Venture Hive accepting applications for its 2016 Winter Accelerator Class

By Nancy Dahlberg / [email protected]

Venture Hive, an entrepreneurial education company based in downtown Miami, is accepting applications for its 2016 Winter Accelerator Class.

This competitive accelerator program, sponsored by the Downtown Development Authority and Miami-Dade County, will host 10 selected high-growth businesses. Each selected startup will receive a 12-week entrepreneurship education program, office space and a $25,000 non-equity grant. This will be Venture Hive’s fourth Winter accelerator program. In 2014, Venture Hive received about 400 applicants from more than 40 countries, said Susan Amat, founder and CEO of Venture Hive. 

 Since January of 2013, Venture Hive has supported entrepreneurs from over 25 countries in its downtown Miami location to help them develop and grow their startups in the industry verticals that are the strengths of South Florida, Amat said. Some of the program’s graduates have included Quotanda, Waleteros, SWOL, Criptext, The Fan Machine, GetMyRx, Hair Construction and many others.

To be selected, applicants must have an innovative web or mobile technology solution applied to the creative industries (art, design, music, photography, etc.), finance, healthcare, hospitality/tourism or trade/logistics solutions. Participating startups must also have initial customers and revenue streams; no more than $500,000 in external funding; and a team of two to four English-speaking founders with complementary backgrounds who will commit to spending the 12 weeks of the program full-time in Venture Hive’s accelerator space in downtown Miami.

Benefits of the program include a $25,000 non-equity grant, a curriculum of highly practical workshops and training sessions, free dedicated space in its collaborative offices in downtown Miami for six months, mentoring from a vetted network of local, national and international entrepreneurs and experts, exposure to qualified investors and a Demo Day. 

The Venture Hive Winter Accelerator class will run from Feb. 29 – May 20. Applications for the class will be accepted from Nov. 30 – Jan. 15 at 11:59 p.m. Selected companies will be announced on Jan. 28.

Apply at apply.venturehive.com/miami 

Venture Hive’s existing programs in Miami have shown a $7.3 million economic impact in its first 18 months of operation, Amat said. After three years, Venture Hive’s startups have created more than 100 new jobs and an investment leverage of over 20:1.

"We now have hardware and IoT companies calling Venture Hive home, and our programs have included high growth food and product startups as well,” said Amat. “We have some exciting announcements of new partnerships to join the list that includes the Knight Foundation, DLA Piper, Ernst & Young, and Microsoft."

 In addition to its Accelerator, Venture Hive runs entrepreneurship education programs for K-12 students, an accelerator for U.S. veterans, virtual accelerators  and other entrepreneurial initiatives, and has supported entrepreneurs from more than 50 countries through its clients including Microsoft, the World Bank, US Aid, the U.S. State Department, and other university and corporate partners. In 2014 Microsoft chose Venture Hive to house the only Microsoft Innovation Center in the United States, one of more than 120 globally.

Find out more about Venture Hive here: www.venturehive.com

Tech company Easy Solutions out to stop financial fraudsters in their tracks

By Nancy Dahlberg / [email protected]

Inside its Doral headquarters, fraud-fighting tech company Easy Solutions has deployed another weapon against the bad guys: The Rock, its new Anti–Fraud Response Operation Center.

Anyone who has ever been duped by one of the official looking emails seemingly from a big bank or well-known company asking for personal information knows at least one of the many schemes that Easy Solutions’ fraud and threat intelligence team inside the Rock obliterate. Rogue mobile apps are another. The center, which opened a few months ago and works together with the company’s existing center in Bogotá, is part of the company’s comprehensive solution to fight fraud.

“Alcatraz used to be called the Rock, a high security facility with little chance for escape. We like to tell customers attacks don’t stand a chance against our Rock,” said Ricardo Villadiego (pictured above), founder and CEO of Easy Solutions.

Easy Solutions provides around-the-clock proactive detection, analysis, mitigation and shutdown of sophisticated fraud-related cyber-attacks from around the globe for more than 280 financial institutions and other companies.

