Miami, FL, is making waves in the business world. They have been noted by the Kauffman Foundation, Expert Market, and Wallethub for their entrepreneurial ecosystem.
Miami, FL is the fourth-largest urban area in the United States as well as the principal city of the country’s eighth-most populous metropolitan area. Miami ranked 35th in the 2017 WalletHub list of the Best Large Cities to Start a Business. In addition, the Kauffman Foundation named the Miami metropolitan area the most active area for startups and Expert Market listed Miami as the second-best city for minority entrepreneurs.
Based on these rankings, FundingSage has reviewed the resources that make up Miami’s entrepreneurial ecosystem:
Entrepreneurial Meetups:
Supports techies and entrepreneurs of color in the Miami area to help them find success.
A group that aims to provide support to entrepreneurs attempting to start a line of products to sell.
A networking group that brings together entrepreneurs and hosts workshops to help them achieve success.
Aims to educate and inform those interested in real estate investing and entrepreneurship but don’t know where or how to begin.
A large group that hosts regular meetups for technology professionals and entrepreneurs to meet and learn from one another.
Provides resources, training, workshops, and networking opportunities to female entrepreneurs in the Miami area.
Regular Entrepreneurial Events:
An annual festival celebrating people of color and minorities in technology, bringing together investors, techies, and entrepreneurs in a weeklong event.
An annual two-day technology event that aims to connect North America, Latin America, and Europe with technology and entrepreneurship.
A large annual networking event with educational workshops and presentations for small businesses in South Florida.
A large two-day conference and startup expo held annually in nearby Fort Lauderdale, FL.
The Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce hosts an annual awards ceremony celebrating the region’s top entrepreneurs and startups in several categories.
Miami hosts Unbound – a festival for entrepreneurship, technology, and innovation, on an annual basis.
Startup Competitions:
Every year, a panel of judges choose one of the submitted startups located in either Miami-Dade County or the Bronx in New York and provides it with funding and support.
Organized by Refresh Miami, the Demo Day Pitch Competition is an annual event where startups compete for funding opportunities.
A massive startup competition held at eMerge Americas conference with separate tracks for students as well as those with early- and late-stage startups.
Students and recent alumni of Miami Dade College with either an existing business or startup idea compete for cash prizes.
A competition open to undergraduates as well as graduate students and alumni of the University of Miami.
Co-working Spaces:
A child- and dog-friendly co-working space that offers a variety of membership plans and a children’s lounge.
A workspace for startups and entrepreneurs in the technology industry with dedicated desks and offices and access to a rooftop terrace.
Büro has five locations across South Florida that offer working space to entrepreneurs and freelancers.
A co-working space specifically designed for creative professionals that offers members a number of amenities, including coffee and cold beer on draft.
Pipeline, a co-working space specifically designed for entrepreneurs and small businesses, has locations across the state of Florida.
With locations across both Florida and New York, Quest offers virtual offices, co-working space, private offices, and the ability to rent meeting rooms.
An office in Miami that offers mailboxes, flexible desks, dedicated desks, and private offices to members.
A co-working space with a well-equipped kitchen and on-site tech support that follows their mission statement to Learn, Act, and Build together.
WeWork has five office locations in Miami and Miami Beach with varying amenities, membership plans, and price points.
Maker spaces:
A maker space with an 1,800-square foot facility in Doral, FL, that offers standard and advanced memberships that give access to different tools and equipment.
A 6,200-square foot workshop that offers a number of tools that offers membership plans ranging from one month to a year.
A maker space that offers classes, a wide array of equipment and several membership plans.
Incubators:
A business incubator at Broward College in Fort Lauderdale that connects startups with mentors and investment opportunities.
An incubator and maker space in Miami that assists entrepreneurs in conceptualizing and creating green manufacturing businesses in South Florida.
A program at the University of Miami that helps students and alumni of the university grow and develop their startup ideas.
Helps entrepreneurs with great ideas take the leap and create their startups and small businesses.
Offers two incubator programs, one for food entrepreneurs in Miami and a community space dedicated to advancing technology.
Accelerators:
A 14-week accelerator program created by StartUP FIU that develops social entrepreneurship startups.
An accelerator program for talented entrepreneurs and high-impact startups in South Florida.
An eight-month accelerator program started by Babson College that accepts up to 20 women-led startups and small businesses.
TSFA is an accelerator program with multiple locations across South Florida that invests in the big data, fintech, human capital management, and life sciences industries.
A co-working space and accelerator program in Miami that works with consumer-centric companies.
An accelerator program that connects technology and health companies to financing and networking opportunities.
A part-time accelerator program in Miami with two separate programs for idea- and early-stage programs.
17 Questions to Ask Before Attending an Accelerator
Colleges/Universities:
Babson College’s Miami campus offers a number of resources, programs, and classes to entrepreneurial-minded students, including a Blended Learning MBA program.
The Entrepreneurship center at FIU connects students with networking programs and resources as well as offering minors and certificates in entrepreneurship.
Miami Dade College’s Idea Center is a program that offers resources to students, while the College offers a number of degrees and certificates in entrepreneurship.
The University of Miami offers a BBA and a BSBA in Entrepreneurship as well as a business plan competition, mentoring, networking, internship programs, and an incubator program.
Angel Groups/VCs:
A large group of angel investors that invests early-stage startups led by an experienced team in a number of industries.
Banyan aims to provide mezzanine capital to middle-market companies headquartered in the southeastern United States.
Miami is home to one the many locations of H.I.G., a venture capital firm that invests biohealth startups and companies across all stages.
A Miami-first venture firm that invests in seed-stage technology-based startups in the healthcare, financial services, and real estate industries.
Located in the North of the Miami metropolitan area in Boca Raton, New World Angels is an investment group for early-stage companies with a strong presence in Florida.
With locations in several cities around the country, Rokk3r Fuel invests in exponential growth companies across a wide variety of industries.
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Entrepreneurial Newsletter Coverage:
One of the world’s largest networks for entrepreneurs has a branch in Miami and offers a newsletter to keep subscribers up-to-date.
Florida Trend is a magazine that covers business in Florida and offers several newsletters with a variety of focuses on different topics.
Offers a weekly newsletter with updates on events, jobs, and news about entrepreneurship in Miami and South Florida.
A community of entrepreneurs, creatives, and techies that has a branch in Miami and a newsletter that keeps subscribers updated on news and events.
Are you familiar with an entrepreneurial ecosystem infrastructure in Miami not included in the article above? If so, let us know via a comment below, and we will add it to the article.
Interested in Ecosystem Spotlights of other cities in the USA?
Cincinnati, Ohio, Charlotte, NC, Salt Lake City, UT
Article by Quinn Pilkey
Quinn Pilkey
Quinn is a journalism major at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. He also serves as a freelance author for Hashtag Basketball where he writes about the NBA's Charlotte Hornets and at FundingSage where he researches and writes about entrepreneurial ecosystems.
