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News, highlights and events throughout the Americas

Tech Equity Miami Executive Director Imran Siddiqui On Building An Equitable Tech Sector

As a South Florida native, Imran Siddiqui has always been invested in the economic future of the tri-county area. Now, he'll have the chance to help shape it as the founding executive director of Tech Equity Miami. Founded last year, the initiative is granting $100 million in philanthropic funding over five years to organizations that remove entry barriers into careers in the technology industry. The long-term goal is to connect local talent with higher-paying jobs to help close the region's racial wealth gap.

 

- Source: South Florida Business Journal

Pressy Takes The Stress Out Of Party Planning

Organizing a party can be a hassle. Finding vendors, keeping track of what they are supposed to deliver, and managing payments can give hosts a headache even in the best of times. New Miami startup Pressy aims to take the stress out of the party planning process. Through their platform, users can book creative experiences from local businesses, communicate with vendors, and pay and track everything along the way – all in one central location.  Founder Erdina Francillon has spent 10 years in the tech industry, half at Intel and half at Microsoft. As part of her roles in corporate events and partnerships, she experienced the organizational struggle firsthand. “Some people have the budget to have an event planner on staff or hired for every event, but most of us don’t,” she told Refresh Miami. “So we wanted to build a product that created a streamlined experience to make it fun to plan an event. Because planning a get together can be very stressful.” Pressy is currently raising a $500,000 pre-seed round. So far, the startup has secured $30,000 from the Black Ambition Fund – Pressy was a finalist for the Black Ambition Prize – and a recent pitch competition put on by eMerge Americas and Venture Miami, where Francillon was the top winner.

 

-Source: Refresh Miami

Fortuna Investments Expands To Miami Beach, Plans To Invest In Space Industry

Canada-based Fortuna Investments is making its U.S. debut in Miami Beach, with plans to invest in the up-and-coming space industry. The venture capital firm currently has a small office at 1800 Sunset Harbor Drive and plans to add personnel in Miami this year. It is also establishing an office in Los Angeles to have a West Coast presence. Founded in 2015, Fortuna invests in high-growth sectors such as space, electric vehicles, robotics, metals and mining, clean tech and agriculture tech. The firm develops long-term partnerships with entrepreneurs in those emerging sectors. The firm has already made its first Florida investment. Fortuna reports it invested an undisclosed amount in Starfighters Space, a Cape Canaveral company that operates an active fleet of F-104 aircraft that can launch small payloads into space. Starflight's customers include Lockheed Martin and the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory. Florida leaders hope to make the state one of the global centers of the emerging space economy. The sector was valued at more than $469 billion in 2021, when international output of rockets, satellites and more grew by 9% year-over-year, the Space Foundation reports. The small satellite market alone is projected to grow to $54 billion by 2030.

 

-Source: Miami Inno

The New Bing Told Our Reporter It ‘Can Feel Or Think Things’

Last week, Microsoft launched a “reimagined” Bing search engine that can answer complex questions and converse directly with users. But instead of a chipper helper, some testers have encountered a moody and combative presence that calls itself Sydney. These types of AI chatbots are built to be people-pleasers, so questions and prompts that treat the AI as human will elicit humanlike responses, as The Washington Post reported. By Friday night, Microsoft had started restricting how long the chatbot could talk, saying in an announcement that overly long conversations with people could “confuse” the bot into speaking in “a style we didn’t intend.” Before this latest episode, our reporter interviewed Bing. Here’s what happened.

 

-Source: Washington Post

YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki Steps Down, Handing Reins to Top Deputy

YouTube Chief Executive Officer Susan Wojcicki is stepping down from the role after nine years running the video division of Google, marking the end of an era for one of the internet’s foundational businesses. Wojcicki said in a blog post that she planned to “start a new chapter” focused on her family, health and personal projects. She’ll also take an advisory role, working across Google and parent Alphabet Inc. She is handing the reins to top lieutenant Neal Mohan, another veteran Google executive who runs YouTube’s product and policies. Wojcicki is one of Google’s longest-serving employees and one of the highest-profile female executives in Silicon Valley. After lending her garage to the company’s founders, she joined as an early marketing manager and rose through the ranks of Google’s advertising business before joining YouTube in 2014.