“We put together a strategy that aims to help financial institutions fight fraud attacks all along the evolution of a fraud cycle,” Villadiego explained. That means stopping fraud in the early stages — when criminals are planning the attacks, stealing credit card numbers and launching phishing attacks against a brand — as well as at the end stage when criminals are attempting to convert stolen personal information into transactions — in other words, when they are trying to steal the money.

At the end stage, Easy Solutions’ proprietary technology will identify transactions that deviate from the known activity of users and stop the fraudulent transactions in their tracks, Villadiego said.

The near-daily reports in the media about yet another security breach or attack seem to confirm the need for such solutions. MarketsandMarkets expects the global fraud detection and prevention market to grow from $9.62 billion in 2014 to $21.4 billion by 2019, at an average annual growth rate of 17.4 percent.

Villadiego, who is Colombian, founded Easy Solutions in 2007, and his small team in Bogotá had the big dream of building a global electronic fraud protection company. Before starting the company, Villadiego worked for Internet Security Systems, a cyber-security company that had grown to $300 million in annual revenue and was acquired by IBM. Before that, he worked at Unisys. “I got the inspiration for building something global from those companies but I also love the entrepreneurial environment of a startup,” said Villadiego in an interview in Easy Solutions’ Doral office.

Back then, Villadiego said, other anti-fraud companies were focusing on the transactional stage, and Easy Solutions’ strategy was to be a one-stop-shop for fraud protection. In 2010, the Easy Solutions team received its first round of startup financing — $2.2 million from a Latin American VC firm. “That money gave us the gas to build what we call today the Total Fraud Protection Platform and acquire our first 65 customers in Latin America,” Villadiego said.

But the U.S. market represented a much bigger opportunity. For instance, Aite Group estimated that in 2014 fraud against payment providers in the U.S. cost an estimated $8.6 billion — and the research and advisory firm believes that’s slated to rise, a tab community financial institutions cannot afford to pick up.

“With 7,000 banks, 10,000 credit unions, plus insurance, airlines, healthcare, they are all bigger here,” Villadiego said of the U.S. market. “We are doing what we need to do to make sure we capitalize on this opportunity.”

In 2012, Easy Solutions began seeking out growth capital in the U.S. venture capital market, and Villadiego met with Miami tech entrepreneur and investor Manny Medina and his Medina Capital team. By then, Easy Solutions had grown to about 100 customers, mainly in Latin America. Medina Capital invested $11 million in Series B financing in early 2013 to fund Easy Solutions’ expansion.

Since then, Easy Solutions has more than doubled revenues and nearly tripled its customer base to 280 financial institutions and businesses serving 75 million end users worldwide, Villadiego said. Today, Easy Solutions has about 170 employees among its offices in Bogotá (its biggest operation with more than 100 employees, most of which are in research and development), Doral, Atlanta, London and Tokyo.

“My investors are excited because I tell them fraud protection creates a perpetual business, and it is because the bad guys also have a perpetual business. They come back with a new attack. We are always researching new methods they are using and come back with new weapons to protect our financial institutions,” Villadiego said. “You have to implement a fraud protection strategy that is flexible and allows you to evolve because that is what the bad guys are doing — they are evolving all the time.”

Growth is accelerating, too: In the first half of this year, the company said it doubled its overall bookings over the same period of 2014. In the all-important U.S. market, bookings hit an all-time-high, up 257 percent from the same period the year before, Villadiego said.

“When we met Easy Solutions, they already had many of the prestigious banks throughout Latin America as customers. Easy Solutions was providing real value to these customers and we felt that was a great foundation for the company’s future,” said Nelson Fonseca, the partner at Medina Capital who works most closely with the company.

Fonseca said Medina Capital invested in Easy Solutions to help grow the company in the U.S. and Europe and believed Miami was the logical place for this expansion.

Since then, Easy Solutions has signed multiple U.S., European and Asian banks, Fonseca said. “They have achieved this success through maintaining great customer service while continuing to innovate the technology that is the foundation of their solutions. The biggest challenge for any company experiencing rapid growth is to attract the best available talent and to maintain its focus on solving customer problems. Medina Capital has helped Easy Solutions attract and maintain the best team in the industry and stay ahead of the competition.”

