New data show immigrants have been powering Miami’s population boom of the last five years. Not surprisingly, immigrants and the children of immigrants have also been powering the city’s startup scene, as can be seen in this week’s roundup: Almost everyone mentioned below has an immigrant connection — most prominently, the just-announced keynote speaker for this year’s eMerge Americas conference. It shows how important this demographic is to Miami’s economy.
Steve Wozniak named keynote speaker for eMerge Americas
Apple cofounder Steve Wozniak will headline this year’s eMerge America’s tech and startup conference June 12 to 13 at the Miami Beach Convention Center. He will join Sprint CEO Marcelo Claure and Comcast Global CIO Myrna Soto. The full list of speakers can be found here.
Two WIN Lab companies added to eMerge Startup Showcase
Apollonix, the dental logistics startup that recently won at the SUP-X startup conference; and SpaceWolff, a digital marketplace for advertisers and ad space, have been added to eMerge Americas Startup Showcase. eMerge is still accepting applications. The form, and a full list of startups showcasing, can be found here.
NewME accelerator completes move to Miami; receives Knight funding
NewME, one of the first technology accelerators focused on helping entrepreneurs of color, has completed its move from San Francisco to Miami and will receive $191,000 from the Knight Foundation. Led by Angela Benton, the accelerator will begin hosting quarterly one-week residential boot camps in Miami starting June 5. [Miami Herald]
Donkies.co is raising a seed round
Donkies.co, a company that helps people pay off their student debt by rounding up debit card transactions, is currently raising a seed round that he hopes to complete in the next several weeks. Founder Ryan Morrison told Startup.Miami they have already raised a significant amount of that so far.
Miami production team’s video chosen for Best of YouTube VR
A video produced by New Discovery Media, a Miami VR company, and Bash, a Miami sound and music production firm, was chosen by YouTube VR for its Best of 360° videos for “A Capella — 80s mashup.” The video is AMAZING — TRUST US.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=2&v=J_VWEIV63go
It features what Bash calls ambisonic sound technology, which allows the audio to sync with a user as they tilt their head in the VR space.
Thanks to the response the video has received, New Discovery has created a whole new unit dedicated to creating similar content, which they’re calling Eye Hear 360, says New Discovery’s Jonathan Herrera. They were recently invited to both Jazz in the Gardens and Ultra Music Festival to showcase this content.