 

-Source: Bloomberg

TikTok Launches Revamped Creator Fund Called The ‘Creativity Program’ In Beta

TikTok announced yesterday that it’s launching the beta version of a revamped creator fund called the “Creativity Program.” The company says the program is designed to generate higher revenue and unlock more opportunities for creators. The program is available starting today to select creators on an invite-only basis, with availability to all eligible creators coming soon. The company says it developed the new program based on feedback from creators on its current earning opportunities, including its Creator Fund. The fund, which rewards creators for popular videos, launched in 2020 with a $1 billion commitment over three years. Its model has been criticized by creators who have complained about low payouts, with some saying they earned a few dollars for videos that got millions of views. TikTok is now acknowledging these concerns with the launch of the new program.

 

-Source: TechCrunch

Drone Racing League World Championship

February 25th | Drone Racing League

 

The Drone Racing League (DRL) is bringing a Championship event, Miami 3-0-FLY, to loanDepot park. Transforming the baseball stadium into a video-game inspired, neon-colored aerial course, the world's best drone pilots will race custom racing drones at 90 MPH through the immersive course specifically designed to loanDepot park. This epic event is not to be missed and is the only Miami event of the season.

CELEBRATE: A DEI Series Event presented by Chase for Business

February 28th | eMerge Americas 

 

Explore the story of Black Tech in the #MiamiTech community and celebrate diversity in tech with friends - new and old. Join us for networking, live music, light bites & drinks, and a short program featuring Black Founders' and Investors' POV.

Brickell Tech Tuesday

February 28th | Brickell Tech

 

A tech happy hour for those who live or work around Brickell and Downtown. Share what you are working on. Please join us on Tuesday, February 28 for the next Brickell Tech Tuesday. We'll have a special guest, Cesi de Quesada, to talk briefly about the county's new tech innovation fund.

Impact Miami

Program Begins February 28th | BrainStation

 

BrainStation, will expand its Impact Program to Miami. Impact Miami is part of Tech Equity Miami, a funding consortium focused on removing barriers to entry into tech for underrepresented groups, made possible in part by a commitment from JPMorgan Chase. Impact Miami will provide full scholarships for BrainStation’s Software Engineering and User Experience (UX) Design bootcamps, including career and placement support into high-paying tech careers. 50 seats will be made possible by this opportunity.

Google For Startups Accelerator Program

March 12th | Google For Startups

 

The Google for Startups Accelerator: Latino Founders is a three-month accelerator program for growth-stage technology startups with at least one Latino co-founder from the United States or Spanish-speaking Latin America. Through the Program, startups are provided access to the best of Google —its people, network, and advanced technologies— to help them build great products. Startups receive mentorship and support from Google experts and external mentors in AI/ML, Cloud, UX, Android, Web, Product Strategy, Marketing, and more. 

Miami NFT Week

March 31st - April 2nd | Miami NFT Week

 

Join us to learn all about NFTs and network with your online Frens & Web3 communities IRL (In Real Life). This event will be packed with speakers from the NFT industry, DeFi and Blockchain technology with workshops, panels, pitch competitions, creative installations, immersive art, performances and more.

Startup Day Miami

April 4th | AWS

 

Kick off Miami Tech Month with AWS’s one-day conference geared toward founders, business leaders, CTOs, and developers. This multi-track conference will be filled with educational knowledge that you won’t be able to find anywhere else. Join AWS on Tuesday, April 4, 2023, 9:00 AM - 7:00 PM ET at InterContinental Hotel Miami. Reserve your spot now!

eMerge Americas 2023

April 20th-21st | eMerge Americas

 

Anchoring Miami Tech Month 2023, eMerge Americas returns April 20-21, 2023. eMerge is the premier tech event in Miami that's transforming Miami into a global tech hub. Hear from over 200 speakers, demo products from innovative startups and companies, and network with tens of thousands of thought leaders and industry experts.

eMerge Americas  2222 Ponce de Leon Blvd  Miami  FL 

 

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