City National Bank of Florida has been an Easy Solutions’ customer since March 2014, said Marshall Martin, co-general counsel of City National who has been part of this industry for more than 20 years as a regulator, bank examiner, attorney or risk executive.

“They monitor the use of the City National name and the establishment of fraudulent sites. They bring down phishing and pharming sites literally within moments,” Martin said. “Not only does it protect City National’s reputation but it protects our clients that could be duped into potentially putting account numbers and sign-ons into these fraudulent sites. They do this for us 24 hours a day.”

Martin said Easy Solutions offered attractive pricing, but the real reason City National signed on as a customer was the company’s willingness to customize. “It wasn’t that they were just going to give us a box solution and what you get is what you get. We’ve helped them develop and modify products... You have a true partnership — that’s something you don’t get with the bigger players.”

To be sure, it’s a tough market to break into for a smaller player competing against the likes of NICE Actimize and other companies. That’s because banks want to work with well-established companies that bigger banks are already using, Martin said.

“That’s the reality,” he said. “But while Easy Solutions has services that are clearly targeted at the financial arena, the company has services that any business can use, such as where they are looking constantly at the threat landscape, protecting from corporate account takeovers and making sure there are not rogue mobile apps or websites. Think about it, what business can’t benefit from that service?”

Indeed, although the solutions were primarily developed for financial institutions, about 16 percent of Easy Solutions business comes from companies in e-commerce, insurance, healthcare, and other industries, Villadiego said.

Back inside the glassed-in room called the Rock, Villadiego and Michael Lopez, Easy Solutions’ director of operations for the U.S. and Canada, give the Miami Herald a tour. At this time, the Easy Solutions team was fighting about three phishing attacks, rather sophisticated ones, launched against their customers, said Lopez. The fraud intelligence team was also monitoring for fraudulent activity associated with social media or unauthorized applications. When someone is copying a website, “the technology will identify them and we will get them removed,” Lopez said.

The Bogotá office also has a fully staffed Rock, and both centers see, monitor and can act on the same information around the clock. That way in the case of a natural disaster in one location, anti-fraud operations will continue uninterrupted.

All of this is about winning battles for their customers, because when the bad guys are thwarted at one bank they will try another one, said Villadiego. “It’s crazy out there.”

Nancy Dahlberg; 305-376-3595; @ndahlberg

EASY SOLUTIONS

Business: Easy Solutions’ products protect against phishing, pharming, malware, Man-in-the-Middle and Man-in-the-Browser attacks, and deliver multifactor authentication and transaction anomaly detection.

Year founded: 2007

Headquarters: Doral, with offices in Bogota, Atlanta, London and Tokyo.

Founder and CEO: Ricardo Villadiego

No. of employees: 170

No. of customers: More than 280; mainly financial institutions but also insurance firms, e-commerce companies, healthcare firms and others.

Primary investor: Miami-based Medina Capital

Website: http://www.easysol.net

 

Busy fall for Blackdove: Startup launches app, Kickstarter campaign for digital canvas

Blackdove, a Miami-based tech startup, offers a global platform and marketplace for digital motion art. Founders Tito Gaudenzi, left, and Marc Billings are shown with samples of the art. On the wall is "Urban Decay" by Kazilla; Gaudenzi holds "whtEyesRoses" by jon Cates. Photo by Carl Juste/Miami Herald.

Shown in video below, works by George RedHawk and MarcPaperScissor.

 

 

By Nancy Dahlberg / [email protected]

For those who believe collecting art is only for the rich, this Miami startup is on a mission to make art accessible for all.

Blackdove has created an affordable, global marketplace for works of digital art, with prices through its app ranging from about $10 to $100. To build a collection, users simply download the mobile phone app, browse, buy and press play to enjoy their motion art on smart screens or via media players including Apple TV, Chromecast, Roku or Amazon Fire TV. Some works are available free as part of the “Featured” collection.

With another tap on their app, users can easily change artwork or rotate their collections. For artists who already embrace the power of animation technology in their work, Blackdove has created a way to connect them to customers through technology, offering artists instant global distribution and royalties, Blackdove’s founders say.

