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News, highlights, and events throughout the Americas

BOOM! Andreessen Horowitz Opening Office In Miami Beach

Andreessen Horowitz, the Silicon Valley venture capital giant, is putting down stakes in the Miami area. The firm also known as a16z signed a five-year lease for a new office in Miami Beach and will likely be moving in by the end of the year. Andreessen is leasing a floor at the new Starwood Capital Group headquarters building at 2340 Collins Ave., taking in total 8,000 square feet at the Class A property. 

- Source: Refresh Miami

Okendo Raises $26M In Series A funding

Okendo, a Miami, FL-based advanced customer review platform for ecommerce brands, raised $26m in Series A financing. The round was led by Base10 Partners with participation from Craft Ventures and existing investor, Index Ventures. Okendo is a customer marketing platform proven to help Shopify merchants attract more shoppers, drive more sales and increase customer lifetime value. The company now works with over 5,000 merchants including industry leaders such as SKIMS, Haus, Crunchy Roll, Magic Spoon, Frame, Nomad, Buck Mason and Liquid Death. The company intends to use the funds to scale go-to-market activities and accelerate product development.

-Source: AngelList

Google Begins Field-Testing AR Glasses Prototype

Google will begin sending prototypes of its new augmented reality glasses into real-world testing, as the technology giant makes a fresh attempt to field wearable technology after its Google Glass program famously flopped. The public tests will begin next month involving a few dozen employees and a small group of other testers, and will build off lab testing. The prototypes feature cameras, in-lens displays and microphones. Google’s primary goals for the tests are to look at how the glasses’ perform in navigation, transcription, translation and visual search. Google will limit the activities of testers and users will not be able to use the glasses while driving, playing sports or operating heavy machinery.

-Source: Forbes

Kia Spot Offers NFTs To Viewers Who Scan QR Code

Kia America is debuting a television commercial that for the first time gives viewers a chance to claim a non-fungible token (NFT) by scanning an on-screen QR code. The 30-second spot for the 2023 Kia Soul cross-over SUV is offering 10,100 of the Kia-themed tokens. Three popular characters from the Dead Army Skeleton Klub (DASK), a group of computer-generated 3D skeletons whose NFTs can be collected and traded online, are shown in the commercial driving the new Kia Soul out to the country for a picnic. The spot is part of Kia’s broader “Built for Whoever You Are” campaign. NFT marketplace Sweet is providing the supporting technology to claim the one-of-a-kind tokens and store them in a digital wallet.

- Source: Marketing Dive

How Startup Founders Should Respond To The Gathering Economic Storm

Many founders are facing their first bout of economic turbulence, and can quickly find themselves overwhelmed by (well-intentioned) advice. While being urged to “cut costs,” “batten down the hatches,” and “optimize for run rate rather than growth” certainly has its place, such advice is also far too generic–not to mention contingent on a startup’s stage, profitability, and financial runway–to be truly useful. Knowing how to apply these tips is often more valuable than the tips themselves. Techstars CEO Maëlle Gavet shares how to navigate the months ahead. From CEO strategy to how to cut costs effectively, here are some of the lessons he picked up along the way.

- Source: Fast Company

WordPress July “Mega Meetup” – Block Intro & Project Frameworks

July 26th | WordPress

Building a website for a client within WordPress is a completely different game compared to building one for yourself. In fact, most agencies and designers would agree, that building a basic business site (for the sake of the example), on our own, can take between 3-5 days. But as soon as a client or stakeholder joins the process, the project become a 4-6 weeks journey (that is, if all goes well).

Dell for Startups Pitch Competition

August 2nd | Powered by Endeavor

The Dell for Startups Annual Pitch Competition brings together 8 startups from various Startup Communities across the U.S. to compete for over $500k worth of prizes. As part of the tour, they will be stopping by Miami with Endeavor on Tuesday, August 2nd.

Tech Tuesdays

August 2nd | Miami Marlins

Tech Tuesday comes to loanDepot park, every Marlins home game on Tuesday. Join us for a pregame mixer with local tech companies in the new Recess Sports Lounge as the Marlins take on the Cincinnati Reds. 

Miami Tech & Travel Executive Roundtable

August 4th | Tribaja - Tech & Startups

Come join us on at Soho Beach House in Miami Beach where we will be talking about new opportunities that arise when an economic downturn happens. Tech experts and founders will share their knowledge with you about how to overcome these challenges and become even more successful during a downturn. Space is limited to a small guest list of 50 people so RSVP while supplies last.

Smart City Expo USA

September 14-15th | Miami Beach Convention Center

Smart City Expo USA is the country's leading event for cities. We are solving urgent issues of today while preparing cities for tomorrow. Join us in harnessing $1T of federal funds to build inclusive and resilient cities through electrification, climate resiliency, cybersecurity, blockchain, cryptocurrency, and web3, urban air mobility, AI and edge technology, big data, education equity, the future of work, next-gen infrastructure, and so much more.

eMerge Americas  2222 Ponce de Leon Blvd  Miami  FL 

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