Welcome to the first edition of the South Florida Tech Digest — a weekly signal cut through the noise of what's actually happening in the Miami–Boca–WPB tech corridor. I'm Trace Cohen, a 3x founder and VC investor based in Boca Raton. I publish this every week because this ecosystem moves fast and no one is covering it with the depth it deserves.
Funding Moves This Week
South Florida deal flow is accelerating into summer. The national pullback in venture hasn't hit South Florida the same way it hit San Francisco and New York — partly because valuations here never got as inflated, and partly because local capital sources (family offices, angels, regional VCs) are still actively deploying.
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Miami fintech continues to be the dominant vertical. Multiple cross-border Latin American payment and lending startups closed follow-on rounds in Q1–Q2 2026. QED Investors and The Venture City remain the most consistent lead investors.
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New World Angels (Boca Raton) is reviewing its Q2 cohort now. If you're an early-stage company in Palm Beach County, their pitch night is the fastest path to $100K–$500K without leaving the county.
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Defense tech is the quietly growing vertical. Between BRiC's tenant mix and the strong DoD contractor presence in Palm Beach County, there are 6–8 funded defense-adjacent companies operating across the corridor that most people haven't heard of.
Ecosystem Moves
BRiC — the Boca Raton Innovation Campus — continues to be the most underrated innovation infrastructure story in the state of Florida. The former IBM campus is now home to 110+ companies spanning AI, quantum computing (D-Wave has a presence), cybersecurity, and enterprise SaaS. Rents are still well below comparable space in Miami's Brickell corridor, and the proximity to FAU creates a talent pipeline that most South Florida companies aren't taking full advantage of.
West Palm Beach is the most interesting market to watch right now. The combination of wealthy individual investors, the Palm Beach Tech Association events, and founders who've moved from NYC/NJ is creating a pre-critical-mass moment that historically precedes ecosystem breakout. Watch this space carefully over the next 18 months.
The South Florida Advantage Nobody Talks About
People talk about the zero income tax angle constantly. It's real — a founder who exits a $50M company in Florida vs. New York keeps roughly $2–4M more depending on their situation. But the underrated advantage is cost of operations. Office space in Boca Raton or WPB is 40–60% cheaper than equivalent space in Manhattan or SOMA. Senior engineers who've relocated from high-cost cities are often willing to work for below their previous salary because their cost of living is so much lower.
The net result: South Florida startups at Series A are running 20–35% leaner than their Northern counterparts at the same stage. In a market where capital efficiency is back in fashion, that's a structural advantage.
What to Watch
- 1.Florida Funders is reportedly closing a larger fund than their previous vehicle — more capacity for South Florida B2B SaaS deals.
- 2.Endeavor Miami's next selection panel is coming up. If you're at $1M+ ARR and haven't applied, do it. The network alone is worth the application time.
- 3.FAU Tech Runway applications for the next cohort are open. Free capital, non-dilutive, with solid mentorship for early-stage founders.
- 4.The Square in WPB is becoming the de facto co-working spot for relocated NYC founders. If you're new to the area, start there for community.
Subscribe to the South Florida Tech Digest
This is the first edition. New posts every Friday covering South Florida startup funding, hiring, and ecosystem moves. I'm also available for VC intros, startup advisory, and tech consulting across the WPB–Boca–Miami corridor. Reach me at t@nyvp.com or @Trace_Cohen.