“Art has been held out as an expensive luxury good that most of the world has been left out of. What has excited people is that this matches with the way world shares information. It’s not about holding information in the hands of the few; it’s about sharing this kind of content with the masses,” said Marc Billings, co-founder, CEO and the team’s tech wizard, who most recently was part of the founding teams of Boatsetter and Itopia. “Anybody, anywhere can consume art now.”

Blackdove released its free app for iOS and Android in September, and already has more than 1,000 active users in 25 countries. The Blackdove platform features about 50 artists and showcases nearly 500 works of art.

The company will be releasing a subscription model early next year that will allow users to enjoy 30 works of art a month, said co-founder and President Tito Gaudenzi, who has marketing and advertising experience and founded and ran a global event company. “We will rotate them every month so the cool part for the artists is the platform becomes a platform to showcase it. ... After that month, it moves into the marketplace where you can purchase it for your permanent collection.”

Blackdove is also targeting commercial clients, and the team said it has had interest from hotels, high-rise condos, restaurants and corporate offices. To make its offering more complete, Blackdove has partnered with Samsung on a commercial-grade screen, or “digital canvas,” that will come with Blackdove software and a lifetime subscription. For the canvases, the startup is running a “Blackdove” Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign now, which concludes Dec. 7.

In an interview in the Buro MiMo co-working space where the startup has an office — one of the three co-founders, Chief Curator Marisa Terrizzi, is based in New York — Billings and Gaudenzi are demonstrating how the platform works. “Every artist has a story. MarcPaperScissor is in Wynwood, and he had this art sitting on his hard drive — artists didn’t have a platform to distribute on. We are a marketplace and distribution platform for artists and collectors to connect. The artist on the wall right here, George Redhawk, he is legally blind,” said Billings, pointing out Gregoire Meyer Reflection by Redhawk, MarcPaperScissor’s Around the Track 8, Kazilla’s Urban Decay and whtEyesRoses by jon Cates. All the art can be previewed on the app, including the motion.

Kazilla was one of the first artists to join the platform. She was part of a small group of well-known Wynwood street artists Blackdove worked with last year to show what the platform could do.

“That my work can transcend the two-dimensional space and go into the three dimensional space was really interesting,” Kazilla said. “The paintings we chose have melty drippy elements to them, and to see them actually melt and drip made me so happy because that is how I see it in my mind, but I don’t have the tools to make it do that.”

MarcPaperScissor joined the platform in the past few months. “The whole concept of having artwork on a platform that can be easily changed and can change an environment really excited me,” said the artist, who is from Miami but now living in New York. “With the way the world is and screens taking over, the access of it is cool. ... and I love the movement.”

Now that the platform is built, the app available for downloads, and the Samsung partnership underway, the Blackdove team has begun its marketing push, much of which is through social media.

“We are not limited by the walls of a gallery, where if you don’t walk through the door you won’t see the art. We get to see what is most viewed, most liked. Every artist has his or her market niche, and we have all this data we can analyze,” said Gaudenzi. (Some of Blackdove’s Facebook artist spotlight posts have attracted tens of thousands of views).

For the team, the partnership with Samsung is a validation of their concept, which they have been working on for a couple of years. “It’s a major vote of confidence,” Billings said. The Blackdove Digital Canvas features Samsung’s 48- and 55-inch high-definition commercial display screens embedded with Blackdove software to provide consumers and businesses with an easy, intuitive way to enjoy personal digital art galleries. The screens may be mounted horizontally or vertically and can be remotely managed from anywhere in the world. The art is stored locally in the Samsung screen, allowing users to schedule their art collections to display during the hours they choose without incurring streaming fees. While the 48-inch display retails for $999, special pricing applies to Kickstarter backers.

“Samsung aims to lead through innovation, and working closely with Blackdove gives us the ability to drive a new wave of transformation for businesses and high-end homes through the digital display of extraordinary motion art,” said Ronald Gazzola, vice president of display marketing for Samsung Business.

What’s next for the young company? Blackdove will continue building out its commercial business, including hotels and restaurants, condos and interior designers. For these clients, Blackdove integrates with Samsung screens in 40 sizes and will custom-curate collections. For example, a South Florida developer will soon showcase a 70-inch Samsung screen beaming art via Blackdove’s platform, Gaudenzi said.

