Startup Valencia’s third expedition to Miami has successfully reinforced the Valencia-Miami business bridge. The collaborative business mission, organised by Hospitality Ventures in collaboration with Startup Valencia, brought together forty companies to explore and capitalise on the numerous business opportunities offered by the city of Florida.
Throughout the week, an extensive schedule provided the companies with access to American and Latin American investment funds, successful entrepreneurs based in Miami, and renowned professionals in the legal and banking sectors, who offered valuable advice on expanding their businesses in America.
One of the keys to the mission’s success was the local institutional support provided by Matt Haggman, Executive Vice President of Opportunity Miami at The Beacon Council, and Francesca de Quesada, Head of Economic Innovation and Development in Miami-Dade County.
The mission also achieved significant milestones by establishing valuable collaborations with prestigious Miami entrepreneurs, such as Saif Ishof, founder of Lab22c, which provides strategic advisory services for companies, funds, institutions and great leaders; Daniel Laplana of Shokworks, a global investment and software development company; Lazo, a financial solutions company for startups based in Miami; and Andres Asion, the founder of Miami Real Estate Group. These partners played a pivotal role in facilitating the participation of Valencian companies in the most impactful networking events and introducing them to the Miami business community.
Rosa Jimenez, currently Head of Communications at Jeeves, opened the agenda alongside Ryan Rea, Director of Growth at Miami Tech Life. The event also featured a panel of Miami-based entrepreneurs, organised by the prestigious entrepreneur network, Endeavor Miami. Gabriel García Da Rosa, Director of Global Development at Nowports, and Álvaro Beltrán, Head of US expansion at Raminatrans, delivered an inspiring talk on how to successfully sell and expand businesses in the American continent.
They also had the opportunity to learn firsthand about important investment funds from Florida and Latin America through a series of panels orchestrated by Patricia Pastor, founder of Next Tier Ventures.
Finally, Startup Valencia organised a private event together with Lazo and Draper Startup House which drew significant attendance from key players in the Miami ecosystem. The week culminated with eMerge Americas, VC Latam Summit, and Miami Tech Summit, leading tech events that were held in the city during that week.
According to Nacho Mas, CEO of Startup Valencia, the mission has confirmed that “Miami is one of the most powerful gateway hubs to Latin America and the United States, and its attractive ecosystem makes it an appealing destination for Valencian startups”. He added, “Our goal is to assist companies in their internationalisation efforts, and that is why we have condensed various activities such as investor meetings, startup networking, and international tech events into one week.”
The startups participating in this business mission were: Reental, GeeksHubs, Fresh People, Trazable, Oratrex, Quantic Brains, Sesame, Crowmie, ClimateTrade, Streamion, AllRead, Union Avatars, Influencity, Nymiz, Bioeutectics, Onirix, Quasar Dynamics and EarthPulse.
Connection with Miami
The Valencian ecosystem’s interest in Miami is fairly recent. At Valencia Digital Summit 2021, the ‘Miami Valencia Forum‘ was held, which established a collaboration channel between both cities to facilitate talent and investment exchange and explore international business opportunities.
In April 2022, Startup Valencia accompanied seven Valencian startups to eMerge Americas in search of new opportunities and investment.
In October 2022, Startup Valencia collaborated with Hospitality Ventures to organise the first business mission to Miami, bringing together 18 startups to showcase the technology and work being developed by Valencian companies and facilitate their entry into the US market.
Blockchain technology is another area of common interest between Miami and the Valencian ecosystem. Miami is home to one of the world’s leading blockchain hubs, and there are existing contacts and collaborations with the Blockchain Hub of Startup Valencia, which already supports over 50 startups.
