It's fair to say the nation has begun to take note of Tampa Bay's startup ecosystem in the last year. And some companies are reaping the rewards.
From national cohorts to prestigious pitch competitions, we've rounded up the local startups making their mark.
Forbes' inaugural '1000 to Watch' list
There have been 16 local founders tapped thus far for Forbes' first-ever '1000 to Watch' list, chosen by a panel of industry heavyweights like former New York Yankees player Alex Rodriguez, musician Ciara and LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman. You can see who's on the list here.
Stacy's Pita Chips incubator
St. Petersburg-based Pop Goes the Waffle was chosen to be one of 10 companies in the Stacy's Rise incubator, a spinout of the eponymous pita chip brand. It's a 12-week initiative meant to boost women-founded companies, who get paired with mentors from PepsiCo. and Frito-Lay. You can read more on how Pop Goes the Waffle's founder is taking full advantage of the program here.
Venture Atlanta
A number of local startups were chosen to pitch at Venture Atlanta's upcoming event, which is one of the biggest in the Southeast region:
• TSOLife, a Tampa-based company that uses data collection and AI to give senior living facilities better insight into its residents, will be in the "early stage" portion of pitches.
• Several companies were chosen for the "seed stage" round. Procoto, whose founder Michael Otis moved from Atlanta to St. Petersburg this year, will be present as well as Tampa-based Nickelytics, which also participated in the prestigious Techstars accelerator program. Vig.io, a fintech company that launched out of stealth mode in June, will round out the locals.
Stanford Latino Entrepreneurship Initiative
Blind Tiger co-founder and owner Roberto Torres has been chosen for Stanford University's Latino Entrepreneurship Initiative, born out of a partnership between Stanford University and the Latino Business Action Network. The group's focus beyond technology and emphasis on capital was a draw for Torres, he told Tampa Bay Inno.
"We want to scale and it seems everywhere in Florida there are people talking about the ability to scale for tech, but not other things," he said. "This one has a broader appeal and an emphasis on access to capital. And we have a goal to be a $25 million company by 2025, and this is the stepping stone for us to do it."
Google for Startups' Black Founder Fund
Two companies with Tampa Bay ties have been chosen among the 50 companies for Google for Startups' annual Black Founder Fund. Tampa-based COI Energy, which closed a $2.5 million seed round earlier this year, was chosen for the lineup along with Atlanta-based SynsorMed.
SynsorMed has strong ties to the local region, participating in both the Tampa Bay Wave's TechDiversity cohort in 2019, and is a current member of Tampa-based Embarc Collective.