Blackdove will also continue to add artists to the platform and launch the subscription model for consumers, which will be priced under $9 a month.

“Now that we have built what we envisioned, we need to create the accessibility and adaption we want it to have,” Gaudenzi said.

Blackdove has been funded by AGP, Miami Innovation Fund and other local angel investors and is working with strategic investors to bring Blackdove to market. This week the company will be participating in industry events in connection with Art Week and will also have a booth at the technology conference Sime MIA on Wednesday.

“Artists are merging with software developers now and the future of where this art form is going will be transformative,” Billings said. “It is only just the beginning. The artists are pushing us forward.”

Nancy Dahlberg; 305-376-3595; @ndahlberg

Entrepreneurship Datebook: Events, workshops in South Florida

SIME MIA: The conference that has explored technology trends by bringing in speakers from Singularity University, Hollywood and the Oslo Freedom Forum is returning to Miami Beach for a third year Tuesday and Wednesday. Speakers on Tuesday include startup founders, artists, musicians, filmmakers, a neuroscientist and a Special Olympics world champion. On Wednesday, there will be half-day summits on fintech and big data. Tickets and info: simemia.co  (get 50% off with discount code  SimeMIA50).

ITPALOOZA: Now in its fourth year, the conference Thursday at Nova Southeastern University in Davie brings together the South Florida IT community. The all-day event includes discussions, an expo, a hiring fair and an after-party. Bring two unwrapped toys for charity for free admission. Tickets and info: www.itpalooza.com.

LAW TALK: Planning an exit strategy during the “honeymoon” stage of your business can save you, your partners and investors time, money and animosity. Attorney Zachariah Evangelista informs entrepreneurs of the important issues to consider during the early planning stages of their businesses, 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.Thursday, Dade County Bar Association, Second Floor, 123 NW First Ave., Miami. RSVP here.

AT&T HACKATHON: ITPalooza and AT&T are teaming up to host a free hackathon at Nova Southeastern University on Friday and Saturday; form teams, build solutions in a weekend and compete for prizes. More info: http://developer.att .com/community/events.

TECHWEEK MIAMI: Activities Dec. 7-13 will include the national finals of the Launch startup competition Dec. 10 with startup champions from Miami and five other cities. Another featured event is Hatch Match Miami on Dec. 8. Tickets and info: techweek.com/miami.

SPEAKER SERIES: The Jim Moran Institute for Global Entrepreneurship’s Advice Straight Up speaker series features Phyllis Newhouse, CEO and co-founder of Xtreme Solutions, 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. Dec. 8 at the Urban League of Broward County in Fort Lauderdale. More info: www.advicestraightup.com.

PIONEERS@MDC: The speaker series features Juan Lopez Salaberry, partner of 500 Startups, who will discuss lessons learned working with and investing in about 100 startups, 5:30 to 8 p.m. Dec. 8 at the Idea Center, Wolfson Campus, Building 8, 5th Floor. More info: www.theideacenter.co.

STARTUP GRIND: The monthly interview features tech entrepreneur and angel investor Mark Kingdon, 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. Dec. 8 at WeWork Miami Beach. Tickets: https://www.startupgrind.com/miami/

STARTING GATE

Find startup news, resources and community views on the Starting Gate blog at MiamiHerald.com/business.

Nancy Dahlberg: 305-376-3595, @ndahlberg

 

InternetCoast report analyzes Florida university R&D trends

 InternetCoast released its 2014 analysis of R&D expenditures at Florida’s colleges and universities

The Florida Academic R&D Highlights 2010 – 2014 Report analyzes Florida R&D expenditure trends by institution and Enterprise Florida Region, including sources of funds, R&D personnel, and R&D expenditures in the fields of science and engineering.  The report benchmarks Florida with other states using two metrics:  R&D expenditures and R&D expenditures per State GDP.  The report also benchmarks Florida academic institutions with more than 500 U.S. academic institutions.

