By Nancy Dahlberg
Three South Florida startups took home the big checks at the Early Stage Venture Conference, put on by Florida Venture Forum in downtown Orlando on Wednesday.
In all, 37 startup companies presented to a roomful of investors and also competed for $300,000 in award dollars and investments at the Florida Venture Forum’s 16th annual event,. The conference attracted more than 400 investors, entrepreneurs and community leaders to the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts, where the conference was held. (Read more about the startups that presented here,)
“This year’s conference shattered several records, including beating our prior attendance record by over 25%. We take this a very positive sign for Florida’s startup ecosystem,” said Kevin Burgoyne, President and CEO of the Florida Venture Forum, Florida’s largest statewide support organization for investors and entrepreneurs.
In addition to the startup presentations, Anya Freeman, founder of Miami-based Kind Designs, the creator of 3-D printed living seawalls. participated in a fireside chat at the luncheon with Danielle Mousseau, who manages Florida Power & Light Company’s 35 Mules Innovation Hub. Freeman gave the audience some real talk about the ups and downs of startup life, including a brutal breakup with her previous co-founder.
Don’t rush into making an important decision about a co-founder just because you hear in the venture world you need one, she said. In this case, her choice almost cost her her company. But this story has a happy ending: She was able to lure Jeremy Morris, a far stronger COO, to Kind Designs. He brings extensive and relevant experience in 3D printing (from Icon, the largest concrete 3D printing company in the US) and operations (from Boring Company), critical skillsets as Kind Designs enters commercialization. Taking your time to create a strong team around you is far more important than rushing a decision on a co-founder, she said.
Freeman, from Ukraine, shared how her immigrant grit and hustle, as well as the support of a strong network, were key ingredients of her early success story. Kind Designs raised $5 million last year and plans to raise a Series A round next year.
She’s a big believer in pitch competitions. “Over half of my cap table are people who had seen me pitch.”
In addition to featuring startups in the primary early-stage track, the conference also included the Space Florida AeroTech Summit,featuring presenters and programming relevant to the space and aerospace industries, and the Forum’s Statewide Collegiate Startup Competition, during which startup teams from 10 Florida colleges and universities competed for award dollars. In all 40 companies presented, the most ever for an early stage contest. A panel of judges evaluated each eligible company’s presentation and supporting materials.
X-Lumin of Merritt Island, part of the AeroTech track, took home the event’s Accelerating Innovation Award, receiving $75,000 from Space Florida and a $125,000 investment from DeepWork Capital. X-Lumin is powering the widespread use of wireless communication services to enable others to digital, secure, and exchange data “from light.” They provide turn-key systems for ground to space laser communication, land based optical wireless communication, and space situational awareness with advanced integration capabilities.
The Grand Prize, $50,000 from Florida Power & Light,went to Boca Raton startup HelixVM, founded by Robert Rodriguez, HelixVM’s CEO (pictured above). HelixVM has built a software platform that dramatically increases physician productivity while increasing patient access. He pitched that the “Uber of Healthcare,” known as the HelixVM Marketplace, provides rapid health care, often without a video visit, to patients across the US, while physicians appreciate significant income opportunities.
In 2024, HelixVM will introduce a second go-to-market strategy, leveraging its platform and marketplace expertise to extend these productivity enhancements into physician practices, Rodriguez said.
Also from South Florida was runner-up Algas Organics of Miami, winner of $20,000 from Florida Power & Light and Space Florida.CEO Johanan Dujon (pictured below) told the crown that Algas Organics addresses the deforestation and sustainability challenges faced by packaging, paper, and pulp companies by replacing traditional deforestation-derived wood-based fiber with a novel, cost-effective seaweed-based solution. Their low-cost seaweed-based pulp fiber can be blended with wood pulp to produce paper and packaging whilst reducing deforestation. Algas Organics was also one of four $100K grant winners this year from Miami-Dade County.
Also receiving a runners-up prize of $20,000 was Lonestar Data Holdings, led byFounder & CEO, Christopher Stott of St. Petersburg. Their mission is to apply abundance thinking and exponential technologies to the endless possibilities of lunar data storage.
Abigail Sinu of Florida Atlantic University, co-founder of NanoSense, was one of two winners of the Collegiate track, and each won $5,000. NanoSense stands at the forefront of accessible medical diagnostics with its groundbreaking nanosensor array technology from NASA. The other big check in the Collegiate contest went to Unbound Disability Claims, presented by Alyssa Wilbanks of the University of Central Florida.
“The presenting companies showed why the early-stage ecosystem in Florida is alive and well,” said Benjamin Patz, Manager of DeepWork Capital. “Their success not only reflects their dedication and talent within the ecosystem, but also emphasizes the innovation thriving within Florida and in the emerging technology industry we have here,” added Mousseau.
In February, Florida Venture Forum held its signature annual gathering, the Florida Venture Capital Conference, in Miami with a record crowd and 50 companies presenting to investors.
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