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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


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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.


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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.


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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


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

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2019 HIGHLIGHTS METRO AREA AND STATE RANKINGS FOR VC8

*Source: Pitchbook * Reported by CB Insights


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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

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FLORIDA SNAPSHOT FLORIDA SNAPSHOT


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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


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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



LET’S DIG DEEPER LET’S DIG DEEPER


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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


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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



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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.


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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.


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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.

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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


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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


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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.


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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.


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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


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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.


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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.

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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:

[email protected].

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

2019 annual insights report - emergeamericas.com€¦ · emerge insights 2019 annual insights...

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