According to Dale Gregory, executive director at the nonprofit InternetCoast, “2014 R&D expenditures were at their highest level in ten years.  The University of Central Florida and University of South Florida had record R&D expenditures in 2014, accounting for 89 percent of Florida’s increase from 2013.  The good news is that there are significant opportunities to increase R&D funding from Federal agencies, through partnerships with the private sector and nonprofit organizations, and improvements in R&D funding per R&D personnel.”

Report Findings For 2014:

• Florida R&D expenditures increased 5% to $2.3B, compared to a .3% increase nationwide.  Florida R&D expenditures ranked 9th compared to other States.  
• Florida total R&D and science and engineering R&D per State GDP continued to lag other States, ranking 41st and 44th respectively.
• Florida academic institutions employed 32,449 people in R&D functions, ranking 9th nationwide.
• Productivity of Florida R&D personnel decreased in 2013 and 2014.  Compared to other States, Florida ranked 24th in 2014 compared to 21st in 2012 and 2013. 
• The University of Central Florida and University of South Florida had record R&D expenditures in 2014, reaching $186M and $497M respectively. 
• Seven Florida academic institutions ranked in the top 200 U.S. institutions based on total R&D expenditures:  UF (26), USF-Tampa (41), U. Miami (65), FSU (84), UCF (105), FIU (131) and FAMU (199).

The Florida Academic R&D Highlights 2010 – 2014 Report is available for download at the Florida Innovation Highlights portal at icoast.com. InternetCoast also analyzes venture capital, tech workforce  and SBIR/STTR trends in the state.

- Submitted by InternetCoast

 

Magic Leap seeking $9 million in incentives for Broward expansion

By Marcia Heroux Pounds / Sun Sentinel

The virtual reality company Magic Leap could get $9 million in economic incentives to create 725 jobs.

Broward County Commissioners will consider the package Tuesday. The county's portion would be $507,500, plus a $500,000 cash incentive.

The average pay for the jobs would be $100,000, twice Broward County's average annual wage.

The city of Plantation approved more than $1 million in incentives on Nov. 4 for a company fitting the description of Magic Leap. The company is renovating a 260,000-square-foot space at 8000 W. Sunrise Blvd. in Plantation, formerly home to Motorola Mobility.

The state would pay $4 million to the company as well as $3 million from Gov. Rick Scott's discretionary Quick Action Closing fund used to close deals.

Magic Leap was founded by Rony Abovitz, co-founder of robotic-assisted surgical company Mako Surgical in Davie, which was sold for $1.65 billion in 2013 to competitor Stryker Corp.

Abovitz soon began Magic Leap, attracting venture capital interest in his line of "cinematic reality" products under development. Last year, the startup received a $542 million investment led by Google.

The company already employs 217 in Dania Beach and has started moving into its new headquarters in Plantation. Magic Leap's projected capital investment is $150 million, according to Broward County's economic development staff.

The company has been hiring for a wide range of jobs including software engineers, game and Android designers and cinematic animators as well as human resources professionals, finance and accounting positions. The company lists nearly 200 jobs on its website, magicleap.com.

At the unveiling of the new Plantation headquarters in October, Greater Fort Lauderdale Alliance president Bob Swindell said Magic Leap is a critical part of the technology hub that the county has been trying to build.

Plantation Mayor Diane Veltri Bendekovic said Magic Leap "is going to put Plantation on the map," giving it international recognition as a place of technological innovation.

Magic Leap also has locations in Santa Cruz, Los Angeles and Mountain View, Calif.; Seattle; Austin, Texas; the United Kingdom; and New Zealand.

If the incentives package for Magic Leap is approved, it would be one of the highest in the tri-county area in recent years. In April, the Broward County Commission approved a $7.86 million package for what was later revealed as local manufacturer Hoerbiger's expansion in Coral Springs adding 420 jobs.

In 2013, the commission approved a total package of up to $10 million in incentives for American Express, which is building its regional headquarters in Sunrise. American Express' decision on Sunrise retains 5,000 jobs statewide, the Greater Fort Lauderdale Alliance said at the time. The credit card company has had major operations in Plantation and Fort Lauderdale.

Palm Beach County Commissioners approved a $10.56 million incentive package for United Technologies Corp., which is building its Center for Intelligent Buildings in Palm Beach Gardens with the promise of 380 jobs.

