Cryptocurrency ventures, financial technology firms and a journalist database for public relations professionals are among the Miami-area companies that raised the most investor funding last quarter.
Technology startups headquartered in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties collectively raised $1.3 billion in venture capital funding across 75 deals during the quarter that ended Sept. 30, according to the Pitchbook-NVCA Venture Monitor third quarter report. Although the dollar amount was up from the second quarter (when local companies raised $1.1 billion across 92 deals) deal counts declined – meaning fewer companies received capital injections.
Startups in the mid-Atlantic, Southeast and Mountain regions all experienced steady investment growth and are expected to exceed 2020 fundraising totals, Pitchbook reports. Nationally, there were a few points of concern: So far, there have only been 59 public listings, compared to 303 in 2021 and 145 in 2020. Exits were down almost 50%, raising concerns that an extended period of low activity could discourage investors from recycling capital into the venture capital ecosystem.
"Should the current environment remain, we expect this year’s total exit deal value to fall below $100 billion for the first time since 2016," the report said.
South Florida was the sixth most-active market for venture capital investment in the third quarter. As usual, California's San Francisco Bay Area led the pack with $11.8 billion raised across 586 deals, followed by Los Angeles ($7.1 billion across 321 deals), New York City ($5.7 billion across 449 deals), Boston ($3.9 billion across 184 deals) and Seattle ($1.6 billion across 95 deals).
The top local raises of the third quarter included:
Flow: The Miami company, a residential real estate startup founded by WeWork's Adam Neumann, secured $350 million from Andreessen Horowitz.
Muck Rack: The Miami public relations management website raised $180 million in a series A investment from Susquehanna Growth Equity. Muck Rack helps public relations teams find journalists to pitch to generate media coverage for their clients.
Avenue: The Miami fintech, which connects financial institutions in the U.S. and Brazil, raised $95 million.
Halborn: The Miami blockchain security firm raised $90 million in a series A funding round led by Summit partners, a private equity firm in Boston. Halborn identifies and fixes vulnerabilities in web3 applications to keep them safe from hackers.
Boopos: The Miami-based acquisition financing platform secured $58 million in series A and debt funding led by Bonsai Partners.
Sardine: The fraud prevention software firm raised $51 million in series B round led by Andreessen Horowitz. Sardine is headquartered in Miami.
Betr: The sports betting app closed a $50 million series A round ahead of its launch in August. The Miami company was co-founded by serial entrepreneur Joey Levy and YouTube star-turned-professional boxer Jake Paul.
Iliad Biotech: The Weston-based clinical stage biotech closed a $42.8 million series D financing round led by New York hedge fund Knott Partners. The company is developing a "next-generation" pertussis vaccine to protect against whooping cough.
AllLeaves: The Deerfield Beach cannabis technology firm raised $40 million in a series A round led by The Eleven Fund. The company's software helps cannabis businesses drive growth by using real-time seed-to-sale tracking.
OpenStore: The Miami company, which purchases e-commerce businesses on Shopify, secured $32 million in a round led by Lux Capital. The capital injection came less than a year after it raised $75 million from investors to grow the venture.
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