Tampa Bay's innovation summit has partnered with its Miami equivalent to bring further attention to the startups in the Sunshine State.
Synapse Florida, which holds an annual summit in Amalie Arena each February, has teamed up with South Florida-based eMerge Americas. eMerge Americas launched its first conference in 2014 and has more than 16,000 attendees each year. Marc Blumenthal, a co-founder of Synapse Florida, had long been in talks with eMerge Americas. In 2019, a team of Miami delegates took a bus tour to attend Synapse Summit and explore the Tampa Bay tech ecosystem.
"We had an incredible experience and got to know them and their mission," Felice Gorordo, CEO of eMerge Americas, said in an interview with the Tampa Bay Business Journal. "We thought there was strength in numbers when it came to addressing best practices and connecting the two."
But it wasn't until Florida Funders made an investment in eMerge Americas this summer that the partnership became official. Blumenthal is a general partner for Florida Funders, and with the investment joined the eMerge Americas board.
No financial details were disclosed.
"It really is capitalizing on the growth Florida has seen the last two or even five years," Brian Kornfeld, CEO at Synapse, said. "We have a critical mass of talent and companies and funders, that a collaboration opportunity like this can be very effective. It creates the one plus one equals five mentality."
Kornfeld said through the partnership, both organizations will cross-promote each other's events through branding and outreach, which can expand across Florida and Latin America. Gorordo added it also allows the two to share best practices for conferences.
"It's sharing what we learn from in Tampa, Orlando and up the state," Gorordo said. "Vice versa, it's allowing us to share what's working in other parts of the world where we have partners. That's a big part of this."
There has been a growing narrative that Miami has a booming tech hub, particularly with the vocal efforts made by Miami's Mayor Francis Suarez. But Tampa Bay has come into its own through the Covid-19 pandemic, drawing many coastal founders to expand or relocate entirely to the region. Both Kornfeld and Gorordo are hopeful the partnership can fulfill the long-held mission by Florida Funders — to make the Sunshine State become known as the startup state.
"It really is taking on the collaborative nature in the state of Florida," Kornfeld said. "There are a lot of people who would view things as competitive, but we both have similar minds of wanting Florida to be the best possible it can be."