 

Miami Heat player, other eclectic speakers join Sime MIA's speaker roster

Miami Heat player and NBA all-star Luol Deng, 500 Startups co-founder Christine Tsai, singer-songwriter Imogen Heap,Erik Voorhees, creator of the instant bitcoin and altcoin exchange, and Val Spiridonov, the first full-body transplant candidate, are some of the recent additions to the speaker lineup at next week’s Sime MIA technology conference. They join startup founders, artists, musicians, filmmakers, a neuroscientist, a Special Olympics world champion and four multisensory performances already on the agenda for the third year of the creative homegrown conference, which explores trends and innovation in technology, art, media, fintech and big data.

The event, hosted by Ola Ahlvarsson, takes place on Tuesday at the New World Center in Miami Beach with the main event, called Converge, and continues Wednesday with “Summit” sessions on fintech and big data and startup demos at The LAB Miami in Wynwood. “The goal of the summits is to complement the Sime MIA journey with a multi-sensory experience, ranging from coding classes to virtual reality exhibits, and covering some of today’s more significant opportunities in the tech space,” said Demian Bellumio, co-founder of MIA Collective, which is producing the conference.

For more information: Simemia.co (for 50 percent off, use discount code SimeMIA50).

GEW Shark Tank-style at Archbishop Edward A. McCarthy High School

Submitted by Archbishop Edward A. McCarthy High School

The  MAV Tank, a business plan competition featuring student business plans and celebrity judges, highlighted Global Entrepreneurship Week  at Archbishop Edward A McCarthy High School last week.

The third annual MAV TANK featured four entrepreneurial student teams who created companies for the annual competition.  FIND Me, an innovative way to find a wallet was presented by Tommy Rodriguez, Rhett O’Donnell and Andy Rodriguez; BEBECOEUR a crib sheet with an alarm to help prevent sudden infant death was presented by  Neilah Richadson, Vincente Giordano and Christina Martinez-Mercado; STOPIT, a magnetized multiuse door stopper, was presented by Daniel Imbriaco, Nick Henning, Adam deArmas and Andrew Infante; and EXERO, the ideal way to incentivize a fitness program, presented by Josh Samarista/Miramar and Osmar Coronel/Weston. 

The first-place winner of this year’s MAV Tank was STOPIT (pictured above) and  received $500.

“At its core, MAV Tank is a platform for our students to fully develop their ideas and then put them into practice,” commented Kim Zocco, a teacher of Business Education at Archbishop McCarthy. “Our faculty fosters a culture of innovation which empowers and inspires our students to enter college and the world as change-makers.”  John Anfuso and Ashley Murphy, members of the MAV Tank teaching team, implement the business plan element into all the economics classes, in addition to the business entrepreneurship classes.

This year’s Celebrity Judges were Tim Robbie, former owner of the Dolphin Stadium and the Miami Dolphins, President of the Ft. Lauderdale Strikers Soccer Team; Bianca Moreiras, founder of Bianca Moreiras & Associates Consulting Firm, handles high level acquisitions and mergers, managed top level law firms for over 30 years; James Donnelly, founder of Castle Group, NOVA University’s Entrepreneur Hall of Fame recipient; Chris Cerda, Maverick Alumni, CEO & Founder of KANYU, FAU Business Student, Entrepreneur.

Led by Zocco, the entrepreneurial spirit thrives year round at Archbishop McCarthy.  Students have competed and placed in the top ten ranking at the Wharton School of Business Finance Competition for High Schools  and support the Café Cocano project by selling organic heirloom coffee beans and iced café lattes at the school directly benefiting and empowering Haitian Coffee Farmers to earn a fair wage. 

 

Entrepreneurship Datebook: What's coming up after Thanksgiving

SIME MIA: The conference that has explored technology trends by bringing in speakers from Singularity University, Hollywood and the Oslo Freedom Forum is returning to Miami Beach for a third year Dec. 1-2 . Speakers on Dec. 1 include startup founders, artists, musicians, filmmakers, a neuroscientist and a Special Olympics world champion. Speakers recently added: NBA star Luol Deng, Christine Tsai of 500 Startups; Val Spiridonov, full body transplant candidate; and Erik Voorhees, creator of the instant Bitcoin. On Dec. 2, there will be half-day summits on fintech and big data. Tickets and info: simemia.co (get 50% off with discount code  SimeMIA50)

ITPALOOZA: Now in its fourth year, the conference on Dec. 3 at Nova Southeastern University in Davie brings together the South Florida IT community. The all-day event includes discussions, an expo, a hiring fair and more. Bring two unwrapped toys for charity for free admission. Tickets and info: www.itpalooza.com.

AT&T HACKATHON: ITPalooza and AT&T are teaming up for a free hackathon at Nova Southeastern University on Dec. 4-5; form teams, build solutions in a weekend and compete for prizes. More info: http://developer.att .com/community/events.

TECHWEEK MIAMI: Activities Dec. 7-13 will include the national finals of the Launch startup competition Dec. 10 with startup champions from Miami and five other cities. Another featured event is Hatch Match Miami on Dec. 8. Tickets and info:techweek.com/miami.

STARTING GATE

South Florida startups Kairos and Genetics Networks received funding from the Florida Institute for the Commercialization of Public Resources. Büro Group opened a co-working center in Coconut Grove, its fourth location. CappSci Inventors announced the winners of its first two $100,000 prizes. The winners will build their solutions at the Patricia and Phillip Frost Museum of Science. Read more on the Starting Gate blog at MiamiHerald.com/business.

Nancy Dahlberg @ndahlberg

Big ideas come to life at Startup Weekend @ FIU

 

The winning team Headliner, shown with Startup Weekend @ FIU mentors and organizers.

By Amy Ellis

An idea to “disrupt” the music industry and make it easier for loyal fans to see hot new bands at local venues stole the show this weekend at Florida International University’s first Startup Weekend Miami event.

Headliner (pictured above) – an online platform designed to enable users to crowdfund for the bands of their choice to perform locally – took the $500 first prize during the event, along with high praise from organizers.

“Headliner worked hard on their idea throughout the entire weekend,’’ said Jeff Brown, FIU’s Entrepreneur in Residence at the School of Journalism and Mass Communication and a key organizer of the event. “It wasn’t planned this way but they are an all-FIU team and we plan to support them on their journey to make this a reality.’’

Gregory Jean-Baptiste, a computer science major at FIU who came up with the idea for Headliner, said the concept empowers fans but also benefits artists and venues. 

“Everybody wins,’’ he said. “The venue gets the crowd. The artist gets the show and the fans get to see the bands they want to see.’’ 

More than 200 people – developers, designers, coders, investors and entrepreneurs – attended the three-day startup event, held at the university’s $3 million innovation hub, Tech Station.

Eighty-eight participants competed in 16 teams, pitching their business ideas to a panel of judges and investors on Sunday evening.

Second place went to an application called Tip N’ Go that allows users to tip for service without needing to carry cash. A social platform for soccer enthusiasts called XOGO took third place.

“The quality of teams that competed this weekend is the best I’ve ever seen out of any Startup Weekend event ever,’’ said Brown, who has participated in startup weekends for years. “On average, only 12 percent of teams go on to create a viable business. From this event, I believe nine of the teams will likely launch. That’s an impressive percentage possibly becoming viable companies.”

Teams pitched ideas ranging from a mobile app for scheduling in-home hair and makeup appointments to online portals to connect would-be entrepreneurs or encourage civic engagement.

Other participants talked of wanting to make a difference by using new technology to help Alzheimer’s patients remember simple tasks or individuals who are hard of hearing experience the joy of music.

“The passion and commitment we witnessed this weekend was transformational,’’ said FIU VP for Engagement Saif Y. Ishoof, another key organizer. "Our students demonstrated that our faculty have well prepared them to compete in the globally competitive entrepreneurial ecosystem in Miami.”

“As every part of our institution races forward to make our “BeyondPossible 2020” goals a reality, we intend to continuously capture, harness and expand the culture of innovation in every part of our FIU."

Tip 'N Go (above) won second place and XOGO won third at Startup Weekend @ FIU.