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Miami may be behind other major cities in terms of the amount of money invested into the startup community, but that doesn’t mean it will stay this way. Miami is on its way to developing a reputation as one of the larger startup cities in the US.
Miami’s rich culture and diversity are viewed as valuable traits that make it appealing for many different types of business accelerators and incubators. An example of one of the largest accelerators that are currently active in the Miami community is the Knight Foundation. In 2012 The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation thought Miami had a high probability of becoming a startup capital. From then on, the foundation started accelerating and funding different local initiatives. They brought new players to the scene and became instrumental in Endeavor, Venture for America, LaunchCode, Emerge, IME, The Idea Center, The LAB and 500 Startups, among others, landing in the city. The program director at the Knight Foundation, Matt Haggman believes that Miami’s diversity is a valuable asset in the creation of this “startup hotspot”. Haggman defined it as a unique differentiator that can unlock talent to amplify capital.
Brainfood speaker Mary Biggins spoke at The LAB Miami about her successful startup company MealPal. She said as a reason for why she relocated to South Florida is because “In Miami there aren’t as many startups here, but there’s a lot of people interested in getting into the space, this notion creates an opening from a talent perspective” With boot camps like Wyncode and Iron hack the talent scene in Miami is continuously increasing. The Miami startup culture has the drive and is gaining more funding and talent each day. With all these factors coming into play Miami will establish itself as a startup capital in the foreseeable future.
Join The LAB Miami + Lab.Ventures at our August Brainfood Speaker Series with Founder of Powerful Yogurt!