By Nancy Dahlberg
When hundreds and investors and founders from around the state come together for the Florida Venture Capital Conference every year, they’re all hoping for fruitful connections. For founders, perhaps that’s an initial meeting. For some, it has the potential of helping them fill out their funding round. For investors, it’s a chance to not only network with founders but also other investors, and sometimes bring them into their deals. For all, the mood at the event was both celebratory and cautious, with the market, particularly the exit climate, still struggling to recover from VC winter.
The annual signature conference is put on by the Florida Venture Forum, Florida’s largest statewide support organization for investors and entrepreneurs. It was held this year March 3-5 at the Loews Coral Gables.
The Forum, now 40 years old, helps companies with headquarters, operations or supply chain in Florida connect with sources of capital from across the country. Kevin Burgoyne, president and CEO of the Forum, said that since 1984 over 2,000 companies have presented at Forum events and have gone on to raise more than $30 billion in capital.
There was more of everything this year: More startups presenting (49), more speakers and panels, and especially more networking, including at an opening night rooftop reception that welcomed back Forum alumni. This year’s conference attracted the largest crowd ever, more than 830 people.
The 49 presenting companies, the majority from Florida, spanned all industries with solutions in fintech, spacetech, edtech, and climatetech, to name a few, and speakers and panels address such topics as the state of capital markets, venture debt, corporate VC and anatomy of a venture deal. But a prominent underlying theme of the conference content was AI, of course, and pretty much every presenting company mentioned their AI strategy. Throughout the event, South Florida was there to represent, with founders Samson Magid of HealthSnap and Matthew Vega Sanz of Gail as well as Kandji CEO Adam Pettit featured in on-stage discussions.
Another strong theme among the presenters and the panels was medical technology, which is the largest sector for venture-funded startups in the state and second largest in South Florida, just behind financial technology. One panel, in part, explored the healthcare-related innovation at University of Miami, and a fieldtrip to the campus was offered on the conference’s final day.
Another one, a lunchtime talk about biotech, medical devices and AI, featured leaders from four South Florida companies: PanGia Biotech (liquid, biopsy diagnostic company), BioStem Technologies (perinatal tissue allografts), Theator (shedding light on what happens in the operating room) and Ichor (non-invasive blood clot removal) along with Bill Druehl, VP of Life Sciences for J.P. Morgan. When asked what attracted them to South Florida, the company leaders cited the abundant talent, of course the tax situation and quality of life, the university system here that is rich in medical research and innovation, and did we say “no winter”?
Here are a few of the South Florida-based presenters, all of which took part in short conversations with investors on stage, and what they are building:
- Michael Romano, CEO of seed-stage Miami company BeyondSight, pitched their solution that allows the visually impaired to converse with an AI guide, powered by patent-pending spatial intelligence. Romano said they already have a paid pilot with Florida International University in which 100 blind students will get these devices. They are seeking to raise $1.5 million to help get their solution on the market. There’s a big unmet need, Romano said: “A child becomes blind every minute.”
- “Connected cars are the next frontier in consumer comm sterce, said Cynthia Hollen of Miami-based MAVI.io. With a team of experts in retail and ecommerce, Mavi is building a network of consumer services and connected experiences with leading automakers, including Jeep, Dodge, BMW, Mercedes, Audi and more. The startup is launching in its initial networks of native dashboards in 20 million vehicles, and the roadmap ahead includes more expansion in the US and then globally, and adding grocery stores and other lifestyle categories to the mix of offerings, alongside restaurants.
- Sargassum Eco Lumber of Homestead converts invasive Sargassum seaweed and recycled plastics into high-performance, eco-friendly lumber, said Raquel de Antonio, CEO and co-founder. The startup is seeking to raise $1.5 million raise will help them fund a manufacturing facility and begin producing their product. “We want to be a leader in sustainable materials. It’s a global problem and we have a global solution,” adds de Antonio.
- “My whole obsession now, my whole life, is selling and printing sea walls,” said Anya Freeman of Kind Designs, who mentioned one of her first checks arrived as a result of a Florida Venture Forum/Space Florida conference. The Miami-based startup has now been targeting lucrative government contracts, “the holy grail of the sea wall world.” Kind Designs landed an Air Force grant last year and most recently a $175,000 NAVSEA (Navy) contract. Freeman said her cap table is comprised of both strategic investors with deep connections in government and construction leaders who bring sales opportunities. Next up: a “huge” Series A in Q3 or Q4 “and after that, we probably will never raise money again.”
- The problem: 6% to 10% of the population has cancer or other rare or complex diseases and many don’t have access to clinical trials. These patients account for a third of the total healthcare spend, while 80% of clinical trials go underenrolled, said Dr. Jennifer Carter, founder and CEO of Medzown,The Jupiter-based startup enables people to get access to these cutting-edge treatments while saving providers, payers, and pharma significant amounts of money. “We have a unique model … that creates a very unbiased platform enabling patients to get the right treatment at the right time.”
See all the South Florida startups that pitched here and stay tuned to Refresh Miami for more coverage of companies building impactful solutions and hoping to join our region’s growing ranks of venture-backed startups.
Most of the photos provided by the Florida Venture Forum.
READ MORE IN REFRESH MIAMI:
