Florida-wide, startups reeled in $4.31 billion, and the report includes a larger focus on the Sunshine State, including top raises, exit data, sector trends, female funding and more.
By Nancy Dahlberg
Startups in South Florida and across the Sunshine State raised more money in 2024 than in 2023, even though by all accounts it wasn’t easy during the prolonged venture capital slump. The rounds were bigger too, though deal count declined, as it did nationally. In South Florida, fintech and medtech companies reeled the most funding, with good showings from web3 and climatetech companies, but in the future, you may see sports and gaming, an up and comer, making a play for the leaders box.
Those are a few of the findings in the new eMerge Insights Florida Venture Capital report about 2024, produced by eMerge Americas and released today. The top line news: In 2024, South Florida startups raised $2.77 billion, and companies across the state secured $4.13 billion, according to eMerge Insights research, which is compiled from multiple venture data sources and on-the-ground reporting. Both the Miami metro and the state as a whole ranked in the top 10 against their US peers.
It’s the largest Insights report yet, at 27 pages, and in full disclosure, I helped the eMerge team research and write it the report I’ve done since 2018. For the first time, the report includes much more data and commentary on the entire state. That’s by design.
“In this edition of the eMerge Americas Insights report, we focused even more on Florida as a whole because the region has become a rapidly growing tech hub. Florida is attracting significant venture activity, and our mission is to highlight this transformation and help position the entire state as a key player in the global innovation landscape,” said Melissa Medina, co-founder and president of eMerge Americas, which will again produce its namesake tech conference March 27-28.
The Insights report also covers the top deals and trends – including the growing focus on AI – and what VC firms are raising funds. Sector spotlights, exit trends, and a look back at ecosystem highlights, such as South Florida’s federal funding for climatetech development and Plug & Play’s expansion to Central Florida, are included, too.
“We are in what I believe is the early innings of Florida technology,” says Florida Funders Partner Saxon Baum, in the report. “I am excited about some of the bigger established unicorns having liquidity events, and the trickle-down effect of capital and talent coming out of those events. This is truly how the ecosystem will continue to grow.”
The Sunshine State in 2024 produced significant venture activity in medtech, fintech, cybersecurity, aerospace, and energy, showing the depth and breadth of Florida tech and a tech ecosystem finding its groove. “It’s hard not to get excited about the quality of the ‘deeper tech’ throughout the state of Florida,” says DeepWork Capital Partner Ken Hall. “We are very interested in the continued emergence of the space industry and the ecosystems that are developing between private industry, universities, and Space Florida.” adds Govo Venture Partners Managing Partner Rob Panepinto.
Here are a few highlights from the 2024 report:
- Helped by the return of megarounds in 2024 (there were none in 2023), South Florida companies raised $2.77 billion in 2024, up 15% from $2.41 billion across 393 deals in 2023. Florida-wide, startups attracted $4.13 billion, up 18% from $3.5 billion in 2023. By deal value, Florida ranked 6th and the Miami metro ranked 9th against their US peers.
- For the second year in a row, deal count was down both statewide (588 deals) and in South Florida (358 deals), but even still, Florida and South Florida ranked 5th and 6th respectively against their US peers.
- The top deal in Florida was the $333 million – at a $3.5 billion valuation – raised by Vultr of West Palm Beach. Vultr operates the largest independent cloud platform, and the company intends to use the funds to expand its AI infrastructure. The deal was led by AMD Venture Capital and LuminArx Capital Management.
- In South Florida, fintech companies drew the most funding dollars in 2024, attracting $741.20 million across 58 deals. Leading the way was Finally’s $200 million equity and debt raise.
- Medtech in the Miami metro area recovered strongly after a less-than-stellar 2023 and was the second most active sector, attracting $572.5 million across 45 deals. Insightec’s $150 million raise to advance patient care with focused ultrasound technology.
South Florida wasn’t totally left out of the AI party in 2024, even though nearly half of the venture funding nationally was dominated by a handful of massive rounds for AI companies mostly based in the Bay Area. But with AI technology at the heart of the future of tech – and AI will again be a key theme at next week’s eMerge Americas conference – eMerge Insights in 2023 began tracking South Florida fundings of self-described AI-powered startups that are creating solutions in fintech, healthtech, robotics, ecommerce, real estate tech, business productivity, the creator economy and more. In 2024, the report found 78 rounds totaling $896.8 million, three times the amount of funding in 2023.
Read the eMerge Insights report to find out the 30 top deals by around the state, how much Florida’s female-founded startups pulled in according to Pitchbook (and Refresh Miami has the South Florida lowdown here), and much more.
Download the 2024 eMerge Insights report here.
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