Thousands of people gathered at the Miami Beach Convention Center Thursday to attend the opening day of the eMerge Americas conference.
Approximately 20,000 people registered to attend the two-day event, making it eMerge's biggest year to date. Launched in 2014, the conference connects technology entrepreneurs, investors, venture capital firms and more with the goal of transforming Miami into the tech hub of the Americas.
The 2023 conference kicked off with a keynote conversation Tom Brady, the seven-time Super Bowl champion who retired earlier this year. He discussed his career in professional football and pivot to entrepreneurship in a talk with eMerge CEO Felice Gorordo and President Melissa Medina.
It also featured panel discussions with speakers that included Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava, Kaseya CEO Fred Voccola and Black Women in Artificial Intelligence founder Angle Bush. On Friday, former Google CEO Eric Schmidt will appear in a conversation with Miami Mayor Francis Suarez that will be recorded for the 305 "The How Can I Help" podcast.
The conference will culminate with a "Shark Tank" style pitch competition where five startups will compete for an opportunity to win a $420,000 investment.
Check out the photo gallery to take a look inside the event.
For more stories like this one, sign up for Miami Inno newsletters from the South Florida Business Journal and the American Inno network.
