Ford, GE, and Ultimate Software, brought together 130 developers for 12 hours of continuous coding. The winning team, Silver Eagle, won a $10,000 cash prize and the opportunity to meet Bill McDermott, former CEO of SAP. C. Bill McDermott, former CEO of SAP, recounts his journey to becoming the CEO of one of the world’s top software companies in the opening keynote session at eMerge Americas moderated by CNBC reporter Deirdre Bosa on Tuesday, April 30th.
Caption: D. Felice Gorordo, CEO of eMerge Americas, pictured alongside Colombian President Ivan Duque after participating in a public forum organized by the Miami Herald and the University of Miami. Duque outlined his firm intention to diversify Colombia’s exports beyond traditional commodities - such as oil and coffee - to promote entrepreneurship as a driver for economic growth in Colombia. E. Melissa Medina, President of eMerge Americas, spoke at the Florida Priorities Summit on November 19, 2019, with leaders, decision makers, and voters to put a sharp focus on critical policy priorities for the state of Florida. F. The first day of the eMerge Americas 2019 conference began with welcome remarks presented by eMerge Americas founder Manny Medina, who welcomed José Ramón Valente, the Minister of Economy of Chile, and Juan Pablo Swett, President of ASELA, to the stage to sign a memorandum that incorporated Miami into the network of ASELA, la Asociación de Emprendedores de Latinoamérica (Association of Latin American Entrepreneurs).
A YEAR IN REVIEW
A.
B.
D.
E.
F.C.
A YEAR IN REVIEW
eMERGE INSIGHTS 2019 ANNUAL INSIGHTS REPORT
34 35
Caption: G, H, I. eMerge Americas was presented with the opportunity to interview Juan Guaidó, interim President of Venezuela, four days prior to the eMerge 2019 conference. To conduct the interview and record it, a full briefing was presented to the President’s team. The interview was recorded live with a local production team and promoted to international press via various teaser segments across digital, social media, and network television on CNBC and Telemundo. The result was an influx of international press coverage at the eMerge Americas conference for the screening of the exclusive interview. Additionally, CNBC ran segments for the interview across network news. The objective of the interview was to provide a platform for President Guaidó to speak about his vision for transitioning the country of Venezuela to a democracy and connect with the millions of exiled Venezuelans both in Miami and across the globe.
G.
H.
I.
Caption: J. A digital sign welcomes visitors arriving at the Miami International Airport to a week of events marking the inaugural Miami Innovation Week. K. eMerge Americas—with the support of Knight Foundation—embarked on a roadshow and bus tour with thirty of Miami’s ecosystem builders and leaders to convene with counterparts in Tampa for their annual Synapse Summit.
A YEAR IN REVIEW A YEAR IN REVIEW
J.
K.
eMERGE INSIGHTS 2019 ANNUAL INSIGHTS REPORT
36 37
Caption: L. eMerge Americas Startup Showcase alumna, Lil Roberts, Founder and CEO of Xendoo, pitches in front of a panel of venture capitalists for the Rise of the Rest Fund. M. (Left to Right) Felice Gorordo, CEO of eMerge Americas; Jean Case, Chairman of the National Geographic Society and CEO of the Case Foundation; Melissa Medina, President of eMerge Americas, gather for a photo in Miami, FL, shortly before the startup pitch competition for the Rise of the Rest Fund. N. Steve Case, Co-founder of AOL & Chairman of Revolution; Jean Case, CEO of the Case Foundation; and Matt Burns, managing editor of TechCrunch host a panel ahead of the pitch competition.
K. O.
P.
Q.
Caption: O. Felice Gorordo, CEO of eMerge Americas, and Monica Mora, Director of the eMerge Americas Startup Ecosystem, host a private dinner in São Paulo, Brazil, with local officials and ecosystem builders. P. Melissa Medina, President of eMerge Americas, and Diane Vidoni, COO of eMerge Americas, pose with the winners of the eMerge Americas startup pitch competition held in Mexico City, Mexico, in partnership with the University of Miami and UDLAP. Q. Dayna Sherman, founder & CEO of KnoNap, presents her company at the eMerge Americas startup pitch competition held in Washington D.C., in partnership with George Washington University. Sherman was fast tracked into the eMerge Americas 2019 Startup Showcase and went on to win the Grand Finale Pitch Competition at the eMerge Americas conference in Miami.
A YEAR IN REVIEW A YEAR IN REVIEW
L.
M.
N.
eMERGE INSIGHTS 2019 ANNUAL INSIGHTS REPORT
38 39
Pitchbook includes equity investments into
startup companies from outside sources.
Investment does not necessarily have to be taken
from an institutional investor. This can include
investment from individual angel investors, angel
groups, seed funds, VC firms, corporate venture
firms, and corporate investors. Investments
received as part of an accelerator program
are not included, however, if the accelerator
continues to invest in follow-on rounds, those
further financings are included. All financings
are of companies headquartered in the U.S.
Venture analytics services differ by the way
they track venture, including the type of deals
included and when the deals are counted. Some
don’t include angel funding, but Pitchbook does.
We chose to use Pitchbook for its inclusiveness
and for consistency.
This report used Pitchbook data exclusively for
historical data through 2018. In 2019, we used
Pitchbook primarily but also included 4 additional
deals from CB Insights/PwC MoneyTree reports
or our own research. Not all deals in Pitchbook’s
data could be independently verified. Data
about Florida and South Florida venture capital
results include only companies with their primary
headquarters in the state.
No data set is perfect. Dozens of funding rounds
go undisclosed, are reported erroneously by
venture analysis firms, or are added or revised
months or years later. If you believe we’ve missed
something, please email us at:
We will update the data set for future reports.
Methodology
eMerge Insights Author: Nancy Dahlberg is a business writer, editor and researcher. Most of Nancy’s career was
spent with the Miami Herald and her expertise is writing about entrepreneurs. Find her South Florida startup coverage
at RefreshMiami.com/news.
This report has been produced in partnership with Knight Foundation and FIU.
The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation supports transformational ideas that promote quality journalism, advance media innovation, engage communities and foster the arts. Since 2012, Knight Foundation has invested more than $30 million in nuturing an entrepreneurial ecosystem by connecting innovators, attracting investments and growing the city’s talent base. A founding partner of eMerge Americas, Knight’s strategy focuses on building an entrepreneurial ecosystem.
Florida International University is Miami’s public research university and in less than five decades has become a top 100 public university, according to U.S. News and World Report’s Best Colleges. FIU is focused on student success and research excellence, with nearly $200 million in annual research expenditures.
METHODOLOGY
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